1st Pday!

Sister Vaiaoga (my companion)

Hello!! Kumusta po kayo?
I hope everyone is doing well! Friday is my Pday (preparation day)
which means I can email home. Here in the Missionary Training Center,
I have an iPad and I can email from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm on Friday, but
I am really really busy so I can’t promise that I’ll always get the
chance to reply to you.

Some of you have emailed me questions so I’ll answer those to everyone:)
The food is great! I mean, I’m not picky at all so I don’t think
everyone would agree and I’m STARVING all the time. Haha I don’t know
why I’m so hungry, I’m thinking it’s because my brain is going 1000000
mph constantly and it tires me out.

My companion!!! Sister Vaiaoga (vi-ah-ongah) is my kasama!! She is
absolutely ADORABLE and I love her a lot! She’s from Oakland, CA and
she actually went to BYU Hawaii! I had never met her there but our
faces seemed soooooo familiar to each other. (Hawaiian friends, tell
me if you know her!!)

My teachers are soooo awesome!! Brother Navarro is super cool and
really good about bringing the Spirit into our classroom, along with
lots of laughter! Sister DeJesus is so soo cute and so smart, but we
don’t know her as well as we do Brother Navarro yet.

My Tagalog is coming along... I can really see now how the way we are
being taught will allow us to learn very quickly. We are immersed in
it and expected to pick up phrases immediately. I’m already thinking
some things in Tagalog, only three days in!!

Some things that surprised me:
The amount of assignments we get in ADDITION to the language
assignments seem like a TON, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it. In my
zone, we all have to write talks for Sunday completely (or as much as
we know) in Tagalog then the branch president chooses people randomly
on Sunday to speak so you have to always be prepared. Plus we have all
these materials we have to read before a certain day so I’m hoping and
praying I can get everything done!
I thought we would be put in a room with sisters that have been here
longer, but we actually are with another new companionship. Sister
Reynolds from Ethiopia and Utah, and Sister Prigsbrey from Boise
Idaho. They’re really sweet and are in our district. And we also have
two elders in our district, Elder Cooper and Elder Vakapuna.

Was this detailed enough for you? Haha.

I just wanna let you guys know how excited I am to be here and how
many blessings God has already given me. I have already seen miracles
and I am not even in the Philippines yet! I wanna challenge you guys
to pick a day this week that you will really concentrate on seeing
God’s hand in your life. He is with you every single day. Every single
second! Notice the simple things throughout your day that go well, and
thank God for it. All good things come from Him.