Wow. The past three days I've been here feel like weeks. The Missionary Training Center is awesome. I love it here. My day usually consists of hours of personal scripture study, companionship study, language study (aye nako), meals, devotionals, lectures, and then more language study. I have to say that I'm not used to being awake for like 16 out of the 24 hours in a day. I've probably averaged a good 6-5 hours of sleep every night because of how busy I am and how restless my mind is, but surprisingly I feel FANTASTIC! ish. haha. Thank goodness for my vitamins grandma! Salamat po! (thank you)
Where to even start. SO much has happened and there is not enough time to write it all but I will do my best to share the most profound experiences I've had thus far. Also, if I make spelling or grammar mistakes, it's this computer's fault. Haha after I type something I cant click on it and fix it without deleting everything I've written in front of it. So please bare with me and the wonderful MTC technology. :-)
I absolutely ADORE my district/ kasamas (companions)! We have 5 sisters and 1 elder. Poor elder has to put up with us sisters but he's a good sport. Two of the sisters are from Kiribati, Sister Mullen and Sister Bandibu. Sister Killian is from Washington. And Sister Snyder and Elder Madsen are from Hurricane Utah. Sister Snyder is my Kasama and is also going to Legazpi! And so is Elder Madsen! wahoo! WE are the funnest district. Our inside jokes are endless, we are always laughing. They make the hard times not so hard. haha. All of these wonderful missionaries lift me up and make me smile whenever things get hard. Nagpapasalamat po ako para kay sila.
So I know you're all dying to know how I'm doing with the language. Let me just tell you. Even though I remember a good portion of tagalog, I still have to work hard. The tagalog I'm learning is more polite/ propper and there is gospel vocabulary we're learning as well. But sometimes I feel like a walking dictionary with my other kasamas. I'm glad I'm able to share with them what I do know, which is more than I thought I did. (Salamat po Dad and Mom Josie) After just one day of learning the language, our district already had to teach an investigator in tagalog. Once they told us that, my eyes popped out of my head.
We were to teach a woman from the Philippines, who moved to the U.S to work. She is alone and her husband died. She grew up Methodist, but because her life is so hard, she's starting to question if there even is a God. You all know I would have so much to say to her in english, but in Tagalog I knew would be such a challenge.
So my kasama and I prayed for her and prepared a lesson for her in tagalog. We figured out what we wanted to say and translated it. It was almost like we were reading a script, and I hated that. I'm not one to completely prepare myself when I give a talk. I like to bullet point concepts and let the spirit guide what I say. But this lesson basically constrained me and it was painful. During our lesson however, we did let her know our father in heaven does love her and asked her to read Alma 7: 11-12 in the tagalog Book of Mormon, and also an excerpt from a pamphlet that also talks about Christ's atonement. She said "Ang Magaling" after she read, so it's safe to say that she liked it. The spirit was strong during our lesson because she could just see in our eyes how much my kasama and I cared for her and how much her father in heaven loved her too. I've come to find that I get attached to my investigators and cry a lot. We've been teaching lots a handful of investigators, so you can imagine how emotionally drained I get. But in Beverly's case, I felt especially sad because it felt like I couldnt give her all of me, or the real sister Delgado because of how illiterate I was. At the end of the lesson, Beverly said she would pray to feel God's love, as we asked her to to feel God's love and to know he's there. After that lesson though, Sister Snyder and I walked back to class. Sister Synder was content with our lesson, but I carried such a heavy heart. When we got back to our language class Brother Kaka, who served in Manila and is our tagalog teacher explained to me and my kasama that we CANNOT measure the success of our lesson on what we said, but rather if we met the needs of our investigator and if they will make commitments that we set for them to draw closer to the savior. That made me feel a lot better. But from that point forward, I recommitted myself to do better next time and to not get so discouraged. I've only been here for three days and have learned so much, but I know I have so much more to learn to be a better missionary. This mission means the world to me. Even though I dont know them yet, the filipinos I will teach and help prepare a way from them to join the restored church of Jesus Christ mean the world to me. My life is changing. I can feel it. Every night before I go to bed, I think about my day and what I learned, then I start translating my thoughts in tagalog. Which keeps me up until I fall asleep. But it's amazing. I'm truly feel the Lord's gift of tounges upon me as diligently study and help my district. My branch president President Howard gets a kick out of me being half filipina and went crazy about my hair. Made me smile.
Well Fam that's all I got for this week. Hope you are all doing well. Dont worry about me. Life is wonderful.
Mahal Kita
Sister Delgado
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| My District! :) |
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| My Filipia Sisters from Naga and Manilla :) |
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| Kasama!! My Companion! |
