DAD'S RANDOM QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:
1) Does the mission provide bottled water or do you filter your own? 2) Do you have normal appliances - stove, fridge, etc.? How about a microwave? 3) Can you buy toilet paper there? 4) Is there anything you will need in 6-8 weeks? There is a boat shipment going out this week so I can sneak you a few more boxes :). Don’t tell mom!KATE'S ANSWERS TO DAD'S RANDOM QUESTIONS: 1) The mission pays for our water. We buy giant things of filtered water that we keep in the house. 2) We have a fridge, a gas stove but no oven, a microwave, a toaster, and a rice cooker (pretty fancy!) 3) Yes, we have toilet paper. The mission pays for it too. 4) Haha! I can't think of anything I might desperately need. Maybe aloe vera stuff just in case I get fried in the sun or something! LETTER TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS: Kumusta pamilya at mga kaibigan!! I have been in the Philippines for a month and I've been a missionary for almost 4! How crazy is that?? This work was full of a lot of teaching and a lot of finding. We are working hard to do the Lord's work and get this area prepared for the next transfer. So here are a few things that happened Princess was baptized!!! It was a short and sweet baptism. She has such a sweet spirit and is the cutest girl you would ever meet. She was so excited and prepared for her baptism and I am honestly so happy for her. She has read the children's Book of Mormon almost 4 times now and just loves the stories. She is something special! Getting the font ready was quiet the adventure though because it wasn't full when people starting coming!! So the branch mission leader and I got to attempt to speed up the process with buckets of water hahah! That wasn't super effective so we got a hose. The baptism started an hour late, but she was baptized so that's all that matters! And she was confirmed yesterday! It was super awesome to be a part of it all. We have done a lot of finding this week. Finding stresses me out but it has to be done. So my way of doing it is just going up to people and just being like "Hi" "How are you?" "Well we are missionaries and we have a message to share." (All said in tagalog btw) They stare at me like I'm crazy and my companion is in the background laughing to herself. GOOD TIMES! So I think I am kind of getting more used to it here but not really! It will take time to love everything here but I know that time will come. I sure do love the people though! I love you all! I have a testimony that this church is true and that the Book of Mormon is true! If you haven't read the Book of Mormon in a while I would encourage you to open it up and read just a few verses. It really is the word of god! Thank you for your prayers and support! Until next week! Love Sister Hughes LETTER TO MOM: Hey mom!!! Lots happened this week! It was kind of a stressful but still good! The baptism was really sweet! It was an adventure to get the font filled, I'll explain that more in the group email. The whole baptism was just short and sweet once it got started :) I honestly miss the snow because it is so blasted hot here - haha! Honestly it seems like I have been here forever sometimes! It has only been a month but it's been a pretty eventful month. I keep getting told that once I am out of training the time really flies by though... I don't know if that is good or bad!! To answer your question, our morning schedule is waking up at 6:30, exercise, breakfast, and getting ready. Then we plan at 8 and have personal study until 9:30 and then we go out for the morning to teach. We come back at about 12:30 for lunch and companion and language study. I only have two more weeks of training, then everything should be on a normal schedule because we won't lose two hours of proselyting time to train everyday. Yes, we have lizards all over the house and I've seen cockroaches twice, but the biggest problem is just ants. It hasn't rained much at all. We are still in the hot season for a couple more months, then rainy season will be during June, July and August... I think. If you could send more shampoo that would be lovely haha! Pantene please. Well that is all from me! I will explain more of my week in the big email! I love you mom! Mahal kita! Love, Sister Hughes
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So this week was pretty rough. I think I was in shock for the first 2 weeks that my emotions finally caught up to me. I spent a lot of time this week just giving myself time to chill out because I tend to be someone who likes to take on the world. But these hard days make me so much more grateful for the easy days. They make me so much more grateful for everyone and everything I have been blessed with.
