Bawal Ingles.

Hey family!
Talagang jealous ako na pumunta kayo sa Six Flags. We never did that while I was there in band! Pero okay lang, napakaligaya akong nakapunta kayo.

Sa noong linggo, talagang mahirap kami dito sa MTC dahil hindi puwede kaming mag-ingles ngayon! Bago sa "linggo na bawal ingles" talagang "talkative" sa district ko pero kung hindi puwede silang mag-ingles, pinaka-silent sila. Nag-tatry ako pero mas mahirap naman kasi walang taong gusto nilang magsalita sa Tagalog.

Alright, that was bad and my head hurts now so I'm going to finish in English haha. Well I'm glad you all had fun there! That's so awesome that you were able to go and thank you for taking them. I'm sure they really appreciated and I'm proud to have such willing parents. I know you probably had a lot to do and it definitely meant a lot to Cara to have the help. Thank you for supporting them.

I'm so glad that you saw Matt last week! Thanks for telling me about that, I really miss that kid. I came in with Ryan on the same day here and I see him a lot. I'm glad that he saved you guys some money because I know I haven't been really helping. There's a lot of Tagalog things I've been needing here so I apologize for that. Also, food supply is a bit low and they only give us six dollars a week for the vending machines, and as you all know: I love to eat.

Well, I was released as district leader yesterday of district 3C. I was kind of sad but I know its what the Lord wants. They switch at the halfway point here at the MTC to give someone else a turn. Its kind of funny because they called Elder Kinikini who is a huge Tongan that plays football for the Univerisity of Hawaii; so they went from calling the smallest kid to the biggest in the district - and of course, we're the only two who aren't white with brown hair. I'm excited for Elder Kilikkilik though, he's really nice with a big heart. I'll send you a picture of us together that we took yesterday; you'll laugh really hard. I was also released as senior companion too so I'm just a regular missionary now with now other responsibilities other than myself for now. It's weird, but I'm adjusting well.

This past week was really tough because our class went to zero English. Our teacher marks on the board every time we talk in English as the number of "kasalanans" of our class and if we get over three we don't have story-time in English about the Philippines at the end of class. I've been doing really well but everyone else is dying. Wednesday we decided as a district that we weren't going to speak English at all, even outside of class so that was crazy. It really helped us a lot though and forced us to learn. This week we decided not to speak English at breakfast and lunch because our language evaluation scenario on Thursday is a meal setting. We're also starting to learn how to teach the first lesson in Tagalog too. We'll also be evaluated on that on Thursday as well. It's funny because now speaking English has become a treat to us and as we all discussed, whenever we speak English now, we feel like we're doing something we shouldn't be doing. It's actually becoming hard to speak in just English believe it or not. It's really hard for any of us to go a sentence or two without speaking Tagalog. The Lord is truly blessing us with learning the language at the MTC.

Well we have about four weeks from tomorrow until we leave until the Philippines and I'm getting really excited. I'm getting kind of tired of this place and anxious to go but I know it will come soon enough. Hope all is well for you all this week and I look forward to hearing from you soon! Mahal ko kayo!

Love,
Eric

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First Goodbyes.

Hey Family!
Talagang mabalis ang noong lingo! Mayroong akong limang mga lingo lang dito sa MTC. Mabalis ng horas dito talaga!

Well, that may not all have been right but I don't have all day to figure out grammer to email with so I'll finish the rest of the email in English. Anyway, it's been a really, really, really fast week. We were so busy this past week. Thank you for your letters, time flew out of my hands before I could even think to write back. By the time I would've sent ya'll anything (everyone says ya'll here, it's starting to stick with me again) it would've been too late!

Anyway, this past week was really hard. We sent our oldest district in the zone to the Philippines and it was really hard to let them go. They were like our big brothers and sisters even though they were only here six weeks before I was. I really learned a lot from each of them; I especially got close to the zone leaders from being the district leader. They left for a nice long 20 hour trip at the beginning of last week; the Laoag missionaries left on Monday, and the Quezon City ones on Tuesday. There were lots of tears but we're really happy for them. I'm so glad they were here to set the example for us to follow and I can't wait to hear from them and see the Quezon City elders soon.

We got two new districts in our zone this past week and it's been really weird to have new people here. It's just not the same, but I guess that's how the mission is - ever changing and never the same. Elder Frost and I got two new people in our room who are pretty cool for the most part. I did have to set them straight on the temperature though because one of the elders insisted on cranking the AC down to 55 degrees and I was not having that - thanks to the big mouth mom gave me, I made sure to voice my opinion. Joke lang, I was mature about it but still, isn't 55 degrees a bit ridiculous? One of the elders is from Sanger California and he's pretty cool. I guess its been good to have new faces but its still been rough to see them replace the rooms of the old district. Regardless, it doesn't matter how much I complain, cry, kick, or scream, the past isn't coming back and I know I have to focus on the reason on why I'm out here and focus on the future.

