Hello!

  Talking to you guys on Christmas was great! It was good being able to see all of you. For Christmas here we didnt really do to much. I woke up and did my laundry haha then for the first part of the day our zone came to Mabini because i guess we have the best internet and they wanted to skype. So thats what the Filipinos did. It was really boring until Elder Doney and I decided to go out and work because our comps said that no one would want to listen to us and didnt want to work. So we went out and taught. One family liked us so much they invited us over on Jan.1 for a new years lunch!

Christmas eve was a lot more fun! We went to our Branch Presidents house. We had a huge dinner and played games with them. I tried the "1 day old chicken" It was super gross! But all the other food was good! We even had some sparkling grape juice. Earlier that day we had district meeting and then our apartment checks. Elder and Sister Cambell brought us food cause they knew our apartment was great!

Here there arent to many decorations because people cant afford them. They do pay Christmas music all the time though and its the American ones so that makes me super trunkie. If people do have decorations they are small and only the more wealthy people have lights.

On Friday my comp was sick again...It was a super bring day! Days we arent able to work always seem to take forever to end!

Saturday and Sunday were both busy days with a lot of lessons. Not really anything to interesting though. We have 3 investigators and several first lessons this week.

Tomorrow we have lock down because its New years eve and i guess people go crazy here haha so we are going to watch Narnia because President said we could! Thats exciting haha

Thats pretty much it. Manigong Bagong Taon! Happy New year!

-Elder St. Gelais

Kamusta po kayo?!

This week has had its ups and downs. I have been sick all week with LBM...thats no fun so i have defiantly put that tp to good use!

On Tuesday we had our Christmas devotional for the mission. It was really good. We had some special musical numbers, President and sister Ralph both talked to us and then we had a great lunch which Bro. Pete made. Then after that each zone that was there had a skit which was fun to watch. After that we played a bunch of games! It went till about 5:30 that night so my zone ended up going to Greenwich...they actually have pizza here! It was pretty good!

Nothing to much happened om wednesday or thursday but on Friday Tatay Ben committed to be baptized on Jan. 18th! So hopefully everything goes well. He has already been coming to church and he is just eating up the Gospel. He loves to learn more about it.

On Saturday we had our Branch Christmas party...it was from 8 am to 3...longest party ever! And we were in charge of the games! It was actually really fun! I recorded one of the games because it was hilarious. They were going absolutely crazy! There are 5 people in a line and you have to hold the person infront of you. The person in the back has a ballon tied to thier ankle and the person in the front of the line has to pop the others. They went nuts!! They take these games serious haha. Then after that the other Elders that we live with had a baptism so we stayed at the Church for that.

On Sunday President Rahlf decided to come here for church! I am obviously his favorite Elder and thats why he wanted to spend the Christmas sunday with me haha but he came and talked during sacrament meeting. It was nice to actually hear a talked that i could understand!

Oh and i bought 2 nativity sets from Bro. Pete! He is going down to Manila to buy them soon so i dont know how good they are but i will send a picture. It was only 800 pisos so i just went for it!

Thats pretty much it for this week! MALIGAYUNG PASKO!

-Elder St. Gelais

Cali is awesome...but its nothing compared to the Philippines! I hope you guys have fun there though! And yes i opened my Christmas package...there was no way i could have a package sitting on my desk for 2 weeks! Oh and i got the package that jason sent through his account. It worked fine and i dont believe i will have to pay anything.

This last week was pretty good. On tuesday my comp was sick again. He was throwing up...and the first time he did he threw up in the sink! That was super gross and im not sure why he picked that spot because the toilet was close to there and so was the door to outside. It wasnt fun cleaning that up...

On Wednesday we went out and worked with the branch mission leader. I always enjoy working with him because he just recently got back from his mission and he loves to get things done. At the end of work that night we were out in the middle of bukid which is the rice fields. We have a less active family that lives out there. We got a ride back on a kuliglig which is like a wagon sorta thing but it has an engine instead of a horse haha

On thursday we had our zone meeting and it was a long one because President is changing several things. After that we ended up having a late lunch that one of the Elders went and cooked. While we were eating Bro. pete and American stoped by. He is the one who gets all the cool stuff for everybody. And elder had bought some pearls and so he was bringing those to him. While he was there i bought two more carabow belts just cause they are so cool.

