Hey all how is it going! I hope that all of you are doing good!

This week has been pretty good. A little hard at times with the language barrier. It’s just so hard to connect with these people cause they get all shy when an American is around and it’s harder when I don’t understand them or they don’t understand me. I’ve tried making a couple jokes this week with the members and they just sit and stare. They have such a different kind of humor here. At FHE the kids were playing Musical Chairs and all the Philippinos were just like dying laughing. That’s their type of humor. So I need to find some way to connect with the people. haha. They live the exact opposite life of me. Like exact. I’ve tried talking basketball but they have no idea who the teams are or who the players are. They just like playing. They love music but they don’t know the artist or the songs they just do kareoke! haha. Elder leng connects well with most people but his humor is a lot different from mine. Like we saw a dog eating a diaper and he was litterally crying laughing on the other hand I’m just sitting there like that’s disgusting. I don’t see how that’s funny at all! haha. We are getting along better though. It’s just hard at times. I'd say 90 percent of the time we're good. 

So to answer some questions...

I don’t play basketball here at all. I’ve played once as a zone activity. I’ve played frisbee a couple times which is fine but I just want to play basketball!! haha

Saturdays are the same as any other day. We have the option to go to a market but it’s to far away since our town Bug-Ang is literally in the middle of nowhere! In the really really rural areas there are people called the MPA which are like the rebel groups down here. Military passes through our town everyday to go into the bukkid (jungle) in order to try to push them back father and farther. It’s not a threat to us. We just cant be too far out in the middle of nowhere at night unless we could have some harm. I’m safe were I am though.

Church here is good. We have like on average 65 active out of 360 so there is a lot of work but a lot of the excuses are "I'm Catholic now" or "it’s too far and we don’t have money to travel" which are both pretty true in most cases so there isn’t much we can do except bear our testimonies. The people in my area are just really really poor, uneducated, and don’t really understand the importance of stuff so the work is hard in that aspect.

Food here is Bomb! It’s usually just rice and juice but it’s so good. I don’t think I’ve lost weight or gained weight but I do eat more. They just feed you and feed you and feed you if you eat at their house so I just keep eating eating and eating. I’m never full! I always just want to eat! haha We also have lots of fresh bread and bakeries which is so cheap and good! The bread and rice is probably my favorite thing about the Philippines!

My language.... haha. yeah.... I feel like I haven’t really improved to tell you the truth. It’s just so hard to learn when I’m studying Illongo but the people speak like 60-70 percent Cebuano and if they understand my accent they all understand Illongo but they speak in Cebuano back and I dont know which is which when they speak so I can’t understand them at all! There are only a few lessons I actually can understand what is going on. One of those we teach in English cause the guy understands and speaks English so it’s easier for us and for him. The other lessons I understand I maybe understand about 30% tops. The other lessons I dont understand I just sit there and listen so hard but it’s like I’m trying to figure out what a dog is saying when it barks. It just all sounds the same and plus they speak so fast! It’s really hard and frustrating. I feel like I understand the concepts well but whenever I try talking or understanding it’s like everything I’ve learned is out the door! haha. This week I’m really going to try to come up with a good plan that can help me learn the language cause I feel like I could help these people but right now I’m just a lump on a log!

It’s alright though! At times it gets me down but then I remember I haven’t even been here a month yet so I know it will come with diligent faith, study, and time! Speaking of time.... this week is my 3 month mark already. Elder Leng hits his 6 month on the 8th I think! But yeah I’m 1/8th down with my mission! It’s gone by really fast since I've been here in the Philippines though!

It sounds like everyone is doing good though! I hope that answers most of your questions. I think I covered all of them.

Oh real quick before I end....

So this past week we were teaching the less active lady Sister De la Cona. She’s just old and weak so she just sits around all day. We were teaching her about Heaven and living with our families again and she just let out like, no joke, 5-7 farts in a row. I was trying so hard not to laugh cause I was reading a scripture to her! The people here have like no problem with that type of stuff I guess! It reminded me of Grandma Sargent when she was over one time and Kenny hugged her and squeezed a toot out of her!! haha Remember that Kenny??

