Hello family!
This has been such a great week! One of the best I've had in my whole mission. I got transferred to San Nicolas last Tuesday, and my new companion is Sister Serrano. I am so grateful to be with her.
This is what I wrote to President this week:
"This whole week has been a spiritual highlight for me. I love being with Sister Serrano so much. She is such a good missionary, and I always feel the spirit when we are teaching. Sunday especially was a spiritual highlight because two less actives whom we had visited earlier in the week came to church, and they both bore their testimonies and said how they are so thankful for the spirit they felt when we visited them, and for one of them it was the first time he has been to church in many years."
I love my new area. It is just outside of Laoag, but it's more a lot more rural. Our area is really big, and there are some really pretty places that we go to teach. I'm always tempted to take pictures, but then I remember we are proselyting and I restrain myself. The other day, we had to get to the house of a member, and the only way was to go accross a little bridge that was only wide enough for one foot at a time, and there was a big gap betweent the bridge and the handrail, and it was kind of scary to go accross because Sister Serrano and I are both afraid of heights. It was only about 10 feet above the ground though.
Oh, one funny thing that happened: we were teaching an investigator, and a little 2-year-old boy was there, and they were trying to get him to shake our hands, and he was totally fine with Sister Serrano even though she is new to the area too, but when they tried to make him shake my hand, he wouldn't do it, and he started whimpering and said "Ayaw!" which means "I don't want." I think he's gotten over the shock now because he was totally friendly when we went there again.
Also, I am trying to learn Ilocano now. I didn't have as much of a desire to learn it before because I felt like Tagalog was enough to worry about. But now my Tagalog is okay, and I am realizing that I need to learn Ilocano because it really is the dominant dialect in the mission. In Laoag most people knew Tagalog, but Sister Serrano said that if I am transferred up north, the people there are very Ilocano, and many of them can't understand Tagalog. Also in San Nicolas the people mostly understand Tagalog, but they speak Ilocano most of the time. I'm really lucky to be with Sister Serrano because she knows Ilocano, so I've been asking her a lot what words mean, and then I write them down on a sticky note in my planner. The members who have worked with us always laugh because they say I'm making a dictionary. The people seem pleased, though, when they find out that I am trying to learn Ilocano.
I love the ward here in San Nicolas. The members and leaders are really supportive, and they like to work with us. They seem really excited to have sisters serving in their ward now.
Well, I love you all. Thank you so much for your emails and letters and everything. The gospel is true!
Love, Sister Boekweg
Baguio Time
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