Sister Brittany Robertson: Week 6 - I'm in the Philippines!

[Brittany left the MTC at 3:30am Utah time on August 21, caught a flight to LAX and from there left on a 15-hour flight to the Philippines. She had permission to call us from the airport so we it was great to hear her voice and feel of her enthusiasm for her mission. In Manilla, she will spend a week at the Missionary Training center there and then head out to her first assigned area.]

So turns out P-day is today, and there was no way to get that message to y'all so it is okay. But!! Let me start out by saying that HOLY SMOKES it was SO fun to talk to y'all yesterday!!! Wow I cannot believe how much fun it was to just hear your voices and talk to y'all freely! I cried so much hahah I just love you guys so so much. Because, we talked yesterday, I do not have a ton to catch y'all up on, pero I will still fill you in on some fun things that has happened this week!!

We landed in Manila at about 11p and it was guess what- raining!! Super fun and exciting(: Good thing my luggage and bag is waterproof! We drove a bus to Quezon City where the MTC was and the MTC President was on the bus with us and he. is. HILARIOUS!! He is so fun to talk to. He said, "tell your parents the exchange rate is super high here so they'll send you a lot of money" hahha he is just a hoot. Also, at 12:30a on a Wednesday night is HOPPIN' in Manila. The city looked like it was only 9p with how many cars were on the road and how many people were up and living life. It was pretty interesting!

We got to the MTC at like 1 am and then Sister Bergman and I stayed up talking, not realizing how late it was cause our bodies were wide awake, until 2 am and then went to bed, then arose at 6 am! So it was an interesting night as a missionary hahha. But the flight was AWESOME!! First of all, the plane was practically empty so we could totally spread out as we wanted. And second of all, Sister Bergman and I were seated behind 6 filipinos who all spoke Hiligaynon!! They were from Ilo Ilo, so it was super fun to practice Illonggo with them! They were taking sooo many selfies and pictures with us because they just thought it was so fun that these two white girls could speak Hiligaynon haha! And then third reason the flight was super great was because we slept ELEVEN out of the thirteen and a half hours the flight was. So literally we woke up, ate, and had only 2ish hours left to read the Book of Mormon and fill out the customs forms. And also customs was wayy easy to go through. Super seamless. We all got all our bags, no problem!

And, I have to share something that may shake dad hahha! Okay so- first things first- we got "new" companions here at the MTC. Since there are so few sisters going to Bacolod in our batch (two sets of companionships to be exact) there was not a lot of room for shuffling SO my new companionship is just Sister Bergman!!! Sister Ellis got paired with the other companionship so now they are the trio and we are the two person companionship. Pretty funny but pretty happy for us. Also, there is like 300 missionaries here at this MTC which breaks the record since this MTC has opened!! And because of that, we are squished for rooming. So, some sisters are split up from their companions and some sisters aren't in the main residence building, but rather put in the building where the Senior couples usually live. So that is the case for Sister Bergman and I, soooo we are in our OWN room with a refrigerator, microwave, our own bathroom, AND a queen sized bed. This is the funny thing, though. So you know that rule of "Sleep in the same room, but not in the same bed"? Yeah- we got an exception to that;) Straight from the mission president!! So yeah, all the things you knew about that rule dad, just went down the drain hahaha. Pretty funny. And also the mattresses here are like memory foam and the residences are wayyy nicer here than the Provo MTC!! I am living!

Other than that, we got up this morning and saw all the beautiful palm trees and felt the super intense humidity (that totally feels like Texas and I love it so much!) and just wow it is amazing here! We got up, and walked straight to the temple, across the street, through a tunnel underground, and got a session card for 2p today! It is a gorgeous temple and I cannot wait for that. We, then, went to breakfast, which of course was rice and some meat and an egg. So awesome! I feel so filipino already:))) We get to go proselyting with Tagalog missionaries on Saturday which I am superrr pumped for. I, obviously, don't speak Tagalog but I heard it is an amazing experience! I heard there is a big birthday celebration for everyone one of the days we are here, where the MTC celebrates all birthdays for the whole year. Super cute. There is also a pizza night I heard so I am pumped for that- maybe they eat pizza with rice! Who knows!

Oh! Another cute thing here is that they have a scheduled snack time every day! Hahaha we died. So cute. Other than that, I do not have much to add to what I told y'all yesterday! Except that the See's Candy I bought was superr worth it. I am enjoying myself so much hehe(: I will leave with a spiritual thought, like pirme (always)!

During our departure devotional, the MTC President brought up the saying "not even once". I think it is in an ensign or something, but it is a quote from a talk. It basically is saying "I won't disobey once" or fill-in-the-blank whatever you want. Examples include "I wont wake up late even once" or "I will not say something sassy even once" or "I will not miss a day of Book of Mormon reading even once" - you get the point. I just think it is such a beautiful thought that everyone can do, even if you are not on a full-time mission. It is such a good principle to live no matter where you are or what stage of life you are in. Brother Martino warned that Satan will try to undo all the good we have done at the MTC, and he clarified that it's not a "maybe". It's a for sure. Satan hates what we are doing here and will try as hard as he can to undo it, and the way to avoid his grasp, is to have the "not even once" mindset. Because if we do it once, Satan has a hold on us. So we need to work hard and not let him even get the chance. We truly do have the power to say "Get thee hence, Satan." We really do. That is such a huge power that sometimes we forget we have. But with our choices, we have the power to cast him out. And that is how I try to live my life. I love the mission so much and I have had more power here to do things than I have my whole life. And I am so blessed and changed because of it. Thank you family for getting me here through all your examples and support. I love y'all oh so very much.

Sister Robertson

Here is a picture with our cute Philipino friends on our flight!! They spoke Hiligaynon and were so amazed that two American girls could speak it also.

Here is a picture trying to capture how many missionaries were at the airport with us! All of us are going to the Philippines!

Here is our breakfast on the plane- rice and eggs and chicken adobo. So Filipino!!

HERE IS THE CUTEST LITTLE TOOTHPASTE EVER I FREAKED OUT THE WHOLE PLANE RIDE SOOOO CUTE

Here is a really low quality pic of coming into Manila. It was gorgeous. But since it was so dark- the shutter speed was super slow and thus- it was hard to take a clear picture.