Elder Max Moncur: Is This For Real?!?!?!?!

September 1, 2013

....Is this real life?....... I don’t even know where to start...... But really........... Is this for real?!?!?!?! Ok, I’ll start from the top:

So, my last week in the MTC was awesome... We said goodbye to everyone, which is hard as always. Brother Spreng was such an influence to me, his attitude about life was inspiring. Brother Cook, who is also just amazing, took over for Brother Moffat for the last week and he is so amazing too. They really got me pumped up for the Philippines. I miss everyone from the MTC, those who left before me and after. You all changed my experience in so many ways, you guys don’t even know. Oh, and guess what? Turns out my Branch President, President Anderson, was Mckenzie Hunters’s Grandpa! Ya, what? So whack. We were eating and I look up and was just like "Hm, those people look familiar.... IT’S THE HUNTERS!!!" It was so nice to see them all. I know all the people at the MTC can read this, but McKenzie, all the guys were diggin’ on ya, hahaha. ANYWAYS! Because we were now taking the train instead of the bus to the Salt Lake City Airport, we had to wake up at 5 am to leave. I went to bed at 3.... Why? Because my Mom loves me and doesn’t want me to die so I spent the whole night packing and trying to get my bags under 50 lbs so I didn’t have to pay overweight fees. Oh, and just remember as you read this, I only got 3 hours of sleep the night before.... So we wake up and go to the travel office, woohoo, last goodbyes (Shout out to those who loved me enough to wake up and send me off!) Get on the bus to the train station. I’m freaking out, it’s getting more and more real. But hey, Elder Riley Jones sat next to me so we got to talk. That kid’s really gonna kill it down in Argentina. So we get to the train station, get on the train, everyone’s Mormon so they talk to us, life’s fantastic! So many people supporting us, so uplifting. Back to the story, so the train arrives at the airport and we all get off and grab our bags. There’s like 120 missionaries so we look pretty sick walking into the airport together. We go in and check our bags in and guess what.... The lady waives our overweight fees! Why? Because she was Filipino and many of us were headed to the Philippines. Now I was pretty bummed because I didn’t sleep and passed down so much food that I thought I couldn’t bring.... wow. Oh well, ya life goes on (I’m thinking of Elder Zak Morgan right now since he likes to quote songs in his e-mails).

The Airport: Man, the airport sure was emotional. Goodbye clean water, normal toilets, toilet paper, good food, nice weather, English-speaking people, just everything! I had a last McDonald’s bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit so I was satisfied with my last American meal, keyword AMERICAN. We boarded the plane, I’m stoked because we were flying to LAX before Japan so I was getting one last taste of home. I was writing letters this whole time so for those of you that didn’t get yours, well it’s because I was planning on sending many of them at LAX but for some reason they didn’t have a mailbox. Lame, I know. It’s funny because when we were in LAX, all the people from Utah are used to being where everyone’s Mormon, but in California, missionaries, especially a pack of them, stand out, so they [other missionaries] were all like "jeez, cali people like giving us weird looks".... Well just look at us, ahahahahah, man I love Utahns.

TOKYO: So we’re boarding the plane in LAX and before we step into the tunnel, I enjoy not being the minority for the last time. It was so weird to think I was literally walking myself into foreign territory. The flight to Tokyo was so fun. We sure did enjoy ourselves. At this point all the people were split into their separate flights so it was only the Legaspi people on our flight. We were in the very back though so we had tons of leg room and extra service (SWEET). On those long plane rides, they give us a pillow and red blanket, and boy did we enjoy ourselves with those. We seriously looked so dumb but we were in the back so no one saw us as we dressed up and looked like the Pope, Roman soldiers, etc. That flight was seriously the longest thing of my life though. Every hour seemed like 3. And flying over water for so long was kind of weird! It was so nice to see Tokyo. We finally arrived though, and that place did not look anything as I had expected! There were fields everywhere! It was so beautiful! When we got off the plane, the humidity hit us and were all just like, "Oh great, this is what were living in for the next 2 years" But oh no was I wrong.... I’ll explain later! The Tokyo airport was eerily empty and quiet, to be honest I felt uncomfortable. I was stoked to be there though, since I was in Japan where my dad served his mission!

Tokyo Airport: So like I said, this airport was really weird. Worst part, they took my peanut butter! I was livid! I love peanut butter and they don’t really have it in the Philippines! The first thing we did when we landed was hit the bathrooms. Let me tell you, Japan knows what’s up. They have bidets! Or however you spell it! It was funny because I had used them before but Elder Ruben, Nelson, Poulton, or Miller (all the Legaspi guys) hadn’t! Their reactions were ridiculously funny, especially Elder Ruben who just couldn’t stop giggling while he was using it. SO bakla. So we go to find our Manila flight, and guess what?! The board that tells all the flights was in Japanese! All we could read was Manila, so we checked the gate number and started making our way over. Worst experience ever. As we were walking over, we kept seeing all these people with signs saying different cities on it. I saw a lady holding a Manila sign, so I asked "What does this sign mean?" She responded "Was this sihne meen?...." I’d never felt so helpless in my life! I just said never mind and sorry and then walked away. We reach our gate (which was on the opposite end of the airport), and start to check in. The ladies have a worried look, and say we are late. LATE?! HOW?! Our flight wasn’t supposed to leave for another hour! The one lady starts going off in Japanese and all the guys and Sister Mwea and Ogden who were with us too, just stood there and looked at each other. She then said a bunch of nonsense and then I caught Delta followed by some more nonsense followed by her pointing to the flight board.... I was hating life at this point because not only did no one speak English but we were lost in Tokyo and were at the wrong gate. Goodness Gracious. After some prayer in the heart, we were able to find what gate was really ours, which of course was on the other side of the airport where we were. We were like Olympic speed walkers as we made our way back to the right gate. I was in a suit so I was really sweating a ton too! We made it to our gate however and saw all the other people flying to the Philippines who went through Seattle instead of LAX, and I was sooooo happy to see them! We were able to walk around a bit and check out some of the shops before our flight, which was cool.