On Saturday we went to to our far area. It takes us about 40 min to walk there. It was a great day there. We got a new investigator and he even came to church on sunday.

Guess what! We have carolers here haha except they dont leave until you give them money so its actually really annoying!

Today we had to practice our zone skit because we have a Christmas devotioal/party tomorrow. I am wiseman #6...and we have a dance of thing to see which 3 wise men get to go see Jesus haha

Well thats pretty much it! Maliguyung Pasko-Merry Christmas!

-Elder St. Gelais

Hello!

Im so jealous...In-N-Out sounds sooo good...

Things are going pretty good here. I have been sick the past couple of days though. Its just a cold so dont freak out mom. With that cold it does get hard to breathe sometimes because the air out where I am isnt the best. Or thats atlest what Sis. Rahlf said.

This Sunday we had an investigator at church along with several less active members. We also had one of the recent converts we were teaching receive the Priesthood.

 Today i got my first haircut...little weird. A bakla cut my hair. You can figure out what that means on your own...It also washed my hair and did this massage thing to my head. My comp was just sitting there laughing cause I had no idea what was going on haha then later at the palanky (a big oustide market) I was proposed to! All the little Filipino ladies asked my if i would marry one of their daughters. I just started laughing and my comp told them that i was sadly taken and on a mission haha

Nothing to exciting really happened this week except that i finished my first cycle! The weather is still hot and very humid.

I love you all!
-Elder St. Gelais

Happy Thanksgiving!

It has been a great week! On Monday we had FHE and we had frog for dinner. It was pretty good except there wasn't really all that much to eat. The members here are so amazing though. They dont have very much food or money but try to make it an amazing dinner. I am so very grateful for dedicated Saints who are set on serving the Lord, following his commandments and trying to further his work.

On Tuesday night we went to a seminary class and taught about preparing for a mission. Many of the youth want to and are excited to serve. At the district meeting on Tuesday the senior couple brought some homemade chocolate chip cookies! I almost died...they were soooo good!

On Wednesday for lunch we ate the chicken reproductive system...it was rather gross and the texture was funny. Other then that it was just another day out in the field.

Thursday was great! I made spaghetti for our Thanksgiving dinner. It was pretty good if i do say so myself. I found some sausage looking things at the store so i decided to put those in the spaghetti haha and then we had some fresh rolls that a nanay made us. It was awesome and we were very grateful for our Thanksgiving dinner.

On Friday my companion was feeling sick so i pretty much had the whole day to do studying. It was really nice and i love just being able to sit down and really dive into the Book of Mormon. I feel like i am able to learn so much from it everyday as i take the time to sit down and ponder over the inspired words. I also just got a Book of Mormon manuel thing from the Branch President which has a lot of great quotes and insight about the BoM.

Saturday was a long day. We were punted from our first 3 lessons. So we spent a lot of time just doing service for people on the street, leaving a pamphlet with our contact info and a short message and testimony. We ended up going to a members house had a small snack and she gave us a referral to contact.

Sunday was a long day! It was fast sunday so i was more hungry then usual. It was a normal day of work and we got to have dinner at Presidents at the end. It was unfortunately fish though. Not my favorite but its better then nothing!

Our nanay that committed to be baptized isnt doing to well. She has missed our last two lessons. We do have another investigator though. A sister in the ward is having her bf investigate and he seems very interested and loves to learn and talk with us.

I love you all!

-Elder St. Gelais

This week has been pretty good. On Tuesday I had my first interview with the President. It was only like 5 minutes long. I was also able to talk with Sis. Ralph. She is super super nice! Then after the District meeting the Ap's brought in a package...and it was from me! I got Ana's Christmas package! It was great! Everyone was quite jealous haha.

On Wednesday we went on splits with the Zl's. Elder Phippen came to our area so i got the lead the area. He is really cool. He is from Salt Lake and it was really nice to work with an American Elder. We also had another dinner appointment. This time we had liver with pancit. It wasnt very good. This week we had 5 dinner appointments and lunch appointment.

On Thursday we had our lunch appointment and the tatay served his mission here in the Cauayan missions! Him and his wife are really nice and have a 6 yr old daughter who is sooo funny.

