Hello everyone!!!! So awesome to hear from you this week!!!! Your letters uplift and encourage me so much and I'm always awkardly laughing so hard in the middle of these internet places and everyone just looks at me like i'm a crazy person hahahaha.
Okay! So I tried something new this week and wrote down things at the end of the day that I wanted to write home, so I'll share those and then write about anything else I forgot!
Last monday we went to the "mall" about 15 minutes away, 2 jeepney rides, to do all of our grocery shopping and get anything else we need for the week. It's so much fun because a ton of missionaries have to go there because it's the most central mall so I always see all my friends! We usually eat together and do our shopping together- such a tender mercy!! I look forward to it every week!
That monday night we had FHE with one of our investigators, Marimar - 16yr old girl who is living with and working with an elderly member in our ward, and Sister Bendoy gave this awesome lesson about repentance. And then we stuffed our faces with tons of good cooking (ps, i totally put myself on a diet because I refuse to get fat!!! So I still eat everything, just less rice and smaller portions!)
Tuesday was district meeting, my district has us and our DL's companionship and two Sisters from tonga and a senior couple. They're awesome and always have such good insights for how we can help our investigators! plus district meetings are awesome cause all the districts in our zone meet in the same building so i get to see everyone again!
(ps, how many calories is in a cup of cooked rice? lemme know plzzz!)
Wednesday was kind of a long day, lots of walking (we walk about 4-5 miles a day) and no one was home :( But i'm getting better at understanding what people are saying! yay!!
Thursday we met with a Less Active, Sister endaneo, she is HILARIOUS. She lives with her mom and they're these two big fat ladies and they make this candy for their job, just in their kitchen and package it up and sell it around town and she kept like burping the whole lesson hahahaha like ELF BURPING I thought I was going to die from trying not to laugh. So funny.
Friday we had sister georgine come to teach with us, we have one of the ward missionaries come almost every day, usually sister Leah, and that's so awesome! We alwys have more to talk about when we're walking and they really help in lessons! plus they're way nice and sweet!
Saturday sister georgine came with us again and I led the lessons! Super tough hahaha cause it's part of my training so sister bendoy wouldn't say anything until I had started and taught about half of it and then she comes in and adds and the ward missionary shares a testimony and i close. The first few lessons were shakey hahah but it got so much easier by the end of the day! I start all the lessons now and it's actually much nicer than following! But super sketchy cause I still don't speak the language well at all hahaha and my accent makes it hard for people to understand me! Always improving of course but yeah, tough!
Random things-
Sister Bendoy looks like the mom from brave when she's turned into a bear and is like losing her personality and turning into a real bear. Does that make sense?? hahaha but yes. She looks like that.
Most of the people here talk like the Asian girl from pitch perfect. They move there mouths but NO WORDS COME OUT. Espeically this one lady in my ward, she's like 143 years old and she always corners me before relief society and talks to me like that for at least 20 min and I just have to smile and nod cause she's not even saying words!! hahahaha it's so hilrious though. also, if you ask someone to repeat something you would expect them to speak slower and louder right? nope! faster and quieter! I've stopped asking people to repeat themselves cause it totally doesn't help hahahaha.
We're coming into the rainy season which means it's much less hot during the days (still way hot though, i literally have sweat dripping down my legs during personal study, sorry if that's TMI hahah but I have never ever experienced this kind of heat hahahaha) so yeah now we get these huge rainstorms that last for like 30 minutes and it rains so hard the streets turn to rivers and are so muddy and slippery and if we're inside we have to yell so loud to hear each other hahaha it's nuts!!! way cool though!!
Okay so everyone here just raises their eyebrows to greet you, so passing everyone on the street and everywhere, you just raise your eyebrows. My forehead gets so tired from it haha! Okay remember on the sound of music when they do that puppet show and theres that one puppet who\'s eyebrows can move up and down?? if yu don't remember go youtube that scene and watch it cause that is exactly everyone here hahahahahaha so funny.
Jeepneys are SO FUN. It's just like the indiana jones ride cause of all the potholes and everything hahahaa but I love them! So fun. And sera, after my mission we just need to move here and be jeepney drivers cause they just drive up and down the road all day blasting music and there are no road rules here, everyone just does whatever they want, no stoplights or anything and it's just crazy hahahah and you would love it and we will be jeepney drivers and it'll be awesome.
In case I didn't mention in my other emails, we shower with a bucket of water (im so pro now!!) and wash our clothes by hand (not so pro hahah) and yes even flush the toilet with a bucket of water. So basically i'm the leader of all things castaway and swiss family robinson. hahahaha.
And there's no AC anywhere, just rotating fans so I have no memory of what it feels like to not be hot hahahhaha.
My president has been out like 10 months? so I'll have him my whole mission. He's great though, so that's good with me!
Sum-ag is probably as big as la verkin? so it's pretty big.
