Kamusta!!!!

Hey everyone! Coming to you live from the MTC this is Sister Lauck!

Sister Lauck is official with her name tag!

I'm sorry I haven't been able to send an email yet after 17 days...haha  I promise I didn't die (though the shrimp nuggets they served at the cafeteria almost killed me).  Basically the last 17 days can be summed up with one simple statement - I LOVE being a missionary.  I am just so happy all the time.  I am happy to wake up at 6:30am each day (and anyone who has ever lived with me knows that this is a miracle)!  I am happy to spend 10 hours in a classroom studying each day.  I am happy to be learning how I can help invite others to come unto Christ - I am just a happy sister missionary!  Learning Cebuano has been quite a party.  I feel like this statement from my Cebuano grammar book best sums up my feelings, "The Cebuano language is both varied and unpredictable".  Yup, I feel like that's pretty accurate haha because Cebuano (or Bisayan as it is called in the Philippines) is strictly an oral language. There's really no "right" way to say something. When my district and I are learning Cebuano and we ask our teacher for an explanation they usually say, "It's just what sounds right".  Haha thank you.  I'm slowly learning what "sounds right" and I am really learning to love the language.  It's really neat to see how far I've gotten in just two weeks and I'm coming along just great.  One of our teachers told my district that one Elder left the MTC fluent in Cebuano.  Challenge accepted.  Speaking of my district, it is an all-sister district which is such a rare occurance!

The All-Sister district with Sister Mataipule from Australia, Sister Poteki from Tonga, Sister Lauck, Sister Crow from Buffalo NY, and Sister Holmes formerly from Cypress Texas!

We spend literally 24/7 with each and I love all of those girls to death! In my district are my two companions Sister Holmes (who's originally from my home stake in Cypress,TX - how cool is that??!) and Sister Crow (she is from Buffalo,NY and is basically amazing at everything). They are both fantastic and together we make a pretty solid companionship. Also in my district is Sister Mataipule and Sister Poteki, from Australia and Tonga. They are just a ball of fun and when you get the 3 of us together it's guaranteed we will end up on the floor in laughter. I guess that's what happens when you get the full tri-fecta of Polynesians together (:

Nothing but fun when you hook up three Polynesians!

I have already learned so much and have had so many special experiences here, especially pertaining to prayer. I want everyone to know that no matter what your relationship is with your Heavenly Father, whether you pray to him everyday or you haven't in years, that He loves you and wants you to talk to him and share your thoughts and feelings with Him. I know that He will listen to you and bless you beyond measure because He loves you. I hope everyone is doing well! I feel so blessed because I am pretty convinced I got THE BEST family and friends in the world. Thank you everyone for all of the letters and Dear Elder's, they make my day! I love you all!

Much love,
Sister Lauck

P.S. Here's a picture of my district, the poly connection, and me with my name tag on which totally makes everything official!