November 18, 2013

Hey T,

Things are going good. I know that all the missionaries that were there are all okay. They closed the mission and sent all the missionaries to other missions. I don't know of any that are coming here.  An Elder here wants us to have matching ties. So if you could send some sick ties that would be cool and anything else would be sweet.. candy. .I don't know what else to say so i guess it is going to be short this week.

Love you all,

Elder Doney 

November 11, 2013

Hey T,

Yeah the Typhoon didn't really hit here. We just got some rain and a little wind nothing big at all. The Filipinos see it as a chance to not work because it is a typhoon. So we stayed inside that day. I don't know about the missionaries there, I just know there are about 72 of them. They are saying that they should be okay but they can't talk to them because the Internet and cell phones towers are down.  I taught the two people we baptized for 6 weeks, but I was not the one that found them. The younger one is named Mary Ann Cortez and the older lady is Mylen Mendoza. 

Hey Reagan I love you too. and you too Mylee and Averi 

Well I guess that is it.  Love all of you and miss you all like crazy. Tell the girls to stop growing up so fast.

Love you,

Elder Doney 

Hey mom,

Things are all good here. All we got during the typhoon was rain and that was about it a little wind but not that strong. We had a Quorum of the 70 come talk with us this week the day before the typhoon hit. It was good, but some of the older elders said he said the same thing as 2 years ago almost word for word. So that was funny but it was still good. My day starts at about 6 30 well that is when we get up, but i get up at 6 i don't know why I just wake up and am not able to go back to sleep. Then I eat and shower if i feel like it. I shower at night. so sometimes i don't shower in the morning. Only if it is raining outside and the water is going to be really cold. Then its personal study then companionship study, then language study, then lunch. After lunch my companion likes to take a little nap so I study or talk with another Elder. Then we go out and teach. This week we had 6 investigators and 3 with a baptism date. Then after teaching we go back to the apartment, if we don't have a dinner appointment, but we have a lot this week. Then I shower then we talk. Sometimes we try to kill lizards, and flies. Then we go to bed and do it all over again. 

Yesterday we went to teach a girl, she is a friend of a girl in our branch. When we got there the girl that is a member her cousins where there.  They were not members so we taught them to. We had a kid that just got back from his mission on Wednesday with us and at the end he talked a little bit. We were teaching about Heavenly Father and families. The boy said that he knows that families can be together forever through temple ordinances. The cousin of the girl looked at me then asked what is that. So were tried to explain and as we were we said priesthood and he didn't know what that was ether. So we tried to talk about that to. We just told him that it's impossible to learn in one day. So he wanted us to come back to teach again. It was really cool.

Well that is about it for me. I don't know what else to say. Hope everything is going good back home.

Love and miss you,

Elder Doney   

November 4, 2013

Our Kitchen

Our Baptism

I walk on this street all the time 

A man coming back from working in the fields

October 28, 2013

Hey T,

  I got my new companion, he is really cool. We get along really well and have a lot of fun together. We had a baptism this week. It was good. There was no power when we went to go fill up the font. They have a tank outside so we where hoping that is would fill up the font. It all worked out and we got it done. We got new Elders in my area. One of them is American. It's really nice to have another American in my area. He just got here Wednesday so he has no idea whats going on, just like me. Sometimes I translate for him, but I am not the best at Tagalog so there are some times when I don't know what they are saying.  I guess I am better then when I got here. I miss you all and can't wait to see you again. 

Love you,

Elder Doney 

October 20, 2013

Hey T,

I am by a city called Burgos. It's above Cauayan City where the mission home is. It's not even close to the ocean. The other language has some words that are the same as tagalog but over all its not like it at all. I don't understand it. We didn't feel the earthquake at all. We teach one class on Sundays and we bless the sacrament every week. The members are okay they never really help us at all and no one ever works with us. If they do they expect us to buy them a snack.  The food is alright, some times it's not the best. I am in a really poor area so the food is not the best most of the time. Hope everything is going good. Good luck with volleyball this week. 

Love you all,

Elder Doney  

October 7, 2013

Hey T,

We watch conference this week. Last time it was in English, so I bet this time it is too. The language is okay. I have to speak it every day because no one here knows English. They can say simple things, but in my area they mostly speak ilocano so I don't ever really know what is going on. The people are really nice and the area is in the middle of nowhere I don't know how to really explain it except that it is fields and houses there is nothing really out here. I can't imagine Averi speaking! In my mind she is still a little chubby girl.  This week was good I went on a split and had a lot of fun. One lady asked me to marry her daughter. We asked another lady a question and she didn't say anything. Then we asked her again. She said she was sorry that she got lost in my eyes. It was so funny. The Elder I was with and I  were laughing so hard after the lesson. Hope you have a good week.

