Lechon Pig

(12/01/2010)

My first baptism is this Saturday. I'm way excited because my investigators rule! We had five committed, but one who we felt wasn't really into it rebelled against her mother and ran away to Cebu city. She'll be back, they always come back. But I'm crazy pumped for the other ones. Benjamin is the man! Literally an Alma the Younger story. We found out details of his very shady past and it seemed like I totally underestimated how dangerous he was. But now he is the nicest guy in the world. His Auntie loves us. She is a very devoted catholic but she is glad her nephew is being baptised and not "bad boy bad boy" anymore. In fact in a couple hours she will have made some Sanging prito for us. Which are deep fried bananas and they are great.

Which brings me to the most awesome thing that happened this week besides our investigators. On Saturday, we went to a members birthday party and guess what they prepared? A Lechon Pig! That’s the entire pig that they skewer and then rotisserie grill or something like it. I mean the whole pig! 35 kilos I think. Head to boot. Holy cow, best thing I ever ate! The skin is way crispy, and golden brown, and the the meat - Holy Cow, Dad, you would have totally died - SOOOOO moist. So, we will call that my Thanksgiving dinner. Also, Elder Deguidoy (my zone leader) tricked me into eating some weird Sud-an (anything you put on rice). I was like "what is it?" (in flawless Cebuano of course) And he was like "It’s delicious" and then walked away, so I was like, OK. I ate it all. I then asked Elder Olsen (other ZL) and he said it was the Lung of the pig. Sweet! So, that was cool. The next day, a sweet old lady who is a recent convert made us Banana Lumpya, which is amazing. It’s just what it sounds. A saging wrapped in a lumpya shell, then deep fried and covered with sugar. So that was great.

As for other things, we just kicked Satan's butt as usual. President Hansen has been challenging us to commit to baptize during the first lesson. We've been seeing crazy good results. No one yet has turned it down straight up. And a lot of people are committing to be ready by Pasko (Christmas) so  that could be the happiest Christmas of my life.

Before I forget, I got Brothers Moore’s letter. Dear Elder Rules!

And I've gotten 3 letters from Alexis, the first two were written to MTC Elder Abbott but its all good mail is really rare so I dig it either way.

I can't remember if there were any other awesome things going on. I'm excited for the package. Philipino snacks are ok, but I really miss fruit flavored candies, like Skittles. The only fruity thing they have is called Yoogoo, and it’s a mysterious cloudy semi liquid semi solid candy cup. It’s really cheap, so I eat it a lot. Pray for me to not get transferred, its coming up next week. And since one elder is going home on monday the three of us remaining in Camotes were asked to all come down to transfer meeting. Which means probably 2 of us are being transferred. The odds are in my favor, I think.

That’s pretty much it. I love you all. I miss you all. But I wouldn't want to be anywhere else besides Camotes right now. God loves us. I know it. Don't you all ever forget it.

Gugma, Elder Abbott

p.s. Mom, the language is ok. I can sometimes talk to the people. It really just depends on how many teeth they have and how drunk they are. I'm only half kidding.  

p.s.s. Dad you have the right island, Porro is connected by what seems like a land bridge. There is this one spot in our area where we look right at Porro across the ocean. Its really really breathtaking. I'll get a picture one day.