Viva Philippina: Chasing the Sun to the Philippines

These are my Provo people. I don't know all
their names. Most of them were in a
different zone.

December 17, 2015

SO! The last couple of days have been absolutely crazy! I've loved every second of it, minus a couple hours during my dang 15 hour flight to Hong Kong.. Yikes that was a long time to do absolutely nothing.. But I'm proud to say I never did watch a movie or listen to any music. (: I feel like that'll make Brayden proud of me. (:

Hong Kong baby!

Anyway.. So my adventure started at 2:30 AM on Thursday December 10th. We drove to the Salt Lake airport where we had to wait till 5:00 AM to check-in our bags and stuff. Then we flew to San Francisco! While on the flight to San Fran I talked to the two people sitting next to me, a woman from Iran and a man from Poland,and ended up bearing my testimony to them. I also told them God loves them and that service is a great way to find true happiness. They agreed. (;

Then we had a five hour layover in San Francisco and I got to talk to mom and dad [on and off] for about three hours. That was just wonderful! I loved every second of that! Then I had a 15 hour flight to Hong Kong.. And let me tell you, as much fun as it was.. I never want to do it again. Haha. I decided that the flight was so long and miserable that I'll never have any desire to come home early. So! I bet the church does that on purpose. (;

The three on the left were my Sister Training
Leaders for a while and they
just left the MTC on Wednesday.
Sister Aquino, Goodwin, Salunga, me, Murray

Although the flight to Hong Kong was so long.. I did make some new best buds. I sat in between a man and a woman from India. The were SUPER nice. Especially the woman. They didn't know each other so it was fun for all three of us to get to know each other. And of course.. I got to talk to them about why I was moving to the Philippines for 18 months. WOO! :D I talked about how I'll be spending my time serving the people of the Philippines and sharing with them the gospel I know to be true. Later on in the flight I was able to have more of a discussion about Jesus Christ and His gospel with the woman. We talked about what we both believe in and well.. She's Hindu.. And even though she doesn't believe in one God, she loved what I had to say about God being our loving Heavenly Father and families being central to His Plan of Happiness for us. Then she asked about our church buildings because there's one by her house in California. Then we got into the discussion that we have church buildings and temples and they're different buildings. She asked what we do in temples and I didn't really know how to answer that in a way that was okay. So I told her it was a place for members to go and be in a sacred and reverent place to feel God's love. Then I steered the conversation more to church and told her it was for everyone and I invited her to go to our church that's near her home in California. :D

Then we landed in Hong Kong and it was a total party! I never knew that Chinese people could speak so much English. I was really surprised when everyone was pretty much speaking all English in the airport. Then after wondering the airport for an hour we headed from Manila! :D Once we landed in Manila, the MTC President picked our big group up at the airport at 2:30 AM. We got all our luggage and switched our American money to Pesos. Pretty much.. I love the Philippines! It's so crazy yet peaceful. People here are even more nice than what I imagined. AHH! I just love it here! :D

Okay.. NOW! For breakfast we have rice. Then lunch is more rice.. And then Dinner is more rice. People weren't joking when they said they eat rice for every meal. BUT! I actually really like it! Americans DO NOT know how to cook rice, so that's why I didn't care for it back at home. (;

This was the family I "taught" when I went proselyting. (:

So! Yesterday we got to go proselyting for a couple hours with in-field missionaries! :D It was SOOOOOOO exciting! I got to ride a Jeepny AND a Tricycle in the same day! AHHHH! Tricycles are my favorite by far. :D I ended up with Sister Piutau as my companion (who is going with me to Urdaneta) along with our in-field trainer Sister. We had an appointment to have a follow up lesson with a recent convert. I thought it was really fun, but it was pretty much just like going visiting teaching.. I was hoping to actually teach a lesson, but oh well. It was still a great experience. I'd say the biggest thing I learned though is that I don't know how to speak Tagalog whatsoever. HAHA! Oh man, it was rough. But I could feel the Spirit present so that's all that matters. (: We also went to the temple today and it was a lot of fun. The Manila temple is TINY! But it is very beautiful in its whiteness and simplicity. Life is oh so good.

We are the only blondes in the whole MTC.
We were all in the same zone in Provo. (:
Sister Goodwin, Kjar, and me.

Also! My District ended up staying together which I am SO grateful for. But now we have three more Sisters and an Elder that reported to the Philippines MTC. So we kind of just joined their District and they're all super fun. Two of the Sisters are from Samoa and one said she knows who Elder Taylor Johansen is! You should ask him if he knows a Sister Soe. Or even a Sister Alesana. (: Then there's Sister Evens from Arizona who is just the cutest and most fun girl ever. I love her. And Elder Tavita is a Samoan from Australia.. He's crazy. Haha. He is such a goofball, but he truly has a love for the gospel which he always shows. (:

I love it here, I really do! And the humidity and heat isn't killing me yet.. But we do have air conditioning everywhere here at the MTC. So.. I'll let you know how much I want to die because of the heat In January. (;

Also.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUBBY!

Brayden gave me this skirt for me
on my birthday one year so I
wore it to celebrate his birthday. (:

P.S. Tell Morgan and Ty congrats for me too! I'm glad Trace [a friend arriving in the Alaska mission this week] is happier now too! Also! Yeah, don't send me anything here at the MTC. The mission home is the best option for sure.
(: LOVE YOU!

P.P.S. Also! I've talked to quite a few missionaries here both in the MTC and out in the field that know Elder Petersen! They all LOVE him! They said he seems to be having fun so let his parents know they love him and he seems happy. (: