More Sleeping "Photo Bombs"

More photos for Jacob's collection of sleeping "photo bombs"

Rat Attack Oct 14, 2014

Things are going very good here! Im sad about Grandma but am so glad that the funeral went to well. I loved seeing all of the photos. Im sure its been a crazy couple of weeks. Transfers are not out yet, we will find out this monday what will happen. We had zone interviews  and conference in Dumaguete so spent 4 days on the island of negros. It was super fun as I was able to go on splits with my batch Elder Ioane, although tough since that was 4 days of no work in our area. Things are going really well! We are finally seeing people really progress from our first transfer. We were also able to watch general conference since its a week delayed here. Elder Bigornia and I are really working hard! Im so grateful for him, I dont feel like im training him but rather just companions as he has progressed so much.
    I loved conference so much! Its so interesting as how we grow and mature how conference begins to mean so much more. It was truly amazing, I loved the saturday talks! Though the Sunday were good too ( I dont think anyone would ever say any of them are bad hah). A couple stuck out to me though i dont have my notes with me right now and dont remember all their names. I really liked Elder Oaks and the one "which way do we face?". I feel that this is a challenge in the church. We must always reevaluate and face the Lord. I am going to download all the talks and listen to them again during the morning when we get ready. 

 Im glad all is going well! I love you all! Also I killed my first rat yesterday. He has been eating lots of our food and putting holes in lots of stuff. 

   Another funny story is we were watching the district ( the missionary video used for training here) with elder bigornia and it was so funny as we would point out all the differences. We would see the carpet floor ( we have cement) cushined chairs during study, microwaves, lamps, nice wooden desks for study, washers. It was kind of funny seeing the differences of difference missions. Sometimes i feel like i would want so of the other convenient stuff but seeing what others have here, im soo grateful for our apartment and love living such a basic life. Ive grown so much, its so amazing! I love yall all! 

Elder Crandall

Washing a cell phone Sept 30, 2014

Hello its been such a good week! I hope everyone is doing well! Its been a super crazy week! We had ward conference which is in Dumaguete as our group is apart of that ward. Then we stayed for the District meeting and then went back after. Tuesday we had a super full day of work!! And then this morning we came back to negros since there is a mission conference with all the missionaries in negros. ( there are 2 conference, one in cebu and one in negros). And then the following week we will come back for General conference. The work is really going well. Since its such a new area its a lot of planting. We have some really good investigators that we are excited about as we see their progression. I went on splits with the ZLs with Elder Wilding from Utah. We had an experience with this lady who did not like the missionaries. She was just like " you just want to baptize me, and then after I'll have to go on a mission like you!"  Elder Wilding talked to her and explained the importance of baptism and then said sister we do not want you to be baptized if you are not ready. We are here to help people get ready and receive answers that this church is true. It was a very interesting conversation as her views of us were so skewed. 

      Funny story, Elder Bigornia was holding the phone and had it in his pockets. We had to wake up this morning early to wash our clothes ( we do it all by hand so it takes a while) since we are in Dumaguete so we had to soak them the night before. We realized that he put in his pants in to the bucket with the phone in it! We are going to try to soak it in some rice. 

      We meet a guy at church in Dumaguete that lives on siquijor but come out once a week for church and to go to the movies. We visted him in siquijor.  He live in salt lake city but works for the FBI and is involved in a human trafficking case in Thailand right now. He is a very interesting guy. It was very nice to be able to speak in english! 

     

   I love yall! I hope all is going well!

  ELder Crandall

Photo is from our district activity at this beach place! Its so beautiful in siqiujor! 

Transfers

9/17

Hello Family,

 Things are going soo well here! This week we have really had many blessing finding people. Something we try to do is service and then turn it into a teaching opportunity. It's really proved effective, the only problem is that no one will let us help because they don't want us to get " dirty" since we have our white shirt and pants. Normally we just start helping if they are doing anything like picking up leaves, picking up coconuts, really anything.
     Good news! Siquijor can apply to be a branch!! Last week we had 44 which was so much better than the previous 28 the week before.
      About washing clothes, its all done by hand. I hate it but it's not to bad. It's really funny because every time I was I think of 5th grade on our field trip to the heritage farm museum when the lady was showing us how they washed their clothes back in the day. She said " Can you imagine washing like this everyweek". Sometimes I jokingly think to myself.. yes i can, how about you? hhah but its really not to bad. It gives Elder Bigornia and I time to talk. 

   It's truly amazing how kind and humble people are. I have been spending so much time thinking about families as we have some families that we are teaching and have recently found.  Family here is so important. People don't have money, but they always help their family no matter what happens. Truly family is happiness. In these broken homes the kids often end up getting into drugs, girl/boys, and so many of the things of the world when in reality the true happiness is in the family. It's amazing that we can all live together in the next life and it shows the importance of following the scriptures, prophets, and teaching of the church. 

