This week has been so good! haha I forgot to tell you last week... the picture of Balut wasn't me eating it... the foreigners aren't aloud to.. it was sister Tiongco who ate it.. she eats the weirdest things haha she ate Balut and fish eyes right in front of me BLAHHHHH it was so gross I almost threw up haha but I made it a goal that I would eat Balut by the end of my mission even if it's bawal. I want it. haha this week was so good and i've realized there are so many simple joys you experience on a mission that you never even think would be a joy in real life... for exampe...
Monday we were able to go bowling for a District activity and who knew bowling was so fun! I've always thought bowling was okay, but NO BOWLING IS THE BOMB! Hahaha I love it! probably because I won 103 and the lowest score was 8 hahaha it was hilarious.. A lot of people from the Philippines never experience bowling so I was really good compared to everyone haha it was awesome! Also we found Jamba Juice!!! I almost started crying when I saw it. haha I bought the biggest one and everyone just looked at me like I was crazy but I just thought ahhhhh AMERICA!! hahah It's so weird the joy I find here in the Philippines. So lets just say Pday is one of my very favorite days.
On tuesday, I asked one of our less actives what is name was (after 6 weeks of knowing him) when I meant to ask him how his praying was going.. Two completely different questions, but of course me being me screwed them up so bad.. haha It was so funny I felt so stupid, but hey that's the joys you find in learning the language. People just laugh at you and you really just gotta learn to laugh at yourself because in reality you do look really dumb haha It's so fun tho! Also that night I tried to cook... Yeah I burnt it and set the fire alarm off... I thought that was only going to happen in college.. I was so wrong.. I just am terrible at cooking and I have learned to accept that fact about myself.
Wednesday was a day to remember... haha the culture of the Philippines is crazy. We went into this investigators home to teach her on Wednesday night and man her house was crazy! I wish I could just snap shot pictures, but I know I can't... We went in and dishes, dirty, clean, food, just tons of stuff was all scattered on the table.. Laundry was everywhere and her whole home was literally probably the size of the school room in our basement. So small... and so messy and cluttered.. anyway, we cleared off a spot to be able to sit down and as we started with a song and a prayer, during the prayer we heard all these little creatures making noises.. I was freaking out, but of course we are praying so I couldn't do anything. Ahhhh after the prayer I swear to you I saw like 7 mice just roaming around the floor AS WE ARE SITTING ON THE FLOOR. Oh my gosh I thought I was gonna die. Plus that lesson was so long. Ahhhh it was so gross, but hey I guess a good experience..
Sadly on Thursday Sister Tiongco physically couldn't work because of her back.. She has been having back pain for her whole mission and she was really struggling on Thursday so we just decided to have a rest day and she just slept. I cleaned and organized stuff cuz I was just super bored, but it was fine. Kinda nice I guess to just have a chill day, but i've realized i really don't like chill days. I like working and proselyting and stuff.. so hopefully that doesn't happen often..
From Friday to Saturday I was able to do exchanges with the STL's which was so good! I got to go with the foreigner STL (like me) which was awesome! I didn't realize how much of an impact the different cultures has on a companionship. I got to go with Sister Vaka and she was awesome! She is from Canada and has been out for 12 months! She is the funniest person I've ever met! She is just super cool and has a really outgoing and fun personality. I thought she would for sure take it easy on me the whole time I was with her cuz first exchange, but nope! She made me OYM and talk to people and she would just stand there it was like she wanted me to train her.. hahaha it was so good though because she really made me step out of my comfort zone and just have confidence in talking to people. I feel like i'm finally understanding more Tagalog and I can OYM actually pretty good on my own. I can say a lot when it comes to OYMing and I love it. Mission is so much more fun when you can actually feel like you can talk to people! It's so good. So I really enjoyed that 24 hours being with Sister Vaka. We actually had something funny happen to us. We were OYMing some lady (little did I know she was drunk) but you know me just doing my thing talking to this lady about the gospel and since im white she said oh sit down let me get you a soft drink and cookies and hands me all this food. Then this guy sitting next to me asks who we are, so of course I OYM him and turns out he is Atheist... He starts sharing how science contradicts blah blah blah and I just couldn't even understand what was going on so I was just saying uhhhh ehhh ahhh cuz I physically didn't know what to do haha Finally after Sister Vaka was done talking to the Lady she see's the situation im in sits down next to me, and whispers to me "finish your drink as fast as you can" so then we literally drank our drinks in like 30 seconds and left. I thought Sister Vaka and the Atheist guy were gonna get in a fist fight when we were trying to leave. haha He REALLY wanted to share his views with us. haha honestly it was just really funny and fun doing exchanges.
Sunday was just like any other Sunday. Church was good and I finally feel like im starting to be able to talk to the members and really get to know them. I love feeling like i'm progressing and it's finally happening so I'm so happy! haha
Being a Missionary is so good. After my experience meeting the Atheist it just really solidifies my testimony of the Restored Gospel. I know this is the true church of Jesus Christ and I feel so blessed to be able to be a missionary in the Philippines Manila Mission. I get to serve God for 18 months. Like what is better than that? I get to turn my self over to God and just do his will. Bring people back to him. I get to physically help souls return back to Heavenly Father. What a magnificent calling. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY AND I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK! It's such an honor and a blessing to be here and to serve these people. It's hard, boy is it hard, but it is so worth it. I love this gospel and Jesus Christ with my whole heart. Thanks to all of you who support me and write me and uplift me. I love you all so much. :) Also I've almost made it through a whole transfer (half way done with training) so yay!!
Mahal ko kayo!
Sister Barton
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