Well there is this one little village we go to called Halog. The only way to get there is by a tiny bamboo raft thing. It's quite the experience and a lot of fun! A guy chills at the back and has a super long bamboo stick and just pushes us along. Last time we were maybe a little over capacity and we were sorta close to sinking but we didn't haha.
We found this group of kids who loves to come mess around with us whenever they see us and they are a blast!
I have started boiling water before I take showers so that's really nice now. It's not as cold of a shower now.
We have a water filter at our house. It works well it's just really slow. Contrary to rumors, they sell toilet paper here. I will survive for two years and I will purchase toilet paper for two years. It's weird though cause toilets don't really flush here, you dump water into the actual bowl and then it flushes.
The food isn't bad, we are going to go shopping today. Elder Manarang and I are the only ones in our house so we have just been surviving on Peanut butter and guava jelly sandwiches and spam. Some other stuff here and there and some of the older sisters in the ward feed us sometimes so that's fun. Oh and I found this ice cream, its called Ube and it is way good!
Yesterday at church a member gave his talk in Ilocano and I couldn't understand a single thing... That language is crazy! It looks like I have some work to do in learning Tagalog and Ilocano. Yesterday was way fun with the kids though, at church a kid ran up to me and just pulled my hair right up to his face so he could see it better haha. And then another little girl we were teaching pulled off some of my arm hair. She was so excited that I had hair on my arms haha.
It is so humbling to be here. There are houses I have taught in that are as big as my room back home and have nothing but dirt floors and bamboo walls but yet the people here are so happy. I love this culture and am so thankful for the opportunity I have to be able to learn more about it.
This whole mission thing is dang hard! I just wish I could understand people or that they would at least speak Tagalog! A lot of the things here are just way out of my comfort zone and having to do everything in a different language is just kinda overwhelming. So some of the things are Jeepneys, they are way close quarters and makes me way uncomfortable. Then when we go to the market, everything is just laid out, people are everywhere, the actual stores are way too small for me to walk through and I don't know how to talk to them to purchase things. We have had to teach every lesson at church the past two weeks and that's kinda out there. That's okay though, these challenges are how I will grow. The church gives Missionaries a ton of material to adjust to a missionary life. Scripture study here has improved so much for me! I love diving into the scriptures and feasting on the words of Christ. That is one of my favorite things to do here! But I am excited to continue to learn and grow!
I've really been able to experience trials here right off the bat but that's good for my progression. I'm excited to be able to really be apart of this culture for two years and will do my best to get lost in the work! My only desire is to bring God's children to him, I just put my faith in him that I will be the missionary he wants me to be! Love and miss you all!
Love,
Elder Payne
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| Elders M and Payne |
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