Well Mom, I appreciated your letter in the mail and it was really cool to get that letter from the mission president, thanks for sending it ASAP and don't worry about opening it; feel free to open anything you'd like. So district leader? I'll try to explain that to you a bit better.

Each mission, whether in the MTC or out on the field, is typically comprised of about 8-11 zones and within those zones about 4-5 districts. Here at the MTC we have two zones of Tagalog speaking elders and 8 districts total. There is a companionship (two missionaries) called as zone leaders who are in charge of each zone and assist the district leaders with their duties. Mat is a zone leader in Alaska right now. As a district leader I am over about ten missionaries and here are the responsibilities as described to the MTC guidelines:

Lift, encourage, inspire and bless the members of the district.
Set an example of gospel living and devoted, selfless service.
Encourage the missionaires in the district to live a high standard of obedience. Remind them to keep the classroom and their residence rooms clean and orderly.
Promote speaking your language.
Receive an accounting during the last class on Friday from each senior companion.
Collect missionary weekly reports and submit them to the zone leader.
Report to the Branch president on the progress and concerns of missionaries in your district.
Attend and participate in weekly branch council meeting.
Plan and conduct district meetings (three times a day, six days a week).
Assign temporary companion exhchanges as needed.
Read weekly bulletin and keep missionaires in the district informed.
Pick up and distribute mail.

Basically, I'm the district's mom and the zone leaders are my mom. I'll actually get released this week though since it's halfway through our stay here and they will call a new district leader on Sunday. I'm relieved a little but I'll miss it. It's been a great experience.

Jason, good luck on band camp! I expect a full report, pictures, and stories! Don't forget, you're always a drum major to them and to me. Take care of that car and those kids k?

Dad, keeping being yourself. I miss ya.

Anyway, I think that's all I got for this week. I look forward to receiving your dearelders every week, they keep me goin'. And yeah mom, my companion is coming to Quezon with me; guy's a character, you'd love him. Oh and Preston got here this week too! Anyway, my time is about to run out, can't wait to hear from you guys soon. Don't worry about me here I'm doing fine. There's one thing I'd like to ask though, if you could look in my green hymnbook and learn and sing "Families Can Be Together Forever" every Sunday for me, that'd be awesome. It's a really powerful song that we sing here sometimes and I think you will like it. Well take care, I'll talk to you soon! Oh one last thing, I'm scheduled to leave here the 13th of September so plan on getting a call that night!

Love,
Eric

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A Movin'.

