I'm sooooooo sorry!! I tried to call from Tokyo, but the directions were entirely in Japan. Oh, la! Grabii! And as you know, I don't know speak Japanese.... And, I don't speak Waray-Waray. Which is what they speak in Catbalogan! My first Area!!! We had training and stuff at the mission home Wed-Thursday, and then on Friday, we got our area assignments.
Catbalogan is crazy!! Not really, It's just really really different from anything I've ever seen before! It's really crowded, and dirty. It's ok, though! I'm used to it. The first night, I kept thinking that I was going to die because traffic laws don't exist, and there are just TONS of people. My companion kept saying, "It's ok! Only a 50/50 chance that we will die!" haha I think the weirdest thing, though, is that EVERYONE stares at me. All the time! I feel like a movie star. haha But, people tell me that I look like a doll, a movie star, a model, and that I have a beautiful nose. Weird right? Whenever anyone is sitting next to me (usually the women and kids) they touch my hair and my skin. I usually just smile a wave and say, "Maupay" to everyone who is staring at me. Some people reply with "Mausay!" Which means Beautiful. We've gotten to start a lot of conversations about the gospel because everyone wants to know why a white girl is in the middle of the Philippines. We've gotten a lot of teaching appointments that way. So, it's really good!! The only hard thing is that I don't know Waray. Waray and Cebauno are similar like a Giraffe and an elephant are similar. They are located in the same place, and they are both mammals. Other than that..... not much.
I love my Nanay! Her name is Sister Pongyan. She is SUPER nice! And really really smart. She's Filipino and she speaks Tagolog, Waray, Cebuano, and Iloilo, and English! So, at least I understand her! haha Actually, a lot of people know some English. But, everyone knows that I'm trying to learn, so they speak Waray to me anyway. haha
Um, the coolest thing that happened this week is that we were lost, and we went by this park where a ton of kids were playing. I LOVE talking to the kids! I think that Asian kids are the cutest kids in the world! haha A little girl came up to me and asked me what my name was. She told me I was beautiful and asked why I was here. I told her that I was a missionary, and that she was more beautiful than I was. She wanted us to meet her family, so she took us to her house. Her family was really nice! All the adults there were drinking, and one lady told us that she had a sister who was Mormon and that she wanted to learn more about our gospel. We gave her our number, and told her to text us her address (because she couldn't remember her number or address...) We haven't heard from her yet, PERO we are teaching the family this week! We brought Alyssa, and her sister Alisa to church with us last Saturday. During Sacrament she kept drawing me pictures. It was really cute! She is learning English at school, so I help her learn English, and She helps me learn Waray. It was really sad though, because she asked If I would take her home to America with me. It broke my heart! I love that girl!
I love all of the Filipino people!! I don't like Elders. We are white washing the area, which means that they took out the Elders and put in sisters only. And unfortunately, we inherited their gross apartment! So, we've spent a lot of time scrubbing walls and mold off our mattresses. It was super awesome. But, now our apartment is super beautiful! Sister Gaono and her companion, Sister Luano live with us! It's fun! Everything is pretty cool!! Our toilet doesn't flush. We have to dump a bucket of water in it to make the water drain. At least we have a shower head though!!
President Andaya is a really nice man! He doesn't talk a lot, but he told me and sister Pongyan that he put us in this area because we are both really happy, and can show the less active members the love of Christ. There is currently only about a 30% attendance rate, so our main objective is to strengthen the branch. After we strengthen the branch, then we can mainly focus on nonmembers. The only problem is that the ward doesn't have a lot of confidence in us. They treat me like I'm 5 because I can't speak their language. Pero, diri worry!! That will change really sooooooon!!
A lot of the times, youth come with us to the less actives' houses and help us teach! That's really cool! Everyone needs a friend at church. It's a lot easier for them to feel comfortable around us if someone who's permanent in the ward comes with us. President's motto is: "We help them dress in White twice." So really, Catbalogan is a rescue mission. Rescue the souls! I encourage all of you to work with the missionaries in your ward. I wish I would have done more to invite the less active and non members. You don't have to be a missionary to spread the gospel. I think that really, as members of the greatest gospel in the universe, it's our jobs to help people come unto Christ. I don't really have much of a spiritual message today, I've been so busy today! But next week, you will get a really good one! so, be prepared!!
I love all of you!!!! SO much!! Thank you for all of your prayers, love, and support!!!!
Sincerely,
Sister Bingham
Oh, I joined choir. It's funny! They sing Hymns in English, so their accents are great! haha I'm sorry!!! I wanted to send more pictures but it's taking literally forever. I love you!!!!
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