On Friday it rained like crazy here. We were teaching at the Abaya family at 4 and it started to rain really hard. And at 5 we had to be at the church to talk to the youth about preparing to serve a mission and what its like. So as we finally get the courage to go out into the rain we find that the road leading to the church is flooded and is now basically a river. I tried to stay out of it but I finally gave up and we just went right up the river haha i was soaking wet. The mutual turned out great though and many youth were there.

 Saturday was a super busy day! We had 6 lessons and a dinner appointment. It always feels great being out and serving the Lord. Some of the members we saw out on the street decided to buy us a snack so we got...chicken feet! They actually aren't that bad. When you eat them though you basically bite off a finger, bone and everything and eat all the skin and what tiny bit of meat there is and then spit the bone out.

Church was pretty boring because they speak ilicano and i cant understand a word. I dont know how to say "youre crazy" though! Bugtit ka:) Sunday night we had dinner at our Branch Presidents house. They feed us every sunday. They have a daughter who is 12 and asked if i had any younger brothers...Dallin i found your new GF! hahaha she said she wants to come to America now.

So the rat i ate was mixed into this soup stuff and i didnt know what it was till after i ate it. It just tasted like meat haha i dont know. Another thing that happened was during a lesson a goat walked into the house and just pooped all over the floor! We had a fun time chasing it out of the house.

Well thats all this week! Mahal ko kayo.

-Elder St. Gelais

 This week has been pretty good! On Wednesday my comp and i went to the mission home for a trainer and trainee meeting. It was so good to see friends from the MTC and to hear how they are doing. On sunday we had the branch mission leader go out with us. It was a great time and he helps a lot with Tagalog. The members are great too. During most of our visits they will give us soda and a snack. My favorite soda out here is Sparkle. Its like a mix of MT. Dew and sprite. As for spiritual we had a family commit to preparing to be baptized! A mom, 2 sons and a daughter. So if everything goes well they will be baptized the 2nd saturday in December.

  Yes mom i still wear my retainer every night...

  Happy Birthday Lauren!!! I cant believe you turn 11 on Saturday! I hope you have a great day and that mom and dad get you a super awesome present! If i find something here that i can send in a letter i will do that ASAP:) Happy Birthday:)

  Well the Philippines is defiantly not America...during one of our lessons the mom pulled her shirt all the way down and started to feed her baby...it was super awkward but the other American Elder said its normal. Oh I also ate some chicken intestine and some rat...they actually aren't that bad! I eat so much food here. Im not really too hungry and if anything im getting fat here haha. The other American elder is starting to make me do P90x with him every morning because he doesn't want to do it by himself. The language is alright. I still feel like im not really improving that much. Im going to start doing some different things for language study though. We have these pamphlets we hand out to people that are basically the lessons from PMG. Im gonna practice translating those every morning.

  Thats pretty much it for this week. Love you all! Oh and Dallin...Stop being a girl haha

-Elder St. Gelais

This is a literal icecream sandwich...
One of the super crazy kids from a family we teach.

Hey!

The bad part of the typhoon hit down south. We did get about 6 hours of some good rain though. It was pretty much a regular day for us.

Yes, wiping with your left is exactly what you think haha and toilet paper can get pricey so we tend to not buy it. And a bucket shower is where you have water in a bucket and you pour it on yourself to get clean. Its actually quite nice. The balot...it has a bit of crunch to it...not eating it again!

We will usually have about 5 lessons a day. Most of them are with recent converts or less active members. And the rest of the time we are just talking to people on the street. I am getting to know our area pretty well and who all the members of our branch our. Our president is pretty cool and his family feeds us every sunday night. We also had a new branch mission leader called, an RM that just got back this Wednesday. We went out with him on Sunday night and i like him a lot. He also helps me with Tagalog. All of the members are really nice though. We have a FHE tonight at a less active members house and the dinner appointments Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. Everyone here is so humble because they literally have close to nothing but are always wanting to give us a snack when we stop by to teach.

We are able to exercise every morning for 30 min. One of the Elders has P90x so we will sometimes do that. If not its usually just some push-ups. On p-days though we go to another area and play basketball for 2 hrs and then get our shopping done there since we dont have a store in our area. We also eat at a place called jolleybee which is like a Filipino McDonalds.

Here we shake everyone hand and if they are pretty old we take there hand and put it to our forehead which "blesses them" and gives respect. Little kids will also do it to us. And yes there are kids everywhere! And whenever they see me they smile, wave and yell "hello" as loud as they can. Today on our way back i was sitting on top of the tricycle and school had just gotten out so i felt like i was in a parade haha.

