July 17, 2011

Dear Mom,
1st things 1st....YOU GOT AN IPHONE! Well I guess me being on a mission has REALLY helped out the family! JK I hope you are enjoying it tons. Well as usual you are all so busy! I hope the family reunion was amazing and that everyone missed me of course. I had a little family reunion myself with some of the surrounding districts and such. We all went to the rice terraces again but instead of Banaui we went to Batad. Batad is higher up and kinda scary to get to. The roads are kinda, well, "sketchy" is the word that comes to mind. If it rains than you don't go because a lot of the path is really bumpy dirt roads and there was a part where we had to get off the top and go inside the jeepney because we would have fallen off if we stayed up there! We teased that if you ask the jeepney driver if he could do it he would respond se guro "mabey" and make the sign of the cross and kiss his necklace for good luck! (He was Catholic) We made it safely there even though the road was currently under construction and we saw a sign saying, "Beware of Blasting" which kinda made me nervous. When the jeep couldn't go any farther we hiked for three hours and then came to the most beautiful waterfall that I think I have ever seen! It was fantastic! We played in the water and were really carefull not to go swimming and used some rocks we found to spell out P. C. M. (Philippines Cauayan Mission) So it was a great day!





There were rice Terraces there of course and hopefully I can send some pictures to you that explain it in a little more detail!





ANY WAY so my families on the road again but in a good way! I hope you are all having a great time swimming and eating homemade food and playing with Moms Iphone! Love the Elder of the Hamblins

Dear Shay,
Yellow rice? I sure hope it isn't yellow after I wash it 3 times! How are you doing!? I hope everything is going great besides the boo boo! I hope coach Watts is teaching you right! and treating you right too! DO BAND! It will be one of the most, best and hilarious decisions of your life so just do it! Band Camp isn't even that long or bad anyway and remember if it doesn't kill you then it makes you a better trumpet player! Love The Great Hambino!

Dear Dane,
Why would I eat our dog? I don't even like dog and I've seen the things that Low Rider eats and believe me that is not what I want to eat! It's great you had Madsen over but not so great that you didn't like Sierra Joes. But it's also great that you enjoyed your Yogurt Ice Cream cone at Mavericks so I guess everything turned out alright! Stay in school! You crazy Hoolagan! Love your big brother Elder Hamblin

Dear Devree,
Why do you always have to be so busy you are going to run yourself into the ground! You just go and go and go and you run around with your head chopped off! You should come the the Philippines and take a load off! It helped me! Your Movie was School of Rock! Now here's mine, "It gave me no Eagle Powers! It gave me no nutrients!" or "Ramses is the one it lights your heart with desire!" Guess that! Well take a break every now and again sis! ANd steal those covers back! Love Elder Hamblin!

Dear Dad,
So Mom gets an iphone? I guess it's true every thing good happens when you're gone! Well besides little red. I am glad Shay is with you through the whole fixing process and I hope he is being a good help to you! You are Mr. Fix It! No matter what IT is! Thanks for being a great Dad and sending me those Spiritual thoughts. I got two at the same time because mail from the mission home here is kinda weird! Thanks for the spiritual thoughts though and the one about the stained white shirts is so true. Being blessed with two very experienced companions so far, they have their share of battle stories and funny stories too! I made history last Sat! I baptized Tatay Leonardo Almasan, one of the 1st baptisms here in a long time! It took me 4 times to get everything under water but we got it done and I said the baptism prayer in Tagalog too! Elder Maxfield was very proud of me! There wasn't too many people but it was good! I Think Tatay Leonardo really felt the Spirit and it was strong when he was confirmed by his son-in-law the next day too! It was a fantastic experience and I will never forget it. My 1st baptism, (In the mission of course) It was great!



Oh and I didn't mean to say bloody eggs. I meant to say bloody nose. When you speak too much of another language here they say they are getting a bloody nose. That's why it's a funny mistake. I was speaking Tagalog so much that apparently even my balls were bleeding! JOKE and a naughty one at that! I really didn't mean to do it on purpose it just happened and Elder Bates made fun of me for that for a long time! Love you DAD!

Love,
ELDER HAMBLIN
PHILIPPINES CAUAYAN MISSION