Just kidding! I haven't gotten lost
once AND I have managed to get us where we need to, using jeepneys. So proud of
myself! And I felt proud of myself now that people are asking ME if my
companion speaks tagalog instead of the other way around. Yep, that's right my
companion is not a native Fillipina. She's from... Pakistan! Cool huh? But
don't worry she is fluent in Tagalog, because she is going home in october. So
I probably will be the one to kill her off. Not literally, just a figure of
speech here in the mish. Her name is sister Asif. She's my tallest companion
yet and calls what I eat for breakfast every morning oatmilk. I think it's cute
so I'm not going to correct her! :) We speak Tagalog all day long. Last night I
was super tired so I switched into English. Sister Asfi said, "I've never
heard you speak english and I wondered what you sounded like." I sound
funny, that's how I sound, so I witched back into Tagalog and found it was a
lot easier. I'm getting less and less blank stares when I teach and I'm giving
less and less blank stares. So now that my bragging session is done, I probably
won't be able to speak coherent Tagalog ever again. That's just how it
goes doesn't it.
So a little about the pictures. Yes,
I know, I have now sent home 2 pictures of my feet. But we went tromping
through a farmers field to find a less active family and it was actually much
safer to take off our shoes and walk barefoot, because mud is actually a
lot slippy-er then ice. Imagine that. We also had to cross the
bridge I am standing on. Yeah... that's a bridge. And you can't really tell
from the picture but that is a very fast river underneath and a height
that would make dad nervous. (A couple of weeks ago we went over a real
bamboo swinging bridge, I can't believe I forgot to tell you that!) The 'I
(heart) Manila' t-shirts are Sister Pacinio and I's companionship item. Cute
huh? Oh, the picture from last week? The one where we are standing by the fence
on a really steep hill? I climbed that. In a dress. With hurricane force
winds. Looking for a less active. Boo-ya! Were they home? No. Aw-well... And
the district photo? I just had to send it home because it makes me laugh! All
of the Americans are about the same height and then there's the
two Filipinos. Sister Pacinio and I laughed about that one for awhile.
;)
So I don't know if you have heard on
the news or anything, but last week half of the Philippines was in a state
of calamity because of the Typhoon in Japan/China. 90% of metro Manila was
flooded. All schools were cancelled and in Naic there is now a new island that
didn't used to be there. BUT before mom freaks out... Carmona a
is relatively high elevation and the drainage systems are pretty
good. So we just had a lot of mud but no floods. But half of the Elders area
was flooded so they we evacuated to the chapel. That was sad to see. And our
Branch Presidency spent a whole night going to members houses to see
if they were flooded and I mean the whole night. Many of the missionaries in
the city were just doing community service and distributing goods to people.
They weren't sure if we were going to be able to have transfer meeting, because
of the floods. So they cancelled all of the extra stuff and told only the
people that had to come to come. And we had it. God loves His missionaries. And
He loves me, too and that is why I am here and not in the city.
I wish I had some grand story to
tell you but as always my mind always blanks when you give me a time limit. I
have like 10 minutes more and can't think of what else to tell you but in about
20 minutes, I'll have like a billion things to say. Hummmm....
How are my fellow missionaries?
Andrea, Ashley, Charlotte, Faith, and Emily? Have you heard anything from them?
Being a missionary is great and I've decided 18 months is not long enough.
Maybe 4 years would be a good amount. Sometimes p-days are too long. Every week
I get excited for them but but by 2 or 3 I'm ready for them to be done. I have
a new found love... jogging. Yes I love to run. I'm not even joking. I'm now
the one that wants to keep running and running while my companion is way behind
panting and saying she's done. Switch! But it's fun!
I love you more then Reese PB cups
(which I found today at the store... so of course I bought them)
Sister Lyons
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