Chloe in the Philippines: MY FIRST EMAIL!!

MANGANDANG UMAGA!!! GOOD MORNING!!
Ahhhh it is soooo goood to talk to you!! Oh my goodness where do I even begin. How about generals- the MTC is SO COOL! Its awesome! I am learning so so much and it is so so good and so so hard! I got your dear elders yesterday and it was so so so so so good to hear from you! I feel like ive been here for forever even though its only what, my third day? I cant believe that. its a lie. Ive been here for For. ev. ver. No wonder all the elders and sister who have been here for a week or longer feel like such old timers and wont let you forget it too! Ok so starting from the beginning- my flight was good, i sat next to a sister because the airport dude saw us chatting up a storm and called us up and switched our seats to be next to each other. Halllelu! there were like 6 other elders on the plane and another sister besides the one i was sitting next to. We all rode the shuttle and i was with people the whole time which was good. When we pulled up to the MTC it was like wut. du. heck. this is so scary and im so alone! it was like the drop off in nemo. THE DROP OFF YOU'RE SENDING HIM TO THE DROP OFF?? Anyways i digress. as soon as the shuttle pulled up a sister helped me with my bags. BLESSING because man, those things can fit all of russia inside of them as far as I'm concerned. I'm a small girl. and very weak too. anwyayyyysss so she was my host and sent me into this building where i literally felt like i was a car on an assembly line. i was being told where to go, being handed things, being stamped with my nametag (Which was sooo cool by the way! the lady pinned it on me and said "you are now officially a missionary" and i teared up because I WAS REAL! LEGIT! IM A MISH!) then i got a ton of tagalog books, met my host, we dropped off my stuff, and straight to the classroom with all my books! No time to unpack or fully realize what the heck you just go yourself into. So i go into the classroom, and BAM the rumors are true people- 100% tagalog immersion. I was sooo lost and looked like a deer in headlights. My teacher brother smith was saying "KUmasta po kayo!" and tons of other things that are simple but i was like whaaaatttt. he brought me up to the board and started to fire tagalog at me and teach me what it all means, without english. it was so crazy. i would repeat things and he would correct me and i would do it 10 times and it had no clue what i was saying, only from hand gestures. my eyes started watering as he was shooting me with the firehose and i was like NOoooooo stopppp ittt because inside i knew it was ok and i could do it and was trying to tell myself to calm down but my eyes didn't get the memo. weak sauce. He then introduced me to my companion! She is so awesome! she is super short, she is from peru but has lived in cali for the last 3 years. she is 24 years old and so so sweet. seriously shes great, we get along well, shes easy going and i love her! She wants to work really hard and be obedient just like i do so its perf. that day we had classes and stuff about how to teach investigators and there is so much to say and so little time! pretty much what i learned was it is so important to listen to what the investigator is asking and not to say what you want. we got a tour at night, we went home to unpack. that night was rough, i was homesick but not really. i dont know how to explain it because i did not want to be home, or have my friends there or anything, i knew i wanted to be a missionary, but for some reason it was still hard. The next day was great! its so true about the emotional rollercoaster thing. ok so now im talking about the 24th, we had personal study companionship study language study class class class study study study. I am seriously working so so hard on this language, every minute im not doing something else im going over our vocab packet, saying it outloud, thinking about how to say things, reading flashcards, anything. All the time, like in line for food, while eating food, while walking, while drifting off to sleep. i am working so. dang. hard, because it is so dang hard. i feel so dumb, or i dont know if thats the right word, maybe like a little baby who cant talk. ya thats more like it. there is so much i dont know how to say and only a couple things i can say. frustrating!! But i know it will come in time and if i keep working hard it will all be ok. i know you are probably thinking "but chloe its only your second day! chilax!" NO. they do not treat you like its your second day, so i dont feel like it. ah i cant explain that better there is so much more to say. um ok yesterday! so in the middle of the night our third companion showed up! her name is sister T because i can nooo way say her last name, she speaks 2% english and is from some tiny tiny island near australia but i dont know how to say it because i cant understand her. its hard being in a tri-panionship (is that a real word or just an mtc word?) and especially because she is so so behind on the language, and speaks like no english. HHhuff and puff. i dont know what were going to do about that, im trying to teach her everything we learned in line for food and stuff but ive still got to practice all the new stuff we learned, its tricky. yesterday we taught our first investigator. in all tagalog. you heard me! it was sooo harrrddd! her name is ellen and she doesnt speak any english. before we went in there me and my companions prayed that the spirit would make up the difference in what we couldnt say. we started with intros like "kumasta po kayo! ako po si sister mcgrath" ah mabuti mabuti. oh my gosh it is so hard to make small talk and get to know someone when all you know is whats your name, good (mabuti). anwawys I prayed in tagalong to start (ok i cheated and peeked at my paper the whole time) and then we just said a couple simple truths from our papers. then i bore my testimony in the little tiny bit of tagalog i knew. and then we prayed and left. AHHHHH it was so bad. i felt so discouraged afterwards and so weak. i felt like crying because there was so much i wanted to tell her about her savior and her divine nature and joseph smith or the atonement of ANYTHING but i couldnt say it! It is so hard!! sister f was really encouraging and thanked me for bearing my testimony and said we did teh best with what we knew. i guess so. haha ;) I am trying so hard and praying so hard and doing my best, but my best is so weak! i never realized how dependent i am on prayer, im pulling my own weight but its so weak. i feel like little shriveled up voldemort when he splits his soul into those dang horcruxes and hes just a little raspy voiced skin sack. Ok. that was a terrible analogy. i dont actually feel like a raspy voiced skin sack. um..... i dont know how to redeem myself from that so im just going to move on. generally though im happy and totally fine! I am working hard (did i already mention that 100 times?) haha but no, it is really so so good. the hardest thing ever, but really good. i cant imagine how much better my tagalog is going to be by the time of my next letter because i already know more than i did 3 days ago!!! now about random stuff- the food is delish! people are liars- cafeteria food is the bomb. i guess im not picky, but still. i eat like, so much. more than my other two companions combined. but thats nothing new wink wink smile smile grin grin:) (isnt it a miracle i can still be my awkward weirdo self over an EMAIL?) um what else. my bed is suups comf. that means super comfy. the shower is nice, you know, its wet and stuff. water. its good to me. waking up early is a struggle but its my life now! there is seriously less hours in the day at the mtc, i have no idea where all the time goes! by the time its 10:15 im cramming everything into my journal and trying to squeeze in a verse or two and pray so hard and sincere all before 10:30. its impossible! what else what else? oh my district! there are 5 girls and 3 elders and we rock. all the elders just graduated HS and the sisters are all super nice and we are great friends. its like a little family and we are all going through the same stuff and we are all brothers and sisters. the elders gave blessings to us and it was so sweet. were all working really hard and helping each
im trying to send them but idk if it works!! it will try in another email
ok i love you alll so much and miss you but am so happy to be here! I am doing good! i need lots of prayers for my language but i am really really doing great and i love being a missionary!!
how about some pics??