Called to Serve: Naga Philippines!: Yolanda

Not a single day goes by without some pure craziness happening. No exaggeration whatsoever.

This past week was a hurricane of many levels. From New Missionary Training Meeting, to getting a new companion, to an actual Hurricane and Typhoon, to a spider bite, to no electricity for a whole day...yeah..there is always something exciting happening here.

First and foremost, we are all safe and sound here in Naga after first the earthquake and now the typhoon and hurricane. There are still missionaries missing in other missions but my area is doing just fine. We are praying very hard for all those affected worse than we were. There was lots of rain last week and Thursday night we had a bit of flooding on some of the lower streets, about 8 or so inches of water in some areas, but not too bad. (We were actually on our way home Thursday night when a big car drove past and water got splashed up on us, all 3 of us were drenched on half of our body haha it was great) There was a brownout Thursday night while we were still out and about. We were walking down one street and all of a sudden, all the electricity in the city went out and it went PITCHBLACK. It was SO dark. We immediately pulled out flashlights and tried to carefully make our way down the road without being run over by tricess, padyaks, and cars. That was pretty crazy to literally watch as all the lights in the city just shut off at the same time, kind of freaky. We made sure we had our 72 hour kit all ready to go and what not then waited for the storm to hit. It rained really hard all day Friday with lots of strong winds outside. We were not allowed to go outside to work so we stayed inside and studied by flashlight all day long. We didn't have power pretty much all day Friday. We got power back around 9:40 Friday night. We didn't have power and weren't allowed to go outside so all the sisters in my apartment ordered McDo's. haha We texted our order to McDonalds and they delivered our sandwiches to us haha poor delivery guy. Luckily it wasn't raining anymore by the time he came but we still had no power so he couldn't see anything and couldn't find our apartment. So funny. We met him at our gate, paid, got our food, etc. it was really funny. haha We realized that they had given us cokes instead of sprites and it's against mission rules to drink dark sodas here so we knocked on our neighbors door and asked if they wanted them. It was 3 girls and it turns out one of them is Mormon! What? haha they just moved in and are here for work but we are hoping that we will get to teach all of them and that she will be able to go out with us sometimes and help us! How cool would that be? Anyways, so we woke up Saturday and were given permission to go back to work. We did our studies and then headed out. There were some branches, lots of leaves, and your occasional random something or other out of place but for the most part everything just looked normal. There was no flooding and it was very very hot outside, just like normal.

Okay, so now to backtrack a little bit. On Tuesday of this past week, we knew that a hurricane was coming and we were getting a lot of heavy rain so we stayed out and continued to teach but stayed alert and aware of what was going on in case we were told to return home early due to impending bad weather. So we were in the middle of a lesson Tuesday night when the APs called us. We were afraid they were calling to tell us to go home so we told the girl we were teaching sorry and answered the call. (don't worry though guys, I kept talking to her, yes in Tagalog, while Sister Webster was on the phone :)) Well we were not being told to go home early, hah whoops. BUT they were calling to tell us that we would be becoming a trio the next day. Yesiree. I am now in a trio. tri. three. 3. there are 3, tall, big, white american sisters together now. haha it is quite comical actually. Our new companion is Sister Briar Rose Sands from Lehi, Utah. She was in the Goya area but was emergency transferred here to us in Naga City. Whoop whoop! I must admit that I never expected to be in a trio while on my mission, let alone while still in my training! It is okay though. Things are going alright. So to keep the story short and sweet, the sisters in the Goya area were really, really close to a recent convert sister there. The sister got into some trouble with dealing drugs, the sister missionaries tried to help the sister stop dealing, got involved with some not so great people, all the tricee drivers knew where the sister missionaries lived, they were being watched, it was really dangerous, lots of other things happened, so all the sisters were pulled out of that area. It was very traumatic for Sister Sands so she is not her happy, jolly, usually self. It has been hard for me because I am not exactly sure how to handle this situation but I am smiling, staying positive, loving her, serving her best I can, and just trying my hardest to help her get back into the normal missionary swing of things. She has had some difficulties with all of her past companions and so I think she is just tired of so much drama and trouble here but we are anxious to help her get back to her normal self again. She is only with us for 2 weeks, so this is her last week with us, because transfers are next week. We are not exactly sure what will happen with transfers but we will see I guess. We are just taking things one step at a time right now. One day at a time.