This week we had Zone conference on Thursday so we had to wake up at 3 and travel up north. We had Elder Anderson of the 70 talk to us. It was great and very spiritual. For lunch an American who lives here, Bro. Pete, made us all lunch! We had rice, grilled chicken, spaghetti, and a sausage sauce thing that went on top of the rice. It was so good. I also bought a carabow belt from him. Its made from the horns and looks so cool. Im going to bring one home for dad. Oh and a carabow is a water buffalo. I will send a picture. Another thing that is really cool is that people that arent members will ask us to give their sick babies a blessing because they know that we have the Priesthood of God and that we can bring about miracles. The oil and vial i got from grandpa and grandma is being put to great use. We have giving maybe 7 blessings so far. And with blessing the babies comes a great opportunity to teach and share the Gospel.

Thats pretty much it or this week. Mahal ko kayo.

-Elder St. Gelais

Its great to hear from you! Halloween sounds like it was a great time. This past week has gone by so fast. I love being out here and i love the people. The schedule is still the same.

I tired balut....super gross! You can see the head of the chick and you just crack the top drink the juice and then take bites out of the chick.
Everything else is pretty much normal-ish. We have rice with every meal though. I did have McDonalds the other day! It was awesome! We have to go to another area to get groceries because we live in the middle of nowhere and dont have stores. The town about 20 min from us has a mall so thats where we go.

My companion is from down south. He can speak some Ilicano but he is still learning. For me the language sucks! Its the hardest thing out here for me. I feel like I have adjusted to the culture just fine,( bucket showers, wiping with my left, bugs everywhere, and the food) but the language is whats killing me. I can help some what with lessons. Mostly just bearing my testimony though.

My area is basically the jungle/farm land. Its so pretty. Its supper poor though. Most people work in the rice fields or drive trycies around. A trycies is basically a dirt bike with a side car. Thats how we get from our apartment to junction where we get a jeepney. There are also intindihuns which are snack stores out of peoples houses. There is one on like every corner. I love it here! My comp can speak pretty good english so talking to him is fine. The other American Elder is from Idaho. He has been out for about 9 months. He is great and helps a lot. Ya we spend a while with them. The only time we dont is from after lunch till we get back for the night.

Halloween for them is Nov. 1 and is more of a day of the dead thing where they spend time in the graveyard. We didnt do anything special though. They start celebrating Christmas in September though. For Christmas a flashdrive would be great. My comp wants a small preach my gospel. I cant really think of anything else though.


One funny thing that happened was during p-day we were out playing basketball and two Filipinos were on their motor bikes and crashed because they were staring at a white guy hahaha it was funny, But everyone here stares at me haha and the saying here is tall, white and guapo!

Mahal ko kayo!
-Elder St. Gelais

Hello from the Philippines!

It is soooo HOT and humid haha. There are bugs everywhere so i think you may die of being scared if you came here mom! We have daddy long legs all over our small apartment along with gekos and ants. My comp is great. His name is Elder Labetoria. He is from here in the Philippines. He can speak some english but most of the time i just have to guess what he's saying.

Our schedule is: wake up at 6:30 and shower then eat some breakfast. Then we have personal study, companionship study, and then language study till 11. That is sooo boring. Then we have lunch and go out proceliting or to our appointments and are just out teaching all day till dinner. Oh and we are opening a new area so a lot of our time has been getting to know the members and asking for referrals. I have already been able to baptize someone tho! Her name is Marry Ann and she's 12. The branch president adopted her and she was being taught before we got here so we taught her a few times then i got to baptize her! Then after were done teaching we either have a dinner appointment or make it ourselves. We have had 2 of those so far. Thats pretty much my day. The language is horrible.Everyone speaks illicano where i am. So I have to try and learn 2 languages. I am pretty much is the middle of nowhere. We have to take a jeepney for about 20 min to get to town to buy groceries. I hate jeepneys already. Its so full, shoulder to shoulder, people hanging out the back and sitting on top, and im hunched over because im too big! Everyone says i have the 2nd to worst area so i guess its good i got it first because it can only get better from here haha.

