Baguio definitely has its perks. However, the missionary work here is way way harder. We hardly have any people to teach. We’re thinking we might even have to resort to tracting. Definitely never done that before! Weirdly, our only ibd [investigator with a baptism date] is the sister and brother-in-law of our investigator’s girlfriend from San Fernando. Looks like I was just meant to reactivate/convert their family!
My new companion is Sister Smith. She's half Scottish and half Filipino but she's from Salt Lake. We're getting along well. Missionary work just seems to be different here... it's a little hard because I always try to work really hard and be obedient. But for the most part it's good. My companion is funny and we get along well.
It’s freezing here. I’ve been permanently cold. My body adjusted to the hot weather in San Fernando and now I’m so cold. They have cheap sweaters all over the place here and President Balledos bought us all blankets so I’m ok at night. It probably won't rain seriously for another few months. My apartment is ok... definitely nicer in Sevilla. It has hot water, but the water pressure is really low so basically I take a bucket shower with cold water and stand under the small stream of hot water to keep warm haha. And our apartment has mice... but it's not that bad. There are 4 people in my apartment. One is Sister Dial's trainer from Kiribati. Sister Ackerman is in same zone but not same ward. My area is called Pacdal C. Our barangays are Hillside, Scout Barrio, Teachers Camp, Santa Escolastica, Green Water, Gabriela Silang... and some others I forgot. My apartment is in Hillside barangay. We are right next to the Iglesia ni Cristo church. Guess what? There usually are addresses here though! I think we have an exact address, I just don't know what it is.
The ward is good. They started on time and I didn't have to play the piano. However, most of the testimony meeting was missionaries because no one else was going up... things are just so different here. It is so weird though. It’s way more in English and they're really really strict about a lot of things. The ward is strict about things like you are only allowed to hand in your tithing inside of this one room and you have to hand it directly to bishop. Also, they made this big deal about addressing the deacon's quorum president as "president." so that's interesting... also; there are 10 missionaries in the ward. We’re the only sisters. Things are way different with Elders! Way different! Almost everyone speaks pretty much fluent English.
I miss a lot of the Sevilla ward members. Sister Kasan wrote me a song before I left…like a legit song on the guitar. I have a video of it... also we received a cute little going away present from some others.
I'm trying really hard to not let my Tagalog slip. I'm happy though. Baguio is really pretty and I’m sure I’ll get used to things more. We just need to find a way to find more people to teach. Finding has never been my strong suit because in Sevilla B we wouldn't find people very often because we already had too many people to teach haha. I guess there are some things I need to learn here though.
We've already visited most of the members in our area and taught them about missionary work and asked for referrals... we got a couple... that's basically what we've been doing ever since I got here. We need to find a way to motivate the members more.
I am having some culture shock. San Fernando is really poor and really hot but it is so great! Here it is cool and pretty and clean. One of our only people is receptive because she's actually from San Fernando! haha. I loved my old area so much. Baguio is so beautiful, but it's going to take some getting used to. We even ride in taxis which are like legitimate cars... weird.
Whenever I tell anyone here my last area was San Fernando they all just say, "Oh it's hot there and life's hard there. You’re much better off here..." oh well. I’m sure I’ll learn to love it here as much as I loved San Fernando. The burrito is definitely helping with that haha.
Baguio is really hilly. We only have one little tiny area that is kind of flat. Literally, Baguio is built on a mountain. Nowhere is flat. We just have to climb all these stairs and hills all the time. My legs are getting a little sore already! It will be impossible to run in the morning because there's no way I’m doing all those hills. Also everyone here just has HUGE calves from the hills. So that'll be fun. I’m loving the fitbit…walked 10 miles on Saturday.
I’m so grateful for the packages I received. Thank
you so much! The clothes are perfect. I really appreciate it. Also, I’m glad I
got snacks because they didn’t have any food at their apartment..only fried
fish and canned meat, so I’ve been eating goldfish and jerky. Good thing today
is P-day!
Have a wonderful week! Love
you! Thanks again for the packages!
[Saying good bye to dear missionary friends in San Fernando.]
[After much research, I think this is Ally's new apartment.
Photos Courtesy of the Dinkel's blog]
[Scene outside the apartment.]
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