Kamusta everyone,
 |
| [Mga maestros ko (My teachers) si Bro. Adamson kag si Sis. Read.] |
Oo, I'll probably get the most sleep these upcoming days because I'll be on the plane to
Philippines!
Temperano ang e-mail ko sining semana tungod I'm leaving today! (My email is early this week because I'm leaving today!)
 |
[The 4 other elders in my class and I did something like Mad Libs haha.
Line 1: There are two missionaries.
Line 2: They are walking to church.
Line 3: They see a girl.
Line 4: "How are you? Can we give you a Book of Mormon?"
Line 5: And then they were able to share a message about the Book of Mormon.
Line 6: Then, they went to the market.
Line 7: They bought a pig.
Haha, the end.]
|
Sa Sabado (On Saturday), I had my last lesson ever at the MTC and i had one-on-one interviews with one of my teachers. I expressed to her how I'm scared that people will see me, think I'm native, and expect a lot from me. She told me that I don't need to worry about what other people expect of me, and the one I should worry about is
Heavenly Father's expectations! Then I expressed to her that now I'm scared about teaching with a companion!
Abaw, the tables have turned. She said something that was really comforting to me, she said that my Mission President is praying for who should be my trainer. He is prayerfully choosing my trainer with the help of
the Lord. And that was so comforting to me and she also told me that I need to make sure to tell my companion about how I feel so she knows!
 |
| [My zone and branch President and his wife.] |
Sa Domingo (On Sunday), we had our last Branch Council. And since it was fast and testimony meeting, the Elders in my class and I made a goal for all of us to bear our testimony. I bore my entire testimony in
Ilonggo! The Spirit was sooo strong. We also sang our goodbye song to everyone. All the Missionaries leaving sang "
I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go" with the first verse in
Tagalog, the second in
Ilonggo, and the third in
English. In the evening we had a devotional speaker and it was the brother that is in charge of the property of all the Missionary Training Centers (MTCs) all over the world! He showed us the MTC in
Manila and he asked the big crowd who's going to
Philippines and we all excitedly raised our hands. The
Manila MTC looks so beautiful and I'm sooo excited.
 |
| [One last elevator kodak] |
Sa Lunes (On Monday) I learned a lot about culture! We read some scriptures on how
Heavenly Father has been preparing the
Philippines for missionary work! It was soooo cool! I hope if you have the time you read these scriptures (click for link):
 |
| [Mga maestros ko (My teachers) si Bro. Shumway (left) kag si Bro. Mariano (right).] |
Besides scriptural evidence, there's historical evidence about
God preparing the
Philippines to be the only area in
Asia that is predominantly Christian based! I forgot which U.S. President it was - I think it was President McKinley - who prayed whether he should keep the American troops in the
Philippines and he did feel prompted to do so and that just shows God's preparation for missionary work in the
Philippines! Also my teacher said that President Hinckley [
Church President] (while he was an apostle) said that the
Philippines will be the basis for missionary work in which people from the
Philippines will share the Gospel to other parts of
Asia since they don't have a Christian basis for the most part! And it made me think of [my friend] Sister Apao and how she's going to serve in
Hong Kong! Abaw the church is true and organized and amazing.
 |
| [Peace out Provo from the Ilonggo's] |
I also learned why it's called
Ilonggo! So way back when the Spainiards colonized the
Philppines, the the South part of
Iloilo where
Iloilo City is now located had a canal (or maybe still does) in which they sent goods from the island to the island of what is now
Cebu/Bacolod.
Cebu/Bacolod island is where the troops were based. The Spaniards ended up calling the Filipinos nose people because the canal looked like a
nose (ilong). And so that's why it's called
Ilonggo! hahaha
Hope you all have a great week!
Ang dason nga tion maka-email ako kon sa Pilipinas na ako! (The next time i'll be able to email is when I am in the Philippines!)
Halong kamo (Take care all of you),
Sister Ventura
---
Several hours later...
(about March 9, 2018 12:08 AM PST)
Kamusta pamilya ko,
I OFFICIALLY MADE IT TO THE PHILIPPINES.
We arrived to the Manila airport like 5 hours ago.
Then our MTC President greeted us when we got out of the airport.
Then we went through Mario Kart to go to Quezon City for the Manila MTC. Grabe here!
Then when we got to the MTC we ate [Filipino Food] pinakbit, bulalo, pancit, adobo, and abaw, sobrang masarap (so good!)!
I love it here so much already. Tomorrow we'll be proselyting already!
The next time I'll be be able to email is Wednesday!
Mahal kita!
Sister Ventura
Send me an e-mail:
elza.ventura@myldsmail.net
Written letters and packages:
Sister Elza Ventura
Philippines Iloilo Mission
Osmeña Street,
Arevalo, Iloilo City,
5000 Iloilo
Philippines
*Some names have been changed or omitted to protect the privacy of individuals.
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