This week was full of new foods. Or at least I thought so. Every Thursday we have MCM (Missionary coordination meeting) where we discuss our work and investigators and how we could use help from the members in the ward. Afterwards Brother Oliver always cooks us dinner, he is a great cook, and a really cool guy. I don’t have a picture but I will try to have one next week. He is super funny whenever he speaks in English because his accent is so thick, I love to visit because I'm always cracking up. For dinner we ate this brown thing, that looked like a strange cut of meat I’ve never seen before, A pit formed in my stomach when they told me it was dog. But hey I was hungry. All throughout the meal his dogs (he has probably 5 outside in cages) were howling and crying the whole time. Br Oliver told me afterwards that it was not dog, and that he heard that one of his neighbors ate dog, and died 3 hours later. So he doesn’t eat it; but I have a feeling I will be served dog before my mission is over. 

For my birthday Elder Gamboa fried Milkfish. It was boneless and easy to eat, but when he told me the head and tail was the best part I didn’t believe him. I knew they ate some weird things but the tail? Really? I conceded and it was actually kinda good, like a fried chip, with bones that poke your tongue. 

For Dinner we had a balut party at Sister Bautista's home with the sister missionaries. To eat it you crack the egg, drink the subau, or soup, then peel the rest of the shell and down the egg and partially formed duck embryo. It looks way worse than it tastes. I had 3. Sister Dennis couldn’t bring herself to eat is so I had her Chick too. 

There are two traditions in the Philippines about birthdays. The first is that you wear red on your birthday, and if you wear red, people on the street who have never seen you before might say happy birthday to you. I died laughing when I heard that. Also the person whose birthday it is, is responsible for making sure everyone has a good time. They have to cook, clean, invite everyone to the party, and if someone is upset, it’s their fault. Kind of more like a curse than a gift. 

The gigantic statue of a Bald Eagle, yeah its pretty sweet! I was glad to see such a patriotic symbol in the heart of the Philippines. When I asked Elder Gamboa why it was there he said it was their National Bird too, or at least the eagle is. At the very least it's cool. I don’t know if there’s a bird that big in all of America. 

Part of the reason I didn’t want to eat dog was because they have different ideas of animals Yeah some are pets, but they don’t have the same relationship. There are many animals that just wander around in the streets and eat garbage. I think I remember a verse when I was finishing the Book of Mormon saying that all of the creations have spirits, and if they do then there must be a spirit world for them.

I miss you all very much. It was really nice to receive a package from Torben in the MTC, even if the chile mangos were gross haha. I'm gonna learn to cook while I'm here and cook dishes for yall when I get back, and teach you to eat with your hands like we do. 

That reminds me, I need ideas for stuff to cook. I'm gonna ask Gamboa to teach me, Sister Esplin told me he is a good cook. I have a frying pan, that is it. Is there a frying pan cookie recipe somewhere? After our meetings on Tuesday we get 1 homemade cookie from Sis and President Boone, it is literally one of the highlights of my week, I crave homemade cookies. If I find an apartment with an oven I'm gonna cook a ton of chocolate chip and oatmeal and snickerdoodles ahhh. 

Do you have to pay or buy something at the internet Café when you email us?

Yeah I have to pay 20 pesos for an hour and 20 minutes.

How will you listen to or see Conference?

We’ll listen to it this Saturday and Sunday at Idk (I don’t know) where.

Elder Gamboa playing ball.

My worst fear! Why only 6 legs?