Saturday the 24th will be my first baptism and I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am for it! The girl is honestly the most prepared girl I have ever met! She knows more than me haha! All week we focused on her and getting her ready but she was ready on her own. She has a solid testimony. I am super impressed by her. UPDATE: I got an email from my companions in San Diego and guess who got baptized?! JENNIFER! Her dad was able to baptize her! I honestly am just so happy and grateful for both of my missions, here in the Philippines and there in San Diego. My heart is so full of love for my companions there, Jennifer, and my Savior. I just want you all to know how much I LOVE being a missionary. I can't really say I love the Philippines quite yet but I know I will. The lizards, spiders, cockroaches, and other creepy crawlies aren't really my thing. I'm pretty sure I ate an animal that should never be consumed by a human being also. Even though this place is totally weird and kind of makes me miss California, the work is the same. There are people waiting to be found, taught, and baptized in all parts of the world. I can't wait for the day I can speak the language and love all of quirks of the Philippines, but right now I focus on loving the people and embracing the quirks. Hopefully they embrace mine too. I love you all! I feel your prayers! Thank you for everything you all have done for me because every single one of you has made an impact in my life! Until next week! Love Sister Hughes Q AND A TIME: Q: Where do you get food? A: We usually go shopping at the palengki. It is this semi-scary market where I buy meat, veggies, fruit, etc. Q: How are you sleeping? Do you use your sleeping sheet? Mosquito net? A: I sleep pretty well. I don't use a mosquito net and I haven't used that sheet thing yet, just because there really aren't a lot of mosquitoes around. Or maybe there are and they just don't harass me while I'm sleeping. Q: Is your companion excited to go home? How is your training? A: Transfers will be March 14th. Sister Smallman leaves on the 12th though so they are going to have to figure out what to do with me. I might spend the day with the STLs. She is pretty excited to go home but at the same time she is still a hard worker and she teaches me a lot. She is full of wisdom and I just have to be a good student and learn from her. I know I can always improve so that's what I focus on. I love you mom! Thank you for everything! Q1: How are things with Sister Smallman? Does she have an accent? Has she lived in Australia her whole life?
A1: Sister Smallman is actually a New Zealander but she has lived in Australia her whole life... I think. Her accent isn't super thick but you can tell it is Australian. We get along well. She got sick a while back and I didn't know whether to kick her and wake her up or let her sleep, so that was fun. Q2: Where is Sister Panlilio? In your zone or close by? How about Christensen and Pierce? A2: Sister Panlilio is in Olongapo. Sister Pierce is in Pilar. Sister Christensen is in Masenloc. We are all super far away from each other and not in the same zone, but when we have combined zone conference I should see Sister Panlilio. Q3: Any word on Sister Pau? Is she there yet? A3: Sister Pau is still in Salt Lake but will be here next transfer (most likely). She emails us every week and is totally loving Salt Lake so that's awesome! Q4: What have you been eating? American or Filipino food? Do members feed you or do you just eat Christmas candy? A4: I eat a mixture of American and Filipino food. I've had adobo, spaghetti, filipino pizza, and apparently I ate liver. No one told me that until after I ate it. I eat a lot of rice too. We mostly eat at home but every so often the members will feed us. Q5: Do you have to pay for a bike? Are you wearing a helmet? Be careful on the road! A5: The way we pay for a bike is they take 500 pesos out of our money for the month. We are supposed to wear a helmet but sometimes I forget.... oops. Q6: Do you use your hair straightener? Does the plug converter work? Do you mostly wear ponytails all the time? A6: I haven't straightened my hair here yet but I'm planning on trying it. I haven't used my adapter yet either so hopefully that works. I will keep you updated on that! I mostly just do ponytails and buns. It is too hot for anything else. Q7: What things should we send? What things are hard to find there or that you miss from the states? A7: In my area it is hard to find American snacks. I am almost out of peanut butter so I will have to find that in Olongapo