Kamusta Pamilaya!

So, I survived my first week at the MTC! It was SO great. Seriously, I love the MTC so much. I never want to leave! haha, just kidding. When I got here right away I felt the spirit so strong, and when I put my name tag on it was the greatest feeling ever! All new missionaries get to have a big orange dot on their name tag on their first day. We call it the "dork dot" because everyone and their dog says hello and welcome and how can I help you?. It was great though, I felt so special and loved! 

My companion is sister Vandiver she's 21 and she is from Washington. She is really nice, although we don't really have much in common. We don't really "click" but we still make it work. It's all good. I love my district, we have so much fun together. The elders are HILARIOUS! They always make our day. They will translate songs into Tagalog and then attempt to sing it. The first day of class they did Taylor Swift 22 and it was just a bunch of jibberish and then we hear twweenntyyy twwooo! In what we think was a filipino accent. So funny. All the sisters just about died laughing!

Tagalog is so hard! The first day our teacher spoke not one word of english and it was crazy. I feel like a little kid because my teacher will keep repeating things and we just give him a blank stare. It's great. My teacher is brother Ward and he is amazing. He served in Manila and got back 2 years ago. He is really good at explaining things to me because I never understand anything he says. I am starting to recognize words and my companion and I have made it a goal that by next Saturday we will be able to pray in Tagalog. It's hard but I know that we can do it. We have so much studying time during the day.. my brain literally hurts. haha. But seriously. 

Thursday we were able to meet our Branch president, President Anderson. He is a great man so full of the spirit and love for missionaries. He and his counselors spoke to us and they gave us great insight. Friday we had class and we taught our first lesson to our investigator. We were studying all day and planning what we were going to say and then brother Ward says we can't have any notes. Pierce to the heart. So pretty much it went horrible. The second we walked in I forgot EVERYTHING! It was so bad. We ended up just reading some scriptures and reading from the Plan of Salvation panphlet in very poor Tagalog. It was so embarrassing, but I know that it will just get better as I learn more Tagalog. Except for the fact that we are teaching her everyday except Sunday. 

Saturday is my P-day so my district is going to the temple today and I am so excited. It was so nice to have P-day today because after 3 days I thought I was going to kill over. But I will "make it to Sunday". I actually haven't cried at all since I have been here. I think it's because I am so busy that I don't have time to sit around and mope about my old life. Which is a good thing because I absolutely LOVE being here. I have already learned so much and I am so grateful to be a missionary. 

Sorry that this email is short and not very detailed, I can't really remember what I did the last few days because I am so tired. Now hopefully I can figure out how to upload pictures. 

Love, 

Sister Chancellor