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| we tried to make our hair curly |
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| FHE before our investigators (that were going to be baptized) left to work in manila |
And I'm totally joking, I'm still in Guagua. Transfers came and went, and nothing came or went for Sister Taylor. I will be finishing out my fifth and final transfer there before I take the first flight home to 'merica. I've been there seven and a half months now.... But I have become pretty boss in speaking Kampampangan to most people here.
But... I really am in Manila right now. We got here around 5am this morning after taking 2 jeepney rides, 3 bus rides, and a van, all of which induced a good kick of car sickness. Why am I here?
BECAUSE SISTER TAYLOR IS GETTING CLOSER TO COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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| halloween |
We got a call Saturday night around 11pm (we were asleep at the apartment) telling me to pack my bags, pick another sister and travel to the mission homeSunday afternoon. All the missionaries going home this transfer (9 sisters, no elders) were going to take a wild one day trip to the international immigration offices in Manila to get fingerprints and have our passports released. We got about 3 hours of sleep Saturday night, and haven't had sleep since. Traveling to Manila was brutal (like, who wants to ride winding roads with crazy bus drivers in the wee hours of the morning?), but we got here and after around 4 hours of lines, interviews, and paperwork, I'm allowed to come home!
I know, what a big relief, right?
And now we may have gotten a little lost trying to find this computer shop in the middle of the biggest city in the Philippines, and might have a really hard time later finding the bus station again. You'll see next week if we managed to find our way home again. But in the meantime, I got to eat a real, bean and chicken burrito earlier for the first time in a year and a half:)
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| travel plans!!!!! |
The only other time I've seen Manila was when we got picked up outside the airport to go to our mission the first time. That was almost a year and a half ago and the place is still as dirty and crowded as ever. I had really strange flashbacks to when we were all on the bus for the first time in the Philippines, freaking out because we had no idea where we are, where we were going, and nobody could figure out how to use the showers (in our defense, it's pretty much just a pipe sticking out of the wall). But I love looking now to how far I've come, and realizing that I made it through all this:).
And all the 'lasts' are starting to pile up. I am now in my last area (which is only the third), with my last companion (still with my lovely Sister Bautista), will go to my last MLC in a couple weeks, and started using my last planner last week in our weekly planning. I have my departing missionary x-rays to give to the mission office! It's just becoming more and more sure everyday.
*secret- I can now count the weeks I have left on ONE HAND. Wow.
alskpqoweiur;
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| what my companion does at night when she can't sleep |
Funny Story: Sister Bautista and I left the apartment to go out to work in the afternoon, I asked her if she had the cell phone. She said no and smiled, but I thought she was joking (our whole companionship is just a lot of strange and not really funny humor). She asked me if I had the cell phone, of course I said no. So I let it go, pretty positive that she really did have the cell phone (she always tells me she doesn't have the cell phone when she really does). Later that night we went to call our investigator to tell her we were coming to visit and I asked to borrow the phone. Sister Bautista said she didn't have it. I was like "ya, that's a good joke, but I read you too well. Just let me borrow the cell phone." "No, I know you have the cell phone Sister Taylor. You're awful at joking." "I promise I don't have the cell phone..." And we realized that neither of us really had the cell phone. We had gotten so used to each other's really bad joking that neither of us had thought the other was serious. But a day without the cell phone ultimately proved to be a peaceful workday with no one calling:).
You'll find that my (kind of strange sometimes) sense of humor still hasn't changed too much.
LOVES,
SISTER TAYLOR