Wow what a week! The plane rides to get to the Philippines
went well. I got to speak to a couple people in line in Tagalog and they
actually understood me! I also used a little bit of the Cantonese my mom taught
me in the Hong Kong airport. The flight itself was way long but they did have
the game "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" on the back of the seats. It
was sort of frustrating though because I think it was the British version
because it kept asking questions about cricket and British slang. Our district's
personal record was only 64,000. Other than learning about British fun facts, I
mostly slept. We arrived into Manila around 11 PM, but it was really
disorientating because it was the next day.
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| Families I taught in
Manila before leaving for Olongapo |
The Philippines is such a cool
place! While it may be a bit more humid and hotter than I'm used to, the sunsets
are absolutely beautiful and the greenery is so lush. We stayed in the Manila
MTC for about 5 days and practiced teaching lessons and more importantly, went
to the immigration office to extend our visas. There we talked with some
people, and I quickly found out that most of them weren't Filipino, but rather
Korean or Japanese. Luckily, I was able to use the 5 phrases of Japanese I know
and still talk with them! After the Manila MTC, we were bused to the mission
home in Olongapo to meet our trainers and Mission President. I had to say
goodbye to some of the missionaries in my district, as they were going to a
different mission.
Olongapo is about a 2 hour drive from Manila. My mission
president is President Dahle and he is super nice! My trainer is Sister Otod
and she's been serving for about 7 months. We've been assigned to the city of
Santa Cruz, which is the farthest area from the mission home. The trainers are
supposed to help us learn how to teach and fortunately, Sister Otod is fluent
at Tagalog. Missionary life here is such a different experience. Like, if you
want vegetables or meat, you just go down to the local open market and get it
there. A giant pig head will just lie on the table while the worker, with a
large butcher knife, cuts up the piece of meat you selected. The food hasn't
been too crazy yet. Lots of rice, chicken, cabbage, rice, pork, rice, fish,
rice etc. I bought some food to make PB&J sandwiches, so I enjoy that too.
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| Mini Bananas |
Rainy season is definitely here! Just imagine having an umbrella and wading
through flood waters and being completely soaked by the end of the day. I miss
the misty Seattle rain, but it's been cool to experience this weather too. We
have lots of investigators and people to teach. I teach on average about 5
lessons each day, all in Tagalog. Everyone speaks so fast here! I'm able to
pick out a couple words here and there, but so far, I don't really know what's
going on most of the time. The people here, though, are so open and accepting.
The kids especially like me because I'm the only white American in all of Santa
Cruz. One of the women said that my hair is like a doll and everyone wants to
touch it. It's funny to me that they are so fascinated by it.
For church, I'm
one of the only people who know how to play piano, so I'll be playing for them.
They also want me to teach lessons too. Apparently, they have missionaries sing
each week, so I sang "How Great Thou Art" for them. On Saturday, just
3 days after arriving, I had my first baptism! The missionaries before me did
most of the teaching, but I taught a little bit too. It's amazing to see the
success here in the Philippines. While so many things are different here,
feeling the Spirit and God's love is exactly the same. I love how the gospel is
for everyone no matter what their situation or circumstance is. Overall, it's
been crazy, but a good crazy :)
Word of the Week: Matangkad -- tall (I'm matangkad and have
to duck everywhere I go)
We
passed by a local church that was built through funds from a couple in Seattle.
It was fun to see my hometown randomly in a place so far away. We traveled to
some of the farther parts of our area where it's more rural and water buffalo are
more abundant. The countryside here is amazing. Sometimes I'll pause among the
guava and coconut trees and look out at the surrounding palay, or rice fields,
with the tropical mountains in the distance and not believe I'm actually here.
The people here, while lacking in monetary or material wealth, have such a
spirit of endurance and humbleness. While I'm still not understanding
everything, I can tell that there are many here ready to receive the gospel. 
We
had a branch (a congregation smaller than a ward or about 120 people or less)
activity where we watched the movie, "The Testaments," which is about
Christ visiting the people in the Americas after his resurrection. The
scripture in Matthew that talks about Christ visiting other sheep that are not
of this fold and having one fold and one Shepard, made me reflect on my purpose
as a missionary. I too, am helping the Filipino people come unto Christ and
become part of his one true fold. I'm so grateful for the experiences I'm
having here.
