Car Crash!!

Haha mom I probably just freaked you out with my email subject. Sorry had to do it :) Don’t worry though we’re all good! So driving here is just insane and Elder Webster didn’t see this person cut in front super fast and he ran right into her. It was some business lady who got out and started absolutely wrecking us. It was hilarious because we’re missionaries so we were just like smiling and apologizing. One funny thing though- when we get pulled over or in a crash we’re actually told to pretend to not know Tagalog. Especially when we get pulled over.. Apparently the cops will kinda get tripped up with their English and will get nervous to take your license away. They don’t give tickets here- they just take away your license and you have to go retrieve it haha. Anyways this lady was pretty good at English but it was hilarious listening to her on the phone totally taking shots at us thinking we had no idea what she was saying as she switched over to Tagalog. She said a million times to the cops that we shouldn’t be driving here in their country. Anyways tho the cop that showed up was totally hilarious. Elder Webster forgot his license at home and the lady was like “oh of course he forgot it!” (in tagalog). But the police guy just told her to quiet down then pulled out 10 licenses of random people from his back pocket and said to Elder Webster “Go fish!!” Haha the lady didn’t like that. He then walked us away from her because she was starting to freak at Elder Webster again. When we got away from her he said “yeahh she has three mouths. Yanno sometimes ladies just keep talkin talkin. Don’t worry though, there are three of us and only two of them (her husband came to the scene.) I know it was her fault!” Haha I was just laughin pretty good.. He was totally on our team! It wasn’t even her fault either honestly haha it was ours. Why was he on our team you may ask? He went on to said “By the way Elder Webster, maalaala mo ba ako? Tunay na Filipino ako!” (Do you remember me? I’m the real Filipino!) He goes on to pull out his ID and we then see his name is none other than.. Filipino! Haha whatta stud. Apparently Elder Webster had talked to him on the streets a few months ago haha. He went from trying his best to speak English to us to just speaking tagalog. He said, “I know you guys speak our language, but I like your plan. Keep speaking English to that lady and you’ll be good.” Haha you never know, maybe just being nice to someone will really help you later on in life!

So this week was transfer week. It was totally crazy! Hard to really describe everything that happened. I’ll try to give it a quick run-through though. Tuesday was the last day for the missionaries “dying” this transfer. We got to go pick up one of the Sister’s mom from a hotel and videod them seeing each other for the first time in 18 months! We then took the “skyway” and took tons of luggage over to the hotel by the airport. That was my first time driving super fast in a long time. We were busy with tons of planning and preparing for transfer day which was the next day then that night got to drive the missionaries for their last stretch of their missions. I’ll really miss Elder Jervoso (my second companion) and the assistant Elder Billariña. I got pretty close with Elder Billariña here in my small time working in the office. Im really thankful for the good examples here in my mission and for the things I learn from all of them. Got home at 11:50 and woke up the next morning at 4:30. Ahh!

Wednesday we went straight to the mtc and picked up new missionaries. I feel like yesterday that was happening to me it was super weird! New missionaries are always super excited and coming off a lot of spiritual moments in the mtc. They bring a fun spirit to the mission. We then found out on the busiest day of the transfer Sister Jacobson had an unexpected death in the family! She and President Jacobson are in the office with us (btw elder ahn transferred.) I was able to take part in a blessing for her in the middle of the chaos. I’m soo thankful for the Priesthood! We drove tons of missionaries to different spots for training, meetings, etc.

After things started to cool down it was time for us to make a legendary mattress run. We were in the car driving from around 4 until 10. Traffic was insane! We hadn’t eaten all day but it was cool to see the Lord was looking out for us in small ways. One mission couple gave us a bag of candy as we grabbed a mattress from them and my old zone leader Elder Roberts said “Don’t think you guys can stop here in Sta. Cruz without getting some donuts!” He pulled out two donuts from his bag haha. We got to drop off mattresses in my first area which was super fun. Driving to different missionariy houses was super tough because of the tiny streets here. They’re called eskinitas, people riding jeepneys had to put their elbows in because we were so close. My companion got out to guide me and said a piece of grass would’ve gotten stuck in between my wheel and the curb at some spots haha!

Saturday on P day I cooked the Top Ramen that was sent! Elder Webster and I had to run and do stuff earlier and we had Stake Conference at 4 so our P day was about 2 hours. After groceries and doing laundry I thought just cookin up some nice Top Ramen would make my day complete. As I started cooking Elder Webster woke up from his sleep and started looking around super violently. Then next thing I know Elder Allred is walking in the room too. They both FREAKED OUT when they saw the Top Ramen package it was hilarious. +So thanks mom for makin our lives awesome here!

This week was pretty wild for us and we only got into our area twice the whole week. Yesterday was the second time and we started from 3 oclock until it was time to be home. We had no appointments so we just talked to everyone and ended up with no lessons! There’s a Catholic holiday going on right now so we kinda had a hard time ha. Success always takes time and work though, in life we need to be patient and remember the Lord’s timetable for us and others. In Stake Conference one thing that hit me was when our mission president said, “We need to learn to change for the better NOW. Don’t wait until tomorrow, NOW is the time!” I was thinking of things I could do right now in my life in order to be a little better. It was cool as I pondered this I had a few ideas come to me. Not crazy big things, but just small things that I know can make things better. I know that the Holy Ghost is real and that it plays a very important role in our lives. He will always give us answers and guide us through this life. I’ve relied a ton on the Holy Ghost in my mission and nothing would happen if it was just me trying to teach the people here. Another cool thing this week. There is a missionary waiting for her Visa from Parañaque which is an area in our mission. While she waits for her visa she is assigned here in the manila mission. We thought for sure President would put her as far away from her house as possible, but to our surprise he announced she’d be serving in the Parañaque 3^rd ward! The closest area that a trainer was at. It would like me serving in the Sego Lily ward haha (or whatever ward is in our building now)! Same stake, same building, just a different ward. I’ve learned that sometimes the Holy Ghost gives us promptings that seem inconvenient. I’m sure it was hard for President Ostler to follow that prompting but there must be a reason Sister Portez is where she is!

Thank you all for your support!
Love, Elder Reber