Welcome to the Jungle!

Greetings from Cagayan!
I already love this place, it really is a whole different world out
here! In San Nic it was kinda like living in the suburbs where there
was a mall and a city and everything you need and working out in the
fields where people live in bamboo houses. Here its kinda like a
little country town literally out in the middle of absolute nowhere
and I LOVE it, but having said that I haven't tried to buy anything
yet so I'll see how I go later on today.

So last Monday night we did the rounds and said goodbye to as many
people as we could but just really didn't have enough time, didn't
even get to say goodbye to most people which was sad. But we finished
off with all our RC's having a little FHE which was amazing. At the
end they all took it in turns to tell me their testimony and how we
had truly changed all their lives. We all cried, we hard out cried,
but the worst thing was the day before we'd had a little run in with
one of the dads the day before and he didn't come to say goodbye. We
went by on the way home and the kids said they'd gone to bed. Oh I
cried so much more, I was truly devastated to leave them on that note,
but sometimes thats just how it is so I really hope they're doing ok.
I cried so much that day (man I am a pansy now) that when I rocked up
to the bus station the next day I could barely open my eyes because
they'd swelled up to the worst kind of fat. Everyone was like wow, you
literally look horrible. Great. The bus ride up was great for a while,
the scenery is amazing. The road is beach and countryside and
mountains and valleys, windmills, everything. Until I started to feel
real sick, and I was praying real hard that I wouldn't throw up
because there was nowhere for it. I literally prayed for about an hour
until the inspiration came that I had a bag of Mentos is my bag, so I
tipped them out and went for gold. Then sat there for the next hour
and a half holding the vomit bag. Primitive.
When I got here it was raining, and its rained a lot since, and its
probably not going to stop raining. There are 6 sisters living in our
tiny house and it is absolute chaos in there, plus we just got two
elders in the branch too who live on the next street. 8 missionaries
in one branch! Basically calls for almost weekly baptisms. Plus all 8
of us have had dinner appointments together every single night this
week so were already getting really close. My companion is Sister
Baguio and I wish I had a picture of her, next week, but she is
literally a Disney princess. She is the cutest thing that ever
happened to the world, shes from Tarlac in the Philippines and she
speaks Tagalog, English, Cebuano and Ilocano, so were basically good
whoever we teach, which is good because were out here now where its
all Ilocano. And shes a boss at teaching, she can teach deep doctrine
while acting like a game show host, I love it. Went out to the jungle
and met the mountain people, they look exactly like aboriginals and
live in little hut communities. These kids were playing basketball and
they literally stopped and dropped the ball and stared. I don't think
theres been any white girls out here before, let alone a little
blondie in a dress and a name tag.
So just to make life a little bit more primitive, this morning I
washed my clothes, cleaned the bathroom and took a shower all out of
the same bucket.
Love it.
Philippines.
So I'm probably going to retire here and live by the beach and sell
something, maybe bananas or shell necklaces and just be so happy. This
is the best place in the world.
So I love you all, and I really hope you are all doing your bit. Its
our duty as members of this church to build up the kingdom, and if you
don't, read the Book of Mormon, it'll tell you what will happen if you
don't :-)
Be safe, be happy.
Maraming salamat sa inyong pagmamahal sa akin. Mahal ko kayo!
Sister McKim x