Welp. I made it through probably the longest week of my
life! Culture shock is a VERY real thing and I experience it everyday!
Either from literally stopping traffic so people can stare at me, multiple males peeing off the side of the road, or millions of dogs and
cats running around and frogs all over our front yard every night (they
freak me out, and I scream when they jump), and the fact that there are
lizards or gecko's in EVERYONE'S house- including ours (and you know
how I feel about lizards)! I am reminded that I am NOT in America
anymore.
Sometimes while we are walking around or riding in a tricycle
to get to parts of our area, I will look around and sometimes it looks
like Disneyland- as in the special effects look legit, and then I
remember that it is real dirt, moss, and real crumbling brick walls. Ha
it just blows my mind everyday that I am here!
Last week was so hard as were
the first few days here. But I am so grateful to have another American-
Sis. Mckinney in our apartment. She got here 1 transfer before me, so
she knows exactly what I am going through. I also got to talk to one of
our Sister Training Leaders - Sister Carmicheal. She should be going
home next month, but she has the opportunity to extend. It has been so
good to see her and see how far she has made it on her mission! Heavenly
Father continues to bless me with such amazing people and I am so
grateful for it, because I really don't know if I could have done it
without them.
I honestly don't remember what I wrote last week, P-days are SO
busy! I have so much to say, and I don't remember what all I
was able to include. So first off, my kasama really is great. Sister
Nabus knows the language so well and is able to take over the lessons
and OYM's when I have brain farts. She is the cutest! But she will be
leaving on the next transfer day, so I only get to be with her for a
couple weeks before she goes home. I am her first American companion, so
I do a lot of explaining about America and how different it is from the
Philippines. Some things are hard for her to understand about
America, but I think she loves to learn about it because she asks me
about things all the time.
My bug bites have gotten SO much better!! I have pictures I want
to send to you if I have time. Don't worry though if I do get to send
them, because they look way better now. I have been taking my allergy
pills every day to help them go away and one of the senior couples
bought me some bug repellent and I use it religiously!
A normal day here includes waking up sweating and hot, even
with the fan on full blast, a lovely bowl of instant oatmeal with
chocolate milk packets (it seriously is delicious), a cold shower,
personal study, companionship study, language/ 12 week training program,
lunch- usually always rice or noodles (the Philippines version of top
roman) and chicken with carrots and cabbage, then we head out to our
lessons on a trike or we walk. We have a hard time getting many lessons
because we are opening up the area and most of the people that want to
be taught are male and we don't have another female with us to teach, so
that has been rough.
We usually go back for dinner around 5 and it is
usually the same thing we had for lunch and then back out for more
lessons and tracting. I hate going out at night because it still scares
me, but my flashlight has saved me and we try to stay were a lot of
people are so it's safe. Then when we get home we eat a snack or
something and then plan, take another shower to try and cool off then go
to bed. The first week I was exhausted and would totally fall asleep
during planning, but my body is finally adjusting to the schedule.
We had some really good lessons this week and I want to share
one. We have been teaching 3 girls ages 16-20. They are all sister in
laws but are living at the same house with their husbands parents. One
of them is already a member and is 17 and just had a baby last Monday!!
Holy cow! It is the cutest thing ever and maybe weighs 5 lbs. It was so
cute! So anyway. We have been teaching the one who is 20 because she is
the only one not baptized yet. She also has a baby that is way cute too.
We taught her a couple times and invited her to be baptized in the
second lesson on Tuesday. She said she wanted to know more first, So we went back on Thursday
and taught her lesson 3 (gospel principles). I memorized the baptismal
invitation and felt prompted to ask her. I was expecting her to say no
again, but she said YES!!!!! (Well it was more of a really soft "opo"
because she's really shy) but I was SO happy!!! I couldn't stop smiling!
We also invited her to come to church, but she wasn't able to come
yesterday because of her baby. I would really love to see her get
baptized though. We have been praying a lot for her to come to church so
that she can be baptized, because she has to go 4 times before she can,
so I am really hoping she will be able to come.
The work is here is amazing. The people are so kind! They all
stare at me and say "pretty girl, where are you going?" and literally I
am a little kid magnet here! Yesterday we were leaving an appointment and
like 5 little kids came up and some of them were rubbing my arms and
then as we were walking away they all came with us and one held my hand
and was rubbing my arm more as we walked down their street. Ha! I think
they would've come with us the rest of the day, but we told them they
needed to go back home. It was really cute though.
On Saturday
we went to an investigators house, but it is really far away and we had
to walk at least 1 mile to get there. Sis. Nabus called it the
wilderness. Which pretty much just means the houses are actually spread
out and there were lots of fields and gardens in between them. It was
super pretty though!! But as we were walking some of the little kids on
the street were asking me "what's your name?" over and over, but it
totally sounds like "wash your name" so I couldn't stop laughing! It was
cute.
So that's my life. Right now I am emailing you in this
slightly ghetto internet cafe, but there is a fan on so I'm not sweating
too bad. I still just can't believe I'm here. It is crazy. I miss you
all so much! I really just miss being in America!
This past week it
really hit me how long these next 17 months will be and that was really
hard, but everyday Heavenly Father reminds me I am supposed to be here,
either by letting the wind blow a little while we are walking around, or
hearing our neighbors blast Celine Dion or Taylor Swift while they do
yard work, or seeing one of the kind members on the street.
I know I am
supposed to be here and I have already fallen in love with the people.
They are all so kind and very humble and just so easy to love, even if I
only understand like 2 words they say to me, I still love them.
I am so grateful for the wonderful support I have from home,
and I really felt your prayers this week, so thank you SO much!!!
Mahal Kita!
Sister Mecham (or "Me chum" as everyone else in the Philippines says it)
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