Elder Furniss has Arrived in Manila, Philippines!

HOLY COW THIS PLACE IS AN ABSOLUTE RIOT MOM! I've been up for like 30 hours. I'm going to bed here in about an hour, it's 5:45 PM here. Wow the people are so nice, I love them so much. I was more nervous in LAX than I am here. I am so calm, like this place honestly just feels like home. The houses here are nuts, I could not believe it as we flew into Manila. They are just cinder blocks with some tin on top. The bus we took to the MTC was insane. It had a chandelier, and we had about 5 police officers surrounding it with AR-15's as we all piled in. I'm pretty sure we passed a dead guy on the street here as well. People literally stand in the street and sell stuff to cars as they drive buy. I gave out a book of Mormon at the Hong Kong airport. Turns out we were on the same flight and he lives in southern Manila. His name was Joe. We weren't able to sit next to each other on the flight but, he was so excited when I gave him the Book of Mormon. I wrote my email address in it so he could contact me if he had any questions. I just love the people here. It started raining when we got to the MTC and it is like practically flooding. Wow I can't even describe how awesome this is. I heard a guy talking behind me in the airplane in Tagalog and I was surprised at how much I could understand. I just can't wait to get into a lesson and just have no clue what's going on. I know that the Spirit will guide me and that the Lord will help me though.

Airplane food is terrible! I ate some dumplings in Hong Kong and they were so good! And then we had adobo and rice here at the MTC and SWEET AUNT JEMIMA! Filipino food is the business! I just can't get over how nice the people are here. They have so much faith in Jesus Christ it is so cool. There is a wall along the road to the MTC that is painted with words like "kapayapaan" "pananampalataya kay Cristo" which is "peace" and "faith in Jesus Christ". I love it. Also we are right across the road from the Manila temple, unfortunately it's closed.
Well I hope you all have a good week. I LOVE THIS PLACE! This is my new life and I never want to go back. Stay safe and Ingat Po!

Love Elder Furniss