Family,
I was very excited to hear all of your letters! As I have said in the past, they always make me so happy & they are a great source of strength during the difficult times in my mission. I was also extremely happy to see all of the pictures that you sent! Man, the kids are just getting cuter & cuter! I am so sad that I only had about 2 weeks with Daxton. I miss him so much. I obviously miss everyone so much, but he is the chubbiest at the moment so he has my priority. I hope he's still chubby when I get back.
I have been thinking for the last little while about what I am going to write to you all this week. I hope you won't be disappointed when I say that nothing has really happened this week. It's been about the most typical week of my mission that I have had thus far. We are teaching families, talking to people on the street, & other typical missionary things. I wish I could report a baptism coming soon, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. I wish more people would progress. However, there is this one family in my area right now, a less active family, who are coming back to church! Their last name is "Caintapan". They are awesome. The father is hilarious & the whole family is just so nice. We had dinner there last week & had a FHE with them. It was a blast.
Everyone I have talked to comments on how good my language is & always tells me that I will for sure be training next transfer because of how good I am at the language. I think that training would be so fun! However, I am also not sure if I am ready. I feel fine in the language... most of the time. There are still times when my brain is just tired & refuses to understand what is being said. Because of that, I feel a little uncertain about my ability to train right now. We had zone interviews with President Schmutz this transfer & the first thing he said to me when I walked in the door was, "Elder Staheli, I hear your Visaya is very good!" He just sat there & smiled at me when he said that & I told him that I feel very confident in speaking, but my understanding sometimes is still a little bit difficult. I told that experience to my last companion, Elder Walker, & he told me that that is exactly what President said to him the transfer before he trained! I guess if I am called on to train a new missionary, I will be prepared. I will have to work much harder with the language I think, but I also think that I would maybe grow the most during that time & make great strides in my mission life.
I am glad to see that Halloween went great. The kids' costumes were awesome! Over here, it's a little bit different. It's called "Kalag-Kalag" or "day of souls". They start on Nov. 1 & on that day everyone goes & visits the graves of people who have died & they pay their respects, do all of their weird Catholic stuff like leave food on the grave for the body? It's weird. Anyway, they do that during the daytime of Nov. 1 & when night comes, it's like the turning point & the souls come out or something. I'm not exactly sure, like I said, it's strange. They don't do trick or treating. Casey, I have heard that the Chiefs are playing great! That also makes me happy because I like Andy Reid & Alex Smith. I hope they continue to play well. Seager, isn't that your favorite team? That's also very good that BYU is playing so well! It sounds like they will get a good bowl game if they keep it up. Grandma & grandpa, I am jealous that you are going to Hawaii! That sounds like so much fun! It doesn't sound to good about Orlando, however. I will keep him in my prayers. Also, I haven't received any packages. It does take a while to get packages or letters, so just be patient. I'm sure it will show up. I didn't really care who won the World Series. I don't really like either team, but I probably would have rather had St. Lois win. Oh well! Dad, that's funny about the couple serving here. I will look for them! It also sounds like you had a very busy day with the girls! It sounded like fun, though.
Well, like I said, there isn't much to report this week. I miss you & love you all.
-Elder Staheli
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