Dear friends
and family,
I have arrived safely!
I had a few missionary adventures in the airport, including a freshmen in
college looking guy with an accent who asked me if I was LDS in the security
line. The answer was of course yes, and turns out he had just stayed a year
with a Mormon family in Idaho and was flying back to Spain to be with his
family. Cool stuff. About 3 TSA agents also asked me all about where I was
going, and said they had family on missions etc. I met up with a cool Sister
named Sister Bishop in Dulles and then we flew to Detroit (that airport is
AWESOME) and then got on the 19 hour flight to Tokyo. The lady next to me was
flying to the Philippines to visit her family, and the girl on my other side was
going to the Philippines to help at an orphanage for 4 weeks. I ended up
helping the Filipina lady go to the bathroom because she was feeling dizzy. I
think that the elderly are given a great deal of respect over here from what I
can tell, and I really like that.
When we got off our flight, however, we were supposed to exchange our money
and then meet up with people who would tell us what to do. We went to the spot
we were supposed to, and waited for about 35 minutes, but no one showed.
Worried something was wrong, there actually ended up being two Church members
on the flight who walked by and we asked if we could use their cell phone to
call the people who were supposed to pick us up. We did eventually get ahold of
them, and about ten minutes later the driver showed up to pick us up. He seemed
confused that we were there, almost like he wasn't expecting us or something.
We then went over with a large group of missionaries who had just shown up; all
of them were from Mongolia (two sets of Sisters and maybe 3 sets of Elders.)
They were very nice, and spoke really good English although the girls were
quiet and the guys more outspoken. Mongolian is a very beautiful language to
hear them speak it.
We then drove to the hotel, and by the time all was said and done it was 2
am. We walked into our rooms and there were already 6 girls in there sharing 3
beds. So... we ended up sleeping 3 and 3. I HAD to take a shower once I got
back, I felt super gross after those long flights and so much sweating from the
heat (and stressing we wouldn't be picked up/had been forgotten.) Currently,
I'm running on about 2 or 3 hours of sleep since we woke up at 4:30 this morning
to pack and eat breakfast. There was a monkey in the main hotel yard, chained
up. We took pictures, but I don't want to send those today.
As I went about finding ways to serve people, my nametag made me feel a
little bit like a cross between a super star and a super hero. It certainly
calls attention to me, but I also have a lot of responsibilities now as I'm
representing the Church. It's amazing though, and I am SO happy to be here! It
feels great because this is just what I need to be doing, and where I should be
at this time.
Driving through Manila is crazy. It's crazy here. SO MANY PEOPLE. But I
love it. I knew as soon as I stepped out of the airport that I was in for a
whole new experience. I'll tell you all more about it later.
For now,
Nagamamahal,
Sister
Larsen
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