I Have Arrived!

Well, I am finally here folks.

It is amazing how naive I am about the world, let's start there. I am astounded everywhere I go here. I have never seen anything close to this in my life! It kind of reminds me of Chinatown a little bit but with more cars/jeepneys/tricees, more Tagalog/Filipinos, and more coconut trees. What an amazing place this is. I have only been here a week and despite it's many differences, I already love it here.

Anyways! Today is Monday. Today is also my P-day. Therefore, Mondays are my P-days. Cool how that works huh? 

SO, I am here yes! What an experience this has been already. I will just try to give a somewhat brief description of travels then I will tell you more about where I am now. So we flew SLC to Oregon to Tokyo (5 of our 11 missionaries in our travel group were nowhere to be found when our flight was leaving so that was SUPER nerveracking but after some debating, they made a huge announcement over the intercom, forced my kasama and I onto the plane (she was travel leader AKA not supposed to board plane without all group members already aboard), then about 5 minutes later, 5 very sweaty, panting Elders boarded the plane. The plane boarded way earlier than we all thought so they were all the way on the other side of the airport so that was uber stressful but we all made it), then we flew from Tokyo to Manila! I was not a big fan of Tokyo, that was so crazy and I couldn't understand ANYTHING! They did have bidets though..neato. But sometime in my life I am going to have to go back there to spend more time in Japan and yeah have a better experience ha

Anyways, we arrived in Manila at maybe 10:15 pm or something. We somehow got all our luggage, and got out to the central area/pickup area. That was pure chaos and hot chaos nonetheless. 20 some odd missionaries in a foreign country trying to get our luggage and get through security late at night, that was a tough one but we did it, we met a guy who was there to pick us up and next thing I knew I was in a van without my luggage and with a different sister missionary, not my kasama, just sitting, waiting, hoping, praying our luggage/other people would make it wherever we were going ahaha we just kind of trusted what these random people were telling us to do and went with it! After the fact we realized how bad that could have been if those weren't who we were supposed to go with but yeah oh well, we made it to the hotel just fine and all our luggage got there eventually too. No worries :)

So then after lots of waiting and trying to figure things out we got room keys and went to our rooms to shower (I felt soooo gross, it was 28ish hours of straight travel, bleh.) Sister Beus was my roommate at the hotel, which was super nice btw. Chandeliers, big mirrors, concierge, the whole shebang. Pretty cool. So we ate snacks outside our room for awhile after showering and getting ready for bed then finally got to bed around 1? IDK but it was late and we were all exhausted.

Next morning we woke up, got ready, went to the nonexistant continental breakfast, super disappointing. We hadnt been able to exchange our money yet so we werent able to pay for breakfast at the hotel, long story short, we ended up being able to use our debit cards at this little bar thing in the hotel and i got a blueberry muffin and mini quiche. really yummy but different. everything is different in the Philippines, yet so many things are similar its so strange!

So our driver guy was supposed to pick us up to take us to the airport at 11, for our 12:50 flight...welp he didn't show til 11:45! Ano ba iyon?! We didn't know what to do! So we just quickly loaded up, headed to the airport and said many many prayers to help us make it on time. There was a guy at the airport to help us through security and boy was he not happy that we were so late. then we went through security and stopped no joke ALL of our bags, telling us we had to throw away all of our shaving cream, bug spray, perfumes, etc..it was bad but being the headstrong bold person I am I went to the security people and pretty much just told them that we needed those things and that we were going to miss out flight if they kept stopping all of our bags, sooo they let us go through. Thank goodness too. We checked our bags, yata yata, then rushed to the plane. small plane. no room. but it worked fine. except for those several times when i was pretty certain we were falling to our death. that was fun. 

