How's it going everybody? This is week four I think, or week five. Whatever the case, the language is getting real now. We can only speak cebuano in class unless we have permission from the teacher, which is pretty rare. We had our first English fast yesterday from morning to night. Since we didn't know that much cebuano we just communicated like cavemen. "Oo" means yes and "dili" means no. So we would combo that with basic vocab we had memorized which was pretty meager already. You would be surprised at the variety of various insults you use. We only know "bobo" which means stupid, and dili gwapo. Which means not handsome. One of my district members tossed a chicken foot into my water and i called him a butthead which earned me 15 pushups because I spoke in English. At the same meal we started talking to a bisdak which is a local, and we "talked" to him in cebuano. He told us we sounded like cavemen which is way funny. We go out into the field on October 13th which seems way too close, but I'm sure I'll have the language down by then. I have some of the first lessons memorized, but I know next to nothing when it comes to daily life. There is a 100 percent chance I'm gonna be eating squid beak because I can't speak very well. I'm missing you all, enjoy the cold weather because you all don't realize how good you have it. Don't do anything too fun without me.
Elder Schwab
*This is Sue now. I wanted to pass on some info from a text that I got from a Senior Sister who is at the MTC right now.
"Just a little bit about the Philippine's MTC. It will celebrate its 40th anniversary this year. When missionaries arrive, they fly the flag of their home country over the MTC. Right now, a few countries we have here are Samoa, Tonga, Mongolia, Vietnam, Korea, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, Karibati and Ghana, Many come from very humble circumstances. We give all non Americans eye exams. The Church is very generous with providing glasses and clothes for those that come without. It is an honor to be here with these missionaries, including your sons and feel of their testimonies and goodness. I encouraged them to get to know the other missionaries because their stories are inspiring. However it is challenging to get to know others because they are kept very busy in their districts. Your missionaries came in with a group of 100. In that group, there were 10 Pakistan missionaries. I will end with their story. Elder Shamaun's Grandpa was the first member of the church in Pakistan. They now have their own mission in Pakistan since 2021. The mission president called the MTC and said "we need more missionaries here" Elder Shamaun says the country has 50 baptisms every Sunday. One of the sisters has just her and her brother as members. She was in an arranged marriage. Her father passed away a year ago and her non member mother said "if you want to go on a mission, I will get you out of the arranged marriage." The elder was saying it is hard to be a member of the Church in Pakistan at times, I wonder how safe? These missionaries are incredible. The whole lot of them. A Vietnam sister is the only member in her family. A pioneer. President says 1000 members only in the whole country. Ghana Elder is going to Japan. As hard as this transition has been for your sons, please know that they are in a special place. The Lord loves His missionaries and so do we. This district has been super supportive of each other."
This is Sue again. It has been so fun talking to Jake each week. Something that I thought was interesting is that they must have a medical staff there at the MTC (or at least dental) because a Filipino sister in his district had her wisdom teeth removed last week and same with an Elder from Ghana (Along with 4 of his rotten teeth). Jake said he has been brushing and even flossing religiously after seeing some of the other missionary's teeth.
Thanks for the love and support you give our boy!
Sue
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