two new scotty words....sall and splitsing

hi mama,

kamusta po nay,

your babys second typhoon!! but first super typhoon!! but before i get into that craziness i want to share an experience.

i went up to this really old lady just sitting on her porch and asked her how she is. she replied not good, i asked why and she simply said “because i’m blind" she now began to cry and began to explain to me about her kids being in prison and other hardships of the typical filipino life. with my limited tagalog i managed to say "its fine becasue your beautiful (super cheesy i know), i know that God knows you and loves you and through Christ all things will work out!" i began to cry with her and it was a powerful moment for me. 

yeah, crazy week as well. so after recovering from the first typhoon sunday we were then told another one was coming!! when i first learned about hurricanes i was told there were 4 categories to explain its strength. signal 1 which is nothing and signal 4 which is 200+ km/h winds. we were told that this hurricane would be a signal 5!! the filipinos didn’t even think that possible. its weird knowing a storm is coming and preparing and then being at home waiting for it to be over before it begins. i also remember saying to my comp "people are going to die" and some did die, but less than 10. nothing compared to hurricane yolanda back a few years ago which killed 2000ish. this hurricane only really hit the northern part of the mission. it was weaker than sundays so nbd. but people ended up staying in the chapel just in case and the missionaries assigned there were reloacted to hotels in other cities!! and now they will continue there relocating, but for the next 6 weeks!! super crazy. i guess Tugugeroa was absolutely destroyed. insane. i spent the lock down in Del Norte and spent most my time with the people in the chapel helping out how i could. sall good tho. we even got some relief packages of food from the goverment. very crazy week. didnt have electricty for almost 5 days in Del Sur. so i used this advantage to DEEEEEEEP clean the fridge. good times there. gotta love scrubbing.

last week i also had a crazy experience, i was splitsing in Bambang and walked through the campus of the university to quickly get to an appointment. turns out like all 2000 plus students were outside for a thing and literally everyone was looking at me and whispering and talking and also requesting photos with me!!! am i that handsome?? nah, its just my skin colour. it was seriously so strange and so uncomfortable. ive never felt so isolated. and out off the 2000ish people i was literally the only white person. crazy stuff. 

but more importantly, i have been having a lot of chances for self improvement. i realize i have A LOT to work on and thats been really hard and stressful for me but mostly humbling, so im grateful for that. also turns out i will be with the extremely patient and lovely elder briones for another transfer! 6 more weeks!! that will make 4.5 months. poor guy. its really hard training foreigners, especially while being in del sur. one of the hardest areas of the mish. he really wanted to transfer out :/ guess i have to step up my game. 

not much more to say. i hope people actually read this but i know i wouldn’t if i wasn’t the one writing. so no hard feelings.

much love 
elder kearl