As for food i have eaten several things. The worst was this chickens blood cube. It was like a jello thing of cooked chickes blood. I also had some pig and fish. And LOTS of rice! Every meal we have rice. We have been fed twice so far. I have yet to have anything lola cooks so i couldnt tell you if they are alike or not. My apartment has a washing machine so i just throw my clothes in there:) My apartment is very small. It is just cement with a tin roof. I will send pictures next week. We have 4 missionaries in the apartment. They are all pretty cool.

Things are supper cheap here! I was thirsty so i bought this soda called "sparkle" its kinda like MT DEW but it was a litter and it cost 20 pisos which is like 40 cents. Oh and all soda comes in bottles so they pour it into a plastic bag and give you a straw. I also am having a small backpack made for me and it cost about $9. I still have personal money. The internet is kinda slow but i think i will be able to skype.

Im not sure what i could use. Money is always good. They pretty much have everything i can buy here. I will think about it tho and let you know.

Mahal ko kayo!

-Elder St. Gelais

Oh haha im in Burgos.  I have as much time as i need. I use the computer at like a computer place where you just buy time. Emails will usually come at the same time. And i think the city is called mabini.

Dear Missionary Families,

Greetings from the Philippines Cauayan Mission.  Your missionaries have arrived safely after a long day.  A delayed flight set back the entire schedule for their arrival. They have had their orientation and are now in their areas with their new companions. Pictures to come tomorrow.


President and Sister Rahlf

Philippines Cauayan Mission



Dear Family of Elder St. Gelais,
This morning we welcomed Elder St. Gelais with open arms and grateful hearts to the beautiful Philippines Cauayan Mission.  We wanted to let you know as soon as possible that he is safely here and already busy at the mission office and home preparing to enter the field with his new companion.  We will send you additional information about his first area and companion quickly and you can expect your first email from him on Monday (or your Sunday, depending on time zone).

We hope your day is a wonderful one.  Ours has been.

Love,
President and Sister Rahlf
“It’s a great day to be a missionary!”

This week has been pretty good! It has feels like it has been long though because i am so ready to get out of the MTC. Most everyone is excited and nervous at the same time. Its a crazy feeling. I did get the package, thank you. My flight from seattle leaves at 2:30 so i dont think i will be able to talk to the little kids...I will can call your phone and leave a message for them though.

  I already took the money out to trade for the Filipino peso at the airport. So all i have left is to pay for the baggage.

  This week we had to move back to main campus on tuesday so that day the canceled all of our classes. They brought us a huge bus and a moving truck. We loaded everything up around 11 and then went to main campus. We got to our dorms and just got to hangout out all day except for lunch, dinner and the devotional that night so we played 1 in the chamber. We have the nerf guns and had teams of 3. We had one dart each and if you got hit your out so we played that and then just talked. The devotional that night was given by Dallin H. Oaks and his wife. It was really good. When he came into the gym everyone stood up and he brought such an amazing spirit into the room.

  The next few day were all pretty normal. Just being in class and the eating breakfast, lunch and dinner. Friday we had our in-field orientation though. That was all day. It was from 8 to 5:20 at night. It was super boring and felt like forever. We just went over things like our planner and how to work with members, things like that.

  Thank andre and teri for me. They sent some candy and 2 ties. It was great getting a package from them.

  I am going to try and send a package home today of things that i dont need fro the Philippines. Hopefully i have time for that because we are going to the Temple this afternoon. I always love going there.

  Someone told me of a package thing in california. Its a boat that takes them to the Philippines. It takes like 5 weeks but its only $50 and there is no weight limit. Maybe that would be a good way to send things?

  I love you all and thank you for the support.

-Elder St. Gelais

My teacher told me to make sure and put "gift" on the customs thing so i dont have to pay for it. I have no idea of what i would want for christmas! Maybe i can send some cool things home for you guys though. And let ana know about the package thing casue she didnt know how to send one. Ya i think it will change but im not sure to what yet. I think getting a package for Christmas would be more fun too. I would love to speak some Tagalog for you haha

Can you add dcohen0102@gmail.com to the list of people you forward my emails to? He is one of my teachers. Thanks! 

Mahal kita!

