Elder Kyle Alldredge

Hey its me again!!!

A ton of things have happened this past week and I don't even know where to start! This past week has definitely been longer and harder than the first two but it has still been a good time!! We always make time for laughing our heads off and making jokes and singing songs, it is essential for the mission. Get ready for that everyone almost ready to go! Its a party!!

This week we have learned a ton, but not a lot of super huge changes that you can tell when we speak Tagalog. We have gained a lot of vocabulary on the list, and we have memorized 3 more verses in Tagalog! James 1:5, Moroni 10:5, and the missionary purpose. So we are improving a lot and also reading scriptures a ton!! Who knew? Reading scriptures a lot in the MTC? I had no idea about that;) But let me tell you, I have come to LOVE LOVE LOVE my scripture reading time!!! I have been reading mostly in Matthew lately and the stories of Jesus are just the best!! He is the greatest example who ever walked the earth! If you haven't read about Christ's stories too much lately then go read in Matthew, its so much fun to read!

This past week me and Elder Zachilli were called in for a meeting with President Reyes. So we had no idea what to expect going into that. But he asked if we would be the Zone Leaders for all of the LTM's!! And also I take on the responsibility of being the District Leader on Friday! So I will be the Zone/District Leader!!! Crazy stuff! I hope and pray that I am up for the challenge!

The food this week was spot on ALMOST all the time!!! We had 3 Fiestas! They are so much fun! We mostly eat rice and a really good meat, or lumpia(which is like an egg rollish thing, with delicious meat) so I love fiestas! One of the nights they gave us a snack, and it was this rice thingy with coconut on the outside. It was like sticky rice basically rolled together into a ball with some flavorless coconut on top... Think of a huge nasty gooey, almost to the gum stage, but not quite piece of rice with no flavor. It was the weirdest thing ever! We ate some of it, then chucked the rest cuz we couldn't handle it anymore, it was so weird:) We also had a Pizza/Spaghetti night last night!!!! It was the best thing ever! I really needed a break from the rice every meal, even though its really good, but pizza can't be beat! The pizza they gave was delicious!! I had like 7 pieces because I knew I wouldn't get it for another 3 weeks until I leave the MTC. We also had a giant plate of spaghetti which was very good!

We have been teaching our investigators everyday and we have seen improvement in both of them. We committed one to baptism but he still has so far to go, lets just say he is not close at all. But he did accept the invitation! The other one was really making progress, and then she brought her friend who is a born-again Christian to the lesson. So we basically had to review almost all of everything again!! But we can basically teach our entire lessons without any notes or anything! We study PMG everyday and can teach almost all in Tagalog!! Now we are just learning the filler words and when to use them and stuff like that! But teaching is actually really fun, so thats good!

The Provo batch of missionaries came and it was crazy here!!!! There was so many people! And it was the worst having to share the Filipinos with all the American missionaries;) Jokelang, there were some really cool guys, but I am so grateful to have been able to come to the Philippines MTC!!! Everyone was so jealous! And they speak Tagalog like such Americans, its kinda embarrassing:) But everyone left this morning!!

Last night we had to say good bye to some really good friends that we have made, it was so sad!!! I love those guys!! The Filipino elders were all so nice and cool to us. But because we were Americans, everyone wanted our emails, and wanted pictures with us, it was hilarious!!! I think by next week I'll have like 20 random emails from all Filipino elders, but hey i love em so its all good!

We are now the only people here at the MTC!!! There are 13 of us, ONLY 13!! In the whole Philippines MTC!! It is really sad when you go to lunch and there is only one table set up for us. But we also feel like we run the place, and we know all the "secret tunnels" and stuff;) We have all the ins now, especially being a Zone Leader, its awesome!

Oh and we were supposed to go out in the field tomorrow, for proselyting but they couldn't because they had to change all of our schedules for some reason, so next week we will proselyte on Thursday!! I'm so pumped!! I get to see the outside world, instead of being locked in the bubble of the MTC, that I love btw! But I'm just pumped!

Well there's another week for you!! Thanks for the emails!

I LOVE ALL YOU GUYS!!

I love it here, and i do my very best every day to become more like Christ!

Smiling and laughing are the best ways to make your day better, so do it as much as possible!!

Have a great week! And I LOVE THE PHILIPPINES!!!
The people here are seriously the greatest!!

Paalam, LOVE, Elder Alldredge