THEN, WE ARRIVED IN NAGA! (Pili actually, but close to Naga ha) You know my friend Elder Simmons from BYU, yeah well him and his 2 kasamas were there at the airport to pick us up, they loaded our stuff on vans and drove us to the mission home where we met President and Sister Reeder, seriously so nice. Sister Reeder reminds me a lot of you Mama so that was really nice, to feel a little more at home. We met all the other missionaries from the Manila MTC then took our stuff to our respective rooms then President let us go to sleep until dinner! Yay! I didn't feel that tired but when we laid down we all passed out! It was great. Then we all had dinner together, still at the mission home, then we went back to bed. What a day right? The next morning we all went to Biggs diner for breakfast, I got a fried egg with sausage, hasbrowns, and rice. Rice is eaten with everything at every meal at all times of the day here, its great. Then we had a sort of orientation type stuff where they introduced our APs, finances, etc. etc. Then after lunch we all went into the room where all our lovely trainers were waiting for us to meet them and find out who our trainer would be, talk about nerveracking! There were so many dang emotions going through me. So (drum roll please) my trainer is Sister Vanessa Webster from Spokane, Washington, yes she is American and I am very grateful. I originally was hoping for a native trainer but am really grateful for her and know there is a reason we are together. She is seriously the best and we get along so well. Granted we have only been together a week but still I can tell things are going to go well. She will tell you she knows no Tagalog but shes just humble, she is super good and carries all of our lessons/conversations/everything. So second drum roll please for my first area...I am in Naga City! Straight up city life here, well kind of. The most city in my mission. I thought for sure I would be out in the rice paddies somewhere but nope, I am right here in the heart of Naga. Like I said before, it reminds me of Chinatown a little bit but in the Philippines and with more jeepneys and tricees. There are so many people here and they all stare at us when we walk by. Two tall, white, american sisters in skirts walking all over the place here, we kind of attract attention. We are constantly getting things yelled at us like "Joe" or "Ma'am" or "American" or even on special occasions we get "monster". it is great fun. haha the kids usually have never seen americans before so sometimes they start screaming and crying when they see us, that always makes me feel real good...not. but its okay, I understand and just smile, wave, and say sorry. Not much more I can do right?

Anyways I haven't had the opportunity to take a picture or my apartment/entryway yet but it is pretty interesting. We have a big red gate that we go through, everyone has gates here, then we walk through this alleyway type thing to our apartment at the back. It has two floors. We have a little kitchen with sink, toaster oven, and refrigerator, or ref as they call it. We live with our sister training leaders who are also in our ward and they are both really nice so thats good. We have a shower but rarely have running water so we use a lovely tub full of water and a bucket to shower. It has been quite the experience and takes a long time but works fine. :) 

I am running out of time but we are opening an area here, meaning neither of us have ever been here before and they jsut split our area so we are pretty much establishing everything here. It is pretty difficult, especially with the lack of records from previous missionaries which is frustrating but we are working it out and you better believe by the time I leave this area I will not only be the best scavenger hunter around, but this area will be blossoming with active members. I am praying at least. We taught our first 'legit" lesson the other night to an inactive sister who hasnt been to church in some 27 years or something. I actually spoke some! It was terrible and not correct grammar but she was tearing up and the spirit was so strong, it was amazing. I already love her so much and can't wait to see her progress.

Fun story, the other day we were walking trying to figure out where exactly our area is and we met a big group of kids. I noticed the ball they were playing with and they told me how they love volleyball. I told them my favorite sport is basketball and they invited me to play volleyball and soccer with them. Of course I did and it was so fun! My kasama began talking to the mom of a couple of the kids who was watching close by while I kept all the kids occupied with my mad soccer and volleyball skills, or something like that. We had a great time and I love them all so much! So we were really excited when we left because they were in our area so of course we were going to go visit them again...but the APs later informed us that they changed our boundaries again and we no longer have that barangay/neighborhood in our area. I cannot even express how sad I was. I had just barely met those people but I was so sad. Man it is truly amazing how you can love people so quickly after knowing them for such a short time. 

So this weekend we got to watch conference again which was great! We went and met some members and explored our area some as well as go through our area book to figure out where to focus our efforts, whose members, etc. 

It has been a good week. I have yet to cry. Though I kind of wanted to earlier today when I seriously sat in front of the computer in this one internet shop for an hour just watching the buffering sign, but thats okay because we found this little shack right by our apartment that works now :) yay for little shacks with lots of lizards all over the place. :)

Anyways, time is about up but I love you all!

Here is my new address: 

39 Panganiban Dr
Bayan, Naga City
4400 Camarines Sur
Philippines

And feel free to use DearElder still!

I hope it works! Enjoy!

I love you all unconditionally and am grateful for your love and support and prayers too! :) Keep me updated on all of your missionary experiences!

Talk to you next week!

Mahal Kita!

-Sister Emily Roderick