Hey ya'all!
 
Kumusta po kayo? (How are you? :)
 
I hope everything is going well wherever you are! Happy Thanksgiving!!
 
For Thanksgiving here at the Philippines MTC we had burgers, fries and ice cream! American yes...but I kind of missed the turkey and mashed potatoes and things like that! haha it's ok though! I'm very very happy! :)
 
This week went by SOOO fast! Time flies here! I'm happy for that sometimes, but I don't want this to fly by! It's too precious!
 
The language is going well- it's so exciting when I can get into a lesson or role play and Tagalog just comes out! I always get scared that I won't remember what to say or something, but as soon as I open my mouth, I remember it all and it all just comes out! It's super exciting! The other day we were in the middle of class and just about to do practice teaching when the MTC head teaching instructor walked in! My teacher had ME pair up with him and I was able to share a message all in Tagalog! I got some words mixed up, like I said "God questions all our answers" (instead of "God answers all our questions") haha, but it was still cool! The Lord has definetly blessed me, but I have to constantly work at it!
 
Nothing super exciting happened this week, I had some cool thoughts during class and as we go about our day:
 
1) As missionaries we are supposed to be representatives of Jesus Christ. I always knew that, but during a role play one evening, as we visited with our 'investigator' and she talked about her struggles and her worry that she would never be able to change, an image came in to my mind of our Savior sitting in the living room of this good sister, talking to her and comforting her and reassuring her that through Him, she could be happy again. And suddenly it all hit me- I am representing Christ to this sister! And just as Christ was a good listener, a good friend, a good comforter and showed genuine love and concern for peoples' lives...I am to be that as well. I'm humbled but excited for that call, because being Christlike is the best goal I have ever had, and one that I will be working for my entire life. Becoming like Christ will bring us more happiness than we can ever imagine as we forget about ourselves and do things entirely for someone else :)
 
2) Endure to the End. I've talked a lot about obedience before, and it's coming up again haha! What helps me be obedient? It's knowing that IF I can just follow these rules and this lifestyle for this short time, an eternity of happiness will be mine. Yes, I miss mountains and '80's music and lighthouses and just living a normal life, but I know that if I can just hold on, I will have all that AND MORE in the end. Instead of a CTR ring, I have an ETTE (Endure to the End) ring, and that quest and that goal and the hope that someday I will receive all the happiness and peace has carried me through every day here:) It's hard to explain haha and may sound weird, but sunsets help me carry on and have an ETERNAL perspective, not just a mortal, in the moment glimpse. That's why I love sunsets:)
 
Sorry this email's shorter, but thanks for everything and I love you all!!!
 
Mahal kita (I love you),
 
Sister Allen

Oi! I was going to say something cool in Tagalog, but I'm brain-dead right now! hahaha my brain is so confused right now- I'm picking up Aussie and New Zealand phrases, learning and teaching in Tagalog, but for some weird reason I want to shout "Hola!" whenever I walk into a room...bizarre I know. I'm in a cultural blender!! :)
 
This week has been sooooo good! The language is coming along really well, and it's so neat when I'm able to understand pretty much everything an investigator or teacher says. I just can't put sentences together fast enough to respond all the time, but at least I can understand what's being said :) I love learning Tagalog in order to teach, it's a sacred and special process as you learn the Gospel in another tongue. My favorite word is "Pagbabayad-sala" which means the Atonement. So so special and so so sacred :)
 
Something that's standing out to me more and more this week is the power of keeping the rules. There's a bunch of rules here at the MTC and out on the mission field, but I love it because it just means more blessings if we keep them! They seem like small things, like not eating in our rooms, go to bed at 10 pm, spend only an hour on email...but they make a HUGE difference! I know the lanugage is coming so quickly because I'm being obedient. We're told that our loyalty lies to the Lord, to our mission president and THEN our companions...it's just the same in the real world- we answer to God and His commandments before we should worry about the world. I promise there is power in being obedient, otherwise why would the Lord ask us to follow them?
 
I love my district!!! We're the "Ammon District" and bascially spend every waking minute with each other (in class, eating, gym, the temple...). I LOVE them!!! It's only been two weeks and I'm so excited that we get 4 more together!! There are two companionships of Elders and two of sisters. Here is a list of everyone, where they're from, what mission they'll be serving in and a little bit about them:
 

• Elder Masih, Australian (But half Samoan, half Fijian), Angeles Mission. He's like the litte brother of our district!! He is so sweet and sincere and tries to hard! He loves the scriptures and has memorized 146 verses! He's very generous and is always offering to get me ice cream at dinner or buy me something when we go shopping. Love that kid.
  
