Hello everyone!
This week was a trip, that's for sure!! We got rocked by a typhoon and the eye passed directly over my area, so that means a lot of damage and a lot of FUN! haha... It actually wasn't as bad as people make it out to be haha.. My comp was in a corner of the apartment in the fetal position while I was laughing and having a good time.. I actually ran outside a couple times for like three seconds and then went back inside cuz the rain friggin hurt! But then, came the sad part - The next day - ... the next day we woke up and went outside and holy moly! Any house that wasn't made out of concrete was destroyed. I'm sorry but I didnt take any pictures out of respect for the people.. I mean, how would you feel if your house and everything you had just got destroyed and here comes this foriegner tourist taking pictures of you and your wrecked house.. I just felt so bad for all of the people.. So, basically this whole week we have just been doing service and helping people clean up the mess.
I can't write the day-to-day thing like I usually do beacuse we really had no set schedule this week and I didn't write anything down in my planner.. We kinda just went around, talking to people, offering our help and our support. For one lady, we took all of her clothes down to the river and washed them for her cuz all of the clothes she had got dirty from the rain.. it was a good time, and I got pictures of it. But doing laundry by hand hurts! My hands were about to bleed when I got done haha.. Then for sister Mary Jane (our baptism hopefully) we had to help her completely rebuild her house, cuz it got completely destroyed. This whole week we haven't worn proselyting clothes at all haha... so every day, in a way, felt like p-day haha.. It was fun and it felt good that I got to serve the people here.
As for our apartment, it was fine as far as the structure goes but our house got flooded about up to our ankles.. and because our fridge was off for 4 days a lot of our food went bad in the fridge and freezer but after everything dried out and the power came back weve been fine. So yeah, Typhoon season has been a lot of fun and I don't think it's over haha.. So pray for me!!
But Mom, in your last email you asked me about the dentist. So I'll tell you about it.. It really wasn't all that bad at all, I think it's cuz we went to a private dentist. The one we were originally supposed to was a government clinic but the wait was 3 hours so we went to a private dentist instead and it was almost exactly the same as the US except there wasnt plastic on everything and the office kinda smelt like a minty-moldy smell haha.. But the reason I went was i noticed a lot of tartar was building up on my teeth behind my permanent retainer and it had been a year since I have had a cleaning so we decided to all get our teeth cleaned.. and Im glad I did :).. And no Mom, its not required.. But it should be! Good oral hygene is important :).. How am I supposed to convert anyone with a pangit na ngiti (ugly smile) haha..
But I had a very stressful experience yesterday.. President and Sister Anderson came and visited our branch because it was branch conference. It wasn't all that stressful at first, but then our Branch President gets up to the pulpit and he is thanking the chorister, pianist and what not, and then all of a sudden he says "And we would like to thank Elder Hansen for being our Interpreter for President Anderson"... I was like WHAT?! and immedately stood up and took my place on the stand next to president. It's so hard to interpret as people are speaking cuz your brain basically has to work in 2 languages at the same time and I found it harder to speak english than to understand the Tagalog lol... I could understand everything they were saying but it was just so hard to put it in english for President, But I got through it, and somehow I was able to interpret everything for president. Not to mention, President was asking me about my apartment and our work and basically had a conversation with me.. I found myself just giving him blank stares because I was at a loss for words.. Like no joke, it was way embarrasing but I think President understands that Tagalog is taking over my brain and I just can't have a nice flowing english conversation anymore.. But it's all good. It was a good experience and I was glad that President Anderson got to see our branch.
Anyways, thats about it for me.. Just service, no power and lots and lots of fun! I am loving my mission and am so grateful for this opportunity to be here and I am excited for this next upcoming year! I will give it my best!
I love all of you so much!!
Elder Hansen
This week was a trip, that's for sure!! We got rocked by a typhoon and the eye passed directly over my area, so that means a lot of damage and a lot of FUN! haha... It actually wasn't as bad as people make it out to be haha.. My comp was in a corner of the apartment in the fetal position while I was laughing and having a good time.. I actually ran outside a couple times for like three seconds and then went back inside cuz the rain friggin hurt! But then, came the sad part - The next day - ... the next day we woke up and went outside and holy moly! Any house that wasn't made out of concrete was destroyed. I'm sorry but I didnt take any pictures out of respect for the people.. I mean, how would you feel if your house and everything you had just got destroyed and here comes this foriegner tourist taking pictures of you and your wrecked house.. I just felt so bad for all of the people.. So, basically this whole week we have just been doing service and helping people clean up the mess.
I can't write the day-to-day thing like I usually do beacuse we really had no set schedule this week and I didn't write anything down in my planner.. We kinda just went around, talking to people, offering our help and our support. For one lady, we took all of her clothes down to the river and washed them for her cuz all of the clothes she had got dirty from the rain.. it was a good time, and I got pictures of it. But doing laundry by hand hurts! My hands were about to bleed when I got done haha.. Then for sister Mary Jane (our baptism hopefully) we had to help her completely rebuild her house, cuz it got completely destroyed. This whole week we haven't worn proselyting clothes at all haha... so every day, in a way, felt like p-day haha.. It was fun and it felt good that I got to serve the people here.
As for our apartment, it was fine as far as the structure goes but our house got flooded about up to our ankles.. and because our fridge was off for 4 days a lot of our food went bad in the fridge and freezer but after everything dried out and the power came back weve been fine. So yeah, Typhoon season has been a lot of fun and I don't think it's over haha.. So pray for me!!
But Mom, in your last email you asked me about the dentist. So I'll tell you about it.. It really wasn't all that bad at all, I think it's cuz we went to a private dentist. The one we were originally supposed to was a government clinic but the wait was 3 hours so we went to a private dentist instead and it was almost exactly the same as the US except there wasnt plastic on everything and the office kinda smelt like a minty-moldy smell haha.. But the reason I went was i noticed a lot of tartar was building up on my teeth behind my permanent retainer and it had been a year since I have had a cleaning so we decided to all get our teeth cleaned.. and Im glad I did :).. And no Mom, its not required.. But it should be! Good oral hygene is important :).. How am I supposed to convert anyone with a pangit na ngiti (ugly smile) haha..
But I had a very stressful experience yesterday.. President and Sister Anderson came and visited our branch because it was branch conference. It wasn't all that stressful at first, but then our Branch President gets up to the pulpit and he is thanking the chorister, pianist and what not, and then all of a sudden he says "And we would like to thank Elder Hansen for being our Interpreter for President Anderson"... I was like WHAT?! and immedately stood up and took my place on the stand next to president. It's so hard to interpret as people are speaking cuz your brain basically has to work in 2 languages at the same time and I found it harder to speak english than to understand the Tagalog lol... I could understand everything they were saying but it was just so hard to put it in english for President, But I got through it, and somehow I was able to interpret everything for president. Not to mention, President was asking me about my apartment and our work and basically had a conversation with me.. I found myself just giving him blank stares because I was at a loss for words.. Like no joke, it was way embarrasing but I think President understands that Tagalog is taking over my brain and I just can't have a nice flowing english conversation anymore.. But it's all good. It was a good experience and I was glad that President Anderson got to see our branch.
Anyways, thats about it for me.. Just service, no power and lots and lots of fun! I am loving my mission and am so grateful for this opportunity to be here and I am excited for this next upcoming year! I will give it my best!
I love all of you so much!!
Elder Hansen
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