Feb 13th, 2011

   This week has been so so sweet... And right now it sweet cause in all the computer shops there is great great music lol all American music too. This week went so so good i am starting to have just a normal conversation with just total strangers and they can understand me and people are always tell me i have great Tagalog so that always makes me so so happy and everything is so great. Nay the mango's are the best thing in the world. I love it here you can just walk down the street and begin picking fruit and eat it for free cause they are just everything. every tree or bush has some kind of fruit or gulay (vegtables). The food is to die for other than i ate deep fried intestines so those were a little weird but i made it through lol...We have a baptism on the 26th for sure so that is great. It is PaolMar a 11 year old boy that is so stinking cool lol... I got two pairs of paints made the other day and bought some watter baffalo belts lol... basketball here is crazy everyone likes it... i am always getting asked to dunk and stuff it is funny almost every corners has a hoop and we play like twice a week.

Feb 21st, 2011

        Well this week was another hard but great week... first thing is i had to lead the area for the first time and that was hard but went pretty dang good so that made me happy... i planned and lead the zone leader that whole day cause the next morning he interviewed my investigator. He gets baptized on Saturday and i am so happy and excited lol.. then the other day we taught at a house in a swamp you walk on three pieces of bamboo to get out to there house which was scary and then the family told us about a water lizard that has been eating for chickens lol.. and snakes that could eat full ducks scary .. then later that night i was teaching when i saw something in the corner of my eye run across the wall and it was a spider the size of my hand no joke it was huge and i didn't like seeing that lol... but the work has been a little slow so we need to buckle down and get to work. Things are good here really and that makes me happy the food is good and that makes me happy too some stuff is gross but o well... and then the heat is hot always... but things are always getting better i am seeing huge changes in the language and what i can understand and say so that is sweet... there is a lot of English here though which makes things hard cause people always want to talk to you in English which doesn't help me lol... but things are just good i am busy!
~Elder Leedom

                                                         FIRST BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PaulMar              

                                                                           US!!!!!!!

                                                             HIS FAMILY!!!!!!!!!

                                                                        BISHOPRICK

                                                            ALL WHO WERE THERE!!!!!!

                                                                        Aaron

This Is ME!!!!!!!!

                                                       All the Houses are like this...

                                                     Me w/ two R.C. & one Investigator.

                                                                 Feeding a Monkey.

                                                             SO SO GREEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                               Goat skull in the Soup... YUUUUMMMMYYY!!!!!!!

                                                                    Me & R.C.

                                                                My Church in Aduas

                                                                    Huge Puno (Tree).

                                                                 Service Crew!!!!!!!!!! LOL

Elder Leedom is Doing Well!!

These are trices...a motorcycle with these little side cars. JD rides around in these a lot and walks a lot!

He definitely stands out over there. He says he is sick of people wanted to touch him. Also they all call him Joe from GI Joe (WWII). They call all white guys Joe. He is still struggling with the language but it is coming along. He felt a little homesick last week but said he is doing better. It is a whole different lifestyle there but he is adjusting. We all miss him so much. Feel free to email him letters and pictures!! john.leedom@myldsmail.net

I made it to the Philippines!

JD made it to the Philippines last Tuesday and we were able to talk to him for a few minutes while he was in the airport in San Francisco. He sounded really excited and a little nervous. We then recieved a letter from him on Sunday telling us about his first week:

         I am starting to adjust to the time difference since it is totally backwards. I cant hardly understand anyone they speak so fast and so softly... that has been my biggest struggle so far for sure... the people here are so nice and are always giving you merienda (snacks).  my companion is native and from Cavite and is so so cool... His name is Elder Labatiao... his English is pretty good but sometimes it is hard to understand him lol. I have taught like ten lessons already and like four of them have mostly been me teaching... I gave a spiritual thought to the Mamaya and Cabral families... We have a couple investigators PaolMar is a young boy who we a re pushing to get baptized i really think he will do... he is so smart when we get to his house he pulls out his Book of Mormon and will like highlight verses it is crazy lol... i gave him one of my colored scripture markers cause he thought they were so cool lol... The food for the most part has been good... just super different. People are so poor here they have like nothing it is so crazy....we dont have a flushing toilet, a warm shower, no silverware, no toilet paper, we have to move light bulbs from room to room at night... it is so crazy here... we have to ride trices everywhere and every morning to our area cause it is too far to walk... they are motorcycles with side cars lol... it is so hot here but that isnt to big of a struggle... i try and stay positive and keep on learning and doing my best...i had to introduce myself in church yesterday and it went alright then i had to bear my testimony and i hope that went good lol... the churches here are so nice it is weird cause everyone it so poor... everything is gated for safety. it gets dark here at like six everyday all year long. My area is pretty small but buy a huge city... the mission president is so stinking nice and so cool since he is from Idaho..the first night we all just slept on the floor in the mission house (only us six from the states). Then the next day we met the natives that came in the same time as us and then met your companions and headed off to our areas... that day seemed so long and hard cause i was so tired... but this is a whole new world over here and i am trying to just soak it all in... it is hard to teach because people are so loud.. People have huge karaoke machines and they are so so loud... all the music is in English which always makes me think of home lol.. the everything is piped out and as loud as loud comes lol. The airplane ride was killer like i could have died. It was 15 hours... I sat next to a drifter who was going back to Monila to live on the beach, kind of weird guy, but fairly nice...it was super hard cause i couldn't sleep cause there was no room but we all made it... being in China was pretty cool too all the Chinese symbols were sweet. So is was a three hour flight from Salt lake to San Fran. then 15 hours to Hong Kong then 2 hours to monila and then a three hour drive to angeles then the next day a three and half hour bus ride to Aduas.... I could have just died. Longest days of my life like wow. The Mission President leave in July so i will only have him for six months of my mission.. they are great people total horse people and stuff. He know like no tagalog too lol. That night we slept there they cooked us some great food. People here are so friendly and kind. I swear almost everyone is members just in active or part of a part member family. The people here are so poor i cant believe it most house are dirt floors or cement if they have money... they are build of brick or bamboo. The people are so humble thought and so loving..It was super hard this week and i am trying to push through... i live with the Zone Leaders which is rare you are usually all alone so that has helped too. Life here is so different but i just try and take it head on.
              .. if you ever send a package dont ever use FedEx or UPS k... it cost me a lot to pick them up...and always write missionary supplies on it too always write that on your papers so i dont have to pay costumes k... write that on the slip you fill out, tell everyone that...k thank you...

Update

So JD is doing well! We have received about 4 letters from him and he is really upbeat and positive in all of them so that is good. I think he is doing well. He said learning the language is hard but coming along and all the people are really helpful. We are really going to miss him on thanksgiving and I'm sure he will be missing us. We are sending him goodies though so hopefully that will cheer him up. We are also doing the 12 days of Christmas so he will get gifts to open for 12 days. If any of you want to send him anything. Even a quick note...I know he would love it!! 

Elder John Dean Leedom Jr. 
MTC Mailbox # 349 
PHI-ANG 1229 
2005 N 900 E 
Provo, UT 84604-1793