2015 IS HERE! Do you know what that means?! It means that I get to be a missionary for the full twelve months of this year!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, that was a little over the top. And maybe a little sarcastic. #sorrynotsorry. Okay. Won't use hashtags anymore.
BUT! I really am looking forward to these next twelve months! Wow! Twelve months. One year. When I think too much about it, the thought scares me. My mind can go off in all sorts of different directions very, very easily. And so I've trained it. I've trained my mind. I never let myself get too far ahead of myself. One day at a time. One hour at a time. Step by step. There are certain things that I cannot control, so why freak out about them? I can do this! You can do this! We all can! There is something about the mission that has almost forced me to develop this "I-can" attitude. That's good, right?! Sister Teo takes on the world!
ALSO- BEFORE I FORGET, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRYS!!!! HAPPY SWEET SIXTEEN!!! AHH!! How are you sixteen already?!?!? I remember when I turned sixteen! Wasn't that just yesterday?! And this year I turn twenty? What! I have no idea where all the years have gone (such a cliched line, but so true). Happy birthday! You are so beautiful and bright and smart and your future is as bright as your faith, so in that case you ain't gotta worry about a thing because YOUR FUTURE IS LOOKING GOOD! I am so proud of you. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Hopefully my letters get to you guys in Shanghai soon! Or at least before GLADYS' birthday on the 26th!
Couple of thoughts from this past week:
- People have been asking me if I am Filipino. I know last week I said this but this week I've gotten really specific questions- "Are you Bisayan?" HAHA. What! Mom! Do I look Bisayan? How do people from Bisaya even look like? Earlier today a member also asked me "What province are you from?" Province as in province from the Philippines. Cracks me up all the time!
-Guess who fell sick on New Year's Eve...AGAIN?! For the second year in a row? Me! No idea why, but it was just a cold that went away the next day. I got to sleep in (YES!!!) and that helped ALOT. I'm okay now. But I thought it was super cool that on both Dec 31, 2013 and Dec 31, 2014, I was sick! (Ether- "fell sick" vs. "got sick"...? ;) Inside joke)
-Speaking of New Year's, it was DEAD SILENT- EVERYWHERE. The streets were empty, there weren't people around... It was quite a New Year's! We had to return home to our apartment by 6 pm on New Year's Eve because people get drunk a lot around here during that time of the year, BUT! We had a blast, Sister Lockwood and I, just sitting in the apartment, doing NOTHING! Well, we tried playing games and we laughed a lot, so it wasn't really doing nothing. I love Sister Lockwood! I say that every email, but I do! New Year's Eve 2014 was definitely one to remember.
-I am so glad that I am serving in the Philippines. It is almost like God knows that I don't have thick enough skin (yet) to serve elsewhere. We talked to two people this week that were really firm believers in their own faith - one was a Finnish man who claimed that he didn't like any religion because everyone thinks that Islam is bad, and the other a Filipino Jehovah's Witness. Eek! They were very strongly opinionated. Sister Lockwood and I handled the situations well but I definitely cannot imagine serving elsewhere! The Filipinos are always so humble and kind and they all believe in God, so it's never an argument about religion with them. But these two people! They were something. I am so glad that God knows what I can take and what I can't! Hopefully by the time this is all over I will have thicker skin!
All in all, I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! I have realized that this is very much a mental game. You either let yourself be happy, or not. And everyday that choice is mine. And I've been happy! It starts from within. It is possible.
Thank you guys for the Christmas package! Needless to say there was crying. I love you guys so much. Also please thank all those who wrote me from Church! INCLUDING BETTY! BETTY! IF YOU ARE READING THIS- I LOVE YOU! I'll write ALL of you guys back. So much love! Missionaries love mail. Or at least, I do. So thank you! I loved it!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KRYSTAL ONCE AGAIN! AHHH! And Gladys' seventeenth is in what, two more weeks? Three more weeks? The 26th. SO JEALOUS! You guys are growing up too fast. I love you both. I have the most beautiful sisters on the planet.
I will hit my third-month mark this Saturday, January 10th! Who's counting with me?!?!?
I love you all!
With love,
Sister Teo
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