Well fam! The mission is good. I enjoy it! I’m still trying to find my niche but I really think that will come easily as a I progress in the language more where I can at least understand.Then from there really work on the communicating part. My teaching with Elder Leng is getting better. We are connecting better in lessons and now trying to really teach people and not lessons! Time is good here though. It goes by really fast and I definitely see growth in me. I’ve become a better person cause of this gospel and I really want to help these people have that desire as well to fully follow Christ and live His teaching. It’s such a blessing that we have the fullness of His teaching and His gospel once again on earth through the Restoration of the Church. I know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet. That he saw God and Jesus and that he has restored that true church on earth. I know the Book of Mormon is true!

I love you all! and miss you all!!

Until next week....

Elder Sargent!

P.S. still waiting on that package!

Hey family how are you all!!! I’m doing great. This past week went by so fast it felt like yesterday at church I was just there and yet it was a whole different week! I’m really starting to like the mission. The first couple weeks here I was struggling to figure out what I was doing here! I started focusing more on my purpose and just trying to figure everything out. Figure out how I can be more effective as someone who doesn’t understand and can’t speak. I’m still trying to figure that out but during personal study of the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel I’m figuring it out more and more slowly. Any RM's have some advice of what they did? (Mark, Dad, Kenny, Shauna, Nat) sorry Skye.... I would ask you but you didn’t learn a language. If you have any insights though I’m open to hear them. You always have good insight and goals. But speaking of Skye.... Happy Birthday Jayda. It sounds like she had a good birthday and you had some fun celebrations. Who's is next Kaleb? Feb 8th right?? When is the baptism? We have a baptism finally for a 9 year old named Herold on Feb 29th. His parents are less active so we basically asked if we could teach the family again and baptize the kid. Hopefully we can use this kid to bringing his family back so maybe he can come to church more often with his parents! We have a few investagators but whenever we go by their house they aren’t there or they are at work. So we are trying to ask people when’s a good time to stop by but they don’t even know their own schedule so it’s hard. The people in my area are just real poor and they work all day so it’s hard to plan when they could have work one day and not the next or idk it’s just very different. But it’s good! It’s been raining all week so I haven’t taken my camera out so I don’t have pictures this week unless Elder Leng has some. I took a couple pictures at family home evening but they all came out blurry. So I’ll promise I’ll take some this week and send them next week!! pesensya (sorry)!

So to answer some of your questions...

I sleep fine. For some reason I wake up every night to go to the bath room even when I go at night right before and I’ll go in the morning. It’s kinda annoying cause I never used to wake up to go to the bathroom! But it doesn’t stop me from sleeping well. The chickens start crowing at like 430-5 so I have to sleep through that but it’s all good!

We never eat with members. Sometimes they'll feed us but that’s only if they have extra after they eat. Our Stake presidents wife runs a bakery so she's always making food and they'll feed us at least once a week whether its fresh bread(which is the best part about the Philippines) or if they have left over dinner! And it’s always so good! Usually rice. Manjo-orange juice or pineapple juice and some type of meat.

Wash is fine. It takes forever but my clothes stay clean. Elder Leng pays ladies in the ward who want to do it so sometimes I’ll throw a pant in there cause our pants just get hammered with mud! It’s a daily occurence!

Church buliding is small. Maybe 100 by 50 feet. It’s way small. It’s just a branch. We have like 70 active members on average but like 360 in the ward. It’s hard for people to get to church cause our area covers a lot and it’s expensive to ride the buses cause most people can’t afford to ride the bus with their whole family.

My living conditions are nice. We have all the necesities. Bed, running water, fridge, stove top with propane. So we have no A/C but its like perfect weather. It’s probably like 75 degress average during the day and at night maybe high 60's so I sleep cool.

