Tuesday: More clean up of our area. Contacting, returning, evaluating, etc. Plus taught one of my favorite families here in Baao. :)
Wednesday: Rise and Shine, off to Naga we went at 6:45 in the morning. Met Elders Rogers and Manouis plus the office elders at the mission office at 8:30 to head out for the airport. The office elders dropped us off at the Naga Pili Airport where we waited for our plane to leave at 10:45. Weirdest thing ever to face the back of the plane while flying. Yup it happened. Didn't even know those seats existed but weirdly enough we sat facing our companions the whole way to Manila. Landed in the crazy, massive city of Manila. Our driver picked us up and took us straight to the Bureau of Immigration where we waited around (people watching and making small talk as people of every nationality, race, color, size, shape, etc., passed by). Elder Rogers and Sister Sanft took a couple pictures and did their fingerprinting then off we went again, back to the hotel. Checked in, used the CR (comfort room), dropped our bags, and gone again. We then spent the next 5 or so hours exploring Manila/the Mall of Asia, aka the largest mall in ALL of Asia! Yeah, I can now officially say I have been to the MOA. Quite the accomplishment. It was fun to see some different parts of the city and to eat American food again (Wendy's, real ice cream, jamba juice) but it was so expensive and crowded as all get out. Oh but while drinking our delicious jamba juices we were sititng out on a bench in the mall and right there in front of us was a professional hockey game going on- Canada vs Philippines. What on earth? First of all, what mall has a huge ice skating rink in the middle of it, secondly, with professional teams playing on it?? haha that was pretty neat to see for a couple minutes. So then we caught a taxi (my first official taxi ride was to the MOA) back to the hotel where we got KFC for dinner, quickly ate, took a nice, hot shower, then somehow made it into bed again. We were absolutely worn out so it was nice to fall asleep in a nice, clean, big, comfortable bed. :)
Thursday: Got a call from the front desk at 4:20 am telling us that our driver was going to be there to get us really soon and that we needed to get up and go wake the elders up too because they weren't answering their phone. HA. it is funny now looking back on it, but in the moment we were not happy campers (that's ironic because we weren't camping at all, but rather sleeping in a nice bed at a hotel..anyways haha) SO we got up, got ready, and met the driver downstairs at 5 in the morning. Insanity. He drove us groggy four missionaries to the airport and helped us check in then we waited woot woot for 2 and a half hours for our plane. (you think he could have come a little later so we could have gotten a bit more sleep or something) Anywho, I ate a delicious Cinnabon cinnamon roll and mango shake for breakfast. (Mangoes are my new favorite fruit. I LOVE mango season.) Then, as we were boarding the plane I got a text from a member in our ward saying that a less active sister's daughter was in the hospital in Naga and needed a Priesthood blessing. I texted as many people as I could to let them know before I got on the plane and had to turn off the phone. When we landed in Naga the office elders were there to pick us up and asked if we wanted to go with them to the hospital. I had never met this family before but we felt we needed to go to provide support and love at this difficult time. There are lots of different kinds of hospitals here in the Philippines and the ones they send us missionaries to are much different than those that the locals generally go to due to lack of money or lack of insurance. This was my first time going to a hospital for someone else besides missionaries and it took great effort to hold back the tears as I walked through the halls of that hospital. There were people everywhere. The halls were lined with hurt or sick people awaiting treatment. Cots lined the walls, rooms were full to capacity of people, and the number of people actually working and helping was significantly less than those needing help. It was really hard to see that but we smiled and did what we could to bring some light into that dark place. When we finally weaved back to little Hansel in her hospital bed, I was about emotionally drained. This poor 13 year old girl was swollen beyond recognition, couldn't open her eyes, so weak she could barely move her body. We still are not exactly sure what is wrong but she has had a sickness now for many years that became worse over the past few weeks as she has not been able to go in for her medication. We talked with the family a little bit and tried to comfort the best we could. The elders stood right there in the middle of the hospital and gave her a beautiful blessing of healing. There was so much going on around us and yet it was as if there was a bubble surrounding that hospital bed. I know God loves all of His children and He knows each of us personally. The Spirit was so strong in that little part of the hospital that day. The little girl's father is not a member of the church, but as the elders finished the blessing, he was overwhelmed with emotion and weeped over his daughter. What a special experience that was to witness the true power of the Priesthood and the gospel in our lives. I pray that that father's heart will be softened and desire to be baptized like his family. After we left the hospital, we caught the bus and headed back to Baao. Sister Sanft and I fell asleep on the bus and didn't wake up until we were pulling in to Baao. It was so nice to be back. :) I love Baao so much.
Friday: We had Zone Training in Iriga in the morning. It is always so fun to get together with the other missionaries and to learn, grow, eat, talk, visit, teach, and laugh together. It is also fun to see my lovely trainer, Sister Webster. I love the missionaries here and am so grateful for all the friendships I have made.
Funny story of the week..we frequently run at night from appointment to appointment out in our far areas to save time, teach more lessons, visit with more people, and get more done in the short hours we have to work. So, again, we were running and out of nowhere a speed bump appeared. Apparently my companion is more cat than human and caught herself before falling, but me on the other hand, well I hate cats. I biffed it. Straight up ate the cement. It was so embarrassing but before I could even think about it, I had jumped up again and started running up the street because we couldn't be late! Yep. True story. So once on the bus, I stopped to assess the damage and I now have 2 massive, lovely scrapes on my knees. They cause a decent amount of pain but all is well, we were on time for our lesson and that is all that matters. It was quite funny though when the brother asked what happened to my knees. We told him we were running to make it here on time and I fell. I sure hope they realize how much we love them. haha :) fun times.
Saturday: The beloved weekly planning. Got to teach some great lessons too! We now have 8 people with baptismal dates so we are excited for the next 2 months! :)
Sunday: We are now in a pretty good schedule where we stand at the back of the room during Sacrament meeting while herding little children back into the room, then doing our best to teach Primary, while somehow teaching the Young Women at the same time. Sundays used to be my favorite. Oh BUT we did have more than 80 people at church again! Wooooo hoooo! I am so happy! (even if Sundays are the hardest!)
Monday: Here I am again. Time flies. It's weird. Sister Sanft now has only 2 weeks left before she leaves. What? Yeah. I'm kind of freaking out.
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| The view from our apartment - home again. |
Thanks for all the love! Talk to you soon!
Mahal Kita!
-Sister Roderick
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