8 May 1999

I went up to Tacloban on Wednesday with Elder Hughes, Elder Hintze, and Elder Roberts (Elder Hintze was also transferred).  We did a lot of eating.  Elder Kopp was up there, too.  He wasn't transferred; he was there because of a bad rash all over his body, and his companion got sick while they were there.  Elder Pfister was also there, because he was transferred somewhere onto Biliran island.  I met Elder Surowiec that night at the Real Street apartment.  He's a cool guy.  And he's the first companion I've had who's older than I am.  He turns 23 in July.  He's in the same batch as Elder Jones.

Yeah, sorry about the photo quality

Elder Dubnyk (Polompon zone leader) was in Tacloban, too.  He informed us that Polompon zone, which Isabel is a part of, no longer exists.  Dubnyk's companion went to Manila because there's something wrong with his leg, so they transferred Elder Dubnyk and closed Polompon.  So now I'm back in Ormoc Zone.

I called home yesterday morning for Mother's Day.  Mary and Amy both have new boyfriends, Jenny and Anders are moving to Taber at the end of this month.  Sara is still working well (what an odd thing to say).  Amy graduated from university.  Mary started college.  Rob's in Vancouver for some engineering thing.  Emily's in junior high now.  Mum and Dad are doing good.  They're going to Nova Scotia today.  I talked to Jonah for a little bit.  He said, "I went swimming today."  I asked if it was fun, and he said yes, then handed the phone to Jenny and said, "It's for you."

After I was done talking with them, I saw my first monkey in real life ever.  It was cool.