Damortis was my first area. It was in the Agoo zone, and bordered the ocean. Damortis is known nation-wide for its quality dried fish. It was the best dried fish I've ever had. Especially the dried bangos. People all around the Philippines would come to Damortis to buy dried fish.

My trainer was Elder Paderanga. He was from Manila. We were companions for only 6 weeks. He was really good at English and helped me a lot in getting used to mission life.

My follow-up trainer was Elder Buted. He was from Laguna. We were companions for four and a half months.

I spent most of my study time working on learning Tagalog. It was particularly frustrating to me to not be fully fluent right away. Studying "Intermediate Tagalog" was particularly helpful. It helped a lot with developing vocabulary and conversation.

While I was there, the Nitura family was baptized. The people in the picture are (from left to right) Elder Paderanga, ssssss, Donald, Danilo, xxxxx.