Off To The Philippines! Monday March 25 2013

The day finally came that we were going to get a phone call from Riley before he left for the Philippines, and it was a LONG day! 

He called from Salt Lake to say in 1 minute that he would call from Los Angeles!  So we waited 2 more hours and he finally called!  Darin put him on speaker and I recorded the call!  It was soooooo nice to hear his voice again!  He was very excited to be getting to The Mission Field!  He had a long flight ahead of him.  15 hours from LAX to Hong Kong and then I think like 9 more hours to Manila and then a 7 hour bus ride to Baguio!  He told us how much he liked his teachers in the MTC.  He told us some stories that made us cry!  His spirit was so full of joy and excitement!  He talked about the importance of exact obedience and he has such a strong desire to do what is right.  The highlight of the call was to have him bear his testimony in Tagalog for us.  It was beautiful and warmed my heart even without understanding the words.  I had tears falling down my cheeks!  He left a message for Alex, talked to Jordan and then said goodbye to us all until we hear from him on Mother's Day!  I can't believe he is clear across the world from us, but it is ok!

So I don't have any pictures because he left his brand new camera on the flight to LAX and the airline can't find it!  Imagine that!  So he is in search of a camera in the Philippines and I hope he gets one soon so that we don't miss much!  Anyway, I love him and miss him so much!  But...Here we go...the adventure begins!

FIRST EMAIL FROM THE PHILIPPINES
MONDAY APRIL 1, RILEY'S BIRTHDAY!

From:
Sent:	Mon 4/01/13 12:36 AM
To:	DARIN HANSEN

holy cow thank you so much for writing a new kabanata for me to insert into the book of mormon, i will just call it 1sharon it has 30000000 verses hahah jokelang. but jeez it is so good to hear from you but i should probably say this now.....i left my camera on the first flight to lax and didnt realize until i was in hong kong.... im so sorry ahhaha i willl buy one here tho so next week i can send pictures!! but IM in the urdaneta asingan area my trainers name is Elder Sikat (popular) haha it translates to that in english but He is fillipino hahah but he is awesome!!! ive all ready taught like a billion lessons and understood like 2% of them haha but its okay no big deal that i dont understyand whats going on i do sometimes but not all the time! It is so beautiful here its unreal its hot but i really do love it so muchj!!! its been really cool being here, i look around as we are riding on the tryke or walking through the forest and think that this area is maganda! beautiful. Pres. Monahan and his wife are very nice and very helpful, i got to play catch with him on the first couple of days so that was good!! but yeah ive been in my first area now for like four days and im starting to get a feel for where i am! ive all ready had a kid take a picture of me cause im white! literally everyone stares at me especially when i stand up on the tryke ahaha they think im a super star or something! the funny thing was in our ward one of the members came up to me and said i heard you were a professional baseball player and i was like talaga which means really? but i told him i wasnt but my kaibigan or friend is.

i really do love serving the lord all ready the first day i went out teaching i was very nervous i mean who wouldnt be, but i felt good after that. except one day at the beginning i was just really down saying to myself i have no idea whats going on i cant communicate bla bla bla and finally we were riding on a tryke and i said to myslef a quiet prayer asking heavenly father for relaxation and just a calmness swept over me and ever since then i havent been down on myself or sad sometimes nervous pero not sad. the people here are so awesome tho, its true how hospitalbe people are here! i love it, oh and get this...first night i was in my area i ate balut hahahaha that duck egg that they let basically grow in the egg then you eat it...yeah i gagged a little but didnt throw up!!! ELder Sikat filmed it on his camera so im going to get a copy from him on a usb so we can watch it when i get back!! but geez im loving it here and today is my birthday!!!! im 19 holy crap this is crazy! and alexs birthday was yesterday!! so nuts HAPPY BIRTHDAY alex!! im so bummed i cant be there for it but i want to send you my love via email!! how is everyone doing i think that is awesome that you had the missionaries over! maybe sometime you guys could help them out by going to a lesson with them! it would be a coool experience for you guys! ive also eaten chicken intestine and pig intestine stuffed with meat ahahha and a lot of rice! im very excited to serve and love all of you so much sorry if i didnt reply to everything but im doing great dont worry about me but go find my area on google maps okay! that would be sweet!

love Elder Hansen

oh by the way i dont have to do my laundry someone does it for me hahahahahahahahahahahah waaaaaaaahoooo i was pumped about that@!!!!!!!

mahal kita sobrang

 

 

So, 2 more things!  First of all, I wanted him to do his own laundry.  Sometimes we refer to Riley as the Golden Boy and this is an example why!  What a lucky duck!  My next door neighbor went to the Philippines and had to do his own laundry by hand on a scrub board for 2 years!

 

Second, the area he is in now is going to be the new mission, Urdenetta, when it splits.  So I don't know if Riley will be reassigned to Urdenetta or go back to the Baguio mission.

More updates to come!