I realize I should have updated the blog as soon as I knew Megan had arrived the Philippines safely. My apologies. Her journey from Provo to Laoag went about as well as could be expected. She did learn upon arrival at the SL airport (Monday morning, AUG 12) that the first flight of their journey, SLC to San Francisco, had been cancelled. About half of their travel group, including Megan, was rebooked on a SLC to Portland flight. The other half of their group had to return to the MTC. They ended up traveling the following day.
All of the travel rearrangements took quite a bit of time, so Meg did not have much time to talk with us from the SL airport. A kind woman at the airport actually lent Megan her cell phone to call us - big missionary lineup at the pay phones. Mark and I enjoyed a brief chat with her, then it was off to Portland. Oh, Meg & I also managed to sneak in a quick call to Callie. Callie was at work, and in the process of training a new rep, but had made arrangements to leave her desk briefly when Meg called in. Those two are good for each other - close cousins and friends and very supportive of each another!
Fortunately, Megan had a two-hour layover in Portland and let us know she would call us back from there. I borrowed one of the doctor's offices here at work to take Megan's second call. I didn't want to cry (again!) at my desk :) AND I managed to conference in the entire family: Deon, Mark, Ryan, Becky, Tyler, Molly and Megan. It was grand! Such an excellent conversation. It was so sweet to have everyone involved. We sent her off with lots of encouragement and lovin'.
Her journey then took her into the future. . . Portland to Tokyo to Manila. Overnight in Manila. Then on to Laoag where the time is 14 hrs ahead of Salt Lake time. I missed a call from her on Wednesday morning (AUG 14) letting me know she had arrived safely! So sad. I still can't discuss it without getting all choked up. I was so absolutely devastated at missing the call.
That's the bad news. The good news is she got to call back on Thursday evening (AUG 15)! I think this must mean she has a kind and thoughtful mission president, or mission mom, OR both! Anyway, we got to speak for all of about 2 minutes. Karen Redford and I were minutes away from entering Little Cottonwood Canyon - on our way to hike Cecret Lake - and then not in cell service. It has made all the difference to me having been able to speak with her. She sounded great! Very upbeat. Her first area is Vigan (you can google it). She says her companion is "adorable" and so I should stop worrying. Her parting words were, "Don't worry Mom, Christmas is not that far away". Whatever.
I received the email below from Sis Bet last night, Sunday AUG 18 @ 11:20pm (SLC time). Ryan, Becky and I just happened to be Google Chatting when the email arrived. Becky actually exchanged a couple of quick emails with Megan in "real time". So interesting! Her mood is good and all is well :)
So, holy crap guys. I am in the Philippines. How on earth did that happen? It is crazy amazing. I am serving in the Vigan area and am, supposedly, the envy of everyone. Vigan is supposed to be the most beautiful and the members are amazing. I would not know about much of the beauty, since I have been stuck inside for the past three days thanks to endless rain. I think we have been in a monsoon. It was so cool. Both literally and metaphysically. So I have not yet had the opportunity to experience the extreme heat, but have had a great taste of the humidity. My hair is totes deffs an afro and I freaking love it.
My companion is named Sister Sese and she is from Manila, but is also fluent in English, so I totally scored on that front. She understands the people AND me. Woo! She is really nice and has been very patient with me in getting the hang of being in the field. I think she grew up in a super posh part of Manila, so the semi-primitive living conditions we have (though for most people here, we live in a really nice apartment) we are both trying to adjust. It is a good think I camp.
| My first laundry day in Vigan |
| It's a Monsoon (in the original you can literally see the rain pouring down!) |
So because of the rain, I have only had the opportunity to go out and teach one time, and that was on Sunday. But before I get to that, let me just tell you that I freaking spoke in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. What the freaking what? I thought I was just going to bear my testimony, which I have pretty much down thanks to the MTC, but nope. I was supposed to talk for 10 minutes about service. Not exactly in my Tagalog wheel house. So I got up there, I didn't even have my Tagalog scrips with me, so I had to share all my scriptures in English. But I got through. I did not speak for anywhere near 10 minutes, but I think I shared a message that people A: understood and B: felt the Spirit in. So that is okay. I think I just need to be more fearless when it comes to speaking in front of Ward Members. They will totally be willing to help me, right? I just have to remember how excited I am to teach our exchange students English, because that is how the people here will feel. So being more fearless is one of my goals.
Okay, onto the lesson teaching. Sister Sese and I got to teach two less active members about the Plan of Salvation. Sister Sese did 90% of the talking, but I was able to share a testimony and clarify some doctrine here and there, and she said that I did a really good job, and that I am good at forming sentences. I did okay in understanding what people said, but they are deffs not speaking the same Tagalog here as in the MTC. It is like, a hybrid between Tagalog and the local language they speak, which I don't know how to spell. Illocano or something like that. But yay on the understanding/speaking for me. One of the sisters that we taught is named Nanay (Mother) Dion. Yup. Mamma D. I about died. She is this old lady and when we went to teach her, I am pretty sure she was wearing Rachel's dead fish outfit from Cambodia. She was so cute, just sitting there, no bra on, listening to Sister Sese and I teach her about the Atonement. The other sister we taught is less active because her husband no longer likes the church because some members were gossiping about something he did. I am not sure on the details. But the sister prays all the time with her daughter, which shows because every time we prayed, the little girl came and sat down and folded her arms. Hopefully we will be able to teach her more and get her to come to church. I think her daughter would like primary a lot.
Some order of business: I talked to the Office Elders and according to them the best way to send letters is still DearElder. FedEx is a bust, so don't use them. The USPS is still good and if you want to send packages use this place called LBC. Apparently they send packages of any size or weight around the world for only $55. They told me there is one is SLC, but I am not 100% positive. I'll leave that to yall.
I once again felt the love when opening up my email. Holy cow guys! Thanks for all the letters! I don't know if I will have a lot of time to read/reply, but I am not going to tell you to stop sending them. Obviously.
Well, this is awesome. Hopefully next week I will have more stories and hopefully I am able to figure out pictures on this computer. Cross your fingers.
Mahal Tayo!
Sis Bet
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