AGOO!

Holy tolito!  Wow, talk about culture shock!  I am officially here in the Philippines!  Yay!  Wow, I am going to apologize right now in advance if this email makes no sense.  My thoughts are so jumbled right now, and Tagalog has officially ruined my english!  It is hard sometimes to structure sentences the english way haha.  Anyway, I have so many things to write, so I am sorry if it seems crazy.  Hopefully in the weeks to come, I will get better at writing more organized! So let me begin :) -Almost everything I heard about the Philippines is true! I ate with my hands for the first time, there is no toilet paper, most the toilets don't flush, I have rice for EVERY meal, it is BEAUTIFUL, there are geckos on the walls of our appt, the people are AMAZING, the food (rice) is good, IT IS SO HOT AND HUMID (and they say that January is the coldest month here!????!!!!!), oh and I wash my clothes in a bucket by hand!  Haha!  What a life, RIGHT!???!  :D -The Jeepneys here are awesome!  I also rode in a Tryke for the first time! Haha!  So cool- it is our main source of transportation if somewhere is too far to walk.  they are motorcycles with little side seats.  They are my favorite :) Okay, those are just some updates about the Philippines.  Now I will try to write more organized. My first area is AGOO!  It is the southern part of my mission.  I am grateful that I get to have this as my first area because they speak a lot of Tagalog.  You see, a lot of the missionaries don't like to serve in places like Baguio city because they speak so much english and it is hard to learn tagalog because they speak english most of the time.  But here in Agoo, trust me...it is not english!  And if it is...I definitely don't understand it. haha.  This area is beautiful.  My kasama and me are opening the area.  She has only been here for 3 months.  She is filipino so I am learning a lot from her about the culture.  When she speaks Tagalog, I rarely know what she is saying!  I am waiting for the day when I understand :)  Her name is Sis. Cardenio.  She is the smallest, sweetest thing ever!  I look like a giant compared to her!  Really though, I have never felt so tall in my life, everyone here is so tiny and short!  Anyway, I am excited because I can tell that I have so much to learn for my trainer.  Her spirit is so strong, it shines through her eyes.  She always has good intentions and her love for the people and other missionaries is out of this world.  Her love for me even is so pure and christlike.  When she said our companionship prayer one night, I started to cry as I was humbled and learned that I have such a long way before I can love others the way she loves.  It's amazing. Let me tell you.  Every little kid laughs at my Tagalog!  those twerps!  Jokelang :)  They are the cutest kids ever!  But they make fun of you.  The adults are really kind though, and patient.  Also, I never have felt so many eyes on me in my entire life!  So, once upon a time when I lived in America, I felt average in looks etc.  Then...remember that one time I stepped foot in the Philippines and I became the most beautiful thing anyone has ever seen?  Haha.  I walk down the street and I hear, "you are beautiful!" "can I have your number?" "wow!"  "I want your skin!"  "Beautiful lady!" "American!" "I love your hair and red cheeks!"  etc.  wow, it's really embarrassing.  My kasama says it's an advantage for her to have an american kasama because then people just want to talk to us because I am white :) haha.  so funny. The members are great here!  The sad thing is, though, is that people will get baptized and then fall away.  there is only 17% activity of the members...  Wow.  Our goal as a mission in to focus our work 50/50- 50% less actives and 50% investigators.  There is so much work to do here.  But the members who are active are so willing to help us become familiar with the area.  The young adults seem to be the strongest in the church!  We have a 21 yr old, and then teenagers helping us and coming with us to lessons.  I am amazed at their willingness to give their time to the service of the Lord.  They are wonderful ward missionaries.  Everyone, please help your wards by being ward missionaries!  Help strengthen the weak and also those in your areas who are members!  Us full time missionaries NEED your help!  Anyway, Sister Kaimi has been our biggest helper.  She is 21 and she just graduated as a nurse!  Yes!  :)  She has shown us where members live so we can build their trust.  She is coming with us to an investigators home tonight, too for a lesson.  She is great.  I am sending a picture that has the three helpers or ours.  church here in the philippines is geat.  Haha, it's loud!  Their church buildings don't have any doors so you hear people in the halls so you can't hear the lessons haha.  Oh also, I had to play the piano in their sacrament!  no one here really knows how.  Also, I had to get up and introduce myself during sacrament meeting.  I was amazed with how much Tagalog I was able to say as I shared a short message about a scripture!  But...then at the very end, I tried to say something, and after I said the sentence the whole congregation started to laugh (um...it wasn't supposed to be funny, I was intending to bear testimony of member missionary work....haha!)  I must have said something different than I intended!  haha!  Bless my heart! Another funny thing with Tagalog was after sacrament meeting.  I went up to the sister who said the closing prayer.  I shook her hand and I wanted to say, "Many thanks for your prayer."  but instead....I accidentally said, "Sister, many thanks for your name."  HAHA!  She gave me the weirdest look and just nodded to me and then looked away!  It took me a second to realize what I had said!  Oh dear, this is definitely a humbling experience :) Another funny thing-my hair is a LOST CAUSE here!!!  It is so humid that my hair POOFS!  One day, I tried to straighten in and get it to calm down, and literally 15 minutes later, it was poofy again!  Oh dear.  There is no use in me even trying to tame it. We have a lot of work to do here in Agoo.  We got our area book and the elders before us must have not been doing much...?  It is very incomplete...  it is really frustrating.  We really have spent the whole weekend trying to find where members live so they can help us get used to the area and find investigators houses because the area book has no addresses!  Dah! Sis Kaimi helped us meet one of our investigators, the Galera family.  Please pray for this family.  They had a baptismal date before, but then a missionary offended them and so they put off their baptisms.  They said this elder would act rough with their kids, tore a poster off their wall because is was inappropriate, and told their son to go home when he came late to sacrament meeting.  I have no idea who this elder is.. but I feel so bad about the situation.  We tried to tell her that people in the church are not perfect, but the church is.  They are letting us come visit tonight.  We are hoping that since we are sister missionaries, we will be able to be more tender with them and help them truly become converted unto the Lord and no one/nothing else.  Again, please pray for them. I love it here!  Some times it is hard because it is so different from America...but I'm sure I'll adjust.  I love the work, I am really praying that kasama ko and ako will be able to work are very hardest to get the work here in Agoo up and running.  We have a lot to do.  Every day I feel too weak, but this is why I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  Without the Atonement and my savior, I would be too weak for this great work.  I love my Savior. I have never said so many prayers in my life.  It's like that quote, "when you are too weak to stand, kneel" Love you all! Sister Wright Me and my comp!  TRYKE! LAUNDRY!!! Path from our house Path from our house Me and my Comp