Just made it to halfway in the training center! A lot happened this week, so here goes! Firstly it went by super fast because we (the Language missionaries) were all dreading when the Regular (Filipino) missionaries were leaving for there respective missions all over the Philippines. Time always goes fast when you want it to go slow, right?
Since the senior batch of Language Missionaries are leaving, my batch is the senior batch and Elder H- and I are the zone leaders now.
One day this week we went into Manila and part of Quezon City to complete our Visas. There are so many people here, it's just staggering. The traffic was just insane, whoever has the most guts gets the right of way, and everyone honks all the time. At one point there were horses and cars parking in the middle of the road, all with the motorcycles and jeepneys (painted taxi type cars) going in between. It's actually pretty funny to watch, I don't know how they avoid accidents. We actually saw a little bump, and both cars just drove off.
Our room is the lucky one, because we have cockroaches! One morning five of them were dead in different parts of the room. Another morning one crawled up my leg! I'm impressed with myself for not waking up my roommates though! Last time I get dressed with the lights off...
On Sunday we took a ton of pictures with all of the friends we've made, and exchanged emails so we can keep in touch. The Filipino people are so amazing, I'll sum it up with this quote from a Nat Geo photographer after a typhoon:
"It's almost confusing because people are so good-natured here. People laugh and are happy, even though their lives are just destroyed. They've built basketball hoops in rubble and play pickup games, and people watch and cheer.
...Filipino people have an incredible spirit, and an incredible way of moving on. If it were any other place in the world, it would be so different.
...You just can't exaggerate the good-natured, positive spirit of these people. It's like their natural identity is to smile. The hardest thing here is take a photograph that doesn't have a child grinning from ear to ear in the background."
I got to witness a little of this when I was saying goodbye to everyone here. It was only a few weeks, but I've made some life-long friends because these people are so easy to bond with. I'm affectionately known as Elder Isda (Fish). Their last day at the MTC, we all stayed up, and most people started bawling at one point or another.
All of my friends had these BRs (Book of Remembrance) and we all wrote in each others, a little like yearbooks from high school. They make friends so quickly, and they are so caring here. I'm lucky to be in the Philippines.
Seeing the city a little really showed how impoverished many of the people are. Even the people who were in the MTC with me were very poor. I traded my ties with as many as I could to remember them by, and there was one fellow, Elder Ilay, who's story was really humbling for me. Because he chose to serve a mission, his parents disowned him and he got here with a couple of shirts and flip-flops. A lot of the missionaries in my batch gave him our extra belts/socks/shoes/ties. He was so grateful, it was amazing.
There was another guy, Elder L- from Indonesia. He looked like he was maybe 14, but he was actually 23. He didn't speak English but we all were good friends anyways, that's how things work here. He was always the happiest person here, which is even more impressive after we found out his story near the end. From what someone else translated, he was one of the youngest of 13 kids. His parents inherited a sizeable fortune from their grandparents, and all of the kids ended up fighting over the inheritance. Some of the older ones killed the parents and each other, so he ran away from these horrible circumstances at 6. So Elder Lase grew up on his own since 6 years old, working for himself. The love that fuels his happiness comes from Christ, and it is truly powerful to see that effect in someone.
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Tomorrow we go out proselyting with missionaries who have been out for a while, and I cannot wait. I'm going to really need to depend on the Lord if I'm actually going to be able to communicate, but I know it will go well. I'm excited to hear more of people's stories, and help where I can. I'm so excited to be here for the next two years.
Elder Fish
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