September 16, 2013
So.....The
Journey of a couple 18 year olds to the Other Side of Earth.
The plane rides were fine except it was a 15 hour flight but it
was okay. We arrived in the Philippines around 1030 at night but didn't get to
the hotel we stayed in until 12. Then we had to wake up at 4 so we could make
it to our mission home in Urdaneta by 2 in the afternoon. The first 2 days we
had training from our Mission President but on Friday we received our Companions.
My companion is Elder Moreno. He is awesome and really is helping me with the
language which now seems like it is impossible, but that is not bothering me. I
know it will come....hopefully haha.
As far as home sickness goes, it is in
full force and seems to never leave me. I don't think I have ever prayed this
hard. I know this is what I am supposed to be doing but I never realized how
much I love my family. But that’s something I am grateful for. I needed this
mission to realize how much I love and care about each member of my family. I
think about you guys and how I was so bad at expressing my love for all of you!
I'm fine once we get out of our
house but in the morning, in studies, I try to focus on investigators and the
work but I always find myself thinking about all of you and how you guys are
doing. I didn't think it would be that hard but the first day I woke up in the
Philippines I think I realized I wasn't going to see you guys for 2 years. I
know I will see you guys again, it just seems like it is so far away. I hope it
gets better and I am able to focus on the work more and forget myself, but
right now I am really having a hard time doing that. I need some advice
from anyone on what they did in these beginning stages of the mission.
As far as the work goes it is okay,
I put in my little bit that I can say but it’s really frustrating when you feel
the promptings of what to say but it is hard to say or they don’t understand
what you said. I knew it would be hard just not this hard.
I love the people! They are so nice
and offer so much. I have already had some food that was pretty nasty but my
companion said it was good after you have been here for 1 year haha. It was
this like cold rice jell-o thing but it didn't taste like rice or any kind of
jell-o. It was like the consistency of rotten milk but I ate it and was okay.
I just need to immerse myself into
the culture and tell myself that everything is good haha.
Well, hopefully I will have more
next week and it won’t be full of my homesickness. haha
-
Elder Ball
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