• Elder Ortega, Balitmore Maryland (full Filipino), Angeles mission. This kid is a crack-up!! Super, super funny, and super handy to have around because he is basically fluent in Tagalog already.
  
• Elder Rameka, New Zealand, Angeles mission. Love him!! He's super cool and is a great example to everyone in the district. We have a crackin' time at gym because he loves basketball too. He loves to laugh and eats heaps!!!
  
• Elder Wallace, Dallas Texas, Angeles mission. Kid's a crack-up too! He's super sincere and tries so hard, but it's kind of funny- he doesn't stand a chance when it comes to playing ball with all these Polynesians! Elder Rameka loves hearing him do a redneck accent, and so he'll go around saying things like "I'm gunna buy a new tracter" and "I et a rock wence..." stuff like that, makes no sense, but we have a good time haha.
  
• Sister Ioluoulo, Australia, Olongapo mission. I totally butchered her name, but she's a sweet girl. She's 20 and loves her family. She's got the prettiest laugh I've ever heard!
  
• Sister Havea, New Zealand, Angeles mission. She's so funny!!!!! She's super sassy but so sweet and would do anything for anyone!
  
• Sister Olive (my kasama!! -companion), Australian, Baguio mission. She's crazy, she's loud, but she's got the biggest heart and is so brave. She's the only member in her family and was baptized two years ago. We have some major differences but I look up to her a lot!
  

 
So that's my district! I'm super grateful that almost all of us are going to Angeles mission!! That will be so neat and I'm grateful that I'll be able to spend this next month with them- they're incredible and we have so much fun together!
 
The coolest thing this week is I feel like I can finally say: "I LOVE being a missionary!" The MTC president told us to say this every day, but honestly for the first week I wasn't sure if I could say that sincerely. But this Wednesday, the senior batch of missionaries left for the field and it was sooo hard to say goodbye!! We looked up to them a lot and just as we were getting to know them, they had to go. But we all went to class feeling really sad, and I was saying to myself, "You know, it's a hard day already, I deserve a day off, I just won't really get into learning today." But THEN, I was like "You know, there are investigators waiting for me that need me to be spiritually and language(ly???) prepared. So I'm going to push aside my own problems and I'm going to work hard, because I love these people and I love the Lord." it was like BOOM! As soon as I said that, I was so incredibly happy!!! And since that morning I have been so happy all day, even though things are hard. This life is great...missionary life is great, but it's so great because we're living for the Lord and living for someone else. I'm excited for the mission, but I'm excited for life afterwards as well-I know we can all be happy if we just live the commandments :)
 
Well, sorry, my hour is up! (actually it was 5 minutes ago and here I am preaching about obedience...eek!) but I love you all and I'm grateful for the life I had before this. I miss a bunch of random things like the Muppets, Western stuff, California and Spain. SUPER random I know, but memories and the associations you have with them are a thing of their own lol!
 
Mahal kita!!! If you're ever feeling sad, the answer is to serve!!! Forget yourself and just do what you know you need to do! :)
 
Sister Allen

Hello everyone!!!
 
Magandang hapon po! Ako si Sister Allen at kasama ko si Sister Olive. Alam ko po na totoo ng ebanghelyo ni JesuCriso. Alam ko po na mapagmahal ng Ating Ama sa Langit.
 
hahaha! Translation: Good afternoon! My name is Sister Allen and my companion is Sister Olive. I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and I know that Heavenly Father is loving :)
 
This week has been incredible! I can't believe it's only been a week! It feels like I've been here forever!
 
I don't even know where to start...I don't feel overwhelmed necessarily, our days our just packed full of emotions and activities and it's hard to keep it all straight!
 
A little explanation about the Philippines MTC: first of all, it's an amazing place. There's a feeling of love, safety and sacredness in everything we do. It's also tiny, I think there's less than 100 missionaries here right now, and so I know everyone already! It's so much fun!
 