Manila Flight: Manila flight was nothing special besides we were hearing a language we could actually somewhat understand (TAGALOG!) It was so fun being on a plane with my whole district, plus the other people going to the Philippines from the other MTC zone. The main thing about this part of my journey was the pilot came on the radio and said "We will be taking the long way into Manila because of a typhoon. Thank You." Gosh dangit, I was going to die before I even stepped foot in the Philippines! Joke lang, I obviously made it. Oh, and we had now skipped a day at this point from our flight west, and I got 3 hours of sleep all together on the Tokyo and Manila flights.

Manila: We landed in Manila at about 10 at night so we couldn’t see much. When we stepped off the plane, I was amazed at how much hotter it was here. (But wait, it gets worse.) We all just kind of wandered around trying to figure our way out as we made it through security, got our bags, and tried to find someone who was waiting for us. We found our help and was guided outside. I felt so lost as everyone was speaking in Tagalog. As soon as I stepped outside, I saw my first Jeepney (war Jeeps turned into public transportation and are decked out like party buses). Outside, I sweat more than I have before, even after running! It was so weird! We were staying the night in a hotel in Manila so we were taken there. We all got separated on different vans and were really spread out on when we were arriving at the hotel. The ride to the airport was one of the scariest experiences ever. Filipinos are the worst drivers by far! Anyway, so by the time everyone made it to the hotel and got settled, it was 3 in the morning. Oh, and the Legaspi missionaries had to be up by 5 to make our flight when everyone else had till 8 or 10. Not fair.

Legaspi: We woke up and got to the airport. We were greeted by 12 missionaries who stayed at the MTC in Manila, who too were going to Legaspi. Without them, many who were fluent in Tagalog, we never would have made it to our flight. Inside we exchanged our money for pesos (so sad) and then went to our flight. The flight was short and the scenery was beautiful. We landed in Legaspi and they have no airport so you walk out directly onto the runway. First thought: HOLY CRAP IT’S HOT! I swear, Satan must live here. I never thought I could sweat in places I did. It was literally the hottest I had ever been. We were quickly greeted by missionaries and the Mission President and some of his assistants. We were driven to a nearby church for an orientation and then got to meet our trainer, or new companion. This time was really emotional for me. Elder Miller and I grew really close, he changed my life and supported me through all the MTC. I’m so thankful that he put up with my crazy personality and that we never fought. Knowing that all the guys from my district back at the MTC were getting shipped off to different areas was really hard for me. Although I had only known them for 6 weeks, they were now my brothers. I cried a lot saying bye to them. (MAHAL KITA DISTRICT!)

My Companion: Elder Bazar from Manila, 19, been in the mission 6 months, and I was already his second trainee. He must be good.

Week 1 in the Philippines: I don’t have much more time so I will tell more about the Philippines next week. The girls love Elder Nelson and I. We are in the same zone so we traveled together and so many girls yell "You’re so handsome" and then laugh. Seriously, everyone here loves white people. On my second day I had my new missionary initiation: Eating Balut. Balut? Ya, a fertilized fetus chicken egg. What’s even better? I got the lucky egg. Lucky egg= egg with full grown fetus chicken inside, feathers, beak, legs, EVERYTHING. Nastiest experience of my life. Oh, you sweat all day, its never cool. At night you sleep with fans on you or else you just sweat. BTW, there’s no AC. Everyone here smiles, no one’s unhappy. It has been such a humbling experience coming from the US where we have everything and yet people are unhappy or not pleased but here people live in 1 room shacks and work the whole day and are happy as ever. I have kind of grown to feel sorry for America, to be honest.... All the kids here are the most adorable things ever, it makes me miss home that much more because I’m always reminded of my little siblings. We baptize in the ocean in my area, which is called Santo Domingo. My teacher, Brother Spreng served here and everyone knows him! It’s awesome! We have ocean and the gorgeous, constantly smoking Mayon Volcano. Definitely the best area here. Anyway, until next week MGA DUECE and MAHAL KITA. Please keep in touch and write me!

LOVE ELDER MONCUR

OH! AND I FINALLY SAW ELDER SHANE BROWN!!!!!!!!! So weird, I’m off in a foreign country on a random island yet I know someone from home.... I love life. Sorry for such few pictures, more to come next week! And my new address! For now just e-mail me!