There is music everywhere!! jeepneys, houses, EVERYWHERE. So I'll totally stay up with all the music hahaha cause I won't be able to avoid hearing it!!
The rain here doesn't smell :( SO SAD.
Okay! Now for the work!! SO awesome this week. We have 2 new investigators and they're all awesome!! and we have a baptism this saturday! yay! His name is christian lopez, 11 years old, and we were already halfway through the lessons when I got here so I don't really count him, but i'm so excited for him! He's adorable. And our other investigators, we had one referral for this guy, willie, and when we went to contact him is son wilmer was there (willie is like 90 haha and his son is like 30) and we taught them and committed them both to baptism in the first lesson!! So great! I may have mentioned them last time but when we went to teach them again their brother/son Winnie (yes like winnie the pooh) was there as well and is also going to be baptized!!! They were all asking so many questions which is unusual cause people are very shy here and I was scared they just wanted to arugue but they were actually valid questions that showed they were interested and understanding!! At one point I asked them If this message, what we've taught you was true, how would you feel? what would that mean to you? and they gave the most awesome answers and were like I would feel so happy. I would give up everything for it. AHHHHHH. I almost died I was so happy. and of course we promised them that it was true and how they could know and all that good stuff. so excited to go back and teach them again!!
Our other is this 75 year old woman who has this little fruit stand on the bridge by our house and this little 5 ft by 4 ft stand doubles as her house- we stopped to talk with her last week while we were waiting for the jeepney and gave her a pamphlet then followed up yesterday and ending up teaching her half the first lesson and committed her or baptism. It was pretty hard cause we were all three crowded in her tiny little place and it's right by this way noisy road so it was hard to talk over the traffic but somehow we were able to tune it all out and teach and she is such a sweet spirit, she told us how happy our message makes her and how glad she is that we came to her. She wanted to come to church yesterday but she doesn't have a dress, but she thinks she can get one from her daughter this week (if not I'll give her mine hahahaha but really) and she was realllyyy shy about praying at the end and it took us like 15 minutes to get her to pray and sister bendoy had to go first and then help her just like you help the little kids in primary but it was so awesome to see her pray for probably the first time. It's times like that that make this all sooooooo worth it. This is 100 million percent THE HARDEST thing I've ever done. But because of that it's also the most rewarding thing. And I've only just started. I know that as I progress in getting used to things and the teaching and the language it'll only get better. So so awesome. and it means the entire world to have you all supporting me :) Thank you guys so much for being so amazing. I love you more that you could ever know. :) and to all my friends and everyone who emails me and prays for me, THANK YOU!!! I"m sorry if I can't write you all back, my time is so short, but I love your letters and I can feel your prayers!!!!
also!! You can still dear elder me!!!!! I get the dear elders every tuesday and disctrict meeting!!!!! So please please please encourage people to dear elder instead of email and if you have a chance to send a short little note or something I would love it!!! but keep sending me my weekly email of course hahahah :)
So funny story, I've been having like a crazy overload of memories lately!!! LIke, in the MTC I had Bella-after-vampire-
As far as language, I'm already able to understand SO MUCH better than my first week. I'm taking in about 60% and can guess pretty good at the rest. At least i think so hahaha maybe I just think I understand ;) but yes, that's way nice! And my speaking is also improving, slowly but surely!
Sister Bendoy and I are getting more comfortable with each other every day haha and we're no longer 2 strangers spending every single second of every day together hahaha :) So yay!! And I know that will just continue to improve every day!! She's so great to stay so patient with me and our lessons are much more unified and yes, just all much better :)
I wish I could write for the entire day!!!! But I can't and im so so so so so sorry I can't send pictures this week either, it's soooo hard and would take the whole hour!!! I'll try and figure it out soon though!!!! sorry!!!
And you're all doing so awesome!! yay sadie and her puppies!!! yay mom!! I'm so excited for your race, I know you'll do amazing!! And everyone else, I wish I had time to write you all each 56 page emails but I cannot so just know that I LOVE to hear hwo you're all doing and I love you all SO SOSO SO SO SOS O MUCH. Like, for reals. SO MUCH.
HAHHA Sera, I just looked out the window and the jeepneys here all have stuff painted on them from like disney princesses to pokemon and stuff and one just drove by with patrick and the mermaid princess girl from the spongebob movie and now all I can think of is "Now that we're men!!!" hahahahahahahahahaha. yayayay.
Dang you guys!!!! I just miss and love you soooo much!!!!!! The work is awesome and makes everything worth it and I'm so excited to keep growing and improving every day!!!! I can always feel your prayers and they help me every day :) I pray for you every day too!!!!!! So just keep being awesome!!!!!!!!! Okay!!!! That's all I have time for today!!!!! love you love you love you love you!!!!!! have an awesome week!!!!!!!
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