Elder St. Gelais

This week was much better then the last. I also got your cinnamon rolls and they were delicious. Sunday and Saturday last week were great. For conference we just watched it in the big gym where we have devotionals. I stayed awake for all 5 sessions and took notes on every talk. It was awesome because i could really feel the spirit telling me what to write down. On a normal sunday though we have Priesthood and Sacrament meeting. Then we have lots of study time. We also get to walk to the Temple and hangout over there. Then at night we have a devotional and watch a church film.

This week went by really fast. I think i forgot to tell you the first time i got to give a blessing but i got to do another on Monday. It is sooo amazing. One of the sisters in my district was kinda homesick and didnt have a very good night so she asked me for a blessing. Its so cool how i can just talk and not really be sure what im saying but how the spirit just puts things into my head and they come out.

On Wednesday night something super scary happened. I woke up in the middle of the night and one of the Elders in my room wasnt doing good. I asked him what was wrong and he said he thought he saw like an evil spirit. The feeling i got when he said that was crazy. It felt like something evil was in there. So i asked him if he wanted to say a prayer so i said one with him and everything was better and he could get to sleep. Something similar happened to another friend except he actually saw what looked like the image of a guy but he had red eyes. Then next night his companion saw the exact same thing so they went and talked to their branch president.

Everything is going good though! One of our teachers said we gave him the best leasson he has ever had in the MTC. He started to cry and said he felt the spirit so strong. And the lesson was in fact, in Tagalog. It was so amazing to be able to have the spirit with us and helping us teach him and teach to his needs. So yesterday we got FLIGHT PLANS! Well everyone did but me...I had to go to the Travel office to get mine. But I leave Salt lake at 11 and fly to seattle. Then fly from seattle at 2:30 to Japan! And then to Manila. So i have about 5 hours were i can call people. Do you think i could have an extra 60 min?

Oh and were moving back to Main campus on Tuesday....The new address is *Elder Jaden Dan St. Gelais Oct 21 PHI-CAU 2011 N. 900 E unit 235 Provo, Ut 84602*.

Mahal po kayo!
-Elder St. Gelais

Tell Payton to make sure and be reading the Scriptures everyday and saying her prayers.

I do fun stuff all the time. Today we are going to supreme burger for lunch and then playing some ping pong before we go to the Temple and do a session. And yes we talk in Tagalog for the most part in class. I am kind of nervous to leave but at the same time i am SOOO excited!

Hi landon!
I love you you to buddy. And i miss you! Do the halloween decorations look good? Do you like Ana taking you places? I love you.

Kamust pare! (hi bro) Hi Dallin.
I miss you too buddy. Im glad youre doing good in soccer and having a fun time. Love you!

Hi lauren!
I miss you too Lauren! That food sounds gross! I miss you and love you!

Kamusta tatay!
That does sound like a rough call. Im sorry. I have seen how the Priesthood can bless others. I have had the opportunity to give 2 blessings and be in about 5. Its so amazing. I think asking Ana to take the discussions would be a good idea. Thank you. And thanks for the phone. I miss you and love you.

Mahal po kayo! (I love you all)
-Elder St. Gelais

We will get our visa and passport the day we leave. I do leave the 21st. and will call you guys in the morning. and yes i know your phone number haha

I did get the coat, thank you! And the zip code was the same. Did i tell you i was moving back to main campus on monday? Oh and i get 50% off the bookstore here! 

Thats ok! I love you! Do you know how much i have in my bank account? My teacher suggested taking $100 dollars and when i get to manila to switch it out for the Filipino peso. 

Oh and tell dad to maybe not ask ana to do the discussions just yet. Ana just told me she is having kind of a hard time at home.  Well i guess her uncle told her, If any of my daughters became mormon i wouldnt talk to them again. I dont know all the details though. Just talk to her about things. I know she likes talking to you. That pretty cool about the van though. 

Can you also send a scripture case please?

Im starting to not like the MTC so much. The classes just feel so long and all this Tagalog is driving me crazy haha. Im doing ok though. I am really looking forward to General Conference tomorrow. We just sit in the big gym and watch it though so its not as cool as being there but I still think it will be something to remember. Hopefully i dont fall asleep.

One of my favorite things here is doing the roleplay. Thats were we get to practice teaching. Our teacher is the investigator and they act like one of the people from the Philippines that they taught. Its really hard but so rewarding at the same time. I have already felt the gift of tongues work. Today in the lesson i just starting talking and put together sentences like it was nothing. Its amazing how God really does prepare those that are willing to do His work.

