Turns out p-day in the office is Friday (biyernes p-days
again!). So here's the low down:
On Tuesday we went to the bus terminal and helped out with transfers, then went to run some errands for Sister O. She is really doing everything she can to get things ready for the new mission president and his wife. She has pretty much re-painted everything, re-varnished everything, cleaned everything and re-stocked all the food etc. So we had to go and pick some stuff up for her. We got our three hours of teaching in. We are in the office working the whole day and then have study time in the afternoon around 3 or 4, then out to work at 6. It's a challenge to keep awake in my studies as it's after lunch, it's hot and I am not used to the schedule yet..
The people here are pretty sweet though. There are some really great people we are teaching. I miss Cagayan though. The people there are different. The people here are a little more like back home. In Cagayan you can joke with random kids in the street and they act like you are their hero. The other night we walked by some little nippers playing basketball and I said something to them and they just started talking smack to me! It's fun too. I'm just not used to it yet.
We taught one nanay who seems a little crazy. She talks really fast and never stops and she ALWAYS sounds like she is really angry. Ilocano itself just sounds like an angry language but she sounds like someone just spit in her rice.
So nanay decides to get us something to drink (everyone feels like they have to feed you. It takes skill to get out of it politely and present a lesson in good time). She brings out these cups that I knew I had seen before. She says, "I got these at Jollibee" (kind of the Burger King of thePhilippines
She looked so impressed with herself and she had a funny, sneaky look on her face. Then she showed us all the other stuff she has stolen from restaurants. We will definitely be reviewing the 10 commandments with her soon.
We had a short-term missionary with us the other day as he hadn't yet been assigned to an area. Apparently that will be happening a lot. If anyone is here for any reason, they get put in our area for the night. We also are the first to get moved in the case of an emergency transfer if, say someone gets sick and has to come to the office - although it rarely happens.
We are teaching a young 18 year old and his little sister who is 13. She is soooo smart and she talks like she is from an old movie from the 40's - a really fast, witty talker (I love going there. It's great language practice). When she doesn't understand a concept, she will interrupt by saying, "pause!" She'll think for a second about what has been said or she"ll re-read the scripture that was shared and then she will say, "okay - play!".
She and her brother both want to be baptized but he has an issue with smoking so we have set a goal with him that he will be smoking only a certain amount each day this week and then we will lower it again next week etc. I found that effective with another brother as he was smoking two packs a day before. He lowered it slowly until he just stopped. It works quite well.
I am now a fully licensed driver in thePhilippines
Yesterday all the new missionaries came in. I am in charge of giving them all the stuff they will be using like their new planner, reviewing mission standards, health stuff and filling out some forms. It was so fun to talk to them. The new missionaries really help keep us excited about the work.
I will tell you a couple of my duties. I am in charge of travel plans home for departing missionaries, as well as all things to do with the new missionaries coming in. I prepare a file on them for the president to decide better as to who goes where and who becomes companions with whom.
We also travel to random places in the mission for different things like moving missionaries to new apartments etc. That is what I am excited for - seeing other parts of the mission. But really the best part is this: we are Sister O's taste testers. She has food allergies so when she cooks, she needs us to taste it a bunch of times to see if it's good. After almost a year of eating things that have been dried on the road, it's a little bit of a treat. I miss the "real world" still, but there are some fun things here.
I love you guys. Take care of yourselves!
-Elder Dustan
On Tuesday we went to the bus terminal and helped out with transfers, then went to run some errands for Sister O. She is really doing everything she can to get things ready for the new mission president and his wife. She has pretty much re-painted everything, re-varnished everything, cleaned everything and re-stocked all the food etc. So we had to go and pick some stuff up for her. We got our three hours of teaching in. We are in the office working the whole day and then have study time in the afternoon around 3 or 4, then out to work at 6. It's a challenge to keep awake in my studies as it's after lunch, it's hot and I am not used to the schedule yet..
The people here are pretty sweet though. There are some really great people we are teaching. I miss Cagayan though. The people there are different. The people here are a little more like back home. In Cagayan you can joke with random kids in the street and they act like you are their hero. The other night we walked by some little nippers playing basketball and I said something to them and they just started talking smack to me! It's fun too. I'm just not used to it yet.
We taught one nanay who seems a little crazy. She talks really fast and never stops and she ALWAYS sounds like she is really angry. Ilocano itself just sounds like an angry language but she sounds like someone just spit in her rice.
So nanay decides to get us something to drink (everyone feels like they have to feed you. It takes skill to get out of it politely and present a lesson in good time). She brings out these cups that I knew I had seen before. She says, "I got these at Jollibee" (kind of the Burger King of the
She looked so impressed with herself and she had a funny, sneaky look on her face. Then she showed us all the other stuff she has stolen from restaurants. We will definitely be reviewing the 10 commandments with her soon.
We had a short-term missionary with us the other day as he hadn't yet been assigned to an area. Apparently that will be happening a lot. If anyone is here for any reason, they get put in our area for the night. We also are the first to get moved in the case of an emergency transfer if, say someone gets sick and has to come to the office - although it rarely happens.
We are teaching a young 18 year old and his little sister who is 13. She is soooo smart and she talks like she is from an old movie from the 40's - a really fast, witty talker (I love going there. It's great language practice). When she doesn't understand a concept, she will interrupt by saying, "pause!" She'll think for a second about what has been said or she"ll re-read the scripture that was shared and then she will say, "okay - play!".
She and her brother both want to be baptized but he has an issue with smoking so we have set a goal with him that he will be smoking only a certain amount each day this week and then we will lower it again next week etc. I found that effective with another brother as he was smoking two packs a day before. He lowered it slowly until he just stopped. It works quite well.
I am now a fully licensed driver in the
Yesterday all the new missionaries came in. I am in charge of giving them all the stuff they will be using like their new planner, reviewing mission standards, health stuff and filling out some forms. It was so fun to talk to them. The new missionaries really help keep us excited about the work.
I will tell you a couple of my duties. I am in charge of travel plans home for departing missionaries, as well as all things to do with the new missionaries coming in. I prepare a file on them for the president to decide better as to who goes where and who becomes companions with whom.
We also travel to random places in the mission for different things like moving missionaries to new apartments etc. That is what I am excited for - seeing other parts of the mission. But really the best part is this: we are Sister O's taste testers. She has food allergies so when she cooks, she needs us to taste it a bunch of times to see if it's good. After almost a year of eating things that have been dried on the road, it's a little bit of a treat. I miss the "real world" still, but there are some fun things here.
I love you guys. Take care of yourselves!
-Elder Dustan
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