or Iba when I am there next. I am also almost out of Reese's... NOOOOOOO! Q8: Did you only get the Christmas boxes or did your Valentine boxes come too? A8: I think I have only gotten Christmas boxes. I opened 5 when I first got here and nothing in the boxes was Valentines-y. Q9: Do you ever need to take other transportation in your area or to go to other meetings? A9: We take other transportation almost everyday just because our area is huge. We ride in trikes, jeepneys, or ride the bus. Q10: How is the work? Are you teaching lots? A10: The work is pretty good. We have 4 people who are really solid and should be baptized within the next month. February 24th will be our first baptism for a girl named Princess. She is awesome and knows so much. Q11: Does the branch keep you busy? Are you teaching Primary or Relief Society or maybe leading the singing? A11: The branch hasn't had me teach yet but I got to speak yesterday in sacrament meeting and I'm sure I'll have to keep doing weird stuff. My talk went fine by the way. It was mostly in English which they understand. They are kind of in the same situation as I am about the languages. I can understand Tagalog but can't really speak it and they can understand English but can't really speak it. Q12: How close are you to the ocean? A12: I am a 10-minute bike ride away. We did training on the beach one night. It is really pretty, and I love being close to the ocean. Q13: How are you feeling? Any more pain in the head or the ribs? Be careful!!!!!! A13: My body is pretty good. I get sore from all the walking but I'm okay. My rib is healed so that's good. I was really worried that it was broken or something but I am totally fine now. WAHOO! Q14: How is laundry going? Do you have a machine ot just do it at home? A14: Laundry took me 2 hours to do today. We have to hand wash everything! Gross! I only washed my garments, p-day clothes and a couple of skirts and it still took me that long. Maybe in a couple of months I will be a master! Q15: I am obsessive (like any good Mom) and usually notice what you wear. Is your companion wearing one of your dresses in that meeting or does she have one like it? It's probably nice to have someone to trade clothes with. A15: She wore my dress to the follow-up training! She is at least 5 inches taller than me so it kinda showed her knees but she still wanted to wear it so whatevs - haha! Q16: Where do you email from - the church or some other place? A16: We email at an internet cafe. We pay for 2 hours of emailing and then are done for the day. It is us emailing our families and teenage boys playing computer games, haha! LETTER TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS: Hello family and friends!! Another week has come and gone! It was kinda the longest week ever but I am embracing it and loving it! The work here in San Felipe is pretty good! We have 4 people on date for baptism that are really solid. In a couple of weeks I will probably see my first baptism for a girl named Princess. She is a 10 year old who is super smart and has a really solid testimony! I am so excited for her! Adjusting to everything here has been kind of hard. It is hot and I am convinced that the food is going to kill me so that's cool! Haha, but really the one thing I love about it here is the people. The members are so awesome and have made me feel welcome. Even though they make fun of my Tagalog I know they secretly love me haha! I also got to speak in sacrament meeting yesterday! I mostly talked in English because that's what my companion told me to do and I am still struggling with the language, but I bore my testimony in Tagalog so that's good! Anyways, that's just a short rundown of everything going on! Being a missionary is the best and as long as I love the people I know I will grown to love it here more. As long as I speak the language as much as possible I will soon enough know it! I love you all! Thank you for your support and prayers! I know this church is true and I know that our Savior Jesus Christ lives! I know that our Heavenly Father is always here for us! Love Sister Hughes QUESTION 1: How was your final week in San Diego? My final week in San Diego was actually pretty good! Sister Thurman who was my companion for 4 days brought so much love and happiness into the companionship. I wish I could've stayed longer just to get to know her better but her and I will be buddies after the mission. And the work started picking up again! We had to split the area a little bit because we got La Mesa so Sister Bunker and Thurman have a lot of work to do which is AWESOME!!!
