This has been my first week in the Philippines and I love it! The Philippines is 100% different than America. I would also like everyone to know that I survived the flight here. I slept roughly 12 hours on the plane. The jet lag was awful the first day, but after that I've been fine. The first night here, they sent us all to bed at 7 and we slept till 6 am! It was insane, I've never slept that much in my life! Anyway, the jet lad is worth it.
The Manila MTC is a billion times better than the one in Provo. Here are 8 reasons the Manila MTC is superior.
1. Every room has personal bathrooms, instead of the community ones in Provo.
2. President Carlos is hilarious! Filipinos are just super funny in general.
3. The service here isn't just janitorial work. We made 72 our kids and I felt important.
4. The food is amazing, and when it's not you can just eat rice.
5. All the Filipinos love me, cause I'm their size. :)
6. It rains at least twice a day, and I love rain!
7. It is so hot and humid outside, that when I go outside to exercise I get super sweaty and it makes me feel like I'm super fit.
8. We can play hymns in our residence.
On Saturday I had the opportunity to go on splits with the Manila missionaries. I was super excited, because I finally get to do real missionary work! They put all of us new missionaries in vans, and we drove to the church building in Manila. We meet up with a bunch of Manila missionaries, and I'm relieved to see most of them are Filipino. They begin to pair us up with these experienced missionaries. I am put with a super sweet sister from Tonga, and this other sister who is American and only speaks English and Cebuano (no one in this area speaks Cebuano). I find out the sister from Tonga has only been out 2 months and she hardly speaks English or Tagalog. Although, she is one of the kindest sisters I've ever met. The plan was to take a jeepney to San Juan and do some street contacting. Good plan right? We get on a jeepney, which was awesome! jeepneys are everywhere here, and they are busy and crowded and fun! While we were sitting there, it starts pouring rain! Naturally, that slows down traffic so we were on the jeepney for forever. I started chatting with this girl named Ria who was my age, sitting across from me. she was coming home from her daily college classes, and she was one of the nicest people I've ever met. By the time we got back to San Juan, it was already time to meet back up at the church building. This is when I learned that this sweet sister who was supposed to train me had no idea how to get back. Lucky for us Filipinos are the nicest people in existence and that girl I talked to on the jeepney helped us get back. Ria helped us find the right jeepney to get on, and she also insisted I share her umbrella with her. I legitimately enjoy rain, but Filipinos believe that if you let yourself get rained on you can get super sick. They have a name for said illness, but I can't remember it. Okay, back to the story. We said goodbye to Ria, and she took a selfie with us. Before we left San Juan, this gentleman walks by with one of the cutest little kids I've ever seen! He stops, and in broken English, he tells us that today is his son's birthday and he's turning four. We wish him happy birthday, and the guy asks to take a picture for the occasion, with mga Americano. Haha! Everyone double takes us her, because everyone else is Filipino. They act like I may be the only American they will ever see. Also, we talked to some more people on the way back and they laughed at me. All I said was Nakakatawa (which means funny) and the whole jeepney started giggling. I asked if I said something dumb and they said I sound super American. We finally made it back to the church and all was well. :)
Spiritual thought.
I don't know if I've already talked about this, but it's consistently on my mind. I wanted to share a few thoughts on obedience. Yesterday President Carlos said, "There is no 99% obedience, there is only obedience and disobedience." I know that when I choose obedience, I choose peace. When I follow the things Jesus Christ would want me to do, I feel safe. I also heard, "If you are obedient, you will never regret anything at all." I liked this so much. I feel like when I am choosing what I know is right, I am actively aligning my will with Heavenly Fathers. When I choose to make his priorities my top priority, I become more like him. I also feel increased desire for further obedience. I have a strong testimony of doing what is right. I have seen so many blessings in my life, because God's will is better than mine. I invite those who read my emails, to find ways in their lives to be better. Find something that you can work on, to align your will with Heavenly Father's. I know that as you'll do this, you will find the strength to make it through any trial.
Have an awesome week everyone! Thank you for all the encouragement! I wish I had time to email all of you personally. :)
-Sister Dugger
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| All the missionaries that arrived in Manila with Sister Dugger. |
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| Manila temple |
