Piercing My Companion's Ear

Magandang Umaga po sa inyong lahat!

 

This week the mission choir performed at SM, which is the biggest mall in Naga. My companion is the director of the choir, and she had a huge solo song. Well right before leaving our apartment, Sister Geralde turns to me and shows me one of her ears that used to be pierced but had since closed and says "You are going to do the *proceeds to make a stabbing motion with her hands* " So I grabbed a sewing needle and just did what they did in Parent Trap. But I used a mango, not an apple because this is the Philippines. 

It was successful.

The choir concert was celebrating National Family Week, so we sang songs all about families. I think it went pretty well. My companion killed it. She is honestly talented enough to be a professional singer.

I am getting slowly better at the language. It makes me hopeful when we revisit people who we visited during my  first week, and they say "Wow she speaks Tagalog now!" Or how people I contact on the streets are surprised I have been here less than a month. I know I can trust what they say too because Filipinos are blunt. If you are terrible at Tagalog, they will let you know. Yesterday at church a member told me that I had gotten fat. Which I blame entirely on the deliciousness of Filipino food and the hospitality of the Filipinos. My ward is infamous for the members feeding missionaries. It's called the promised land of Naga mission. 

Speaking of food, I eat like a Filipino, and it surprises people. They told us that the food is the hardest thing for American missionaries to get used to, but I have been eating sardines and tomato sauce on rice for breakfast since I got here. I love the food so much! The members tell me all the time they are grateful for an American missionary who actually eats their food. The bishop's wife brought out white bread and butter the first time she fed me; I just thought it was a Filipino thing and didn't eat it and ate the gulay and rice instead. Later, I found out she had put it out because she didn't think I would eat their other food. But the point is: Filipino food is now my favorite! Oh, and the street food is amazing. Okay, I'm done talking about food, I promise. 

My District

-Sister Gray