I BECAME A HAIRDRESSER, MARRIAGE WITNESS, AND DISHWASHER ALL IN THE SAME DAY

the one on the left is maria, the one
whose son died. i miss them

Well, it's been a week.  Apparently, this is the summer of weddings.  Friends, family, and a couple of our investigators:)  I'm a pro at the whole Filipino wedding thing.  Last Sunday, Ronalyn (my favorite investigator that's so hard headed) got Marrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiied!!!!  

I was so excited, I really like this wedding planning business... so fun (even if I didn't have anything to wear as a bridesmaid...we'ere just always in a skirt) and her wedding was addddorable.  We went over to her early in the afternoon and got her all ready.  We did her make-up, her hair, and

maria's baptism on saturday)))

made her pose for all sorts of pre-wedding pictures.   (The whole time I was trying to channel what the lady off the "Wedding Planner" would do)... and then we made our way to the church, I posed as the wedding photographer, marriage witness (where my signature will forever be on her marriage contract), and then ran home to get allllllll the food ready.  We're talking crazy, doesn't fit on the table, people eating off giant banana leaves, kind of food for this wedding!  And as people ate and sang off-key karaoke, we became the designated dishwashers.  It was a good way to end the day, the week, and my last times in Mandama.

Because I'm not there anymore.  The Sister Taylor that was re-called to Bataan Mission (that's just my joke), has moved a WHOLE 30 MINUTES again from her old area.  I literally think I am meant to just stay in the southern, hot part of the mission where everyone's head is just a little harder that most.  I moved to Guagua.  The weather got hotter, my area got maybe a little bigger, and I realized while I was moving just how heavier my suitcases got.  Oh ya, and the language is different here is Guagua.  Thankfully, everyone knows how to speak Tagalog, but they will only speak it to the missionaries and then change right back into (almost like baby language) Kapampangan to talk to the people around them.  Talk about feeling like a greeenie all over again...

our wedding yesterday 

As a missionary, moving and changing has become second nature (it still doesn't make me like it any more than I used to), the only question is how long it will take to unpack.  I made a new record here of unpacking just yesterday.  It was partly the fault of our zone leaders when they called us the night I got here and kindly let us know we were in charge of teaching the zone meeting workshop the next morning...  As I'm writing my email, my clothes still have a couple of those good ole suitcase wrinkles:)  

ronalyn, her wedding right before
her baptism in my last area

My area is the place everyone talked about where they crucified and whipped people on Easter (they said it was for Jesus?...).  That's how crazy these people are.  And they are sooo Catholic.  But it's not even a smart Catholic. We were walking down to the city yesterday (oh ya, I've also been assigned to the smack middle of the city) and someone had posted the 10 commandments on the wall.  The only thing a little off about it was they had gotten rid of the 2nd commandment (don't have false gods) and made the last commandment into 2 separate commandments...  I am in for a great ride here in Guagua, that's all the other missionaries keep telling me:)

that's me) old area

My first day we rode a row boat to get to the other side of our area (looked kind of like the boats we rode in Bolivia).  Talk about a change of scenery from my last area!

And also, my companion is way too cool for me.  The Sister Samau!  She's been here a transfer longer than me, is a Samoan/New Zealander who doesn't deal with fake people, and has a great sense of sarcasm that I've been missing with all my filipino companions.  She likes walking fast too.

this face changes everyday haha our apartment is obessesed with it

Funny Story:  I don't know if this is gross or funny... A couple weeks ago I got a reaaaaally bad cold sore.  Or least that's what I think they're called.  Anyway, it hurt like nobody's business and by the end of the week I was having a hard time eating rice (which is when you know it's serious). My mouth hurt. so.bad.  So, I'm complaining to Sister Echon how bad my mouth actually hurt (wahhh...) and how hungry I still was when she suggested putting tawas on it.  That's the filipino version of deodorant, but it works really well at soaking up water, because of course, that's its job.  I'm like, okay, why not?  So, I tried it.  We put it on at night (because she told me it would hurt so bad I wouldn't be able to move, which wasn't true), and I woke up in the morning and it was gone!  So, thanks to filipino deodorant, I'm able to eat rice again!

 And with that wonderful story, I will leave you until next week! 

LOVE,

SISTER TAYLOR