My dearest pamiliya kag friends!
It is finally P-day! What a long week and a day to wait to tell you all about my wonderful adventures here. There isn't too much time and I am overwhelmed with the amount of mail I received from you awesome folks so bear with me as this email might be a throw up of words and disjointed stories and probably bad grammar. My apologies in advance. First of all... THANK YOU FOR THE MAIL! I love it! The first 3 days we were here there was something wrong with our mailbox and we didnt recieve any mail people sent... But eventually we got it all sorted out, and I've received a letter or Dear Elder every day. It's wonderful to hear your support for this Sister missionary. I'm going to try and answer everyone's questions, as you all tend to ask the same questions about how I am doing and how my kaupod is etc... So if you don't get a personal response back paagi sa (through) email, don't lose your testimony over it. I'll try to write you back asap through a letter. Don't apologize when your letters are all about your own lives... That's what I love to hear about and questions about me aren't so important. :) Mom, please post this email on my blog and send it out to family that doesn't get it... Obviously I don't have everyone's emails. So.
Okay! Well... lets start at the beginning. I got here and got my tag (BEST FEELING EVER!! I love wearing the missionary tag!) and got taken to my room and everything. Then we went to my classroom and our teacher, who I found out later to be Sister Tamang, started speaking gibberish to me. Oh, I mean, Hiligaynon. But it sounded just like gibberish. I probably stood there like a fool till I figured out she was asking my name. Which, for all you aspiring Ilonggo scholars is,"Ako si Sister Luke". :) That day was a blur. I met my awesome kaupod, Sister Haun. (Sister Luke (skywalker) and Sister Haun (solo). We think we're funny.) We went to a workshop that night where we watched missionaries teach investigators and we helped teach too. We met our district and the next few days are sort of a blur. We met our branch presidency and Sister training leaders and Zone leaders. Indulge me in a brief tangent: my zone leader I actually know from West Jordan! Not sure on the spelling of his name exactly, but Maclean Smith is my zone leader. :) He graduate a year after me. That was a fun coincidence. Everyone else in our zone is speaking Cebuano or Tagalog though. We're the only district speaking Ilonggo, so that's pretty cool. I have the BEST distrito ever. Sister Char (from Hawaii) and Sister McKee( from Texas), Sister Viliami (From New Zealand and Austraila... she's the bomb!) and Sister Ribelin (From Arizona), me and Sister Haun, and our poor, lonely solo Elder Young. He's a sweetie, and deals well with having to be District leader to a bunch of Sister missionaries. His two mga kaupod are speaking Cebuano, but he's with us most of the day during class etc.
Although the barbecue sauce in the MTC may look like ketchup and be in ketchup dispensers, it is not ketchup. Just saying.
The first few days were pretty overwhelming, but everyone's motto here is "Make it till Sunday" and now I see why they always say that. Because it's true. Sunday is a beautiful spiritual bombing, and you get to sing, and be a little less structured, have a lot of study time, and go to some awesome meetings. We get to watch talks at night and it's just a wonderful wonderful day. Maayo gid. (Very good.) Our district said from the beginning that they "Push you in the deep end" as soon as you get to the MTC and it's true. We taught our first lesson to our investigator Marionetto on FRIDAY after we got here. In HILIGAYNON. Needless to say, I'm pretty sure he probably has a weird understanding of the church, even after 5 lessons, but okay-lang. :) We're getting better at the language and it truly, truly is a miracle how much the gift of tongues is apparent here in the MTC. By no means do I know enough to go quite yet... But this is not an impossible task the Lord has set for me to accomplish. We talk a lot about love, and focusing on loving the people. My goal is to love the people more than fearing the language. I'm going to just open my mouth, and probably something wrong and embarrassing will come out, but such is how we learn! Can't wait to embarrass myself in the Philippines just as much as i embarrass myself here ;) my mission will allow me to become Sister Luke 2.0 version.
We gave Marionetto a Joseph Smith pamphlet in our lesson the other day, and as i handed it to him I thought of in the Best Two Years, when he hands him the pamphlet and goes, "I also know that Joseph Smith was a pamphlet...." hahaha and that's how it felt... I knew what I was trying to say, but I probably said something more along those lines :)
Mom, Bill Grogan's goat has been stuck in my head since yesterday. Thinking of you lovingly, but it's really annoying. :) The food here is pretty good, it's my goal to not have any treats in the cafeteria for breakfast, lunch or dinner the 6 weeks I'm here. My last Sunday I will have the BYU creamery ice cream but otherwise... no treats! So far Sister Haun and I have succeeded :)
DEAR ELDERS are the BOMB. If hand written letters are like platinum, Dear elders are next in line at pretty precious silver. I've only gotten 3 (thank you Drew and Claudia :) ) but they have been super awesome because they print same-day. If you don't have time to write, Dear Elder. Serious. I'll respond to what's in letters in letters back to you! Woo hoo!
Big shout out to Aunt Julie and Uncle Cliff for the amazing cinnamon rolls. My distrito loves me :)
Mom, if you can find those mini tapes at staples or somewhere that would be great (if you havent already looked).
I'm loving this. I know it may sound bad but I'm slowly turning my attitude of how much more time I have to be on my mission, to how much more time i have on my mission. If that makes any sense. I knew I wanted to be out here, but I also knew it would be hard to leave... But I'm not homesick. I'm loving my missionary life already and I can't wait to get to those people of the Philippines and teach what we are blessed to have. I love working out here and personal study time.. Those are probably some of the best parts of my day. Also, weirdly enough, language study. It's hard but coming well, I think. I love feeling progression, and even though there are days when I hit the wall and my brain is fried, I love the language. I know it will be my vehicle to teach the truth sa mga tawo (to the people) and bring souls unto Christ. I'll give you a language tutorial later, Nanay. (Mom) :)
In my personal study I've been studying in Matthew. I've read stories about the Savior before but never all the way through, and I LOVE it. Like, where has the REAL New Testament been all my life? I don't know how I functioned before I could study the scriptures for hours a day. I never get tired of it. It's weird... I mean, it's awesome, but I've never had such a love for the scriptures. I'm just revealing my own weaknesses here, but okay-lang (that's okay.) I was reading in Matthew 26 and thinking of the thought shared by Elder Bednar about how Christ always always always turns outward where the natural man would turn inward. Even after he has suffered in the garden and finds his disciples asleep and Judas betrays Him he still thinks of something as small as healing the guards ear that was cut off. After all HIS suffering and pain, he worried about the small physical pain of someone who was taking Him to his crucifixion. I loved the scripture in Matt 26:40 when Christ has returned to find his apostles asleep when he asked them to stay and watch with Him... And I think of Christ saying to me, instead of "... What, could ye not watch with me one hour?" saying, "What, could ye not Serve with me only 18 months?" I only have 17 months and 3 weeks to be a full time servant of the Lord, and only the rest of my life to be His instrument. Can we not "Watch with Him one hour"?
I love you all so much. Sorry for this beast of an email. Can't wait to hear more from you! My district is moving to the West Campus THIS TUESDAY, the 24th. I'll update my address accordingly... just keep sending them to mine till further notice. I'm sure they'll find me.
Keep on keeping on!
XOXOX
(FINALLY) Sister Luke
Her companion Sister Haun
Her district
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