Being a missionary is hard work, but I love it!

Kumusta, Family!

I don’t have very much time, so forgive me if this email doesn’t flow very well. This week, we’ve really been diving into Tagalog. We even started teaching our first investigator–completely in Tagalog. The first time was nearly a disaster because we couldn’t understand anything he said, and it took us forever to respond to anything he said, but it was okay because we started with a prayer, and so the spirit was there. Our investigator’s name is Nino Rivera, and he is really sweet and cute, and he asks a lot of good questions, and he really wants to learn a lot.

So, the first day I got here, I went to class, and our teacher spoke to us only in Tagalog. He told us English is bawal (forbidden). It was a little intimidating at first, but I’ve gotten used to it. My teacher is Brother Langer. He is really nice, and he is very patient with us.

I love my district. I’m pretty sure I have the best district in the whole MTC. There are 4 sisters, and 4 elders, which is really wierd (for it to be half and half), but it’s really fun. Three of our Elders have cool accents. One is from Hawaii, one is from New Zealand, and one is from Australia. Sister Aree is the only sister who is not from the US. She is from Kiribati, and she is super sweet and cute. She has a very cute giggle that makes us all laugh. My companion is Sister Christensen. She is really sweet. We were actually in the same ward at Stadium Terrace two years ago. We get along really well. We both like to run during gym time, and so we both run together. We also both really want to follow all the rules, so I’m really glad about that. She is allergic to gluten and dairy, so she can’t eat most of the stuff in the cafeteria, which is really sad, but she has a really good attitude. Our whole district eats together for every meal. I really like it. I feel like my district is really united, and we all love each other. It’s weird–we’ve only known each other for a week, but we already feel like we’re a family. It’s awesome!

So, exciting story: the first night I was here, someone burned a bag of popcorn, and it set off the fire alarm, so we all had to go outside in our PJ’s. It was great fun.

Just so y’all know, the MTC is hard work, but it’s really worth it. We leave our residence hall at 7:00 every morning, and we don’t go back until 9:30 at night. During that time, we have class, language study, personal study, TALL (technology assisted language learning), and basically we just sit in our classroom all day and study our hearts out. It can get kind of tedious sometimes, but I’ve been getting better at really focusing, and using my study time effectively. Brother Langer told us everything we do–even our language study–needs to be about our investigators, so I’ve been trying to keep that in mind, and it really helps motivate me.

I’m not exceedingly skilled in Tagalog yet, of course, but I’ve learned how to pray in Tagalog, and how to bear my testimony, and how to sort of get to know people in Tagalog. I’ve heard from a lot of missionaries who have been here longer that after about 3 weeks, you start to pick it up a lot more.

Quote of the week:

“We ran like maniacs; and by maniacs, I mean slugs” –Sister Christensen, telling one of our roommates about us running at the missionary field during gym time.

Well, I love all of you. Sorry again that this email isn’t very flowy–hopefully I’ll have more email time out in the field.

Thanks!
Love, Lisa