Except that that is divine.

Dear Mom,

Well, not much time to email this week. So here will be my best recap, not to worry, lot's of pictures to make it exciting!

Great to hear about Jason and the banquet. I knew he would take nearly all the awards. The band banquet is always one of the most memorable parts of the year since our family was so involved there. And don't worry mom, we're not done with PVHS, because I am still in charge of planning all the reunions for the Class of 2009! Guess for now, it's on to BYU for me and Jase - time to go show the Cougars what the Corpuz family is made of.

But wait, he wasn't able to make it into Helaman for fall? I hope we can find a way to get him in, I know that's why I loved BYU so much my first year. My prayers and I'm sure my friends prayers will be with him to find a way and to have a good semester over summer. I'm counting down the days till he leaves on my calendar with you! I'm so excited for him!

Well, first, here's a surprise, guess who I saw last week? President approved a lunch with me and the Theresa and Nena who I was in the youth group with in church growing up! It was great to see them and talk with them in Tagalog. Auntie took us out to Pizza Hut which was a real treat. It was nice to see familiar places all the way across the world.

Next, here are some great pictures from my exchanges with my district leader's area which is right next to mine. Here's a really good look of what the place I'm working in looks like:

Heading up the trail I almost died on. Gotta get to the people!

A look from their house.

Caves the people used to hide in during WWII.

Yeah, black belt status... even though I'm still only one away.

"Wawa" Falls

Top of the falls.

The family I met that day that didn't want me to leave!

That day was awesome! Being in the mountains here is just a whole new experience. Don't worry, I wear bug repellent everyday mom, so I do all I can to keep away from the dengue. I also learned how to skip rocks on the pond that day while we were resting. Pretty sick trick that I'm sure will help me get a wife... haha.

Funny story: so later on that night, we were sleeping when I woke up around 3:00am from a sharp pain on my chest - a bug bite. The room we slept in has a huge hole in the wall so it's no wonder. The next day, my left breasticle got HUGE. Of course, I got the proper treatment, don't worry mom, but it was so funny and awesome! I was super ripped on one side of my body... and not on the other side haha. Anyway, everythings good now so I'll just have to resort to push ups to getting that big again.

Well other than that, not much more happened this past week. Follow up training has been a blast and the wards a great. Cool detail too, my last area was mostly Visaya, here my two wards are basically majority Ilocano! It's awesome! And it's true, Ilocanos are super madaldal!

I'll just share one quick story that really touched me this past week. We were visiting a sister, a single mother who adopted three Indian kids to raise. She lives in a little self made house on her owner's property and is basically their maid. She works everyday to make sure her kids can eat. Before I came, she moved there on the terms that she doesn't work on Sunday so she can go to church, but her owner completely changed when she moved in and is now not letting her do that. Since their are now laws, there is no help for her, except that that is divine. When we visited her on Saturday, we asked her how she was doing; you could tell she was tired and spent. She said life is hard, and it's tough everyday with her owner, but because she knows of Jesus Christ, she says she will never give up and keep trying. I hope one day my faith can be as strong as hers. I know if we look at our trials how she does in gratitude instead of asking "why," we'll also be able to find strength and peace in our lives.

Love,

Elder Corpuz

P.S. Can you send me a letter to see if it makes it here? I haven't gotten letters since February so I think either everyone has forgotten about me or they're getting lost somewhere! And! Got to go to the temple today as well and saw some old friends from Caloocan: