Dear Family, hello!!!
Holy hannah, my brain is going really really slow today...I'm a little bit tired and sick and well so i'm not exactly functioning at top speed. So we'll see how much I get through and maybe I'll have to send a letter some other time with additional stories. First of all, I was wondering if you'd mind finding and sending me a sketch book that has a hard cover, spiral bound. Some of the missionaries here have what they call a memory journal and they get other missionaries etc to write in their journal. It's pretty sweet. They used to sell them at the bookstore, but they're not restocking them anymore so I was wondering if you'd send me one. Not too big though, just medium sized. Also, before I leave, I may need you to send me some Weller Rec pens because I don't think I brought enough and for me, not all pens are created equal.
Ok, here we go. I'll just going to go through it all so it may be a little jumbled, but ayos lang :) So Sunday was sister Iosefa's birthday. It was seriously so much fun. Her mom is super on top of things when it comes to packages and letters (she gets a letter a day and a package a week...don't ask me how she has time for that but apparently she does) but anyways, she got three huge packages. One was a chocolate cake which we got to share with the whole district. It came with happy birthday plates, happy birthday napkins, candles, matches, and utensils, just to give you a feel for the type of packages she gets. Haha. It was way fun though. On Sunday, we took the happy birthday hats because we wanted to take a picture by the temple with the whole district to send to Sister Iosefa's mom and we're about to leave the MTC (none of us have them on, by the way) and this old man comes up to us and starts giving us a lecture about what it means to have "quiet dignity" and that while you're on a mission, you don't have birthdays. Bahahahaha! I was dying. My poor kasama, she really took it to heart and was about ready to cry. I had to turn away because I was about to laugh in his face. I'm thinking, "seriously dude, who do you think you are? No birthdays on your mission huh, you just skip those. Probably no Christmas either huh". Seriously, too funny. He was a member of one of the branch presidencies though and he goes, if you don't understand what I'm saying, talk to your branch president about it. Ha, one little problem with that, pretty sure Pres. Taylor would grab a hat and jump in the picture with us. Pretty sure he must have been in a branch presidency with the dud missionaries instead of the fun cool ones that are going to the Philippines. Seriously hilarious. But we took the picture anyway, and it's getting developed as we speak so I'll be sending that soon.
This week we also talked about some of the things they run into in the Philippines. Apparently there's no divorce. I had no idea, but it's a law and it's super expensive to get a divorce. So instead, it's really common in their culture to just separate and then when they find someone else, they'll just live with them for the rest of their lives. Causes few problems with the law of Chastity and baptism. So apparently, there are special rules for the Philippines where if they've lived together for 5 years, they can get baptized. But since they can't ever get married, they can't go through the temple or have their family sealed. It made me really sad for them that they can't have those blessing because of some law that they can't avoid. Crazy, but I guess you just teach that if you're faithful, those blessings will come eventually, just not in this life. Anything we talked about was a murder case one of my teachers had ran into. The guy had murdered someone and never gotten caught so before anything could happen, he had to turn himself in, apologize to the family, and then go to jail before they even consider letting you get baptized. And even then you have to write to the first presidency to get permission. I am crossing my fingers that doesn't happen to me. ever.
The emails on Monday that you sent me practically made my life! I was so happy and not really many people here who could fully appreciate it or understand why, but that's ok. I send a letter on Tuesday with the responses so it wouldn't have to wait til Friday, but then I thought about how often you check the mail, and you'll probably get this email before you get the snail mail letter. Haha. But just know it's on the way. I was talking to one of Elders from the new district and found out he's from Fairfax, Virginia so we just started talking about DC and turns out his Dad was the chief of staff in Bennett's office before Mary Jane. It was hilarious! He knew all the staffers there, all about DC and the politics that happens on the hill. It was awesome to talk to him! So fun to finally have a conversation like that. I kind of miss it. He said his mom is going to send him any good news clippings and I said, perfect, I live 3 rooms down. Haha. Also, I saw Matthew this week! I literally ran into him practically. We were running up to gym just as he was coming through the gate. Seriously made my day! He was talking on the phone though to his mom and my kasama was antsy because we were already late to gym so it was a super short conversation. Still always so fun to see a familiar face. I've decided too here that I'm a hugger! I hate the fact that I can't hug people. Well, I can hug the sisters, but not any of the elders. So I couldn't even give Brayden a goodbye hug when he left this week, I could only shake his hand. Super lame.
So the older district got their flight plans this week and I'm so jealous! That's who we're always with so it just feels like we should be leaving with them you know. But alas, we are not. I'm going to miss them so much. Especially Sister Packard and Sister Dyer, my gym buddies. We just have the greatest time together, even just talking during gym is therapeutic. I might go crazy for a bit when they leave, but hopefully I'll find someone new. They're seriously the greatest though. I just love them. Also, can we just have a moment to celebrate that Harry Potter came out last night! Oh my goodness, I was so excited last night, I couldn't go to sleep. Ok, lets be honest, I couldn't go to sleep because sister Mohrmom was snoring so loud. But for reals, when you go see it, I changed my mind, I want to know how it was. I'm sporting my HP shirt as we speak and you wouldn't believe how many comments I've gotten today. It's hilarious. I'm trying to convince my teacher to tell me about it when he goes and sees it. We'll see if he gives in or not.
Last night we had TRC again. It always goes a little bit rougher than I'd like, but we're still learning. Our "investigator" was a girl that goes to BYU that just got back from her mission in Manilla 3 weeks ago. She was super cute and way nice. So we told Bro. Mauzy he should ask her on a date. So we told him all about her and how we thought she was just really cute and I think he might actually do it! After we mentioned it, we go back to the classroom and he comes and sits down next to sister iosefa and I and goes, ok, give me the dirt, so what's she like? And then he goes, well what if I get too scared to do it? Haha, so we talked about him and dating for a little while. Seriously, the funniest thing ever. I really think he might do it, but we'll see.
I really wanted to write about a devotional that we had this week on repentance but I'm out of time. Maybe I'll write it in a letter and send it with the pictures. We'll see how much motivation I have :) Anyhow, got to go. Love you so much and I'll talk to you soon!!
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