Something About Sunshine...: Week #8: Naga

Hello all! Thank you for all the Thanksgiving wishes! Glad to know people still know I exist. ;) hahaha

So I've been trying to decide if I wanted to send out a letter this week, honestly. My poor companion, Sister Ganzagan has been very sick and we didn't get much work done this week because she's been bed ridden. We ended up spending most of the day Saturday at the hospital. So while she has been sleeping and trying to get better, I've had plenty of time to do a lot of studying! I just feel like I don't have much to share. But here we go.

Last Monday was so awesome! P-days are great! For obvious reasons. I love this whole, 'Do your laundry by hand thing.' I'm really not joking. It's such an adventure! Even though it did take 3 days for my clothes to dry... Whenever I try to leave my clothes outside, it starts raining!!! I can't win. Sister Ganzagan thinks it's funny that I love the rain so much and would rather not use an umbrella. But I have to use it because people don't like to have us in their house if we are sopping wet (of course). The rain here is crazy. There's barely any warning. It just starts pouring and then downpours for hours. Part of our area flooded and we weren't allowed to proselyte. The zone leaders told us they didn't want us to get electrocuted. Okay? Has that happened before?? Scary... Anyways, Monday was a long night of tracting, so Sister Ganzagan and I went and bought ice cream before going home. She had the brilliant idea of eating out and I looked at my watch and told her we couldn't because it was past curfew. She laughed and made herself comfortable outside with her half gallon of ice cream and a spoon. So now our idea of "eating out " includes eating outside on our porch under the stars (which are so beautiful here!), with our ice cream, and listening to Mo Tab. I will pretend it hasn't happened three times this week.

I think Friday was the most exciting. Sister Ganzagan felt well enough to go out to teach. It was pouring and my umbrella broke because the rains and winds were so strong! We went to a less active's home in Bombon and we had to trudge through the rice fields! There's a teeny cement path we stayed on to get there and it was raining so hard that the water was just pooling up around us so we had to walk barefoot (ummm). We had a member present, Jean Rose, and she is just the cutest. She's the youngest seminary teacher I've ever met! We just all sang and laughed the whole way there. After we taught the family, we taught one of our investigators, Femarie, and she is still deciding if she wants to be baptized. We encouraged her to pray about it again and we will see what happens next time we visit! After visiting with a few more people, we ended up going home early because Sister Ganzagan started feeling really sick again. :( I asked her if she wanted a priesthood blessing, so the Elders came over and gave her such an incredible blessing! My testimony of the priesthood has grown so much. I am so grateful to have always had priesthood holders in my family. I am so blessed!

After the elders left, I had been writing in my journal for about an hour and this lizard kept circling the room and my companion is terrified of lizards so I finally decided to catch it. Even though I don't mind having them around because they eat the mosquitos. I caught it alright, but I forgot the part where lizards tails come off if you grab them by their tail. It started wiggling around my hand and the rest of the lizard started running off and I couldn't stop screaming. I probably drive Sister Ganzagan nuts. But, I finally caught the lizard and threw that poor thing out the door. How come weird things like this happen to me?...

Saturday was crazy. My body is freaking out because of the climate. I keep getting random rashes everywhere. haha. And I'm starting to get used to all the bug bites I have. I'm also trying to figure out what I'm allergic to because I keep breaking out in hives. I find this all hilarious, by the way. Because the weirdest things are happening! There's nothing I can really do about it anyways.
So Saturday morning we went into Naga to withdraw money, which is about half and hour from my area. Oh. And I just found out we are only a few minutes from the coast! So we will probably go there next P-day as a district. While we were there in the city, we made a trip to the hospital and found out that my companion is internally bleeding. Oh my goodness... She's doing alright though. I know it's because of the prayers in her behalf from the missionaries and the priesthood blessing. I just hope we can really get to work this week and that she heals soon! We had to cancel all our appointments for the day and we made it home that evening, soaking wet, just in time for missionary coordination meeting with the bishop. The bishop is so nice and he works well with us! He likes to make fun of my American ways, but then again, so does Sister Ganzagan. She thinks that Americans shaving their legs is the weirdest thing ever. I don't blame her. It is really weird if you think about it. After the meeting, we went to a members house for dinner with the elders and then I took a hot bath with a bucket and pail. Yup. That will probably never happen again because it took too long to heat up the water, but it was one of the best things I've ever experienced in my life! And for the record? Showering with a bucket and pail is actually fun. Bahaha! Who would have thought?

I never thought I would say this, but crocs and fanny packs are the necessities of life. Watch out fashion police! Is it just me or am I already getting weirder?... But who cares. I'm loving it here! Even the Tagalog is slowly coming. I'm starting to pick up on words and I usually can figure out what the conversation is about. That's the frustrating part. I want to be able to participate more and I can't. I've never been this quite in my life. haha They speak some Spanish here too. So I know a little bit of Tagalog, a little bit of Biccol, a little bit of Spanish, and a whole lot of English I don't need. Even though a lot of people try to speak in English to me. They always say that they get a "bloody nose" because it's so hard to speak English. Speaking of which, we are starting an English class! I'm really excited, even though I don't know how we are going to go about doing it exactly.

Also, I felt like I was back in America as we were able to go to SM, the mall in Naga. The Filipinos definitely LOVE their malls! The customer service is WAYYY better than any customer service I've ever received anywhere back home and all the employees are dressed up. But the mall felt like one of the big ones I went to in Vegas. Totally don't remember what it's called, but it was just really fancy! And they were playing Christmas music and I found out that they've been celebrating Christmas here since September. I'm so excited! We have a Christmas party with the whole mission in a few weeks and I can't wait to get to know more of the missionaries and see my previous companion from the MTC! I keep forgetting it's Christmas time because it feels like August. I only remember because there are Christmas decorations everywhere! But it's not the snow or the decorations, or the presents that makes Christmas. Christ really is the reason for the season and it's exciting to share the beautiful message of the gospel at this time of the year!