There's two types of missionaries here- Language Training Missionaries (LTMs) and Regular Training Missionaries (RTMs). The RTMs are all Filipinos that will only be here for 12 days (just like a stateside missionary in will only spend a couple weeks at the Provo MTC). The rest of us are here for a good 6 weeks. The LTMs are mainly from the South Pacific and the United States. There's only 2 girls from America, and the rest are Aussies, New Zealanders, Samoan, Tongan. They're kinda of crazy, but I love them:)
 
My kasama (companion) is Sister Olive, from Australia. We're basically as opposite as we could possibly be, and that's a super good thing for me! I was gently reminded again that I can be a little too controlling and prideful in what I think is the right way to do things, and so this has definitely been teaching me patience and acceptance haha. It's going well though:)
 
I love the food...Filipino food at every meal! We've had all my favorites too: Nalaga, Adobo, and lots and lots of rice! You hear that everyone gains weight at the MTC, but I'm losing it! We only eat at meal times and then are working out and everything all day, and so I have to fix my skirts so theyr'e not falling off lol!
 
Anyways.... I love the Philippines so much already! Today was the hottest it's been, but I loved it! I've seen everything you hear about the Philippines being like- crazy traffic, street vendors, horse drawn carts, coconuts, it's CRAZY here but so fun! I wish I could send pictures because some of the places the people live in are unbelievable. It definitely makes you look at your priorities and what really matters again.
 
Onto the spiritual stuff: Within the first couple days of being here we got our first 'investigator'. The way we are to prepare and learn for our investigator is amazing and so inspired by God. The process goes: Daily planning to Personal Study to Companion Study to language study to finally teaching by the spirit, with the whole goal in mind to bring others closer to Christ. Since I'm going to be teaching in Tagalog, you wouldv'e thought language study would be preliminary to all of it, but it's last!! Some of the LTMs who were here before told me to "follow the schedule exactly, and even if you want to study the language during personal study time, DON'T. The language will come." And it's so true! The most important upon most important thing you could do during a lesson is bearing PURE TESTIMONY. Regardless of the language, your relationship with Christ and with God solves all of that. I know with all my heart that that is true.
 
Probably the coolest thing that's happened so far is learning how to pray in Tagalog. We have handy little grammar books that walk you through very nicely how to pray in Tagalog, but I didn't want my prayers to just be memorized. So I studied the outline for a litte bit, and then very slowly and carefully began to pray in Tagalog. You start off by saying "Ama ko po sa Langit", which is "My Father in Heaven". When I thought about what I was actually saying, instead of just throwing out a memorized phrase, not only did I remember it, but the most beautiful feeling came into my heart and I felt so close to my Heavenly Father. I know that if I remember why I'm learning the language and who I'm doing this for, the language will come...it's kind of hard to describe I guess, but I know with assurity that it will come:)
 
And now... funny story! We get gym time every day, which is basically my favorite time of the day...haha jokes lang! All of it is my favorite haha. But anyways, we were playing basketball which was SO much fun and I was soo happy! It's pretty fun when you're one of the only girls playing and I'm guarding this super tall Fijians and New Zealanders! One time though I went in for a layup and it was going beautifully, but as I went up Elder Koy, a super tall Fijian elder, went to block me and hit me right IN THE FACE!!!!! I was ok though:)
 
Well, I love you all and even though I'm still trying to sort this all out, I'm so glad I'm here! It's a little rough, but it's meant to be like that- it's helping me grow :) The best advice I could give to anyone heading out on a mission soon is to start getting ready physically- I'm so glad I did, because some of my District is really struggling with being tired or hungry and you can't feel the spirit when you're physically weak. But I guess, the most important thing for ANYONE is to gain a personal and strong relationship with your Heavenly Father. THAT'S most important and will carry you through companionship, family, school, lesson problems.
 
Love you!!! :)
 
Sister Allen

Hello from the Philippines!!!!!
Oh my goodness...I have been waiting for this my ENTIRE LIFE!!! I love it so much already!!
The flight went well- nothing too exciting. I met up with an Elder McBride from Idaho in SLC, so we flew to Seattle and then onto Tokyo where we met up with a couple other elders.

I fell in love with the Philippines as soon as we got here- it reminds me so much of Fiji (which is why I said "bula" haha- it means hello in Fijiian). It's a little humid but feels wonderful, and I love it!

Sorry this email is short- I've got stuff to do! But I love this Gospel and I know that this is the true church. I think it's amazing that a group of 19 year old kids could be willing to hop on a plane alone, travel to the other side of the world without a phone and we're not afraid at all!!! There is a wonderful spirit and power in that and I'm so grateful for the blessing the church has been in my life!!

My preparation days are Fridays, so I'll be emailing home then.

Love you all! Stay strong and be true to the things you know!!

Mahal kita,
Sister Allen