Mom, Dad, & Jason!
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Magandang umaga sa inyong lahat! Kumusta po ang lingo ninyo?! Mabuti naman para s'akin. Huwag kang magalala, naguusap ako sa tagalog marami heto sa MTC.
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Anyway, time's been a-movin' here at the MTC. I realize I told you guys it was just the same old thing last week but I guess you don't really know what that is huh? I'll try to map out a week for you real quick.
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The week starts on Friday because that's when we do all our weekly planning. As district leader, I lead the district in setting goals, evaluating last week, and evaluating our progress in all areas. It's a long grueling process that usually takes about two hours. We then set goals within a companionship and then for ourselves. Our teachers guide and moniter those goals every week. The goals are usually set to our weekly teaching appointment scenario that's evaluated on every Thursday night. This past Thursday night our TA went really well. The appointment was that we were supposed to get to know the person for seven minutes in only Tagalog and then we taught the first lesson in English. Next week the TA is that we are picking an "investigator" up for church, riding the jeepney to church, and then teaching the second lesson in English. Everything else is in Tagalog.
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Saturdays are pretty much like any other day: eight hours of class, three hours of studying, one hour of "missionary directed time," three meals, and an hour for gym.
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Sundays are pretty busy believe it or not. We have to be in the classroom for instruction by seven like any other regular day and then as a district leader we havea "branch meeting" (a branch is like a ward just smaller) that has all the leaders in the zone and the branch presidency: the three district leaders over each district in the zone, the two zone leaders over the zone, and the one coordinating sister. We talk about and evaluate problem areas in the district and see what we can do to make things better. Then we have priesthood meeting, and sacrament meeting like my farewell. Between the end of sacrament and dinner we all go for a temple walk which is where you'll see most of my pictures. Then we head back and shower because it's hot outside, and then go to dinner. After dinner we have what's called a "fireside" which is where a speaker comes and talks to all the missionaries in the MTC and then we go watch a church movie after. As always, everyday ends with planning and then we go to the residence hall and unravel.
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Monday is our"preparation day" or better known as "p-day." We usually go to the temple really early, get our laundry done, email, study, write letters, and then go for a run. It ends around five and I have another zone coordinating meeting with the zone coordinator this time. Then we have class and well, that's Monday.
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Tuesday's we have gym first so no one showers and we just have breakfast and then go play soccer usually. We usually play against the Spanish speaking elders which is funny because we strategize in Tagalog and they strategize in Spanish so we can't understand what the other team is doing. If we feel lazy during gym time we'll play frisbess, croquet, or ladder golf aka old people sports. We only have four hours of class on Tuesday because we have a "devotional" which is like a fireside just during the week. After the devotional we have a district devotinal review that I coordinate under a presiding authority.
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Wednesdays start with service so we don't go to the cafeteria and just grab a sack breakfast instead. Our service is cleaning one of the residence halls so it kind of stinks (literally) but its a good way to start off the day. We usually spend the rest of the day preparing for the TA.
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Thursday - no different, just no service.
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And well, that's it!
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Last week I got a haircut dad... and well, I don't really have any hair left. I told her to take just a little off the top and she just kept on cutting! Oh well, it's cooler that way I guess.
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The Tagalog is coming really fast. Since we're not really allowed to speak in English its becoming embedded in my head. I have to make a conscience effort to say small things in English like "yes" or "no" or even "how are you?" or "really?" because by default now everything is "oo," "hindi," "kumusta?" or "talaga?" It's pretty funny. Most times I find myself talking in Tagalog without even meaning too. In a little over a month I'll be able to call you in the airport and you can hear it!
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Speaking of which, the transfer for me to go early didn't really work out. There weren't enough missionaries coming back to replace so I'll be hear until the second Tuesday in September. It's all good, I know I'm supposed to be where I need to be.
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Some of the kids in our zone this week (missionaries I should say, not kids) are leaving to Quezon this week. It's crazy. I'm really excited for them but I'm going to miss them a lot. That's the essence of a mission though, you sacrifice leaving people you love to find more people to love.
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Anyway, that's all I have for this week. Thanks for your dearelders! They went through and I appreciate it! I wanted to send letters back but by the time you would've gotten them it would've been Monday already so sorry about that Jase but send me one this week and I'll get back to ya soon! Well, hope everything is good, by the way I'm jealous of that car! Good choice though! You'll have to send me a picture! Be careful kiddo, don't make stupid mistakes like me. Red lights are there for a reason and left turns are dangerous. Alright well take care and write me soon! Tell Auntie Liz to email or dearelder me too! I miss them! Ingat po kayo!
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Love,
Eric
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PS - Did get the package! Thanks!

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Tao Po!

Mom, Dad, & Jason,
(Knock, knock) Tao po! Ayos! Bakit hindi nagsulat kayo sa akin sa dearelder.com? Naghintay ako! Pero, okay lang.

Tagalog joke for the week:
"Oh kamusta na Elder Frost?" (my companion)
"May sakit siya" (me)
"Sakit? Hey, you just need to be a man and 'sak-it' up!" (Elder Kinikini aka Elder Kilikili)

This week went by really fast. The first few days were really long but after we got our schedule going, time really started to pick up. Everyday is just go, go, go from 6:30am to 10:30pm, even to the point where everyone's rushing to brush their teeth at 10:28pm to get in bed. It's starting to grow on me though and although it's had work, I'm loving every minute of it.

Being district leader has been really good for me. It helps me stay focused and less homesick because I have to worry about everyone else before myself. Class is going great. I find out today if they're going to put me up to the advanced class because I'm learning Tagalog so much faster than everyone else, but they don't know if it's going to work out with transfers so we'll see. I'll be happy where ever I go because I know that that is where the Lord will have me be.

We had our first "teaching appointment" last week which is where you get evaluated for everything you've learned that week. The task was to contact three people in 15 minutes speaking only Tagalog and then teach the first lesson for 35. A lot of people in the district had a hard time with it but my companion and I breezed through. I let him do most of the talking in Tagalog since he could use the practice and I just chimed in whenever he got stuck. Our lesson went amazing too; I don't think it could have gone any better. Our teachers were really proud of us and the work that we did.

Today we got up an hour earlier and made a trip to the temple which was awesome. It was a great way to start the week. Elder Frost and I then went to go get my pants hemmed because I think I shrunk coming up here, and then we did our laundry... I've never had to wash so many whites in my life.
Anyway, I hope all is well at home, I miss you guys a lot. Here's my address if you guys want to write me!

Elder Eric Ray Corpuz
MTC Mailbox #129
PHI-QUE 0916
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604

I'll try to remember more stuff to write next week! Love you and miss you guys lots!

Love,
Eric

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Kumusta po kayo?

Hey Mom! (at sina dad & Jason)

Kumusta po kayo?! Mabuti naman ako. That's all I got right now haha.

