"I will go, I will do..."

Well, as you can see in the above slideshows, Talon just sent us a ton of pictures! And I couldn't even fit all of them on the 2 slideshows, there were over 300 pictures and it was just too hard to try to pick a few out to put in a post so I thought that the slideshows could be fun too- so enjoy! (Sorry, some of the pictures are sideways...I don't know how to fix it?) 

Talon is having a great time on his mission. He is happy and having lots of super great experiences each and every day. Here is an excerpt from Talon's weekly email from June 21, 2010:

"...Then saturday we had 2 baptisms!!!!!!!!! it was awesome i got to baptize them also so it was amazing we had a cool experience there to. so i went to the church early to make sure they were getting ready for the baptism but no one was there so i started filling up the font because it takes a long time to fill up and then the water stopped coming at only about 1 foot of water the well went dry. no more water. and along with that the water was completly brown and smelled so so so rotten and gross haha so we waited we didnt know what we were going to do the baptism was supposed to start at 6 and it was 630 now  and then all of the sudden it just started pouring rain like harder then i have ever seen in my life it was so so cool and it filled up the well with enough water that we could fill up the font enough to have the baptisms. barely enough and it was brown and nasty. but we did it and it was so so cool even if the water was not clean and there was barely enough they just wanted to be baptized. i know that the lord prepared a way for us to have that baptism. it really was a great spiritual experience..."

In other news, Talon has not only been transferred to a new area, he is no longer on Panay Island, (and he has a new companion- Elder Ellsworth from Arizona) but he is also part of the new mission in the Philippines, instead of being in the Philippines Bacolod Mission, Talon will now be serving in the Phillippines Iloilo Mission! Talon is very excited for this change- the new mission opened on July 1, 2010 and Talon will probably be getting a new mailing address for this new mission soon, so watch out for that so that you know the right place to mail letters to him!

 ALL the kids seem to love Talon so much!

 One of my favorite pictures from this batch.

 Their shirts say "Mormon Helping Hands."

 A service project.

 Such a beautiful place!

a day of SERVICE

(All the missionaries helping to build a park.)

(Doesn't he just look SO HAPPY!)

what we've all been waiting for...

MORE pictures! (lots and lots of pictures, I did try to narrow it down though- Talon sent us TONS of pictures this past week and these are just some of the best ones...)

Here's a glimpse at the last little bit of time Talon spent at the MTC before leaving for the Philippines and then some pictures of what its been like for him there so far...(these pictures were sent to us on a CD so none of them have any writing on the back or anything to describe what the picture is of or anything like that...)

(I absolutely love this picture!)

(I think it is kinda cool to see the Tagalog on the side of the mirror. It definately doesn't look like a very easy language to me! And then the sign on the other side of the mirror is pretty funny too...ha ha.)

(Talon showing us that he can, in fact, wash his own clothes if he has to. :) )

(And well, here they are getting ready to leave for the Philippines. I bet they are all pretty excited and a little nervous? I would be at least if I was them!)

(Talon's mission President and his wife.)

(A little bike type thing that has a side cart for a rider to go in.)

(Talon's bed? We don't really know- Talon sent us quite a few pictures of beds but we don't know why or who's bed is who's.)

(Talon's kitchen.)

(The bathroom- toilet and shower- yes, those buckets are the shower!)

(Doing laundry in the Philippines isn't quite the same and doing laundry in the MTC...)

(We think this is Talon's companion taking a little nap or something?)

(The houses on the beach of the city that Talon is serving in right now- On the Panay Island in the province of Iloilo)

(So, remember, none of these pictures said what they were of...We are pretty sure this is Talon's hand, but what is that growing on it?!? Maybe we don't want to know...)

(Talon's kitchen floor is covered in cockroaches! Talk about gross!)

(Their study area. I just love the lawn chairs.)

(We think this is Talon and his companion.)

(And, we think these are most likely pictures of Talon burning some cockroaches...)

(Another one of those bike things, closer up.)