QUESTION 2: Tell us about your flight to Manila. How many missionaries were on the flight? Did you have any trouble along the way (aside from the trip taking WAY TOO LONG)? The flight to Manila was 15 hours long but actually wasn't too bad. I got to sit by Sister Christensen and Pierce!! They definitely made the flight a lot more bearable. We got fed two meals and they brought snacks around a couple of times. They also had hot towels at one point and they gave us a toothbrush and random stuff like that haha! We kind of had permission to watch movies but none of the Sisters did it, only the Elders #punks But it really wasn't a bad flight, I had my friends with me so it was fun! There were 16 or 17 missionaries on the flight. Elder Larsen actually got delayed in Salt Lake so he missed the flight in LA. He had like a 12 hour lay-over in LA and had to travel by himself! Poor guy! But the flight was smooth and good :) QUESTION 3: Tell us about your Manila MTC experience. So guess who didn't really go to the Manila MTC at all?? ME! They took us to the MTC to do paperwork and then took us to a hotel. We were in a hotel for 2 days with pretty much nothing to do, it was so unproductive. One day we had to go to the Bureau of Immigration though so that took some time, but we had to entertain ourselves in the hotel mostly. We would study together, play games, take naps, talk, etc. It was really weird. I don't think anyone knew what to do with us visa waiters. QUESTION 4: Tell us about your bus trip to Olongapo. The bus trip to Olongapo was kind of the worst just because I had to sit by this Elder that made me kind of uncomfortable. He just would say really weird things and he kept telling me that there was this Elder I know from the MTC that likes me... it just made me feel weird. QUESTION 5: Tell us about your companion. My companion’s name is Sister Smallman. She is from Australia and is 23 years old, so she is very wise. This transfer is also her last transfer so it is a little intimidating being her companion just because her Tagalog is crazy good and she knows so much about the gospel. But she is the nicest person ever. She is sarcastic like me so we have sarcastic fights sometimes it's kind of funny. QUESTION 6: Tell us about your area. Are you the only missionaries in the area or do you divide it up with other elders or sisters? I am in the San Felipe area. We cover the entire area right now because there is a lack of missionaries still. There are supposed to be more sisters that live with us but it is just us two right now. The area is pretty big so we have bikes. Biking is an adventure! My skirt likes to flow in the wind if you know what I mean. But it is a pretty nice area. QUESTION 7: Tell us about your apartment. We live in our own little house actually. It is owned by a member. It is really cute. I forgot to take a picture of it but I will send that next week. It is green and is made for 4 sisters so it is roomy for the 2 of us. The CR (bathroom) is what freaks me out the most haha! We have a shower head which is nice but to flush the toilet you pour a bucket of water into it. QUESTION 8: Tell us about the new branch or ward where you’re serving. Have you had a chance to meet many members yet? Any favorites? My branch is the San Felipe branch. They are all awesome! Even though I don't really know tagalog they are so patient with me which I really appreciate. One of my favorite members is a recent convert named Maybelle. She got baptized in November and is amazing! She is 18 and is preparing for a mission. She is super funny and likes to mess with me because she knows I don't understand what she is saying. She is the best. QUESTION 9: Did you receive 3, 5 or 7 packages from home? Was everything delivered in good condition and was the food still edible? (If you got too much stuff at once I’m sorry. Those boxes were intended to be spread out a little bit.) I got 5 packages and opened them all at once. THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THEM!!!! It was fun having Christmas round 2 - haha! QUESTION 10: Are you okay? Do you need anything from home? I'm doing pretty good. I am stressed about the language but I know I just have to work hard and it'll come. The people here are really nice and I love them already so they make it easy to love it here! I love you dad!!! Thank you for everything and I hope that answered everything! If you have more questions I can answer next week! Love you lots! LETTER TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS: Hello everyone! I made it to the Philippines and am both happy and terrified to be here... haha! Everything is just so different than what I am used to. But here is a little bit of a rundown of my week! I left San Diego on Saturday and arrived in the Philippines on Monday... weird! I got to reunite with the majority of my MTC district which was awesome, but I missed kasama ko mula sa MTC. They picked us up from the airport in Manila, took us to do some paperwork, then dropped us off at a hotel. We were in the hotel for two days trying to figure out how to entertain ourselves because we couldn't leave. We only got to leave if a church representative picked us up to do paperwork or visa stuff. So that was weird. We took a bus to Olongapo were we met our trainers. My trainer is Sister Smallman from Australia. This transfer is her last transfer so she is crazy good at Tagalog and teaching so it is slightly intimidating but she is teaching me a lot! By the way, my Tagalog is terrible haha! I have no idea what is going on so I just say "opo" or "mabuti" and hope that is the right answer. I am serving in the San Felipe area which is supposedly one of the nicest areas. Our house is pretty nice. We have a shower head so I don't have to take bucket showers which I am very grateful for. We have little lizards that live in our house though so that's exciting. The first time I saw one I only had a slight heart attack but that's okay. I enjoy it here for the most part. I love the people and even though I'm not used to anything and the language is going to be the death of me, I know that the Lord is helping me and that I have to go through these awkward and hard times to get to the good. I wish so badly that I could communicate with these people better and teach better but I know that Heavenly Father will bless me as long as I don't give up and just open my mouth. Being a missionary is the hardest and most rewarding thing ever and I wouldn't want to be doing anything else! I love you all and appreciate all your love and support! PLEASE E-MAIL ME!!! -Sister Hughes |