So this week was a really fun week! We had our mission tour on Friday with President Ardern, our Area President. He gave trainings on our work and how we can become better missionaries and everything like that. It was a really cool experience, he's very wise.
It is always fun when we go to Bacolod because we get to stay with a bunch of missionaries. We slept there the night before because the conference was too early to make it in the morning from our area. So we stay in this "hosting" apartment with everyone and we basically just sleep on these pads on the floor. It's super fun, but it's so hard to sleep there! Elder McCleary and I just talked because we couldn't fall asleep until about 12. Speaking of which, Mom - yes, he is in my Zone. He was transferred there when Elder Cruz was transferred and so now I see him a lot. It's way fun! He's actually sitting next to me right now as we email. Sister Schimbeck is on the other side of me. It's always fun to see them.
At mission tour, we had this, like, feast of food and it was so so good! It was the best food I have had so far! I ate a lot and then I didn't feel good, but it was worth it. We also ate at this restaurant called Manginasal. It was so delicious. Basically, they give you half of a roasted chicken and then unlimited rice and you just dig in. It is fun because you just eat it with your hands. I like that.
Earlier this week we ran into this Baptist preacher. It all started out as a normal conversation, but it eventually got crazy hahaha. He started going all preacher on us and it was kind of scary and I couldn't understand what he was saying! We basically got stuck there for about an hour as this man and the people with him started getting into a debate. We eventually were able to close the lesson and just ran.
I had a really good experience yesterday that humbled me. We went to a member's house to give a quick message. Brother Lamis is a return missionary and so is his wife. Only he was home when we went, so we talked to him for a little bit. He told us the story of how he was converted to the Gospel and how he decided to go on a mission. He explained how he was the only member in his family when he decided to go on his mission. He didn't have support from his family to go, and his dad even told him that if he left, he wouldn't have any place to come back to when he was finished. He said it was hard for him, but he knew that he needed to. When he was on his mission, he said that he never heard from his family until it was close to his first Christmas on his mission. He said he was shocked to receive a letter from his dad. The words he read in the letter gave him just enough help to keep going. His dad said, just as he said before he left, "I don't want to see you back here..." but what was different this time was that at the end of this was "...until two years". Brother Lamis said that even this very little bit of support helped him out immensely. And I realized how grateful I am for the support of everyone back home who encouraged me to go and is continually encouraging me to serve. I am very blessed.
To answer your question, Mom -- Tagalog, Cebuano and Hiligaynon are all very different, but similar concept. Hiligaynon, from what I can tell, seems to have come from broken Cebuano. A lot of the deep words from both languages are the same. Tagalog is the national language and they study it in school, so everybody knows it. A lot of people here tend to mix Tagalog into a lot of their languages, so it is helpful to learn both. In my area, I am on the border of the Cebuano/Hiligaynon areas, and so they are mixing English, Tagalog, Cebuano, and Hiligaynon. It took me about a transfer to realize that about half of the people we teach are speaking Cebuano - that's how close Hiligaynon and Cebuano are. From how I have heard it explained, Cebuano and Tagalog are further apart than Hiligaynon and Tagalog, but that Hiligaynon is closed to Cebuano than to Tagalog. Really, this place is just a mess of language and I have no idea how people know what anybody is saying. I think that's why that bag of Sweet Corn says "etc.." on the ingredients. It really explains the quality of the communication here.
I have no idea if I will be transferred. President transfers people randomly, you never know when he is going to do it. I guess we will see if I am or not!
Hope everyone has a good week!
Elder Welton
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| Photo from mission tour lunch |
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| President & Sister Ardern (Area) President & Sister Lopez (Mission) |
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