5th area 8th companion 12th month! Im on a roll!

Manigong bagong taon sa inyo lahat!   So new area and new companion and New Year and new everything!  So I’ll try and give you a quick overview of what happened!  

   This was like the longest week of all time.  I kind of feel like this week was like 3 weeks but that’s how the first week of a transfer is.  It kind of takes the energy out of you.  We found out our transfers on Monday and then transfer day was Tuesday morning because on Wednesday we all had to be in our apartments early for new year’s..more info about that later.   So we packed all night and visited all of the people we could and cried and took pictures and it was so sad. Because we really really weren’t expecting to be transferred so quickly. So that was sad and kind of really hard.   4 of us out of the one house were transferring so it was like a bomb went off.  It’s always kind of a miracle that everything fits in our suitcases because it gets soooo spread out over the course of a few months. But it’s ok though.  The office elders came to pick up our luggage in the morning.  They are the nicest!  They had to bring both of their cars!  So we looked pretty official because we had two cars pull up to our house and guys with ties carried all of our luggage out.  I’m going to miss being by the office!  So then It was transfer day.  And we just went with our new companion.  It took like 3 hours to go to our area because there was a lot of traffic.  But my area is really pretty.  My companion is Sister Aguinaldo and she is Filipino.  She is amazing.  Really full of energy and reminds me a lot of my nanay Sister Lizada.  Speaking of which I am in her area again!  She is the STL over this area so that means we get to go on exchanges and be companions one more time before she goes home.  I’m sooooo excited!

   The new area is good.  Lots of trees and lots of cows.  It’s more up in the high lands I think.  pshh I don’t really know where I am but its cooler here and there are hills.  The pamasahe or money for travel is really expensive because our areas are really far but it’s fun. Our house is pretty nice and we have a balcony with a hammock so that’s enough for me.  The two filipinas in our house cook so they cook for us every day.  We don’t have water in our house at night though for an hour...but unfortunately that is like the only hour we have at home.  So right when we get home we turn on the water and store it in tubs and then we just bucket shower.  It’s not too bad. I kind of like it.  We just shower in the laundry area because it’s inside and when it’s cold I just boil a pot of water to put in it so that I don’t freeze to death haha.  But it’s a fun experience.  and it’s better than showering in the morning.

   The New Year was also cool.  We had to be inside by 6:00 because it’s too dangerous to be out. Because people light off fireworks like crazy.  And there’s not many restrictions on fireworks.  Like I guess the hospitals are pretty full on the day after.  So we had to be inside.  Anyway we didn’t do anything fun. We just slept and then woke up at midnight to take pictures and be excited and stuff.  And then we went back to sleep again.  But it was crazy because when I woke up at midnight it was soooooo loud.  Everyone was lighting fireworks and blowing these huge loud noise makers and it was great. We couldn’t see many fireworks but we saw a couple and we just heard the noise.  It was so loud and I can’t even explain it haha I’m surprised you all didn’t hear it over there in America. 

  One pretty cool thing that happened this week was that we had a mission wide fast for “Faith to do the Lords work.”  They started it at 6 though which is such a weird time...so we couldn’t go home because it was kind of far.  So we just opened our fast in a chow king (fast food place).  In the bathroom because it was empty.  Then we went to church the next day and then got a referral which happened to be a family that was super super nice.  And they decided to feed us before we left...so we had to close our fast in their bathroom!  So that is the way missionaries do fasting haha. It’s not ideal but it works and we found a family and so it’s all good. :)  All is good in the Philippines Cavite Mission.  

  Well I love you all and I’m sure this is long enough.  Sorry that there is no pictures this week.  I have so many good ones to send but this computer isn’t cooperating so next time na lang!

Keep safe and keep on keeping on haha and think of me on my birthday huh ;)

XOXO from Trece Martires

--Sister Van Tassell