this body can not put on any weight for the life of it

Hello po nay! 

the January 29th weigh in:

5' 10.5"

148lbs.

i've been eating my self sick every meal. so much oatmeal and peanut butter every morning. 3 eggs and half a chicken breast with a scoop and a half of rice w/ ketchup for lunch. 4 eggs and 6 pieces of bread toasted for dinner every meal for the past 5 months to no avail... this body can not put on any weight for the life of it. things have been moving around tho ever since Coach Brockbanks been pushing me for my daily morning and night exercise. we will see this coming june if Scottie really can get the swimmers body tho. nobody hold their breath. mapayat for life.

Hey, so Kim got baptized! she bore a very good testimony afterwards. She said she used to hide from Elder Galindo and I but then Edwin (our guy) preached the word of God a little (Kim actually said that) and then she started listening. Edwin also let us teach in his home everynight till like 8:30 which is a really close to 1am in the Phillipines. He used to not let Elder Galindo and I teach him after 6:30 so he sacrificed a solid sleep schedule for Kim. Edwin is the man. 

Elder Kearl

how is everyone not baptized?

Hello po NAY!

thanks for sending pics of bailey and seths wedding...amazing...wow! i wanna find a suit like seths for once i'm home!

instead of Mimi, you should be called nanay! (NAN-AY) nanay is nice and filipino. Danny and I both had many nice wonderful Nanays (or grandma type filipino woman) on our missions.

so edwin got a calling as the hymn book manager of the ward. you could imagine i threw my hand way up there to sustain him! EDWIN! 

not a lot going on. we had a good solid week in our area! we were able to teach 35 lessons and to 26 different groups or individuals. that's crazy to think that over 30 people were able to hear the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! how is everyone not baptized? were getting there tho. got one more baptism in this area on Saturday then i'm probably transferring to my last area on January 31.... it's been a good like 5 months in Baluarte and i'm starting to feel pretty worn out tho.... it's time to spice things up a bit. 

it's been great to hear so much good news from home and i'm excited to see what happens once we release Dirty J and the Crew into the real world again before 2019. Any news about my schooling mom?

hey, the zone played football this morning which was super fun but my legs are worn out, hahaha.  Elder Fox, "KOBE" got the MVP after dropping the ball so many times. good people in this zone.

zone conference on wednesday, LETS GET IT!

Elder Kearl 

life's real good in Baluarte

NAY!

yeah, we watched President Monson's funeral! it was cool! 

send a pic from Baileys wedding!

hey mom not much to say. we got a new roomate bc there were some emergency transfers! and he is so much like jake maller! just does his thing and calmly moves thru life. he's super new and is a master at Tagalog and Ilocano! all he does is study the language. makes me wonder where i would be if i put in that kinda time from day 1.....

Because of the new guy i'm taking Illocano more seriously. it is fun learning a language again! the goal is before January 31 to be able to pray and bear my testimony. don't think i'll learn much more after that. tagalog is good enough hahaha

made some big plans with Edwin i thought i would let you know. so when his family gets sealed in the temple i'll attend. His wife btw, is being taught in hong kong! she's in lesson 2! just saying its gonna happen. i took a blood oath. nobody can stop me. 

that's it, life's real good in Baluarte.

Elder Kearl

New year, new hope

Hello po nay,

BAGONG TAON. BAGONG PAGASA! a member very brightly said this as an opening line to her testimony. translating to: NEW YEAR, NEW HOPE! its true isn't it? ive managed to wish everyone i see a happy new year everyday until now. hey! they love it! 

i got nothing to report on. sorry.

But i kinda wanna mention this companionship. by far the most fun and exciting and funniest time of my mission and the time ive grown the most. I love this Elder alot and consider him to be one of my best friends ever. no one knows as much about me as him and i've never learned more about my self. We are complete opposites of one another but get along very well. i've never been more united and progressing so much in the work and my personal progress (not as a YW!! but as a human on earth). we have very different personalities but the same standards so things go smooth.  we got till the 31st and i'm enjoying it till its gone! but it's felt like 30 years hahaha i've really changed within this companionship.

Elder Kearls fav scripture of 2018: Nephi 18:32

Elder Kearl

 

joel is inspiring and really knows what's up

NAY! 

hello po, so just a funny thing from christmas was we were glancing one of the weird gameshows people have on their screens 24/7 and the guy has the crowd going nuts as hes singing his song and doing his thing, and he just yells out: "ITS JESUS' BIRTHDAY SO WE ARE ALL BLESSED!". i hope he has a point.

they get into christmas here just so they can secretly go nuts on new years. so new years was super chill with a really good sleep. the usual here is just as much noise as possible on and during the surrounding days of new years. obviously with the climax being 12 o'clock. people will scream and honk horns and rev engines and drive with cans behind their vehicles and lots of fireworks. we saw one firework thats really cheap that shot into the sky and always dove back and landed on the ground than blew up. its pretty cool until it lands in your house! super fun tho. i missed the chance at 12 to stick my head out and yell something! but thats ok. i woke well rested. 

a highlight was my comp and I almost had a walk in appointment with the mayor of the city but just talked with the secretary telling her we live here and can get 26 missionaries to do anything they want. she gave me the numbers of the enviromental head of the city and like a guy in charge of like the christian churches services thing idk he's a pretty big deal tho. anyway they texted back and said they will let us know! so now we have been sending letters into so many stuff to get service going. super fun. stay posted. 