Exciting stuff eh? let's see. What else...oh Dad! I used my Plan of Salvation kit thing this week with an investigator! He is a very visual learner and was not understanding some of the concepts we were teaching so we whipped out the Plan of Salvation pictures, laid it out for him, and he totally understood it! It was great! It was fun too. We were all just sitting on the ground with a member that came with us, we laid out all the pieces, talked about each one, and just had a grand time. It was a much more relaxed setting, just talking, laughing, and learning together, it was a great experience.

I was called "Barbie" this week and our first day that Sister Sands was with us, we were walking down the street and someone called out "Hey look! Charlie's angels!" hahaha add those 2 to the books of names I have been called while on my mission. People are so funny here. Also, one of our investigators, Ace, is so hilarious. He is 37 but looks and acts like he is 25. We could have sworn he was way younger. Anyways, he always kind of picks on me/jokes with me/I don't even know what to call it haha but this week at one of our lessons with him, I couldn't think of how to say something in Tagalog, he could tell I was getting a little frustrated with myself, so he points to a pillow on a chair by me that is a heart and says "I love you," and says to me, "Don't worry, I still love you." hahah He is so funny! We all just laughed, but it was kind of nice that he was just telling me, even though your Tagalog is not so great, I still love you and appreciate you trying ha Then the next time we were there, he called me "the girl Tarzan." Yep. I am the girl Tarzan. He said that I am always laughing and my laugh is loud so when I laugh it is like I am Tarzan hahah of course that just made me laugh even more so that didn't make matters any better. Oh and another time, I didn't know something so I looked at Sister Webster and whispered something and he scoots closer to me and in a really low, funny whispering voice goes, "psst psst psst what?" hahaha we were all dying. He is seriously one of THE funniest people I have ever met! He is just such a jokester, so happy all the time, and always messing with me and joking with me. It's too funny. Last night he texted us to say thanks for inviting him to church and to say goodnight and he said "regardz to Ms. Queen of SMILE no other than Sis. Roderick hehehe" What a funny guy. I love him so much! I love all of our investigators so much! :) The people here are the best. I love them all.

Oh so yes Ace came to church with us yesterday! It was so great! Things did not go perfectly, of course, but the Spirit was still there and he had the opportunity to meet other members and feel loved and welcomed by them. I love going to church, especially when investigators are there with us. Go to church guys. It is a commandment from God and it the most important thing we do each week, go to church and partake of the Sacrament.

So speaking of church here...it may or may not start late and end wayyy late haha aka I essentially go to church for 4 hours each week. Our classes go over time every single week. It kills me. I try so hard to stay positive and enjoy being there, but sometimes it is hard. So yesterday in Relief Society I was sitting next to a very old Nanay in my ward. She is so sweet and very funny. She asked to borrow my book and of course I let her. She said she wanted to read the story in it. I gave it to her, expecting her to quietly read the story to herself...you can imagine my surprise when she began reading it out loud. Not even whispering..haha she was so loud! I was dying! I could not control my laughter, it was so embarrassing! Everyone was looking at us but she was oblivious to what was going on and I didn't know what to do so of course I just kept laughing and shaking and trying to control myself. It was so so so funny. Then she kindly gave me back the book once she was done reading, as if nothing had even happened. She is comedy. I love that woman.

Well language wise, I am doing better at Tagalog. I had many members, investigators, and even my APs tell me that I have gotten a lot better in Tagalog so that was a nice little confidence booster for me. I am also slowly but surely learning Bicol. Pretty much our sacrament meeting is just in Bicol...that is difficult but that's okay. Eventually I will understand what is going on right? :)

I love it here. I love the people here. I love the weather (even if it is hot hot hot sometimes) I love the church. I love the prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love God. I love my family and friends. I love being a missionary and am so grateful for the opportunity to share this truth with others. Be good. Choose the right. Be grateful for everything. Smile. Be happy. :)

Mahal Kita!

-Sister Emily Roderick