Love you,

Elder Doney 

September 29., 2013

Hey T,

Things are going good. I am in a little place called Mabini. I can't call it a town because it is so small. No one can speak English, just Tagalog and ilocano.  My President is really nice and helps me out a lot. There is only me and my companion in my area, so we have a lot of time to talk.  Tell Averi happy birthday for me. This week we had a party for family and it was fun. I got to hang out with the missionaries from my zone because we were all invited to the party. That was nice. Hope you have a good week. I got to head now my  companion wants to go.

Love you,

Elder Doney

September 22, 2013

Hey T,

The area is good. It is like a little farm town. The houses are really small and made of like bamboo and wood. There are only like 2 big houses and they belong to people not from the Philippines, so we never go into them. The people are really nice. They love to look at me. I am the first American that has been in my area for over a year, so the people just stare at me. It's hard to talk with them because no one knows English and I don't know Tagalog very well,  so if they ask me an important question and I don't know what they said and my companion will translate the best he can. It's a lot of fun not knowing what is ever going on. haha My companion is okay, we don't talk much, but I don't like to talk much. The people get mad that I don't talk, but I don't know what to say.  Well my companion just got up and walked out the door. So I guess I have to go. 

Love you,

Elder Doney

September 16, 2013

Hey T,

  I got transferred. I am in the middle on nowhere. So we don't have anything to do an P-days. We take a 45 minute ride to get food, then we email. We did play basketball this morning, but it's not as fun as when I would play back home with my friends. Filipinos are just not as good at it and it's too hot. We are in the middle of nowhere so there is nothing to do out here.  We have to drive a long ways to do anything.  Volleyball sounds fun. I always liked to go watch Mackenzi  play. I can't wait for when I get home to watch Mac's senior year they better be good and go to state. I would love to go watch them play at state. Tell Mac to practice up. Nothing really does happen out here we just work and study. It is just me and my companion in our apartment so we don't have much to do.

Love you,

Elder Doney

September 9, 2013

Hey T,

Things are going good here. That video you found I was singing at a party we went to. It was a farewell for one of the Elders who was going home. It was something that the ward put together. We have a bigger one that all the missionary go to. I am getting transferred to a new area. I will go to it Wednesday, but I don't know where I am going yet. We don't knock on doors and we don't use facebook. Some people don't even have doors and everyone has a fence around their house so they wouldn't be able to hear you if you knocked,  so we yell stuff in Tagalog to let them know we are there.  I miss you guys like crazy.

Love you all,

Elder Doney

September 1, 2013

Hey T,

This week went by faster than last week, but it still wasn't very fast. Nothing really happened, well nothing really too exciting to write about. We just work everyday.  I think I got all the pictures, I got a lot- Thanks!  I will have to start sending one at a time because I sent like 6 but you only got one. I will see if i can fix that. Everything sounds really fun back home. That picture of Averi killed me I was laughing so hard. She looks a lot bigger then when I left. That is crazy I have not been gone very long and she is already starting to change a lot. 

Love you,

Elder Doney

Hey Man,

It's good to hear from you. Hunting season sound like a lot of fun. All the elders here have never been hunting let alone shot a bow or a gun.  I tell them about it and now they all really want to go, it's funny.  It sounds like everything is going good and that you are having a lot of fun.  Have fun man and thanks for writing. 

Elder Doney

August 26, 2013

Hey T,

 Nothing really happened this week.  I feel like i am doing the same thing all the time. I can't believe how fast everyone is growing up. Reagan sounds like a very positive girl. She seem like someone that will always think of the glass half full haha. I can't believe school has started again if feels like it just got over. I don't know it seems like everything is going to fast out here and I feel like I am not learning much.  I would love to see the pictures that Reagan took for the fair and I would love to see some of the things that Mylee did. How is Morgan doing and Holli and Mike? I dont hear from them much. Also how is tyson i dont hear from him ether. I love you all.  Tell Reagan Mylee and Averi to stop growing up, at least until I get home. 

Love you,

Elder Doney