Another great week has come and gone! I am currently sucking on a delicious push pop that the Permenter family sent me in such an awesome package! I have to admit, I didn't quite share it with the people they told me to. It was mostly shared with myself, and my mga kasama hahaha. Pasensiya! But thank you for both your package and the package from the Oahu family!! I really couldn't have asked for more perfect things. You guys know me so well! The mac nuts were perpekto! Arare was delish! And obviously I am enjoying the push pops and all the other treats. Oh and the sweatshirts and sweatpants are def being used. It's probably like 50 degrees over here already and it rains freezing cold rain. There is snow on the mountains already! It's cray.
So this week was pretty busy like the entire time. A typical day for me consists of waking up before 6 to get ready for choir practice. We perform this Saturday! Idk when you guys will be watching it but look out for me! Unfortunately the blue shirt I will be wearing is like the same as half of the other girls :( but I will have my hair straightened with my bangs pulled back in a braid! And the shirt is a bright blue. I am a 1st alto. I don't know if that will help with anything but yeah haha. Look out for me! The songs sound sooo good. I hope it can come across as beautiful through the tv. Or computer? Haha have we gotten a tv yet? Okay anyway back to my typical day. So I wake up, eat breakfast, go to choir, have 3 hours of language/gospel class with Brother Soderquist. Then an hour of personal study. Then lunch, and then gym time, TALL (technology assisted language learning) a language learning computer program, another hour of language study on our own, then dinner. Then another 3 hours of language/gospel class with our second teacher Sister Stonick. Brother Soderquist is the best ever. He is a little haole guy but he sounds like a Philippino haha. He served in Baguio! And he even studied Tagalog in college. He is really patient with us but we learn a ton each class. Sister Stonick isn't so sweet haha. Jk she is awesome. She just sets a very high standard for us. But that is good because so does Heavenly Father. And she just wants us to get to be the best missionaries we can be.
With such a crazy schedule every day, it can get kind of overwhelming. But before every choir practice a member of the Relief Society General Board shares a little message with us. One of the Sisters shared a message about how we cannot let ourselves feel overwhelmed or defeated. It was exactly what I needed to hear. As missionaries we are expected to set a goal for what we want to accomplish in the day. The goals are supposed to challenge us to do even more than what we did the day before. But some nights, when I look at my planner and see that I actually did even less than the day before, it can get pretty frustrating. I start making excuses like "if they didn't schedule something for us to be doing every second of every day, then maybe I could get more done". Or the most common, "why in the world am I not going to Japan??" haha our classroom used to be on the 3rd floor of the building and Japanese speaking was just the floor below us. I would hear their conversations sometimes and just think about what it would be like if I were going to Japan instead. But like I mentioned last week, there are people that I have met, and things that I have done that I know are meant to be. There is a reason that I am going to serve the people in Baguio and I am going to speak to them in their native tongue. It's beautiful. It's difficult, frustrating, scary and many other things. But it is maganda (beautiful) and I am so blessed to be able to do it.
Okay this is my last bit for this week! I have a ton of pics I want to send so the email won't be too long with time. But also at choir practice this week, our director, Emily Hadley had to stop our singing and just share a thought with us. She asked us what she thinks other girls our age, members of the church or not, were doing right in that moment. I thought of that for a little while, but then I decided to look around at the 360 Sisters that I had around me in that moment and of course, I cried haha. Just in that room there were 360 19-21 year old girls who have chosen to serve their Lord for the next 18 months. Were they forced into it? No. Are they getting paid to do it? No. Yet we choose to leave our families, our homes, our friends. We choose to endure jam packed days 7 days a week for 18 months. I'm sure each Sister has a different reason as to why they go, but what we all have in common is that we love our Heavenly Father and brother Jesus Christ. We know that we are loved by them. And that love is what causes us to take the actions that we do. And we want to give these 18 months our very best for them.
I love you guys. Sorry if this is terribly written. But as always, there are tons of thoughts going through my mind.
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