Calayog, Week 1 9/8/13

Hopefully this won't be confusing.  The first paragraph is mostly Waray so I asked Kevin Smith to translate it for me.  That is below, with her e-mail if you want to compare.  The transformation has been remarkable!  Thanks for your love and prayers.  I believe it makes all the difference!  ~Linda

Maupay nga aga sa iyo nga tanan! "Good morning to you all!"

What a week. I have no idea where to even start. First of all, figured out this week that this was Kevin Smith's area! Kevin, I got your email :) you are welcome to tell me anything about your area, or anyone you want me to visit for you. Unfortunately, The Elder's area is the one nearer to the church, the other Sisters have the city proper, and we have Pido St and on...harayo ora ora! Haha pero ok lang. Mas maupay kon maglakat kami, mas marisyo, di'ba? Not really...pero kinahanglan ako maglose weight, so mas maupay. Basta, area namo sa Rawis, Bagacay, ngan Carayman. Carayman is so far, sugad we got off the tricycle at the Hwy, on that kalsada that leads into Carayman, tapos maglakat kami didto...grabe! Harayo! We got maybe 1/4 of the way in 30 minutes, ngan waray mga balay didto, so we turned around :) Ine nga semana, magadto kami didto, all the way in. Magfinding ngan magcontacting kami, referrals namo tikang sa mga miembros. Oh and Yes, Nagkita ak si Brother Salazar, Maupay siya. Buotan ora ora...we're being taken care of.

Translation for this section: 

"...we have Pido St and on... very far. haha but it's ok. It is better for us to walk, it's more fun, no? Not really, but I need to lose weight, so it is better. Anyway, our area is Rawis, Bagacay, and Carayman. Carayman is so far, like we go off the tricycle at the Hwy, on the road that leads into Carayman, then we walked there, gosh! It's far! We got maybe 1/4 of the way there in 30 minutes, and there's no houses there, so we turned around :) This is the week, we went there, all the way in. We are finding and contacting our referrals from the members. Oh and Yes, I saw Brother Salazar. He's good. Very kind...we're being taken care of."

So yeah, my area's far. but that just means there's more to explore and more people to find :) So this week, that is our focus. We want to make sure we know where all the less actives live and then we're going to focus on finding professionals out there. It's a super pretty bukid (mountainous) area, and it's also right on the coast...ish. Basta, it's pretty :) I love Calbayog. The people here are so nice and patient with us too. And believe it or not, it's hard to change all my H's to S's...I don't know why I'm struggling so much with that! But it's coming :) slowly but surely. A lot more people understand english here than Borongan, so it's a nice default when I'm struggling too much. But I am trying to speak the language. That is our companionship goal. She's super good at English, but she teaches in Tagalog. So we're trying to just cut out English and Tagalog and teach in pure Waray. That way we can both follow along in the lesson. It's fun learning Tagalog though :) I'm starting to understand it a little better.

It's super distracting opening an area. I haven't really focused on the spiritual aspect of the work so much this week, and it really takes a toll on things. I feel like we're just walking around, getting to know people and our area. So now that we're into a better routine, and know each other better, my goal is to be better at studying and listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, and not relying on myself as much. It's hard, but I know that I'm here for a reason, and one of those reasons is to learn to trust in the Lord. He should be my #1 source for help and guidance. Training is such a humbling experience. There is seriously no way I can do this alone...I do not feel good enough or prepared enough, but to know that the Lord knows I can do it, makes me want to work even harder. 

So sorry there's not a whole lot this week. I love you all. Thank you for the love and support always. Remember to do as I'm doing and trust in the Lord. If there's ever something you're unsure about, don't even wait for a second, go and pray and ask for guidance. If you wait, you'll find that there's some way you can figure it out. But why not just go straight to our Heavenly Father first? He knows everything, and He will always help :)

As always, with love from the Philippines,

Sister Hogge

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Us 4 sisters in Calbayog :)

And Our area, Carayman, with random goats. It's so pretty and green!