Email May 4th, 2009

Here's the thing about Mother's day -- I forgot that it's this Sunday and I have no idea where we can call from so it's all kind of up in the air. My problem is i don't have a phone number for you in order to text or do a initial call to tell you, so maybe if I find out I will do another email sometime throughout the week to tell you when and hopefully you will have sent me a phone number. We might be able to use the phone at the church -- but I still think it's better to have you call me using a calling card so I would arrange to get one of those also. We would probably call Monday morning, meaning Sunday night for you.

As for food -- this was from a couple emails ago I think, but maybe I want to eat stake, how does that sound? There is a good chance I will be the most tired and gross person on earth after my flight so who knows what will happen. As for when I get home, what time, what day -- I don't plan or schedule that at all and have no idea how to figure it out time difference wise either so you'll just need to wait for the church to send you my itinerary. I think Sister Thompson's family got hers when she had about three months to go and I finally turned in my change of address form in etc. so maybe they'll be sending that to you in the next couple of months.
President Anderson says hello and asks me how my family is in Idaho every time he sees me. That includes today. We came to the mall, which is very close to our area, so that my companion can buy an umbrella because she left hers on a jeep. As we walked in we saw Elder Hunt, Sister Hunt was buying pizza at the time so he was walking alone and I randomly ran into him --- he was very surprised and invited us to eat lunch with them. As we ate President and Sister Anderson showed up and ate with us then bought us ice cream -- Sister Garcia says we're "blessed for hard work!"

We gave two women that we found our first week here a tentative baptismal date yesterday. She has attended church twice and the other has not yet, the only problem is she has no work currently and is trying to go abroad now as her only means of making money for her son whom her sister will watch over while she's gone -- we're trying to find her work here so she can stay and become a strong member of the church and have the blessings of God help her family instead of working abroad, we'll see what happens. Our first baptism here will be on the sixteenth and they are both doing great.

I hope that Savanna does not decide she needs to destroy everything in our apartment LOL, I figure we'll have unhappy roommates if she does. A clean apartment is the best, I hope I have clean roommates again, we'll see. I had amazing roommates right before I left, our apartment was always so nice to be in, always clean and happy.

As for coming home July 1, it's basically out of the question at this point, in my mind anyway -- and the only good thing would be it would give me more time to FIND a job before school actually starts, not actually make money but find a place to make money instead of worrying about it amidst school and all those other busy things like moving and going through my things which have already gone through a move while I've been away etc/ adjusting to the new time, your night is my day and that has been my life for over a year now so i wonder how the adjustment will go, maybe easy but i hear coming home is harder. Anyway, August 12 sounds about right because August nine I'm at the mission home, the tenth we have a family home evening, the eleventh all of the --wait i just don't know :)

As Sister Thompson informed me regarding her family -- I will label you also "my family is trunky for me" it's a good thing, I don't have to be trunky you're just doing it for me, making plans and all that stuff, but mom you've jumped a bit forward in time a couple of times a lot of years talking about weddings and I don't know about the spring, I like fall, haha! Anyway I actually haven't thought about it much at all and only know that the months of November through February are out of the question, no questions asked, no circumstances etc. i will not have a wedding during those months the end. You have permission to hold this against me when I get married in January, but don't hold your breath over it :)

I'm kind of old now, I need to finish school...but that's going to take me some time still and first some money meaning a job but I have a good four months to get myself to that point. I still say people will think I'm younger than Savanna -- I need to buy myself some nice classy high heels a cute outfit to go with it so I can seem older, i have a very casual, simple, easy-going (i look young) style but I could pretend that I'm old sometimes and get away from my flat third-grader style shoes -- I think I've always secretly fought against really growing up or seeming mature in my femininity (odd eh) anyway I'm short so I can wear high heels too, haha.

Was it Maddie's idea to have a party? It sounds like she thinks she's in college, we always had parties for no reason, or we would just come up with our own reasons. Garyn, in the Philippines you don't say Aloha, you say "Mabuhay!" Just look at the talk Elder Teh gave a couple of years ago in general conference, that is exactly how he started it, "Mabuhay from the Philippines..." The literal translation is "life" or "alive."

Whenever I meet children around Olivia's age, especially boys, I always say...oh my sister is just about the start the youth program also, but she is almost as tall as me and they are so shocked. They are all very surprised about how tall my sisters are. As for the sealing, I can't believe they waited all this time and then did it only four months before I come home! I told Julie ages ago that I should attend. I'm glad to hear they are alive, I talk about them all the time I realized, probably because I lived with them for a year and they were at school and work etc. I'm absolutely planning to write at least some response to all the people who have written me. This includes Aunt Molly, Uncle Scott, Aunt Amy and grandparents -- after that list I might try to get to others but I guess if they don't write me they are content with the emails if they read them so I'll see everyone in a couple of months and call it good.

Does anybody know Amanda's new last name? Not that it will help me out much, I also don't know her address but it's strange to not know her new last name, sheesh.

Well, my time is actually running out now so we're doing fine here in Darasa, we have a lot of help from our leaders and members and i enjoying just listening to the good lessons on Sunday, since usually I am the one teaching and even on Sunday before I was the one teaching and listening was as enjoyable in the first areas because I didn't understand even though i wasn't teaching so i would get sleepy and fight sleep by just writing all the words I didn't know, basically all of them. Now i participate and answer questions and learn from insights of others -- wow, how fabulous, haha.

I'm finishing up Alma and at a sprint to finish it all by June when we have our mission tour and then I'll start over again I suppose but maybe focus on Tagalog for my last little while here, a side by side reading.

My companion, i think, has found every spiritual thought in the Book of Mormon regarding being prepared to give for our companionship studies --she really enjoys those scriptures and i have noticed because of them how much it actually does talk about preparing ourselves or talk about other families preparing themselves, their foods, buildings, for travel -- being prepared is very important.

Okay, time is officially up so I'll try to work something out for calling and may end up checking email again or sending one to know the numbers so keep checking and send me a number I can call if I will need to do that first.

Ang Minamahal niyong Anak at Kapatid :) hehe Si Sister Landrum

Translation: The beloved daughter and sibling
Ang = The
Minamahal = Beloved
Anak = Daughter
Kapatid = Sibling