Kamusta Ka Pamilya!!
I have been at the MTC for 2 weeks now and it
feels like I'm never going to leave this place! The Elders and Sisters that came
the same day English speaking all left the beginning of this week and a whole
ton new ones came in yesterday. We're no longer the newbies. It's sad that the
rest of our zone is leaving so soon though! Out of the 3 districts in our zone
we are the only ones not leaving a couple days after Christmas. My companions
and I will be the only not new Sisters in our zone after they leave.. and then
we leave just 2 weeks after them! Kinda crazy. But it's not all about leaving
here.. pasensya (sorry) :) Man this week has been a bit of a doozy. So much
happens yet all the days just moosh together in my brain. Fist thing first
though, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY HEBER!!!! I wish I could give you the HUGEST hug
ever and I hope you had the best birthday eva! You're gonna be like 6 foot
nothing by the time I get back. Oh and my voicemail password is (79317) with a
pound after. I'm so glad that you were all able to go to Moriah's homecoming
last week! I miss that girl!!! Give her a ginormous hug for me!! I can't wait to
hear from her and I just wish her the best as she jumps back into the real
world. Question for KEETHAN: Do you know Brother Hong? I think his first name is
Brandon. He's Korean, went to Mountain View and served in Bacolod about a year
ago. He is one of the teachers! He was our first "investigator" and spoiler
alert.. your investigators turn into your teachers. Sister Tiroba had a really
hard time wrapping her head around that in class when he first become our
teacher. Whenever he would call on her she'd laugh and blush and be like
"Marieneto??" (his investigator name). But the people that they role play for
are real people from the Philippines that they taught so it's still very real
and a cool experience to teach and learn with them. Oh and after we first taught
him, like the 2nd day Sister Tiroba was here out of the hospital, we got out of
a rough lesson and she was all "He gave me a blessing at the hospital". I
thought that she was mixed up or something because he was our investigator..
haha but it makes much more sense now. No wonder why she was so confused!!
Anywho I asked him if he knew the Koozers and he doesn't think that he did.
Kinda a small world that we're from the same place huh? My other teacher Sister
Tamang is just the cutest/sweetest thing on the whole planet. She actually was
in Bacolod when Megan (my friend that's there now) (and Dallas) were there so
she probably met them and served with them! I just can't wait to be in the
Philippines!!!! And also, it would be sooo cool to come back and teach at the
MTC. We spend so much time with our teachers and they're so dedicated. They have
such an impact on us, I just think that would be an awesome experience! The
Ilonggo teachers have admitted that they're slightly envious of the tools that
we have here at the MTC because January of 2013 was the first of when they
started teaching Ilonggo here. All the other missionaries learned Tagolog and
got into the field and had no clue what anyone was saying. Most of them also
served in areas where they learned Cebuano (What the rest of our zone is
learning) so our teaching understand Tagolog and Cebuano really well but teach
Ilonggo because they served Ilo-Ilo or Bacolod the majority of their missions.
And here we are with book after book of the language and while we don't have as
much as some languages translated pamphlets we at least have chapter 3 of preach
my gospel so all the lessons sa Ilonggo! It's a blessing :) Sister Tamang told
me something the other day that I'm really trying to work on with the language
and that I need to treat it like the ocean- letting the language flow over me
like waves and not trying to catch every word and stop the teacher to pull apart
the sentence that was just said because while doing that I've missed 10 other
sentences and ideas in the mean time. Because the wave comes back and I will
pick up more the next time and the next time and the next. It's true how every
day I can understand more, the trick is practicing it constantly and using SYL
here "Speak your language" to make things stick. Our lessons are going smoother
and so far I haven't embarrassed myself too much.. except this last lesson I
think I told him that Joseph Smith is the current prophet. Whoops. We'll have to
try and clear that up next lesson. Something I thought was too funny and
coincidental this week was learning what the word for "ouch". It's "agay" which
is pronounced uh-guy. Yep, of course I thought of Gwen and how she'd always
point out when I'd say "guyyyyyy" about things. Well now I really get to and it
means ouch! and it actually makes sense now. So booyah sistah! :) (miss you a
bajillion). Sister Snow reminds me of sometimes (she's 19) and it's so easy to
love Sister Snow because it's like being with GwenElise (in some ways) 24/7 :)
Another thing with the language that we learned this week applying to our
investigators is that you don't knock on doors there.. you just yell "TAGBALAY"
(tug-buh-lie) which is calling to see if anyone is home and then they'll open
the.. well here it's a classroom door but I'll let you know what it is when I
get to the Philippines. Another couple funny stuff in learning Ilonggo is that
they use "lang" pronounced (long) for.. well I don't quite know how to explain
it because I'm not sure I understand it completely but when you say "it's okay"
your say "okay-lang" and we always say "joke-lang" after making a joke or
something. So another example would be when my teacher wants us to share or
write something but wants it to be short she'll say "short-lang". And I'm
thinking soooo medium length?? haha Also my teacher was telling us how you can
have a complete conversation only using "bala". "bala" is a word you put in a
sentence to indicate a question is being asked. But it also means "up" in some
Philippine languages with emphasis on the last a. So if you're in an elevator
and the elevator person asks you "up?" it would be "bala bala?" and you would
answer "bala" indicating that you're doing up. Crazy huh. haha We did a wake-up
exercise yesterday learning head, shoulders, knees and toes and it's way cooler
than ours because the words are cool! Also they say eyes, ears, noes and mouth
because the words flow together better. So last week, I don't even have a clue what day it was, I got out of class and was taking a break. My brain was moosh and I round the corner and this Elder was opening 2 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts. I just looked at him and was thinking "I think I actually had a dream about donuts last night" and while I was thinking that he's all "I take it you're from somewhere that has Krispy Kreme's?" He was from California and he was so nice to offer me one! I felt bad taking the magical pastries that he beheld but he said that he'd rather give it to someone that appreciates it rather than his district of elders. haha I had to hold back tears. Yes, I admit that this is a ridiculous story but it's true! I even took a picture with the precious gem of a perfectly glazed donut to remember and prove it. So Heavenly Father is truly looking out for me.. he even made my dreams come true! I think tonight I'm going to dream that I know 100000% Ilonggo and that it's summertime in Provo and that I can be a misisonary for 4 years instead of 1 1/2. :)
PPPPS. Mom I'm an idiot, my first week I put all my clothes in the dryer
and shrunk 2 of my skirts :( poo poo. My turquoise one from Forever 21. and the
Navy Blue one that grandma got me from Seagul. I was so mad at myself! But I
brought a ton of clothes compared to most sisters and I'm SOO glad because I
haven't even had to wear an outfit twice... even though I'm superly going to
miss those 2 plain ones that I can wear with more. I'm going to take them to the
alterations place today but I'm not sure they can do anything they shrunk like
an entire size all around (width and length) If you want to try and find the
turqiouse one again from Forever 21 they also had the same one in red that is
adorbs. (buttons all down the front) I think I'm a medium in it. If you can't
find it though no worries:)
& BYE DAVID!! Wish I could have been there for your farewell!! You'll
be amazing. Work hard and remember to rely more on the Lord than your own
ability because that will be the only way to success as a missionary. Love
ya!!
And I almost forgot!! I can email on Christmas so I'll be talking to you
then!!!! SO soon.. weird.
Sister Judd
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