I read Jordans and Joels mission emails asap and they were good. Joel is inspiring and really knows whats up. if you are reading my emails, stop and go to joels. youll learn more (mom please include the quote) and Jordans is like hes on a whole nother planet! not even the same missionary work. Utah....

for all the people putting on their new 2018 self, here are "Elder Brockbanks way to set goals":

1) What do i want - not what others want but what i want for myself, my true desires.

2) Understand what it is - make it specific

3) Identify the steps

4) Identify what stops this from happening

5) Make a plan - put it on paper

6) Find someone to hold you accountable

Elder Kearl

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE PHILIPPINES

matching Elf jammies from his momma!

Hello po nanay! 

it was a very merry christmas! and here is why: skype to the crew :) 4 eating appointments X0 (one with like lasgana! and an indian man). good laughs and some christmas motab video stuff at a members :) so we woke up, opened the 2 remaining gifts from GMA K :) and Edwin (the Recent Convert) picked us up to go to the Quibuyen family headquarters. we made it and Jing Jing (his younger sister, married to a persian man living in america) prepared the best foods ever! im talking cheetos, tostitos, doritoes, guac, cereal (almost like she knew the kearl classic). shes got some money so we didnt feel bad at all. she was exicted to feed foreigners and there was also an indian guy from hong kong who had nothing to do apparently so he flew over for a couple days. yeah we asked him every question ever about india and hinduism. we got to skype :) ate a big lunch :):) and met almost all 9 of the quiboyen siblings and they all live on like the same street! good people. the nanay said "too bad the delaga's (young unmarried woman) are not here!" good to see Nay is looking out for us. than we went to some  Baluarte legends bc they told us we had no choice :/ the Pulido Family (Shane Lethabys buddy), Abogado adn Rouque. we were going to work and teach but at every appointment a member would text us and say: "hey come and eat here. we cooked you food and are waiting for you..." the spirit was weak but the flesh was willing. destroyed my self but this skinny filipino boy could handle the carbs. felt really bad we didnt teach any one..... but this not a "no" culture. came home bc of an early curfew. Called a zone mate bc he was a little sad being away from his family. read about Jesus Christs ministry in America and hit the hay. very merry.

about the skype: i am just full of gratitude like never before for my family. i reallly love you all alot. your all doing incredibly well and really inspiring me. i truly am a lucky boy and am happy to see you all again! afterwards i just felt very content. thank you. im also incredibly grateful for Dad for looking out for my post secondary education. i have no worries about it now! thank you :)

We also had a baptism of Rina and Julie! Julie was the one we sang the song with we sent home! amazing woman and cool to see they progressed in their commitment to Follow Jesus Christ :) wish i could say more but no time :/

had a christmas zone confrence which was great. i loved it bc we did the same thing as last year. really noticed how nice traditions are it was nice to have one here. 

Maligayong Pasko,

Elder Kearl 

snoop dogg is being played so loud right outside the computer shop. this place tho :):):)

Hello po nay! 

snoop dogg is being played so loud right outside the computer shop. this place tho :):):) 

funniest thing, so right now while emailing the owner of the little net shop is throwing a sweet bday party and serving us food as we email! super amazing fancy food too. i love this country. also explains the loud snoop dogg music hahaha

pretty awesome week with lots of throwbacks! lots of walks down memory lane but not all were sunny, let me explain. but first an Elder Brockbank quote:

"If I could only listen to one Babylonian (non hymn) song right now it would be Mistletoe by Justin Beiber. idk its just a good song" 

So we went on exchanges with the Assistants and i was able to work with Elder Uy again!! my companion back in june. one of my all time favorites as well. really missed that guy. it was great talking about the good ol days with him and i even got to go down some similar roads in their area bc i worked there quite a bit while in cauayan and saw some familar faces! really fun! also learned alot form them but pretty happy to see we are on a very similar page to them :) 

something that surprised me on memory lane although was going back to my old apartment. i thought it would be really sunny and while it was i had some very uncomfortable feelings there. its smaller than i remembered but it felt like so much was missing. really weird not seeing Elder Pulley there. that guy meant alot to me while i was there. i got really sentimental and a little sad. hard to sleep that night and i just wanted to go back to santiago and see Elder Sacil and Domasing (my roomates) and sleep in my own apartment. 

other than that saw President Capitulo of the mission presidency who is a legend. 200 pounds, 6"1', farmer who is the best. he intereviewed my first baptism, Sister Ergy. Great seeing him some more and he even remembered me! 

thats all 

Elder Kearl