Maayong Hapon from the island of Panay!
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| [Manami gid] |
This week has been so great and there is just a lot to be grateful for!
I'm getting more of a hang of my large area and the dialect! These things just takes time and are never instantaneous.
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| [My first time in a Jeepney with my awesome district. They're the best!] |
So this week I had my first Zone conference/interviews and met my district. I'm part of [the] Zone which is more, I guess you could say, country part of the island. To compare it to
Los Angeles county, it's kind of like the actual city of
Iloilo is
Los Angeles county and [my area] is like
Riverside. Earlier in the week we went to [the main] city to meet with my Mission President and be trained about how to be better missionaries! At the city I rode in a
Jeepney for my first time and I ate the famous
Pancit Molo dish. The
Jeepney was pretty cool but really squished haha and the
Pancit Molo was absolutely
namit (delicious)!
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| [Fried chicken and fried rice for lunch 😋] |
This week I also was able to get more familiarized with [my area] and meet members and investigators! I really do love the people here and they sometimes tease me about being
Filipino but not sounding like one, haha! It's totally fine though because they all make me feel like I'm home even though I'm away from home. This past week, investigators fed me
Star Apple and
Lunugaw (or Ginataan in
Tagalog). It was
sobrang namit (really good)! I don't know how to describe
Star Apple but it tastes so good!
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| [Balling up in the mission with a skirt is the best] |
Also earlier this week I was able to show off my basketball skills to some teenagers playing basketball at our church! It was funny actually because we taught one of the teenagers and at the end of the lesson, she asked us if we knew how to play basketball because she has a school project. So having a basketball background I said yes and we went outside and she basically recorded me doing layups, freethrows, corner shots, etc. ALL IN MY SKIRT. It was
maayo gid!
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| [Me prepping for hand-washing my clothes!] |
Another cool thing I did was that I hand-washed my laundry for the first time ever. I'm so grateful to my companion for being willing to teach me!
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| [Sis. Tui, my Ate (left) and I with Sis. Reyes (middle) our mission nanay!] |
It's been a great week and I feel like I am understanding the people more, although they are speaking a different dialect. I know that I am here for a reason and I'm discovering it as each day passes.
Kag kabalo ko nga (I know that) Heavenly Father loves us so much and never gives us a trial or challenge that we can't overcome. Even in the middle of our saddest moments, we have to continue to be faithful in
Jesus Christ!
Like it says in [the
Book of Mormon in]
1 Nephi 3:7 - "
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."
God will always provide a way for us to accomplish trials through the atoning sacrifice of
Jesus Christ!
Halong kamo tanan (Take care),
Sister Ventura
--
Send me an e-mail:
elza.ventura@myldsmail.net
Written letters and packages:
Philippines Iloilo Mission
Philippines
*Some names have been changed or omitted to protect the privacy of individuals.
