December 30, 2009

To my dear friends and family~
Did you get my letter I sent on Christmas? :) We got to have some time to write letters so I sent one out. Did you like my Christmas message that I sent? Jessie was supposed to show you. ;)

Since I'm leaving on monday, Friday might be the last day I get dearelders here in the MTC. It's going to take a bit longer for them to arrive in the philippines. Just in case you wanted to let me know about anything quickly. ;)

Katie~
WHAT. MARRIED? YOU? :O We were supposed to be roommates when I got back. :( At least you aren't breaking my heart 1 month away from me coming home. ;) KATIEE. MAKE JESSIE TAKE PICTURES SO I CAN SEE. :D <3<3<3

Cyrena~
WOW. So I got this awesome package thing in the mail a couple of days ago. It's like the most magical thing in the world and I could probably learn how to fly if I tried using it hard enough. I had no idea you had so many (and such awesome) pictures of us all together! :D It made me miss you a lot, but it also made me feel warm and fuzzy. <3

Emily~
I'm so sorry that you're sick. :(! I know it's been a couple of days since I got mom's letter talking how crazy Christmas eve was, so hopefully you're feeling a lot better.

Jessie~
I laminated the pictures you sent me. :D They made me miss my family, but I feel warm and fuzzy when I look at those pictures too.
I really don't think that I can look at pictures on this email. But it might be different in the mission field.

Mila and Nanoy~
Thanks for the email card you sent. I know it said Merry Christmas, but I'm not sure what language it was. In Cebuano it would be Maayong Pasko or maybe Malipayng Pasko or something. I couldn't go to the site though, because the computers at the MTC don't allow anything but LDS.org or Mormon.org.

Eva~
YAY! Activities Coordinator! That is going to be way fun. You get to plan ALL the fun stuff. :D

I suppose I wrote a bit in my letter already... But anyway. This is my LAST PDAY IN THE MTC!! I'm going to be leaving on MONDAY. Currently I'm stressing about how much to pack and if I'll need to pay anything to the airlines, because the luggage restrictions from Manila to Tacloban is annoying. It's 44 lbs of checked luggage and 15 lbs of a carry on. But I'm flying on Delta airlines as well beforehand to the San Fransico airport which complicates things too, but I don't really want to get into it. x_X

Elder L. Tom Perry and Greg Olsen came to speak to us on Christmas. At first I had no idea who Greg Olsen was, but then he started posting up slides of his paintings and talking about them and I was blown away. HE PAINTED O'JERUSALEM!! And lots of other stuff that I'm amazed at. But O'Jerusalem is pretty much definitely one of my favorites. :)

Cebuano is coming along I suppose. I'm trying to finish the MTC strong and to make use of what I can while I'm here. They have a languge learning program called TALL here that I'm trying to use a lot because I won't be able to after Monday.

The new Cebuano district is really funny. It's really strange because they probably think of us the same way that we used to think of the district before us. We thought they were all super smart and amazing and it was super cool that they were going to the Philippines soon. Just give them six weeks and the district after them will think the same thing. :)

I've learned a lot about what the mission field is going to be like from Eva's friend's sister and it sounds... intense. Oh ho ho. I'm going to remember what Eva and my teachers told me though. Don't fret over the differences in lifestyle, just accept it and you'll be so much better off in attitude and it'll be much easier to love the culture and the people.

I feel inadequete for this work, but I think that's one reason why I'll be able to do it. Those who are prideful in their skills won't be as open to the possibilities and to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. (Holy Ghost in Cebuano is Espiritu Santo... so I'll probably start feeling weird calling Him a Ghost and not a Spirit. xD) I've learned a lot. I've learned patience, love, diligence, humility, and my faith has increased.

I'm happy to be here. I know that as I go to the Philippines, my experiences there will only strengthen my resolve and knowledge that I'm doing what I need to do.

I love you all!