facebook message from the philippines

Liana received this Facebook message from the philippines today.  That is the second time someone has randomly contacted her on Facebook with pictures and kind words about my boy.  When scotty boy was a toddler he used to tell me and others that Liana was his 'second favourite mom'.

Here is the message:

Hi sister liana :) iam edgy from philippines, iam an investigator of he church of jesus christ of latter-days saits and elder kearl is the who is teaches me with his companionship elder briones.

Here are the pictures,  she said scott is baptizing her today.  I can't wait to hear the hyped up, epic, rad account in his letter this sunday.  it's for sure going to be a sunny day.

i have surpassed 100 days!

hi mama

i have surpassed 100 days!! i’ve been in the field longer then the MTC and also its been longer that i have been on my mission then the period of time between receiving my call and leaving. times much quicker out in the field. it is blowing me away. 

ok, so i decided the eager new dad look as fun as it might be, needs changing.  i found an exciting new approach to my new identity out here.  i’m going full blown bukid style!  bukid is farm in tagalog and they are the best people. the outfit consists of long pants in gum boots, w a super used machete around my waist, a hilarious Tshirt and another shirt wrapped around the face to hide the sun w an epic hat on top. i’ve mostly got into wrapping my face in the tshirt b/c on friday i got so burnt. super funny tho and pretty low pain so no worries. hopefully i can bring bukid style back home because its so sunny! 

also the kids here are kinda crazy. everyone loves to try speak english to me even though i tell them i don’t speak english. they usually don’t buy it. a common things to hear from the kids playing in the streets is "AMERICANO, AMERICANO!!" or the slightly more comfortable kids say "give me money!" and i even heard a "AMERICANO! UGLY! you ugly!" haters dont faze tho. also the high school girls are a bit of a concern here. they will just stare and whisper to each other and sometimes speak very quietly but just enough for me to hear in a really awkaward way. the girls say things like "i like your skin","i like your face" or "you have cute eyes". i’ll take it as a compliment tho. thanks ladies. 

super busy week w a low amount of work done in our area :/ splits in Bambang w the ZLs.  their apartments epic w a sweet view!! i had the opportunity to bless an extremely humbled excommunicated RM who wants to come back. amazing spirit there. made another 12 hour round trip to cauayan w again more great views! i met alot of seriously great missionaries and i’m becoming more and more familiar w the missionaries in the CAU. went to a Super mall!! theres one right beside the mission home and it blew me away. super high tech. alot of stores, super american. that was a glorious event. had KFC! very fun day w a 4am wake. 

then an epic service project on friday in Aritao. thats when i got burned. went to the river to fill a jeepney up w sand and then bring that sand to someones house and scoop it out. did that like 3 times. very strenous but super fun. the river was identical to waipourous! super homey. we then cooled down in the river before leaving, jeans and all! it wasnt swimming tho. 

saturday was a huge district wide family event. fun games and bonding were had w the bambang district. made more friends and memories! very sunny event where alot of investigators and less actives attended. 

sunday was a big day as my small humble branch moved to the Del Norte chapel. sacrament meeting in a chapel with a piano felt so so so good. the spirit was there. this move is very beneficial to the branch. we can have the appropriate classes we need and also operate like a branch of this church should be. the next couple weeks we are going to work closely with the district presidency to make sure everything goes well and to code. this move is acting like a fresh start to this branch and it is very exciting to be a missionary here right now because of this. we dont really have the numbers to esthablish a fully operating branch so we are calling in some big guns from the neighbouring branch of Dupax Del Norte. the dupax del sur and dupax del norte branchs are like family. its seriously great!! #DupaxProud 

i’m trying not to be an annoying missionary who just blabs so i kept it short and sweet. i hit the key details and hope you enjoy. alot happens in a week for a missionary. it’s next to impossible to mention it all and also fully explain it. alot happens! my journal entries are getting pretty huge and time is flying! lifes good out here. looks like we are going to have a hard working week this week which will be appreciated. 

oh and i probably have my first baptism saturday. 

christmas is becoming bigger. i’m seeing more christmas ties at church, more christmas trees in homes and i’ve heard its an insane event down here! welcome to the -ber months. 

life is good

work hard, pray hard,

Elder Kearl 

i wouldn't change this for anything

hi mama

thats cool jordan got his call. ngl im pretty jealous. utah is a dream boat. he will meet many amazing spiritual giants and learn so much! great place to go. and he will gain weight. 

