My first day was pretty disorienting. Once I got all of my materials and dropped off my luggage in my room, they sent me straight to my classroom, where they immediately jumped into a lesson. I should have realize, but I didn't know that they practice immersion here. I was so so lost. The material we were supposed to be learning was "Getting to Know Someone." A lot of it was lost on me at the time, because I couldn't make out the instructions due to it all being in Tagalog. One thing I did learn is that Tagalog is a very guttural language. The sound "ng" from song has its own consonant and is often used as its own word to mean "of" more or less.
In that first class, I met my companions. Yep, companions plural. Apparently three man companionships happen and are commonly called tripanionships. I love Elder Whitney and Elder Rilloraza. They're fantastic missionaries with great testimonies.
Elder Whitney very recently graduated High School and is still eighteen, but knows a lot about missionary work because he has an older brother that got back from his mission a week before he reported for his own mission.
Elder Rilloraza graduated from High School when he was sixteen, and only has a single term left of college before he has his bachelors. He's was in the ROTC program for the Air Force. He is second generation Filipino, so he understands a lot of what is said, but isn't used to speaking Tagalog, and what he does speak doesn't have the words of respect that missionaries are taught to use. In a way he knows a lot more than we do, but he also has a lot more bad habits when it comes to Tagalog.
After we left class, Elder Whitney felt quite ill and didn't eat at Dinner, and vomited more than once. We took him to the front desk where they gave him some medication and where Elder Rilloraza and I obtained consecrated oil from a brother there. Once we got back to our room, with help from the missionary handbook, Elder Rilloraza anointed the oil, and I was able to seal the anointing for the very first time. It was a beautiful and intensely spiritual experience. I think I quoted scripture in the blessing itself, but I definitely couldn't do so if I was asked to do so know, and I'm not even sure which scripture I quoted. All I know is that later that evening, Elder Whitney was up and about and feeling much better.
The other amazing thing I learned on that first day is that Elder Ryan Moe and Elder Jordan Kocherhans, who I went to school with, are both here in the MTC, and Elder Kocherhans is my zone leader. I also ran into Sister Mary Hoskins on my third day. I love running into fellow missionaries from Maeser.
The second day, I learned that there's a journal that is passed between Maeser Alumni, and each missionary that gets hold of it adds a single entry into the journal. I saw names that I recognized from my first year at Maeser all the way down to classmates of my own year. The last entry was from Sister Sami Baker, who was a very good friend. Hers was the only one that I read all the way through, and it brought a powerful spirit to my heart and a broad smile to my face.
The third day, after two days of learning the language, we were given the task of giving a lesson to our "investigator" Brother Ricky. We were told that Brother Ricky speaks very little English, that he already had been given a Book of Mormon by a friend, and that he was originally from the Philippines. That lesson had me very very worried. I wrote down my testimony, using the very limited Tagalog I knew, and did my best to memorize it. Before we entered the room, we said a pretty desperate prayer. Then we knocked on the door with a "Tao po" which is the common phrase that Filipinos add to knocking on doors. Brother Ricky opened the door, and we fumbled our way to being welcomed inside. The message that we shared and the answers to the questions he had weren't pretty, but I think a native would have understand our general meaning. I felt the spirit, but was very relieved to have it over with. One thing I realize in retrospect is that we cannot teach the Lords message without feeling the Lord's love for our investigator, regardless of if he's an actor or not. It's something I pray for and ask the Lord for help with.
I love you all and so does Ama po namin sa lagint (our Father in Heaven). He's watching out for Tayo (all of us)
Alam po ko na propeta po si Joseph Smith. Alam po ko na totoo po ang Aklat ni Mormon. Sa pangalan ni Jesucristo Amen.
