Thought They Saw Double

Got a haircut last week, so that's why I'm sending another pic of Sister Dumayas and me.  Last haircut I got was last October, so I figured it was about time.  Pretty much have no hair now and it's still falling out...don't know how to tell my body that I'll eventually be moving back to the cold and need all the hair again.That's aight, it'll grow back.

The picture is of Sis Dumayas and I at MLC, the meeting for the leaders in the mission.  It was pretty awesome, we had focus groups talk about current rules and things in place in the mission and then decide what the rule is and what it should possibly be changed to be.  It was pretty legit; they said they'll be doing it at the next MLC's as well.  Super cool to see the handoff of the mission from one mission President to the next, and how the adjustments are made with the help of the missionaries.

I went on exchanges this week with Sister Larsen!  Everyone was super confused that our names are exactly the same, and quite a few asked if we were actually sisters. I still think we might be related since her dad's side's from Idaho. Sister Larsen's way fun to have around; we'll probably be here in the same apartment until I "die" off my mission hopefully :)  While on exchanges, we ate kikiam (has a little bit of fish and a lot of flour) and squid balls (same deal, but squid bits) and it was super delicious.  It's normally a street food so we're not allowed to eat it, but this was prepared by members and therefore okay.  If it wasn't bawal.. not allowed... I'd probably eat street foods like every day of my mission, but everything here is fried so that's maybe not the best idea ever.

We went on exchanges with missionaries out of the Missionary Training Center this week.  You'll remember back when I was in the MTC that we went on exchanges with missionaries in the Manila area twice while in the MTC.  It was super duper weird because I still remember those exchanges out of the MTC, and as I went with the super fresh missionary around helping her get a feel for missionary work, it was like... whew.  That was forever ago I was still in the MTC, and SO much has happened, but it also seems like it was just yesterday.  Super strange; I'm feeling super old in my mission at this point.  

Cool thing about my area here is that it's exactly across the highway from my old area in PQ 1 ward.  So I see my old area every day, and see people from 1st ward when I go to church sometimes.  Way nice.  First ward was a super party, one of the most memorable times of my mission in a lot of ways.  It's always nice to see familiar faces; and I really love Paranaque.  Happy to be here.

I'm learning some Ilocano from Sister Dumayas.  That's another dialect here in the Philippines, and the other Sister who lives with us is also Ilocano so they speak it to each other.  I picked up some of it just from listening.  There's SO many different languages in the Philippines, it's super awesome, but almost everyone speaks at least some Tagalog.

Last but not least... the Philippines is the best, because no matter where you are they're probably either playing 80's rock, rap, or dubstep/electronica.  Not that I listen to it really as a missionary, but even in super public places there's dubstep playing inside local grocery stores, hahah.  Not acceptable in the U.S., totally cool here.  I like the chillness aspect of Filipino culture; that's always a nice thing for sure.

Much love,

Sister Larsen