Its starting to get so cold here! It started to snow during gym and gym is outside...ITS FREEZING and all i have is the one sweatshirt and i cant wear that with my shirt and tie. Could you send like a sweater or a black jacket?

Did you get the letter and shirt i sent? And tell Andre and Teri thanks for the package of candy. Its delicious.  

Mahal po kayo!
-Elder St.Gelais

I think i wil starting bringing my journal when i email so i can tell more because siting here trying to think about it is hard. It feels like the same thing happens day after day here.  Oh and invite ana to watch General Conference:)

And can you buy hi-chews for me? they are a jappanese candy. I love them. You can get them online. THANKS

So i just found out you cant have silk ties because the bleach your white shirts. all of mine but 3 are silk so can you send some microfiber and polyester? thanks

This week has been kind of tough. We switched over to west campus on Tuesday morning. It was not good. The sister in charge of the Tagalog branch told us it was going to be a lot better over there but it was not at all. We have 12 elders in 1 apartment. We have only 2 bathrooms so thats hindi mabuti (not good). And then our district got split because it was too big, So the move was defiantly not a good thing. I do have a new address tho and its " Elder Jaden Dan St. Gelais Oct 21 PHI-CAU 2025 N. 900 E. unit 927 Provo, UT". Yesterday night was kind of hard though. We had to go teach our progressing investigator and once we walked in the door i felt like i just forgot the whole language. I dont know if it was because i was really tired or what but it was not good. That was probably the first time i really struggled with the language. The other day though we went to Jamba Juice before dinner and it was really nice to get out of prison for an hr.

Yay, im gald payton was able to go out on a date! Im sure that she will be ok and that more guys will ask her on dates. She just needs to get out of her bubble and make more friends.

As for pictures i can only send 2 in an email and they take forever to load.

The phone is one of those disposable ones. We were talking to our branch president and he said just have your parents send one with minutes because its the easiest and best way to call family. You dont have to send that till im about to leave though.  Wish Dallin good luck in cc for me.

It is so cold here! It feels like a January morning haha and the showers are super cold cause its 12 guys, 2 showers and 1 water heater...As for conference we are just going over to Cougar chapel and watching it. Dad actually could see my cause i can walk around some of BYU campus. I live in Raintree which is right by Wyview. We also get to leave and go to JambaJuice and a burger place so thats what were doing for lunch today.

Wanted to share Jaden's email and also I received a letter from him.  XOXOXOX   Mom St.  :>)

Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 08:06:28 -0600
Subject: Re: Mahal Kita, apo ko!!!
From: jaden.st.gelais@myldsmail.net
To: d.st.gelais@hotmail.com

Mabuti! Po kayo? Today is my P-day so i am doing laundry and emailing everyone. Magdasal ako araw-araw. Salamat for all of the prayers. It really helps.

I can count from Isa to Sampu. I do have your notes. I do have bread so nutella would be great.

I wont forget Granddad in my prayers or you. I feel like here at the MTC he is my Guardian Angel. I heard a talk here that said "Every missionary has an angle watching over him and it could be family members." I think mine is Granddad. Mahal kita!

-Elder St. Gelais

Hey there fam!

As for packages, any food would be awesome! I'm always hungry here. My companion is Elder Larson. He is from pleasant grove UT. He is a super funny guy. We are both going to the same mission. My district is half cauyan and urdineta. We have 4 elders and 8 sister. Our teacher told us we would probably be split though when we move to west campus wich really made us all sad because we have become so close and are like family. I love Elder DivVer who is our DL. He reminds me of Tuck. He is from Salt Lake. And most everyone is from here in UT except for one of the sisters of is from Washington. Yes the language is coming along pretty well. I can say a prayer and bear my testimony. We have also be teaching an "investigator" (one of the teachers) everyday since day 2 and have to use as much Tagalog as we can. The first day was some rough and we could barley introduce ourselves. But at day 3 we can do our whole lesson in Tagalog. Its only about 15 minutes long and most of the time we have no idea what she is saying to us but we can still feel the spirit so strong and she has told us that. The food isnt too bad here. My daily schedule is packed. We get up at 6:20 and have to be dressed and in our classroom by 7. Then we plan out our day. Have breakfast at 7:30. Back in class at 8 and in there till 11. We use preach my gospel and we learn the language. After that is personal study till lunch at 12:10. The we go back to class at 12:55 and have Language study still 2:10 and after that we have class till dinner at 5:10. During class is when we quickly plan a lesson and have to go teach Joy our investigator. When we finish that we go and study whatever we want. Then after dinner we have gym for and hour. Then we have TALL which is something on the computer to help us learn the language. Then more study time till about 9:30. After that is free time and we got back to our residence and hangout. My favorite thing by far has been teaching Joy. It is just so awesome to be able to try and speak Tagalog and communicate with her even though we dont do to great of a job we can still feel the spirit.

