Goodbye to Palawan and the mini-pizza miracle :)

"Saying our goodbyes to Elder Fawson and Elder Tavita. Well done thou good and faithful servants"
-Sister Porteous

Sister Janet Porteous standing on her tippy toes as she tries to get in the same  frame for a photo :) 

Robert and Brother Porteous in their matching plaid. 

Robert saying his farewells at the airport in Puerto Princessa, on the island of Palawan, on his way to the mission home in Manila for a couple of days before he comes home!

Hi sa lahat!

There was a crazy thing that happened yesterday. I was walking to a recent convert's house, Algene, to say goodbye to him (because I'm coming home on Wednesday) and I said to Elder Ahn, "it smells like those mini pizzas made out of english-muffins." then he was like, "Wow! I used to make those all the time in college! Man I want some of those right now." skip forward about 2 hours. We finished visiting Algene and also just finished teaching our recent convert, Michelle for the last time (because I'm coming home on Wednesday). The closing prayer just ended and Michelle stands up and says, "wait lang kayo." then she goes into the kitchen and brings out a plate of little mini pizzas made on little english-muffin-like bread. How crazy is that?!?! I haven't had those in probably like 4-5 years, and haven't even heard about them existing in the Philippines! Then Michelle says something to the effect of, "Masarap ba?” [It is delicicious?] I haven't ever tried making these before. I just wanted to experiment. I am 100% sure of some divine intervention here. :) Moroni was right. Miracles really haven't ceased. haha

The little girl is Avril. She was also there to witness the pizza miracle. You can see evidence of it because hinahawak niya ang pizza right there in the photo. :)

I just thought you'd like to read one of my last fun mission miracles before I can tell them to you under the sound of my own soothing manly voice. :)

Here's my district. The gwapo guy in the front is Elder Ludlow. He's super funny and cool! The Korean (not chinese) one is my companion, Elder Ahn. Not off, Ahn. :) Then there's sister Wily, and Biag too. They rock like a mountain!

We had hot dogs to celebrate my last Sunday in Puerto. :)

Well, I'll see you on Wednesday, or maybe it'll be super duper early Thursday morning. Depende sa flight ko kung may delay o hindi [It depends on my flight if there is a delay or not.]

Picture of a sweet island I saw out of my airplane window while flying from Palawan to the mainland kanina.

Anywho, kita kits tayo this week. :) Mahal ko kayo!

Elder Fawesome 

Our trio's down to two... ahhh.

Howdy everybody.

Elders Fawson, McCauley and Ahn :) 

MLC at at the mission home in Manila

Something weird happened today. We woke up at 5:15, and went to the airport to say ingat to Elder McCauley. He is leaving us to go off to bigger and more time consuming things. He's the new AP. As we said goodbye Elders Isla, Ludlow, Ahn and myself all got into formation and performed a haka we had been practicing. It was intense, and we got a lot of stares, but it was fun! 

General Conference was sweet last weekend. I super loved Elder Rasband's talk, Tad R. Callister's, and especially Elder Andersen at the end. Those were my favorites, but they were all super amazing!! 

On Saturday afternoon we went on a trip to Narra to view a baptism of one of Elder McCauley's previous investigators and as we drove past Aborlan a lot of memories came flooding back to my utak [brain] from when I was assigned there. I didn't get to stop and visit anyone, but it was fun anyways just to drive through my old stomping grounds. :) That was a nice area. 

I went on some exchanges with Elder Nisperos and Elder Mickelson which was really fun. They are fresh--starting and Elder Mickelson is still in his training, so that was pretty fun. We did a lot of finding. That evening we were walking down the road and a group of people were gawking at my height like they always do, so I started talking to them about basketball and stuff, then told them we were missionaries and asked if they were up for us teaching them right then. They were just nakatambay (hangin' out) on the side of the road, and sort of far daw from their houses, so we just taught them right there. It was pretty fun. I haven't had a side of the street lesson in quite a while. We just shared real quick about the restoration and got a return appointment. It was pretty cool. OYMing people is fun. 

Today was pretty fun too. Remember last week when we had a super crazy awesome beach party? Well we did it again, but with the Narra zone this time. The Porteouses invited us to come with them, so we had another budol fight, played more football, ate loads more banana graham cake, and I wore my sweet new hat Elder Porteous gave me the whole time. It was a blast. There should be some pictures of it on the mission facebook page. Go check it out!

During the Narra beach party we were wading in the ocean (knee deep mind you) and there was a cool light blue jellyfish swimming by, and we touched it. Don't worry though. We didn't get stung. I learned from Finding Nemo that "the tops don't sting you." It was pretty neat! That's all. :) 

Nasa labas si Elder Fawson! Kapayapaan!!!

Today Elder Ahn and I are feeling a bit kulang, but we're happy pa rin and are going to make the best of my last week assigned on Palawan. As of now, all is well, and life is treating me good. Sana all of you are doing good too. Mahal ko kayo!!!

Elder Fawson

Looks like a fun ward party :)

Baptism, vudol fight, necrological service, huge holes in the soles of my shoes...

Hell everybody!!! (that's supposed to be hello by the way hahaha)

This week has been pretty nice if I do say so myself, which I do. Probably the best thing that happened was when we had hot dogs for dinner last night. It was pretty great. They were not just the cheap Tender Juicy ones that are not very good. We got the way good brand that makes your mouth explode with flavor with every bite. Not many things can top a good hot dog. Except for maybe the 2 baptisms we had last Saturday. I guess the hot dogs got bumped down to a close 2nd place for the best thing that happened this week. :)

Elder Ahn, Kier, Robert, Elder McCauley and Amalia

Amalia and Kier are officially members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was way cool. I got to baptize Kier and Elder McCauley binyaged [baptized] Amalia. It was a way nice baptism. There was a really nice turnout from the ward and the water was so clear, I could actually see my feet. Roxas was way fun, but there are a few perks of being assigned in Puerto. :)

Robert wearing his new hat to his zone beach party!

Kanina [a little while ago] was fun too. Elder Ahn and I put our violin skills to use and played a song in a necrological service (I still don't know why it's not just called a funeral here), then we quick changed clothes and went to a beach zone party where we all played volley ball, foot ball, and ate loads of food in vudol fight form. That's when you put a bunch of kanin [rice] on some banana leaves and then you put a bunch of ulam on the banana leaves, then everyone goes crazy and eats all the food with their hands like wild animals. It's probably the funnest way to eat in the whole world. Too bad Utah doesn't have any banana leaves, otherwise y'all could try it too. Oh well. :)

Elder Ahn and McCauley with Sister Porteous at the zone party!

Elder McCauley Rockin' out

Now I'll only have one more e-mail from Palawan after today. Sorry about that. :) On Monday the 16th I fly to Manila, then on the 18th I fly to St. George. I mis-counted the weeks.

I'm not got a lot of time today due to the festivities earlier, so this is going to be a bit of a shorter e-mail, but I did get all the important things in. Baptism, budol fight, necrological service, huge holes in the soles of my shoes. That about sums it up. :) Mahal ko kayo!!! 

Elder Fawson