Dear Pamilya and Mga Kaibigan,
Holy moly, I'm in the Philippines!! What??? Crazy stuff. So I left the MTC on Wednesday. We got to the chapel and met our new trainers. My trainer is Sister Collins. Sound familiar? It should if you've been reading my emails ;) She was my kasama when we went proselyting for the first time in the MTC. How awesome is that? She's really great. She's from Samoa, and has been here for 7 months I think. Waaay longer than me at least. Our area is Fairview 2. We split all of Fairview with some other Sisters that we live with. They are Sister Plame, Sister Pristopher (yes, with a P...) and Sister Yagemai. They are from the Philippines, Pakistan and Micronesia.
So I'm the only American in our house. It's kind of weird actually... But it's good!
Being out in the mission field is so weird! Obviously, it's way different from the MTC. Even though I was in the Manila MTC, I still had a little culture shock when I was going to my area. It is still crazy to me to see kids smoking cigarrettes, and trash all over the streets. The poverty here is insane, but the people here are fantastic. They are all so kind! Although they do tend to stare at me quite a bit. Maybe it's something I'm wearing...? Oh wait. It's because I'm white. I can't even imagine what their faces would look like if I was a red-head or blonde. One little boy even called my hair golden. A couple girls called me beautiful, so that was cute. But some of them aren't so nice. A few teenagers that we were walking by yelled "Foreigner!" when I walked by. But oh well. It's the truth. Some people just wave and ask me where I'm from. Little kids just usually stare. One little boy was full on staring at me. Like open-mouthed, wide-eyed staring. It was hilarious. Even the people at church seemed quite curious that I was American. I can't wait until I speak fluently in Tagalog. Then they'll really stare =]
So a lot has happened this week. I guess I'll start with our house. We have a little house that we share with those other 3 sisters. It's a very old house, but it's functional... For the most part. We don't have hot water, but honestly, who needs a hot shower in the Philippines? The cold showers feel good. Our sink always leaks, but at least we have running water! And I get to wash my clothes in a bucket today! Woo! I'm excited. The first night that I was here, I found gecko in my closet. It was a cute little thing, but we could not figure out how to get it out of the closet. It was way too fast for us. Eventually I think it just climbed into one of the other Sisters' closets. That'll be a nice surprise when she finds it ;)
So that's about our house. The weather. Woo man. It is hot and humid here. Even my books are looking a little damp. We don't have AC in our house, just fans. But it's all good. The fans keep us quite cool, especially at night. I walked in the rain for the first time without my umbrella the other day! It was so nice. It was hot out, but the rain felt so good!!
The food. Well. We have our very first dinner appointment on Tuesday! I don't think the members really feed the missionaries here, so we cook for ourselves a lot. So I'm eating a lot of peanut butter, bread, eggs and cereal. It's a good diet ;) So. If anyone has some simple recipes (preferably without rice...) that only take a few ingredients, I would love you forever.
We went to church on Sunday, and it was awesome! The chapel has AC, which apparently is a real treat here. We just sat in plastic chairs, which seems to be the norm. I had to bear my testimony after Sister Plame (from the Phillipines), and Sister Yagemai (from Micronesia, but has been here for 18 months, just waiting for her flight to leave). That was a tad embarrassing since I don't speak much Tagalog, but I tried my best.
I think that's about all this week, so let me just say a few more things. Basically, you have no idea how lucky you are. Especially for all the people who live in America. I didn't realize how lucky I was, even just to have a house, before I came out here. There are kids here that beg for money on the streets, there are people who live in huts of dirt and few pieces of wood, there is trash on every street corner. You are so lucky to live in an amazing place like America. At one point this week, we were teaching an investigator who lived in a hut. Literally a hut in the middle of a bunch of other houses just like hers that were nothing and had nothing in them. We were teaching about the first few points of the first discussion. We extended the commitment to be baptized. She accepted. It amazing to me how you can teach the gospel to someone who lives like she does. It is amazing how blessed we are to have to gospel. Don't ever forget that.
Oh! Have a fun Thanksgiving this week!! Eat some turkey, pie, mashed potatoes, rolls and everything else for me! I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and support!
Love,
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