How's it all going over there in America? Hope y'all are doing awesome . Hopefully y'all had an awesome Christmas. Christmas was pretty cool over here in the Philippines; had lots of fun. So to begin the week off, we had an awesome mission Christmas party in Tarlac. The mission was split into two area for zone conf. One in Cabanatuan, and the other in Tarlac. We got to go to the Tarlac one. It was pretty fun. In the morning we had skits that each zone had prepared. We had one of a family going to a Christmas party, and then we sang a song, 12 days of Christmas, but missionary style. After that we ate lunch, and then had the spiritual side, and a really nice meeting.
After the meeting, we raced home, 'cause it was also our ward's Christmas party. We got there a little late, after all the games and stuff, and just in time for the food. So that was pretty fun.
Thurs. and Friday, we both normal work days, other than the fact that I got to call home. It was lots of fun to talk to y'all, and stuff like that.
Saturday, we were invited to a Christmas eve party at a member's home. We went, and they had tons of food. Lots of spaghetti, and rice, and chicken, and turkey. I was really excited to try the turkey, seeing that it's been a while since I had it. Little did I know what I was getting into. I know we talked about food when I called you guys, and I told you all my stories that made you all cringe but seemed pretty normal to me, but this turkey has to take the cake for the most nasty thing I've ever eaten. First off, the turkeys here don't come from the store, they raise them, so they don't have very much meat on them. Second they don't have ovens here in the Philippines, so they boil them. Third, some times food isn't hot here, and this turkey wasn't hot. I was so excited when I saw this turkey that I had them cut me off a big piece and put it on my plate. Like I said earlier this turkey doesn't have very much meat, so it was just skin, and I think fat, or something like that. Oh boy, that was nasty, like eating rubber, but with a nasty taste. I tried eating with rice, but I was still having the hardest time getting it down, so I just put it off to the side of my plate and thought I'd come back to it after I ate all the other good food. Bad idea. I got really full on this other good food, and then tried to eat this nasty turkey skin, and it just wasn't working. I couldn't not eat it, 'cause this guy had just killed his pet to feed me, so I tried my best to eat it. But anyways to make a long story short, when the guy who cooked it turned his back to me, I hurry and threw the turkey to the dogs that we close.
After this terrifying experience with food, we had a gift exchange, which was pretty fun. It was nice of the family to include us in on their little Christmas eve party. Then Christmas came. We went to the church in the morning, and only about 50 members went to church. I played the piano, and Elder Bendoy gave a talk. After that we went to some members house to eat. I was still recovering from my experience the night before, so I wasn't feeling that well, but to make sure and not offend anyone, we stopped by the members to eat. One thing that's different about the Philippines, and American Christmas is that in America we open presents, and here they just cook food the whole day, and feed anyone who comes to their houses. Went to a few and got full. The only hard part was at a few houses there was papaitan, or the stuff I told you guys about with the goat insides. So that was another test, but I did pretty good at avoiding that, and was able to eat the really good tasting food.
Then today was pday, wow, how time flies. Elder Bendoy and I went to a really cool place here, called the Isdaan, or fishing place in Cnglish. Tons of fish, and the restaurant has tons of cool stuff. Statues, and fish, and the restaurant itself is floating on water, pretty cool place, and now I'm emailing the family. Just wanted to wish y'all a Happy New Year, and tell yall that I love ya. Until next week, take care.
Elder Farnsworth
