2016-11-20 – A Whole New World!

November 20, 2016 – A Whole New World!

Kamusta po kayo!

New area, new companion, new everything! My new companion is great, Elder Dela Cruz. He is from the Philippines, about a 4 hour bus away from our area (called Baliwag). Our area is so awesome, it's a completely different world than my last area, which was all city and tons of people and black floodwater. Here it's so rural and open and green, I must be dreaming. There are rice fields everywhere, trees, cows and caribou, you name it.

The Tagalog language here is DEEP. Even my comp, who's first language is Tagalog, said some of the words are hard to pronounce here, but he understands all of it. I, on the other hand, thought I had a pretty handy grasp on Tagalog until I got here. In some ways it's like starting over, they have a different accent sometimes, and the vocabulary usage is different. These next 3 months my comp and I made a deal, he will be fluent in English and I will be fluent in Tagalog. The people here are awesome, they're super nice, really goofy sometimes, and also a lot more conservative than in the city. It's really neat to just adapt to the culture wherever you go.

I'm learning so much from my companion, he is a really humble person, and we are going to get along just fine. I'm inspired by his example, he's pretty young but he's willing to try things, and we are going to push each other a lot. 

 The skies are still so pretty, and there are stars!!! I haven't seen anything but the moon and the north star in so long, but there are plenty out here. It really is like a different country even though I'm only 4 hours from my last area.

 Apparently you can ride these, but this one had a calf so I kept my distance. To a few feet. Caribou are pretty famous here, they have a Caribou festival, in April I believe, where a bunch of trained caribou parade around.

 We have sister missionaries in our branch, which is also new, we can share advice for who we are teaching every Sunday, and they have been a huge help since neither my comp nor I know this area. It will be a big challenge this first weeks, but I'm expecting miracles out here, the members are amazing and the area is white already to harvest. But it's not wheat, it’s rice. Lots and lots of rice.

 We shared in a baptism last weekend, which was a great experience, this family has such a strong testimony, and we get the opportunity to teach them and help them towards the temple now! 

 Here is the youth of Bustos Branch, they're a great group. Our first day in the area we participated in a combined home teaching activity. Jogging is really big here, so I'm looking to get back into a little running with some of the young men! 

 RIIIIIICE!

 don't have a ton of time, so my spiritual thought will just be one of the first things Elder Dela Cruz said to me when we met. He had cleft lip as a baby and went through a lot of speech therapy because of the operation. He still has a really strong lisp, but in no way do I see it as a speech impediment. He said, "I was worried about serving a mission because I didn't think people would be able to understand, but I know the Spirit will say things for me" We haven't been together for very long but I know the spirit does indeed convey the message we have, even though my tagalog isn't perfect, and his speech isn't perfect, it's not what we say that carries our message, it's the spirit. I'm excited for this whole new world, I have a lot to learn and a whole lot of places to explore. Thanks for reading, I love you all! 

Elder Fish