More on my new companion, Sister Paragas! So she is from Pangacina (the northern part of the Philippines), turning 23 TODAY, and is almost finished with her mission! She goes home in 3 short weeks. Needless to say, she is so awesome and I love her so much! We have the greatest time together and I'm so lucky to have her! So obviously I live with Sis. Paragas, my companion, but we also share our apartment with two other sisters, Sis. Dala and Sis. Enlacinto. I'm not going to lie - when we're not working our butts off being missionaries, we have a lot of fun in our apartment! It's so funny because if the four of us go anywhere, everything thinks that I'm the mom walking with my three children, just because I'm a solid foot taller than the three of them haha
So something that has been a little different, but really just a HUGE blessing and so much fun, is the fact that I'm the only non-Filipino in my apartment and in my district. Hence, I'm really immersed in the language and culture, but I absolutely LOVE IT!!!!!! I've also come to find out that the mission is the best foreign exchange program ever! I learn so much from all of the Filipino missionaries, especially the sisters I live with in my apartment, and I even get to teach them a thing or two (:
It kind of goes like this:
-They help me with my Bisayan, and I teach them English slang words.
-They taught me how to pick lice out of my hair, and I taught them that the fly swatter was not intended to be used as a back scratcher (which is what they originally thought it was haha).
-They've taught me to learn all sorts of fun and yummy native foods like canned hash (my nickname for it is "Mystery Meat"), fish head, and chicken feet. And I've successfully got them hooked on imported American food, peanut butter and oreos!
-They teach me the right way to wash my clothes (we have to wash them by hand here, and I didn't know how to do that my first 2 transfers here.Which brings up the question - Exactly how well were my clothes washed for the last 3 months?) and how to go to the bathroom without toilet paper! And it's a work in progress, but I'm slowly helping them understand what it means to sing on pitch haha
Really it's a beautiful thing! And probably my favorite thing about living with Pinays is that they are so happy, so loving, and giving. There really is such a special spirit here in the Philippines! The people here are so jolly and always celebrating, even if from an outsider's perspective there might seem little to be happy about. They are positive and strong in spirit, and it really is such a blessing for me to be assigned here in the Philippines. I absolute love my mission! And especially for the opportunity I have to be surrounded by so many Christ-like people! I love my calling and I love my work! Hope everyone is doing FANTASTIC!!!!!
From a super super super happy Sister Lauck (:
P.S. Here's a pic of my companion Sister Paragas and I! Next week I'll send a picture of the 4 of us sisters in the apartment so you can get a good head of the height difference haha