Just a couple things I have to write home about now. So dad got an iphone??? I notice that all his emails say sent from my iphone. Pablo "classy guy"! haha

Yesterday at church I was supposed to give a talk but we ran out of Sacrament bread so someone had to run next store to a bakery and buy some bread then we ran out of water and the Stake Relief Society prez was there and she went 20 min overtime. So I just bore my testimony and sat down! haha. Then the branch president got up and spoke for 5 min so our Sacrament meeting went for like 30 minutes over time! haha. That just sums up how people live here!

And last but not least the bread here is so good! I can spend like 20 pesos which is like 15 cents and I can get like 10-15 pieces of fresh bread.. it is so good!!

Well family! Sorry if my typing is terrible. I’m not used to this keyboard yet. haha I’m trying my best!

I hope all is well back home. It sounds like everythings is going good! I’m so glad that all is well back home and friends and family are doing good! I haven’t got the package yet but hopefully I will soon. Elder leng has been waiting still for his Christmas package. All the elders said that if you tape pictures of the Virgin Mary on the outside of the box people won’t go through it cause they are Catholic. So maybe do that next package! haha.

Well all is good here in the Philippines. Of course the language is still a factor but I’m understanding more.. slowy but surely. Just depends on how fast the person is talking. I’m so thankful for the opportunity to be here and now how much it is blessing my life for ever already. I wish everyone knew how important our message is and I wish if they don’t...they would try to figure it out! I know Christ lives and that we as families can live forever together again in heaven. It’s such a great blessing and we know through the gospel how to obtain eternal life! I’m so thankful for everyones support back home and wish you the best in all you do! It’s hard to express my feelings over email but know that I love all of you and miss all of you! I’m going to be honest though... the more the weeks go on I find myself missing milk more than anything! haha! I know that’s bad but it’s kinda true! I hope everyone has a great week! Next week is the 1/8 mark of my mission so we have something to look forward to!

Love and miss you all family and friends!! (and milk)

Love,

Elder Sargent!

Hey family!!!

So this week has been so much better! I still think of you a lot but I’m not homesick! It’s so nice to read your letters to know what is going on!

But like I said this week has been so much better! Me and Elder Leng have been getting along.  We finally have a pattern for teaching and we are getting things done. It’s still a little hard cause I feel like we are just teaching the same people the same lessons and it’s not really doing anything. That’s where I wish I knew Illongo better to really get in their heads and figure out their problems! But we are doing better at doing that! Hopefully by the end of these next 9 weeks of training I can get to that point where I can do it better! Well hopefully in 9 weeks I’ll just know the language or at least what they are saying! haha. I’m still struggling to figure out what they are saying. I probably understand like 60 percent of what they are saying but I only comprehend like 5-10! haha! The understanding part is I’m picking up on what different words are...cause last week I was just lost...it was all a blur but now I’m just trying to write down as many words as I can to look them up and learn them so hopefully that will help this next week. I know I’m fine with where I’m at.. It’s just a little frustrating cause there are just so many little things like small talk I can’t do so it’s hard to talk to the people here. I’m starting to talk to the kids more. The ones that are most helpful are the ones that are like Alexas age. 10-12. They are the most talkative out of all the people here and since I’m American they all talk to me! haha. The one that helps me the most is a 14 year old boy named Bebe. He is an active in our ward and knows some basic English words from school pero (but) he knows what I’m trying to say most of the time so he helps me with prononciation! but yeah all is good with the language I just need to work harder with it! haha.

So this week just a couple things I wrote down then I’ll answer your questions!

SO out in the buk-kid(Jungle/Rural area) the are so many dogs and chickens! Every morning at like 530 all you hear is dogs and chickens! It’s so annoying but I’m begining to sleep through it now that I’m getting used to it! I miss my cave downstairs in our house where the sun never shines and its quiet all day! I’m sure even the City is quieter then the stupid chickens! haha

They things I hear on the street. So I’ll be like 100 yards away and someone will see me walking and they will stop walking and watch me pass them for like a good 30 seconds. Even on the bus the people just stare at me like it’s no big deal! It’s so hard not to laugh cause it’s so awkward. I just sit there and wink at all them maybe give them a hair toss! haha Not really.. I just smile or look the other way depending on the person! haha Oh and also I was eating dinner at our stake presidents house cause he lives next to us and we were all talking. His son and daughter in law both know English well so we were talking and the daughter in law said that I have guapo (handsome) eyebrows. I’ve never gotten that before. She said that Philipino women love eyebrows. I have been called guapo everyday. Now I know how dad says people called him guapo in Chile. I believe it! They just love Americans. So sorry dad for always laughing at that joke!