  Quick funny story. In Pardo I drank only Pepsi. Soda is super cheap here( though I am not cutting it out haha) but it's just coke on Siquijor. We found one place where there is pepsi and I got sooo excited! Some 14 year old kid bought some and I really wanted to try some. I said hey can I try some? He let me! It was kind of weird after drinking just coke but it was so funny. It shows how kind people are here! I love yall so much! 

Elder Crandall

9/9

Hello, It has been another very good week! We had transfer calls and Elder Bigornia and I are staying in Siquijor which I'm really excited about! Things are going really well! I'm still working on the language but this transfer I plan on waking up everyday a little early to really work on it. Its funny because I always want to speak Visiya and Elder Bigornia always wants to speak english. We have a pretty funny story. Elder Bigornia was having problems with one of his back wisdom tooth that needed to be pulled. There is a couple missionary that took us to the one in Dumaguete ( as there arent any on siquijor). The dentist is a women and Elder Bigornia was really worried because his other dentist were men and he thought that the lady would be too weak to pull it. Sister Henrichson was saying how its not about strength but about technique but E. Bigornia was still hesitant. She was saying how this dentists was really good and approved by the church and stuff. I'm in the office talking to Sister Henrichson while elder bigornia is on the chair. Afterwards he said he should have went to a male dentist! hha They injected him with a little pain medicine in his gums and then she just went to town pulling, twisting, and turning until it came out. He said it hurt soo bad and he felt it all and was trying not to yell. He said the male dentists before would just get a really good grip of the tooth and then just yank it out in one tug. After she put some cotton in, gave him 4 pills ( 2 to prevent infection, and 2 pain) and thats it. Mom and Dad, Dont worry, I've been taking good care of my teeth so don't worry! Also Elder Ioane will be in my zone!! I'm so pumped, he is my batch from Samoa! Love yall all!

Fun Photos - Siquijor Island

Jacob and his companion, Elder Bigornia

Jacob and his companion, Elder Bigornia

Another sleeping "photo bomb", canine version

Welcome to Siquijor Island

Shredding a coconut.  Notice the tongue; somethings never change (even on a mission)

Blueberry Cheesecake

The third week in Siquijor has been so good! Its been so hard, but so fun! Its been pretty crazy, I went on splits with the ZLs and the APs came down to Siquijor so I was able to go on splits with elder Milia from Manilla ( my old zl). It was so fun and such a good experience! He is one of my best friends on the mission. I learned soo much! The McCurdys came down to Siquijor. The 6 Siquijor missionaries were able to  see them at a resort! The resort is so nice!  President treated us to some dessert! I got some blueberry cheese cake! It was so good! 

This week will be a super busy week. We have Elder Shayne Bowen of the Seventy coming for a conference so tonight we will take a boat to Dumaguete and sleep there. Then we will take a boat to Cebu island and drive up to Cebu and sleep at some of the elders apartment and Friday will be our conference! I am super excited. We are blessed because our mission is really obedient so all of our conferences are never about obedience problems but are normally doctrines, which I really love. Elder Bowen asked us to study the Abrahamic Covenant, so for the last week I have really been studying about and our DL did a workshop so I have already learned so much. I'm pumped to learn even more Friday!  Things are awesome here! Love the mission! 

First week on Siquijor

So things are going sooo good in Siquijor! Siquijor is soo amazing, I truly love it! The area I live in is what you would think about when you think about a really little beach town. There are not McDonalds or anything like that at all, but there is this little place you can eat that is called Jo's, soo good. My area is really far away, about 3 minutes by tricylce. When you think of the really touristy spots on the beach with clear water.... well that is what its like, except without the tourists. Something that was kind of hard to adjust to is the apartment. Its nice, but the electricity and water goes out all the time. A couple days ago 19 out of the 24 hours - no electricity or water. We cook with gas stoves so we are ok and we shower with a bucket. At night sometimes its pretty hot, but sometimes there will be a really nice breeze so it will be pretty cool.   I'm training... its hard but sooo good! My companion is elder Bigornia from Mindanao. His english is ok, we mostly speak Visaya (Cebuano). Church was an interesting experience... Last sunday there was around 24 people including the missionaries, 2 pairs of elders and 1 pair of sisters. All the missionaries in Siquijor are Pinoy (Filipino) except me so its a lot of Visiya. We opened up a new area where there haven't been missionaries so we are creating a new teaching pool. Basically everyday we just try to talk to EVERYONE and get as many OSTs (on the spot teachings) as we can. Its been tough but real good. The people here are really chill and sooo friendly! I really love it! I hope all is going well with everyone! Love yall all

Elder Crandall