Oh my word, today was sooo fun! I had my very first zone activity and I loved every second of it! We just played with water all day and it was a total party! We started by playing hangman and every time you guessed a wrong letter we'd throw a water balloon at you and your team. Then we all went crazy and just had a giant water balloon fight. It was sooo fun! And sooo nice because it was so hot today. We also played volleyball which was a total party! I even played basketball for a little bit, but volleyball was more fun.
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| Oh mac'n cheese how I've missed you.. ;D |
Anyway, for lunch I had my very first foodie fight! Everyone just stands around a big long table and eats rice and fish off a giant banana leaf with their hands. Haha, it was just a lot of fun. Everyone made fun of me because apparently I don't know how to eat with my hands very well..So Elder Emit kept giving me the big chunks of rice all stuck together. I don't think these people realize I just have a really small mouth. Haha! Life was just so dang fun today! (:
5-3-16 (Tuesday)
Work today wad awesome! I really tried my best to talk more in lessons and rely more on the Spirit so I would know what to say even though I don't always know what's being said..If that makes sense. And let me tell you, missionary work is so much more enjoyable when you rely on the Spirit more than your companion.
5-4-16 (Wednesday)
Today we had our Mission Tour Zone Conference with Elder Shane M. Bowen of the Seventy. He was actually born in Rigby and grew up in Idaho Falls, so I felt like we had a connection. (; I actually already met him in the Manila MTC around Christmas, but it was still good to hear him speak/give counsel again. I felt the Spirit very strongly throughout the whole conference which was wonderful! And to make everything all better, after the conference and lunch I got all your packages! Three from you and one from Abby [Nelson]! I felt so loved when I saw all my packages. People think I'm pretty cool now too which is pretty sweet. Haha! (; But really, everyone was like "what the heck, Sister Fivas!?" All I could tell them was that my family loves me. (;
Today honestly was an awesome day though! I loved every second of it! Except having to wake up at 4:00 am so we could get to Dagupan by 7:30. That sucked. (;
5-5-16 (Thursday)
Today was quite the experience. So..let me back up for a minute. So noon when I had my interview with President Deyro at the beginning of the transfer, the first thing he said was "so are you ready to train next transfer!?" Then..In my white letter from him that next Monday he quoted me from my letter to him that had "I LOVE this work and I LOVE the Philippines!" and then said something like "and that is why you will win the upcoming elections.." so he practically told me twice that I will be training next transfer.
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| Mission Tour Luncheon |
Then yesterday after Zone Conference he was like "Hey, Sister Fivas, do you know the area really well?" So..once again implying I will be training. But last night was when the AP's [Assistant to the President] usually do the calls to call trainers so we all thought I was safe. (; So before bed and this morning I kept thinking "why would President Deyro tease me and freak me out like that all transfer long?" I was actually kind of looking forward to training... But! This afternoon Elder McBride called me to train! I'm super excited but also pretty worried because I can't speak Tagalog yet..But I feel very honored to be training this early in my mission. I hope it really helps me become a great missionary AND help me learn Tagalog quicker.
5-6-16 (Friday)
Today I had to go to Urdaneta for the Train the Trainers meeting. It was a pretty fun experience! I got to meet Sister Stromberg which is Sister Cuenca's other anok. So I've met two of my "sisters'. (; [Sister Cuenca was one of Kelsey's trainers so Kelsey has met 2 sisters trained by Sister Cuenca].
Also! Sister Piutau is training too! I was pretty excited to see her again. At first I was pretty scared for the meeting, because I didn't think I would know anyone but I actually knew most of them. I feel pretty honored that out of all the Sisters in the whole mission I was one of 8 Sisters called to train. I also got to see Elder Edgley too! He came last week since he finally recovered from his leg injury from the MTC. [Elder Edgley was in Kelsey's district in the Provo MTC but injured his knee in November and had to go home] It was just nice to know I actually do have friends outside of my District. (;
5-7-16 (Saturday)
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| Sister Piutau |
Having to wake up at 4:00 am twice this week has caught up to me 100%! I'm so dang tired! AHH! I love Aguilar so much, but it's not the best place to live when I have to be at meetings in Urdaneta at 8:00 am. Medyo malayo siya [It's pretty far].
Anyway..Funny story of the day: so whenever we try to get our new investigators to pray at the end of the lesson they ALWAYS try to get out of it. They usually just say "Next time, na lang [thanks]!" and do everything they can to get out of it by saying something like "I don't know your prayer yet." Then we tell them we don't have a memorized prayer; we just pray from the heart. But today Eric's excuse was "I can't pray because I'm wearing a tank top. I don't want God to see me like this." Oh my word, I about died! I actually laughed out loud and he ended laughing too because he realized how bad his excuse was so he ended up praying and it all worked out great. I was just so caught off guard with his unique excuse I couldn't keep my laugh in. Haha! Iyan lang. ;D
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| Baby Pineapple |
5-8-16 (Sunday)
So this afternoon while we were sitting in the chapel waiting for church to start, [Branch] President Dariano comes up to Sister Standage and I and asks Sister Standage "Does she understand Tagalog?" Yes President I can understand you! Haha, I guess I don't talk to him enough..I mean I can't speak Tagalog yet, but I can understand pretty well now. Anyway, then he asked me if I would give a talk since Sarah didn't come to church. Oh man, that talk was so rough. I had like 10 minutes to think of what to share, so I honestly had no idea what to say in English let alone Tagalog. But it also makes me nervous that he asked me to talk because that means he thinks I'm going to be transferred. I really don't think I want to be transferred.