pretty classic week, i hit 3 months and very soon 100 days!! 1/8 done. crazy. its been a blink full of huge ups and some downs, tons of lessons learned and cherished memories. i wouldnt trade this for anything. these past days i seriously fell in love with this place. its so beautiful and so epic. everyone is soo humble, so chill and in perfect harmony w one another. theres like no laws and also like no crimes. all the streets of del sur have so many pretty flowers and huge massive palm and mango trees. i love mango trees. every street has so many tindahans (like lemonade stands) where random people just sell random snacks for super cheap. i love the tindahans so much. i am really dreading the day i will leave this country. i said to briones the other day "at the end of mission i hope i dont have to leave but rather all my loved ones and friends come here." this place is next level. way funner than calgary lol suckers. seriously everyone just knows what there doing, and whast going on. perfect harmony down here. the dogs dont chase the cats buts dogs, cats, cows, ducks, chickens all live in harmony with each other. perfect harmony. dont make me leave. plus things are actually cooling down!! love the mountain zone. oh but at like 11 every night there seems to be a huge dog party, all the dogs of the block go nuts and bark their hearts put and get in fights right outside our apartment. lol classic. 

i had a tagalog dream! but just like reality, super frustrating because i couldnt understand it. oh and i went ham in the apartment again. mopped and cleaned the walls and all the appliances. you'd be proud. 

i got a new look going. i call it the "eager new dad look" i have gotten into tucking my tshirt into my jeans and shorts. also i started combing my hair to the left!! all my life its gone right. big change. more pogi. 

ive noticed a huge power in hymns. elder briones and i were in this really far away tiny town called kalinga and this 1.5 million y/o lady was just sitting outside. i usually visit her bc she is oh so lonely and bored and has like super bad sight. we sat down and sang "nearer my god to thee" a personal favorite. love being on the lords errand. were singing christmas hymns in church as well. love the -ber months. 

2 new big things. the branch is moving out of the shack and into a proper chapel. very exciting. this is acting as a fresh start for the branch. usual attendance of 30 btw. so we are emphasizing different programs and reorganizing the branch. super rad. perks of a small branch is its super intimate. and also our golden investigator might not end up moving. she has had a baptismal interview and is ready to enter into the covenant. she decides this sunday if shes moving. lots of praying for her to stay. shes amazing and is like a big sister to me, always correcting my tagalog and mannerisms. we also have 2 investigators who want to serve missions! lol wth. big things are happening. investigators are strengthening. Less actives are coming back and the days are getting sunnier. 

the lady who feeds us said "your moms in canada so im your mom now" and a mom she has been. dont worry im being looked after. even tho i said the language is coming last week, ive gotten very frustrated w my lack of understanding. its been way to long of not understanding lessons. ive had some bouts of frustration but its good i can pray in English. multiple times a day i randomly pray for comfort and i receive. super grateful for that. 

keep plugging on through school mom, i know you can do it! pray for guidance and comfort. after trials comes blessings/witness ether 12:6. and good on dad for putting matt and caleb to work, they look super handicapped, must be a gong show. 

lifes good. im happy. 

elder kearl 

HEAVENLY FATHER HAS YET TO LET ME GO TO BED SAD!

hi mama,

i think i’ll start this one off w a super typical filipino trying to be english quote. "Each happiness is a memory for tomorrow”.

super excited for your masters program mom!!! and typical back to school things. the language has really started to come this week! i’m like conversing w randoms and kids and stuff. super fun to talk now. 

good week. pretty slow and had some discourages but Heavenly Father has yet to let me go to bed sad! the end of this week has been epic so no worries there. 

my Branch Prez wore a christmas tie to church last sunday. oh and i see so much gap and roots here, it is bizzare. and i see the canadian flag like everywhere, yet i’m the only canadian in the mission. but we have an Elder Atwood from edmonton coming wednesday so that is exciting. 

had a great splits w a cherished narrie named elder kane from SLC. great guy, tons of biking and weird events that day but weirdest was seeing a dead baby. one of our investigators had a 1 month old baby recently pass away and i saw the body. super strange and freaky. very sad situation. 

uhm had a super powerful district confrence and an LA and investigator attended. both said they loved it. so epic and we now are meeting in a close by chapel. good bye shack church :/ just as i was getting into it. my comps going to be the next district leader. 

just had a great meal at a buffet where i may have ate some cat meat, idrk tho. went to the zone leaders apartment and had a shower!! like no bucket where the water actaully comes out of a shower head, and it was hot. so weird. first time in over a month i showered w hot water. good stuff. 

read more about past prophets which was fun. comp was sick yesterday so i stayed busy by trying a new recipe and also studying and doing some crafts. it’s funny how this week was kinda rough but i can only remember the sunny days. im starting to get nervous for coming home. life just doesn’t seem as beneficial back home. its seriously great living out here. glad im not leaving for a while. things are progressing. dropped 4 baptisim invitations this week so things are cruising!!! the stats are building and people are drawing closer to Christ. a whole lot of wins lately. 