The little kids in my branch Salute me. They'll run up to me slap my back then I turn around and they say "Elder Sargent" salute me then run away! All the adults think my last name is so funny! They always say "Elder... Sargent. Elder Sargent. Sargent of Arms." I don’t even know what that means but I just laugh cause they laugh to! haha is that like a common expression??! haha

Oh so this week it’s been raining like crazy. I pulled my umbrella out and it doesn’t work. It pops open but it doesn’t click in place like a normal umbrella does. I was mad cause I just got that for my birthday like 4 months ago and I’ve never used it and you said that me and Nat have the same one and hers works perfect for you! I don’t know what to do. I’ll probably just go another week with it and make it work but I may buy another one next week when I get more money. What do you think!

I love the music here! The people all lie in these bamboo shacks that are sweet by the way. They have no bed maybe a tv some no electricity but they all have huge speakers and just blast music! It’s nice cause I get a little bit of home. I probably know 90% of the songs then the other 5% are Philippino and the other 5% is Kareokee! The people love kareokee. They are terrible at singing but it’s funny!

So just some stats the Stake President was telling me. He speaks English cause he served his mission in the Philippines when it was a English speaking mission so he had to learn English for his mission but he was saying that there are just over 600,000 total members in the Philippines but only just over 100,000 are active crazy huh! That’s like all I work with is less active and recent converts. We are trying to find some part member families this week cause all the ones they had in this area prior to me got baptized on Christmas so that’s kinda cool but right now the work is just hard cause we have no investagators but we have names in mind and are planning on getting some baptism dates this week! hopefully!!

So thats it for me. From you letters. Minapasok is the branch I’m in. The city I live in is Bukong. And the zone I’m in is the Sagay Zone. Sagay is the closest main city and its like 45 minutes by bus. From Bacolod we took a bus and it took like 3 hours. I think I’m inland from Sagay and to the east. I could definitely be wrong. Who knows! haha

Well family know that I miss you all but love you more! The more and more think of being here for 21 months is pretty good to me! I like it! It’s going to get lots better! I know it! It’s going to go by fast. I was looking at a calander and realized I’ve been gone 3 months by the time confrence rolls around I’ll be like 3 weeks under my 6 month mark then Mothers Day right under 7 then it’s the summer June July.. August Natalie gets home then September wll go by fast for all you then its October my one year mark. Then it’s the holidays.. by the times those are over it’s january and I only have 10 months then it’s back to jan feb march then april is conference again which is my 6 month left mark then summer again then I’m home! Its going to fly I’m pretty sure for you guys and as I lose myself in the work it’s going to go by fast!

I’m so thankful for all of you guys back home! Whenever I think of home I know you are all safe and doing good! I know that this Church is true and the work I’m doing is central to an Eternal life. 2 years seems like a long time but it’s for the good. and what’s two years in an eternity!

I love you all and miss you! I pray for you every prayer and want you to that I’m doing great! Things are getting good I can feel! To sign off today I’ll leave you with the words of the best... Micheal Buble - "The best is yet to come and babe won’t it be fun!"

love you all!

Robbie ukon(or) Elder Sargent!

P.S. Sorry if the spelling is terrible. I forgot how to spell and I’m typing as fast as possible!

