Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Mom it felt just like the "Saratov Approach" but real life to me!

Here is Jacksons letter we received last night.  It was very unsettling to me as his mom.  His dad says he will be fine!  I have to know that he is being watched over and prayed for!


Hello family and loved ones!! What another interesting week here in the Philippines!! 
  We had a normal day on Monday, nothing to spectacular happened But we OYM alot because it is our new Zone goal to OYM 10 people a day and to give out at least one Book Of Mormon a day, so thats what a lot of this day consisted of was OYMs and Trackting. Also we had a few lessens towards the end of the day. But nothing to special happened on Monday, just a regular non  pday monday haha

So Tuesday was a very very interesting day ton so the least hahaha!! So I am going to skip ahead to around like 6oclock in the evening, Elder Guard and I were going to teach one of our LA that we usually go to a few times a week, but her husband is usually always gone so we can never really teach here so we planned a lesson but also kind of just planned to stop by and see how her and her family were doing. So we go up to her house(which isnt really a house more of a tin roof shack with concrete walls) And we were talking to here outside cause we cannot go in unless there is someone thats a male who is 18 or older so we were just asking her how she was doing and then all of a sudden out of nowhere this 70 year old man comes out from the shadows and is just smoking a cig and staring out us so I look at his and said "kumusta"(hello how are you) and he walked up closer to come and talk to us and as he got closer I noticed he had no teeth and as he started talking I also noticed he had half a tongue!! So just picture a 70 man with no teeth basically no tongue and a cig in his mouth, So elder Guard is talking to him asking him if he would like to join us so we can teach our LA so he says sure and the LA says that we can, so we go inside to teach this lesson. And the whole time we are teaching her elder Guard and I are on this Couch and he is sitting on the floor, and while elder Guard is teaching her, he is rubbing my leg and just doing a bunch of weird things like that. Also the whole time elder Guard is teaching he keeps interrupting us and asking us if we want some alcohol or some smokes and we were like Tatay(old man) its bawal(forbidden) but he didnt care he just kept on asking while we were teaching, also in the middle of the lesson he stands up and lights up a cig in the middle of this families house!!! Like what in the world is going on in this guys mind?!?! And so he is just chillen in the corner smoking it up then eventually he comes back and sits on the couch right next to me and puts his arm around me with his cig in his hand and he is basically cuddling with me while smoking in my face and the LA family was weirded out and they also thought that it was pretty funny so they were all laughing. And keep in mind this is all happening while we are "trying" to teach this family. So the lesson goes on and we are about to finish and he interupts again!! This time he was like lets go i want you to meet my wife! And we were like just a second we are almost done, so we continue with the lesson and again he says the same thing come on lets go i want to show you my wife!! So this time we were like chill Tatay we are almost done just 5 more minutes and the family also tells him to just chill. So we eventually finish this lesson and we were saying the closing prayer, and while we were kneeling on the floor saying the prayer I left my bag on the couch and the whole time this guy was going through my bag!!! And I was watching him the whole time out of the corner of my eye! So as soon as we finished praying i went and pried my bag from his hands!! So we are leaving the house and he was just so excited to show us to his wife she he grabbed elder Guard by the hand and was holding his hand the whole time we were walking to his house!! So we get to his house and we come to this room that looks like a broken down house with a bunch of ruble and bricks and broken glass and prob a dead body in there! So we go through this room to get to this old sketchy stairs that creek when you walk on them like in a haunted house! So we walk up these stairs and we are like what are we getting our selfs into?!? So we go up and its actually a really nice house(for the area) it had nice couches, a ref, a nice ish tv. So elder Guard and I were way surprised so we go and we are just sitting down and he gets up and he goes and checks to make sure that all the doors in the house were locked... But we didnt really think any thing of it. So we are just chillen and he is giving us food and drinks and were just chillen there with this guy, and while we are sitting there he asks a really random question.. He was like do you guys wanna shower? and we were like no.. We will do that at our house. Weird question right?? But we just shake it off, so we are just sitting here eating some food, and then he decides to take off his shirt and light up a smoke at the same time! And this whole time we were at his house we were like hey we have an appointment we need to go and he just was like No! stay! so we were a little worried to leave! So he kept going down these stairs to get us more and more food, and after he took off his shirt he went down stairs to get get some water for us, so while he was downstairs elder Guard and I were like how are we going to get out of here?! Should we just leave or what?! But we didnt know what to do, so this bro was coming back up the stairs and he was carrying a pitcher of water, and when he was coming up we couldnt see his full body, only his torso, which we knew that his shirt was off, so he was walking up the stairs and when he came back where we were he was BUTT NAKED!!! he wasnt wearing an ounce of clothes!!! It was the nastiest thing in the world a 70 man butt naked right in front of my face!! I was in complete shock when it happened too!! So elder Guard asked him hey are you going to shower or something?... and he said no.. so we both got way scared at this point!! And he turned around to go back down stairs to get something and the moment he turned the corner downstairs elder Guard and I booked it out of his house and ran down the street, we ran and ran and ran!! We were so scared!! I was so scared and so scarred that I threw up!! Like they do in movies!! It was the scariest moment of my life!! I honestly thought I was going to get raped that day!! And it still haunts me to this day!!

The rest of the week was just a normal day for us we committed our Inv to a bap date on Feb 8,2014 so we are both hoping that he will continue following the WoW!! Also I could be leaving the QCNM sooner than expected! They are bringing missionarys back to Tacloban Jan 28th!! But I am not sure if I will be one to go then or not! I guess only time will tell! Also we have 2 new Inv who are 9 year old kids are really smart with like the gospel and stuff so we love teaching them!! Also my Tagalog is still struggling for those of you who want to know but i speak what I know when I can! Also my pneumonia is gone!! What a relief for my mother hahaha! But thanks to everyone for keeping me in your prayers while I was sick, and the way I got it was we live in a very highly polluted area so it was just my body acclimatizing to the humidity and also the dirty nasty air that is here! But i really hope I can go to Tacloban on the 28th!! I really wanna go there cause thats the language I learned and i feel like they need me now more than ever!! But I am really happy to be here where I am with the companion I have!! I am loving every minute of it!! Me and some other elders who are from the Tacloban mission call it the "Motherland" so lets hope I get to go back to the motherland soon!! I love you all and thanks so much for all the love and support I get from you all!! Have and awesome day and week!!


Mom, with this new found info on Tacloban i need some money to buy some last minute items just in case I go there on the 28th, so could you let me know right when you get this? thanks love ya!!

Love Elder Howell

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