keeping it short and no pics because no time and slow internet.

until next week,
elder kearl


HI DAD
very excited to get this letter. i'm sitting in a sweaty internet cafe in the busy asian city of BamBang while some kids stare at me. only canadian in this mission until wednesday we get an elder atwood from edmonton. 

hearing about the outings with caleb and matt reminds me of our little outings i miss some evenings. just driving around and checking out cool things was always pretty fun with you. i really cherish thoes times tbh. also the ford camper van is so epic, keep me posted on that idea! seems like you always have alot of diffrent ideas flaoting around. glad your trying to stay busy and having fun with caleb. just show him your classic DGK loving. being a friend is so important and is a quality of yours i hope i acheive one day, very christ like. 

crazy about the ward split. big news!! high council must be pretty neat. 

good to hear joey is still kicking. great guy. we have a dog who sleeps on our pourch, hes joey sized. which is massive here!! glad is living the good life of premium food. 

yeah good times out here. interesting place, my journal is being filled up and im doing great. thanks again for the letter, and i apologize for being an anoyying missionary. 

much love,

kearl.

PS tell mom i love her

MISSIONS ARE PRETTY GREAT TBH. NOT MUCH TO HATE RN.

hi mom,

its been a week i'll tell you that much. what a thrill ride.

on september 1st my companion greeted me with a "Merry Christmas”!!  they start celebrating christmas once it hits the "ber" months. septemBER, octoBER, novemBER and decemBER. gotta love em. i've noticed i’m beginning to miss cold nights/mornings and the cold breeze that rolls into a house when you open the door. i’m going to miss the seasons but i also don’t mind summer. i can only imagine how busy summers are for dad and you but it's amazing how giving you guys are. 

miss ya.... kinda. that thing you sent me about mormon missions is amazing!! so true. good work out here. i never understood how useful the church is in peoples lives, especially this very charitable church we belong to. im happy to be serving. 

monday was typical Pday spent scrubbing and laughing, we are 1 mop away from what i would call a perfect

apartment (you dont count bathrooms tho, their a lost cause). our apartment is now streets ahead of everyone’s i’ve been to and heard about. 

tuesday was normal but tatay and I ended up staying the night at aritaos apartment bc the next day was a big early day. very fun evening. 

wednesday we woke at 4:30 bc we had a follow up training for all the new missionaries in the mission at the mission home in Cauayan. i’m the furthest area in the mission from the mission home so we took a 6 hour bus ride to get there. we were an hour late bc of crazy filipino traffic but president excused us. it was amazing seeing my MTC homies and seeing how they are doing. struggle for all of us at first but were all cruising. then a 6 hour ride back. that last 2 hours is insane pretty bc thats when you hit the mountians. pretty epic bus ride. similar to calgary where calgary is in the prairies then if you drive west you hit the mountains. it's like i live in golden and the mission home is calgary. 80% of the mission is flat and rice fields. im super lucky to be in bambang zone. its epic. 

thursday we got bikes!! briones and i immediatly took them to a town thats an hours bike ride away on a dirt road. skinny tires, no suspension. my sitting area is super soar but thats life. went real deep into the boonies and the mountians, it was like cold there. super werid. my pedal kept falling off but we caught a ride back in a tractor. 

friday, more biking. more repairs. a branch FHE at that new womans house. she was born here but after high shchool she lived in london for 36 years, san diego for a couple and now here for the next 6 months. she wants to do everything she can for our branch, i really appreciate her. interesting accent too. FHE was rad. got a referral and made new friends. 

saturday, big work day.

sunday, church was rad. went to visit a sick old lady and 3 other woman from the branch were visiting!! gave her a blessing and it was spirtual. turns out our tiny branch really cares for each other, super amazing!! spent the night again in Aritao but this time w the whole district. he had permission and it was great bonding after a big day of working. 

experienced a big heart break. our most golden investogator is moving :/ honestly i took this really hard and was quite frustrated. i hope she ends up getting baptized elsewhere. shes a gem and i wish her the best.

today, we went to the southern most town of the mission, santa fe. then climbed like 600m up this crazy road even scarier and bigger than logans pass. went deep into some huge mountians then when we got out it was cold!! it was scary to feel cold tbh. hiked to this massive waterfall that was as majestic as you could imagine a big waterfall in the heart of the jungle could be. the pics dont do its justice. amazing day today. 

all around amazing week. hoping things are turning up for caleb and matt. as i celebrated my crashiversery this week, their accident reminded me how frightening it can be. hope everyones getting ready for school and im excited to hear how your masters goes mom. so proud. 

I learned some more amazing things during studies and i’m becoming ever more filipino. missions are pretty great tbh. not much to hate rn. 

much love, 
elder kearl