Hi Everyone,

So this is a surprise... that is that I am here at the internet shop again because I really don't think that it has been a full week but everyone else and the calendar says it is another week so I guess I will follow what they say.

Maybe part of why I feel like it hasn't been a week is I cannot think of what I have done this week. One thing we did was we had a mission tour with President Edwards of the area. They do the mission tour in clusters and our cluster was in Ilagan, so that means that I was able to go back to my old area and visit some of the members. We got there early and ate with two of my converts at a members resurant. The news spread like wildfire that I was back and there were a few that visited me at the church durring our break. It was very nice to see them again and to see that they are still doing good in the church. I ordered some cassava cake (and amazing dessert and they make the best in Ilagan). When I returned to pick it up I found out that Nanay Cabaccan had paid for it. That was very nice of her. You know what else they said there... they were all noticing that I had lost weight and was looking "sesksi (sexy)."

The mission tour itself was very good. I learned a lot of things that I can do just a little better especially in my last few weeks. It is hard to talk to people now knowing that I wont see any of their baptisms. I know the work must go on and I am determined to do what I must... it is just hard to do that at times. It is also hard to get the motivation to meet all of the members and to learn where there houses are. That is great stuff that I need to do because that will help all of the future missionaries. As time goes on in the mission I have learned how to "kunin ang loog ng mga tao" to get the insides... or to get to their heart. Americans by culture are more stiff and robotic... Filipinos are not so you have to be close to them to get their trust. I have applied that here and it is doing very well. The only thing is that I leave in a month. I keep telling my companion he just needs to talk and joke with people and if you know a couple words of their dialect you can really get them. That is just one thing that I can share with him to help him out in his future areas. There are many great things you learn on a mission.

We met some crazy lady the other night as we were talking to people. We had just come from one person who asked us if we were scared talking to people at night. We told her, "No." But that changed as we talked to some woman on the street. She told us she knew everything about us and started trying to tell us what our real names were and what we studied and where we lived. She was wrong but that didn't mean that we took direct way home. We wove around on our way home after that because we were a little creeped out.

Earlier as a district we went for a hike and that way fun. Now we are here emailing. Simple life.

So here are a lot of pictures from stories that I talked about a few weeks ago but didn't attach. The wood carving I finally got done... custom... sweet. The view is from earlier. The others are all from when I was in Villaverde.

Have Fun

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Enjoy Life,

J. Tyler Bates