October 26, 2011

Mom!  I got the package last week!  Thank you very much!  So that is a good way to send things, just know it will take about a month or two to get to me.  Now I can use my electric shaver again!

So this past few weeks have been crazy for us in Pilar.  We have proselyted I think 2 days in 2 weeks.  (Sorry for any grammar mistakes or typos this week, junky keyboard)  So it's a 1 day trip to the Bohol port in Tagbilaran, then 1 day trip to Cebu and back, and another 1 day trip back to Pilar. We had that meeting with Elder Holland, and we have another training meeting in Cebu tomorrow, so I'm in Tagbi now.  And then every Monday is a 1 day trip to district meeting and back so all those are shot too.  All the travel is pretty exhausting, but it's good too.  Elder Holland's talk was really uplifting, and the speaker before him (nalimtan nako and iyang pangalan!) was really good as well.  Elder Holland spoke about our duty and callings and our responsibilities as missionaries, and Elder Kwan, from the 70, spoke about the Apostasy.  It was enlightening.  It was also really good to see old friends from the MTC in my batch and my junior batch as well.  I also met a lot of Elders from all over the mission I had never met.  This brings up a pretty cool story.  Well, an encouraging experience for me.  I had Elders coming up to me from all over that I had never even seen before and saying "Elder Garver!  How is Pilar?  I hear that you are Bistak already! (fluent)"  Everybody told me that news was spreading fast about my diligence and it's rewards.  It was pretty humbling, because I still think I have a very long way to go, but it was encouraging as well.  It's a good feeling to know people think highly of me, and it encourages me to continue to strive to live up to their expectations.  On that note, I finished the Book of Mormon in Cebuano this week!  It's a great feeling to be finished, and I really feel like the language is starting to click now.  I'm really loving it here now more and more as the language barrier gets smaller and smaller.

So I have another full week of traveling ahead of me because of this training, so I kinda sorta am doing what Dad is.  I'll be happy to finish this transfer, then I won't be a trainee anymore, so no more dugay training meetings.

I'm excited to hear how the move goes and what the new area is like and all that fun stuff!  It is sorta weird still to me but it's kinda exciting too I guess.

I love you all!
Elder Garver