West campus is at Wyview which is on BYU campus. They are the apartments that students use to live in. They are really nice, living room, kitchen, etc. I cant wait to move there on Tuesday. We also are allowed to leave and go eat at the restaurants near where we stay. We are moving there because the are redoing doing some of the rooms here at the main campus and they like the Tagalog branch the best so we get to move. Yes i can get up on time and the rules are fine haha. There are devotionals tuesday and sunday nights and they were both good. We get gym time 4 times a week and i just play volleyball for the hour and totally destroy everyone! Yes I have 5 good friends. The 3 elders in my district and 2 from in our zone. We are the G-squad. We have Div (elder Divver) the lamb slayer (elder lamb) frosty(elder wright and because he has a white streak in his hair) Musscles (elder musscleman) Chow (elder larson) and Im St.Geezey. And no i dont really get too homesick because i dont have enough time to be.

Yes i get the Dearelders and they are great to get.
The only pw i can think of is the username as itunesmail90@gmail.com and the pw is Nate3149. if its as 4 digit code try 2253. And Happy birthday mom! Love you!

Hi landon!

My companion is Elder Larson! He is Half Japanese and is super funny. Yes the MTC is awesome and the spirit here is so strong. Chris and Kim took me to In-N-out before they dropped me off. Thats awesome dude! goodluck with your games. Love you.

Hi Lauren!

Thank you so much for your testimony, it means a lot! And i misss you too. Thank you for thinking about me. Thats an awesome team name. Im glad your having fun with soccer. keep doing it. Haha make sure Daz is still alive when i get back. Goodluck with soccer. I miss you too. Love you. Oh and good job being a missionary!

Bye everyone! Love you all.

PS the pic goes Larson, me, Div, Lamb 

I also need hair gel, those face wipes things for acne and a disposable phone with minutes or whatever for when i leave so i can call everyone. oh and a pack of dr pepper would be nice cause we will have a fridge starting tuesday. Also if possible one of the bigger side bags...mine is kinda useless, If i need too i can buy one here.

Thanks mom! Love you!

-Elder St. Gelais

Hi there family,

Things are going great here. Today is our first p-day. Its a nice break from all the learning going on. The hardest part is defiantly the language. Yesterday my companion and i taught our first investigator in Tagalog...so hard. Elder Larson is a great companion though. We were able to introduce ourselves, ask some questions about her and read somethings from preach my gospel and some scriptures. We also said a small testimony and had a prayer all in Tagalog.

The food here isnt the greatest but we have a lot of cool elders that share all kinds of food they have in their residence. We get a toaster and a fridge on monday from one of  Elder Divvers' friends. Elder Divver is my DL. Super cool guy, just like my friends back home.

We are doing to be switching to the West campus in 2 weeks. Im excited! I heard it was a lot nicer and on p-day we get to go out and eat if we want.

Kamusta?! How are you guys doing? Anything new in the outside world so far?

Ma hal kita and write as often as possible! I need Ana's email and address.

-Elder St. Gelais

MTC Drop off

From Chris:

Here is a picture of us at In N Out, a picture across the street from the MTC and one of him walking away with a Missionary guide.
It was a really good experience for us to take him and spend time with him. I know that you guys and most likely the rest of the family will receive blessings for his service as a Missionary and I don't know about everyone else, but I will happily receive those blessings lol. Hes a good young man and I am sure he will be a great Missionary! I can't wait to get word of his MTC experience and his experiences in the field. We love you guys!

Mission call July 2013

This blog is all of the letters exchanged between me and Jaden over his 2 year mission in the Philippines.  So lets get started at the beginning.  He received his mission call at the end of July and had 6 weeks to prepare before entering the MTC on September 11, 2013.