Hubog, NPA, and Trunky Letters
Well this has been an eventful week here in San Carlos. Craziness is really the best word I can think of to describe it.
So here in the Philippines, because of the massive amounts of Catholics everywhere, when there is a catholic holiday, it's a national holiday. So on Tuesday it was All Saints Day... and then on Wednesday it was All Souls Day. I couldn't tell you the difference between the two or even what either of them mean. What I do know is that EVERYONE goes to the cemetary, lights candles, brings flowers and does who knows what all day. Which meant lots of punting for us, especially on Tuesday because that was actually the national holiday. Wednesday we had a little more luck, but not too much. It doesn't seem to matter if you are Catholic or not, when it's a holiday, it's a holiday and everyone celebrates.
Thursday was our Zone Conference, I will get to that in a minute, and also the first day of the biggest fiesta in San Carlos called Pintaflores which lasted until Saturday. So Thursday we didn't really do much anyway because ZC was all day. On Friday we expected to get kind of punted, but we still got some lessons in. But then on Saturday, that was different. That is the biggest day of the festival. Parade, dance festival, craziness EVERYWHERE and a ton of drunk people. We had a lunch appointment and that was about it. And then there was this other little problem that kind of effected our work. So we have this rebel military group here called the NPA and they don't like anyone and basically just want to kill everyone. Anyway, there was a threat made on the fiesta and because I am white I am especially at risk, so we weren't really allowed to do to much. We had to be in early and weren't allowed to be in big groups of people near any of the military or police because they were targets for bomb threats and shootings. For the most part the Philippines is just a peaceful and happy place and then every once in awhile you get crazies. And then EVERYONE in this town got totally hubog (that's drunk) and so it was much safer for us to just stay in our house. Nothing ever really happened with the NPA that we heard about, but it was better to be safe than sorry. And we got to see a ton of military people in our city. So that was fun... Ha ha. Nobody worry. No big deal.
So back to our Zone Conference. It was great. But it didn't feel like my last zone conference. It was weird. I don't know how to explain it. But it was still really good. I also got a chance to have an interview with Pres. Tobias which was great. He told me that he put me in San Carlos because I have a strong personality and he needs someone mature here. Apparently he is worried about false doctrine here. So he's sent me here to clean things up... hahaha... or so to speak. Anyway, I was just so grateful for the time with him and having him tell me that he trusts me. That makes such a difference to my confidence as a missionary. If you have the trust of the mission president you can trust you have the trust of the Lord. It's a good feeling.
Well today is the transfer announcement but I still don't know what is happening. No news yet. Last night I got my trunky letter, basically it's the keep working hard until the end letter, but then it has all this other stuff in the envelope too which doesn't exactly scream "focus". More like "the end is so close!" I don't like it. Oh well. I did get info for coming home. Looks like I leave the Pines on the 19th of December and get to St. George on the 20th. Time is flying! Love you all!!!
Sister Jackson
So here in the Philippines, because of the massive amounts of Catholics everywhere, when there is a catholic holiday, it's a national holiday. So on Tuesday it was All Saints Day... and then on Wednesday it was All Souls Day. I couldn't tell you the difference between the two or even what either of them mean. What I do know is that EVERYONE goes to the cemetary, lights candles, brings flowers and does who knows what all day. Which meant lots of punting for us, especially on Tuesday because that was actually the national holiday. Wednesday we had a little more luck, but not too much. It doesn't seem to matter if you are Catholic or not, when it's a holiday, it's a holiday and everyone celebrates.
Thursday was our Zone Conference, I will get to that in a minute, and also the first day of the biggest fiesta in San Carlos called Pintaflores which lasted until Saturday. So Thursday we didn't really do much anyway because ZC was all day. On Friday we expected to get kind of punted, but we still got some lessons in. But then on Saturday, that was different. That is the biggest day of the festival. Parade, dance festival, craziness EVERYWHERE and a ton of drunk people. We had a lunch appointment and that was about it. And then there was this other little problem that kind of effected our work. So we have this rebel military group here called the NPA and they don't like anyone and basically just want to kill everyone. Anyway, there was a threat made on the fiesta and because I am white I am especially at risk, so we weren't really allowed to do to much. We had to be in early and weren't allowed to be in big groups of people near any of the military or police because they were targets for bomb threats and shootings. For the most part the Philippines is just a peaceful and happy place and then every once in awhile you get crazies. And then EVERYONE in this town got totally hubog (that's drunk) and so it was much safer for us to just stay in our house. Nothing ever really happened with the NPA that we heard about, but it was better to be safe than sorry. And we got to see a ton of military people in our city. So that was fun... Ha ha. Nobody worry. No big deal.
So back to our Zone Conference. It was great. But it didn't feel like my last zone conference. It was weird. I don't know how to explain it. But it was still really good. I also got a chance to have an interview with Pres. Tobias which was great. He told me that he put me in San Carlos because I have a strong personality and he needs someone mature here. Apparently he is worried about false doctrine here. So he's sent me here to clean things up... hahaha... or so to speak. Anyway, I was just so grateful for the time with him and having him tell me that he trusts me. That makes such a difference to my confidence as a missionary. If you have the trust of the mission president you can trust you have the trust of the Lord. It's a good feeling.
Well today is the transfer announcement but I still don't know what is happening. No news yet. Last night I got my trunky letter, basically it's the keep working hard until the end letter, but then it has all this other stuff in the envelope too which doesn't exactly scream "focus". More like "the end is so close!" I don't like it. Oh well. I did get info for coming home. Looks like I leave the Pines on the 19th of December and get to St. George on the 20th. Time is flying! Love you all!!!
Sister Jackson
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