The Second Half!

August 1, 2011

Hello everyone, who else is totally shocked that it's August? In addition, this is the first P-day of the second half of my mission, sad! I want my mission to just keep going on forever, it's too fun to already be half over. Along with the adjustment of being half way over with my mission, I've had to make a slightly unexpected adjustment with the last transfer day, which just happened Friday. My companion transferred, we definitely expected to have 2 transfers together and were both very disappointed that we didn't. She's been sent up to Kalibo to help open a new area, and I've stayed here in Oton to work with my first junior companion. (yes, that means I'm a senior companion now) It's been a bit of an adjustment, being the one expected to lead the area and know what's going on, but I've already started to see how the Lord is blessing me with the extra help I need.

My current companion is my last companion's bata. (for those of you unfamiliar with mission lingo and hiligaynon, that means the person I'm currently assigned to work with was trained by the person I was previously working with) This means she has the same diligent work ethic and desire to be obedient. I'm certainly looking forward to this transfer (or maybe two) that I have to work with her. I feel like the Lord has blessed me so much with this current companion. Through her, he's made this challenge much easier for me to handle. She's incredibly kind and has a beautiful smile. She has some difficulty speaking the language because her tagalog sometimes slips out instead. However, she has cousins who speak Hiligaynon, so she understands it perfectly and can usually think of the word I need when I don't know it. She and I are going to press forward and make Oton and amazing area to work in.

Well- on to the second half, hopefully it's not too fast!