Good-bye MRC...Hello Ormoc!

Hello all! So for those of you who don't already know, I am back in Tacloban! I arrived here Wednesday afternoon and I traveled all by myself! Was I nervous? Yes. Did I survive? Surprisingly yes. Would I want to do it again? No. But it was a great learning experience and I applied Sister K's advice of asking questions and I am sure the people were entertained by my mixed speaking of Waray-Waray, Cebuano, and Tagalog. I ended up just speaking English, but they sure loved that I tried to speak Tagalog. Who knew I would get mixed up in languages when I took sign language in High School. But I sure love the Philippines and their billion different languages.

I had my last physical therapy session on Tuesday and during my sessions I had been sharing the gospel with them as they are such good people who are really interested in knowing the truth. I took 3 Books of Mormon with me and gave them each one and they were so thankful and wanted to take pictures with me and their Books of Mormon. They were sad I was going back to Tacloban but one of them said that  it is cool that I am excited to go back and share the gospel with the people here. They are amazing people and I hope they started reading the Book of Mormon and got in contact with the missionaries there :)

Basta, saying goodbye to my MRC family was sad but it was like another transfer. Sister Garrett sent me off with my new favorite snack, adobo cracker nuts, (she introduced me to them in Manila) and Sister K packed me a little sack of treats which included chocolate covered cinnamon bears from Elder K because he knew I liked them and he just so happened to have some from America :) But I promise I didn't leave Manila with only food, I also left with memories and friendships that I will cherish forever. (And I just want to throw out there that I am so glad that Elder and Sister K live in Salt Lake)

When I got to Tacloban Elder and Sister Anderson picked me up from the airport and I was so happy to see them! We got to the Mission office and they told me to go to the chapel to attend the last 15 minutes of a specialized training meeting. I snuck in the back and Sister Malu just so happened to be sitting there. (This training included 3 different zones) I sat down behind her and when she saw me she hugged me and started crying. I missed my best friend! Her 20th birthday is actually on September 1st :) I was then re-untied with my sweet companion Sister Pangilinan, who I adore! She is in the same batch as Sister Skey (they gonhome this December) and she is from Manila. She has 2 brothers and they are both on missions too :) We were in the same zone when I was being trained in Catarman so we were together during typhoon Ruby and so we love that we are companions and we always talk about the good times in Catarman! :)

So now we are here in Ormoc and it is different! Not only the language but the area! It is HUGE! Grabe oi! It's pretty adventurous as well like going through a rice field maze and over bamboo bridges. Going on a small path that is barely visible, is really walking by faith, as I don't want to be the first one to fall into the rice field. Also going over the bamboo bridges I always have a prayer in my heart because those bridges are made for Filipinos...and I am clearly not the size of a Filipino. But hey, so far so good! Now you are all probably wondering how my Cebuano is coming along. It is surprisingly not bad! I owe a big thank you to Elder Camiling and Elder Bautista who helped me out at the MRC and I am actually remembering some from the MTC which really surprised me! Plus, I have my companion who is always willing to correct me when I say a waray-waray word. Example. Nano in waray means what but in Cebuano it means why. So yeah. But I'm getting better at that one! ;)

Now I don't know the people here too well but there is one family, the Peregrino family who I have really connected with and I just love and adore them. Brother is a less active but he came to church yesterday for the first time in a long time!! Sister Pangilinan was shocked to see him there! Sister told us that I reminded them of a Sister missionary who served here a long time ago who helped their children to be baptized and because of our message we shared the night before, he knew he needed to come to church. She thanked me for being so kind to them and becoming a part of their lives.

I love being a missionary and seeing the changes people make in their lives. Not only those who didn't have the gospel in their lives, but the ones who already do. I love the Peregrino family and I love my life here as a missionary :)

And THANK YOU for all of the Birthday wishes! I can't believe I'll finally be 20 ;) Mom and Dad are getting old! ;) I cried watching the birthday video and also laughed because you all sounded so "good" ;) I missed that!! I am sure that my 2nd birthday in my mission will be just as good as the first one :) But I guess I will miss the BYU creamery ice cream that I ate in the MTC last year on my Birthday. haha. Sister Pangilinan told me she will take me to my favorite restaurant here (Mang Insal) so I am looking forward to that :)
I love you all! Have a great week!!

Love,
Sister Wilde

Thank you to Elder Anderson for taking a picture of our girl when she got back to Tacloban!

I made it to Ormoc!

I LOVE PACKAGES and the messages in or on them :) :)

I made a new friend this week. He liked me!

Our poor attempt at taking a picture in a tricycle!

My new desk :)

Poor lizard. I had to take a picture because it's kinda funny.