Well this is kinda weird emailing home. I haven't done it for a few weeks with traveling and and all except for what I wrote in the mission home. Everything is good. Just trying to get into everything. Its been a little hard.. not going to lie. Just from the language, to the people, to the area, to my comp. It’s all good though.. I’ll explain later but first I just want to let you guys all know how good it was to call home at the airport and now be able to hear from you all! I appreciate the MTC cause I got letters that day so its a little different here! But yeah, so my plane trips went good all the way to Manilla. We stayed in a little hotelier place in Manila. It reminded me of the hotel in the Movie, Cars. Like Cozy Cone or something like that. The rooms were little houses and there were like 5 of us in there. There was one bed and three mattresses on the ground. I took the bed with Elder Pulsipher! Benefits of getting to the room early! But yeah so we slept there..then the next morning we left to the airport and they didnt have any of us on a flight or anything. I guess they only have like 2 flights that go out of Manila to Bacolod each day and they switched the times at New Years so all of our flight schedules didn’t exist. Our travel leader in the group tried his best to figure everything out but it wasnt until me and Elder Pulshipher got on the phones and started doing work! We called President Lopez and he then called the travel ofice in SLC and they figured everything out! Long story, short, we had to switch terminals and airlines and get on another flight. luckily there were seats! But that flight ended up being delayed an hour so we didn’t get into Bacolod till like 6ish I think! But it was good Prez Lopez and Sis Lopez and a senior couple were there to pick us up and we loaded our stuff and went to dinner at some chicken resturaunt. It was good food! We were all starved from not eating cause of the plane situations and what not! But it ended up good. Prez Lopez was way quiet that night and didn't say much but the next day he was in his office all morning doing interviews with the new missionaries! But finally we all got our trainers, had a little orientation meeting thing and were off. So my Companion is Elder Leng. He’s from Portland Oregon area He’s only been out three months in the field and just finished his training. Prez Lopez likes to have trainies become trainers right away which I think is good but it’s just difficult as a trainiee. I’m trying to take all of his advice.. All of the people we teach are recent converts or less active. Which means we are a Rescue mission. That’s fine but we still need to be looking for investigators within part member families or somewhere. .

but I’m trying. So my area. I’m in Minapasok. And just my luck its half Cebuano. Even the members that speak a little English tell me this is a hard area cause its not true Illongo. Luckily Elder Leng understands most of it. It’s hard. The mission is hard but I still love it. This area is out in the jungle so it’s fun to walk around all day and be able to see the terrain. and everything. I’m really relying on the Lord this first week and trying to get over my personal hardships. But I like it alot. Just today has been helpful to write home and hear from all of you! The weather is way nice. A little hot cause of the humidity but usually there is a cloud cover and it’s a little breezy so it’s nice!!

So just a couple more things. I don’t know about the music thing. Elder Leng plays some on a DVD Player we have for watching certain training videos and he says he didn’t think it’s a speaker so he listens to it. I don’t think I want my stuff though cause I heard stuff just gets stolen in the mail cause they have these papers on the outside that say what’s in the box and the mail people steal it! So don’t risk it! I can make copies of these emails for like 5 pesos so like 10 cents about. But I dont know if I need to do it for every week. We use alot of money on transportation each day cause we have to take a bus in and out of areas to get around cause in the jungle, houses are just far away from each other. But luckily our house is pretty nice. It was really messy when I first got here so I told Elder Leng we are going to clean it and he agrees so that was good. We are doing that today. There were just cob webs bad ants and dirty dishes so we are going to do that today. With just other chores.

I’m excited though for this week. Hopefully it goes good. It is going to be hard for the fist 90 days with the language and stuff. I can honestly say I have not improved at all or picked up on one thing just cause I can’t understand ANYTHING, literally. Like less then 1% if that. It’s hard. But I’ll get it!... Hopefully!!

Well mom I didn’t answer all of your questions for time reasons. So yes, your emails are too long. I like them but it just eats up time reading them with reading emails from the others in the family and emailing Prez Lopez. Just shorten them barely and I think they will be good! I loved all the stories though.

Well family I’m out of here! I love you and miss you. So much to write about in such a short time. I would tell you about the people we teach but I really have no idea who any of them are yet. Hopefully I get a better grip of things this week!!

I love you all and I love this gospel. I may not be bringing anyone into the gospel at this time but I can already see a difference in me and what type of missionary I want to be and how I can become that throughout my mission! I hope you all had a good new years.!!

Love you alll,

Robbie!

P.S. - I'll be home next year technically!!