Well its been a really long past few days away from you guys. It's been really hard to be away from home but its been really rewarding as well. I'll try to recap the past week to the best that I can remember it.

Wednesday was probably the longest day I've ever lived in my life. Everyone was staring at me through the whole terminal and flight; I think partially because I was wearing a suit and also because I was crying the whole time haha you know me already. The flight went by fast and we landed in Salt Lake City about 20 minutes early. Bishop Grant picked me up in baggage claim and we ran into a guy in my hall who was going into the MTC as well that day. So Bishop Grant took us all (me, Elder Young, and his sister - Sister Young) back to Provo and treated us to lunch at IHOP. Afterwards we drove to the MTC a bit early and, well, that was it. We were all really nervous because we didn't know what to expect but as you can see I'm still alive and surviving. They had other missionaries there waiting to pick us up who took our suitcases and showed us to our residence halls and classrooms. We started class right away that day and man, was it hard. I thought Calculus or PDBIO was hard but at least they were in English. From the moment I walked in the door "bawal ingles." Absolutely no English. I felt so sorry for all the other kids because at least I could understand a little bit; on the other hand everyone looked like they wanted to cry. The language is coming really fast though. Class went on forever that day. At dinner it was like almost eating at the cannon center all over again. I saw at least ten people from BYU at dinner alone that day. It was really nice because missing home kind of lessened up after seeing some familiar faces. After dinner we went to a workshop that was like a mock-lesson teaching with a bunch of other newbie missionaries. We met our Zone Leaders after that who then took us to our rooms for the night. My companion's name is Elder Frost and he's way cool. He's a kind of nerdy kid that says a bunch of really funny things but we get along great. We make jokes a lot between the two of us since he's "from the hood." Taga Conneticut siya at magmimisyon siya sa Quezon City tambien. Oops - that was Spanish. Funny because that's been what's hardest about the language here. Whenever I try to talk in class I speak in a mix of Tagalog, Ilocano, Spanish, and English and my teacher (Brother Doria ang pangalan niya) just looks at me funny. My companion starts speaking French when he gets frustrated so I don't know what's worse haha.

The days all kind of mesh together after that. Thursday was our first real day in the MTC. Our days are pretty much formatted like this:

6:30am - Wake up
Breakfast
Three hours of Class
Lunch
Three hours of class
Gym
Dinner
Three hours of class
Planning
Sleep - 10:30pm

We hard immunizations check on Thursday and guess what mom... I have all mine done already! My companion has to get a couple so I was relieved about that. Thursday was pretty much like another other day though. We've come up with a couple Tagalog jokes that I know you will find funny. So we were going over pronouns haling bawa ang - ako, siya, ikaw/ka, etc. And the teacher was telling us that the easiest way to remember each is by finding the similarities between the two. So when the teacher asked with similarity between "tayo" and "nating" was I shouted out "absolutely nating!" Atsaka everyone finds the number "siyete" really funny. We say when we go to the bathroom "Anong number?" like you know, number one or number two, and the response is "number siyete" haha. Its weird though, I wish you guys could come visit and see this place. I rarely hear English because everyone is speaking their own perspective languages. What was even weirder was coming here and having a bunch of white people speak better Tagalog than me. I'm starting to think I'm forgetting to speak in English too because everyone thing is Taglish here; I can't even remember the last time I said "yeah" or "yes." It's awesome though. I can't wait to call you guys before I go on the plane and show you how much I've learned.

Later that Thursday night I was called as district leader on only the second day here. I completely was not expecting that but it's been good for me. It's helped me to worry about the guys in my district and less about myself like Bishop Thomas said. Forgetting myself and doing His work has been a bit hard being homesick but that calling has made it a lot easier. The Branch President also said that there's a strong possibility that I'll be out of here in only three weeks since I'm picking up the language so fast. That would be crazy because all the guys in my district are here for nine which is just a little longer than Spring term. Saturday and Sunday were pretty much the same as the other couple of days.

I think what I've liked most about the language is the structure and how amazing it is. Tagalog is so beautiful becuase it marks the focus of each sentence. We were talking about our purpose the other day. The first part talks about "bringing others unto Christ." An activity our teacher did was to try to understand what was the focus of that sentence whether it be "coming" or "Christ." Tagalog perfectly marks it though, it marks "others" as the focus which is what missionary work is all about. It's about loving the people and not us.

Even though being away from home is really hard, I'm having a great time here. As Elders we're all looking out for eachother and lifting eachother up everyday. The food is great and even though the work is hard, it's worth it. I've been recording videos and taking lots of pictures for you guys so I hope you enjoy those.

I miss you guys a lot and hope you're doing well. Write me letters and send me stuff because that makes us feel special haha. I'll talk to you guys soon!

Mahal ko kayo,
Eric

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