Kamusta,
First off, we got our travel plans yesterday, which I 'm sure you couldn't even imagine my reaction to. In other words-excitement (!!!!!!!!)
I'm going from Salt Lake-Los Angeles on the 28th at 4:55 pm. I have a long layover and then we fly to Seoul, Korea and then to Manila. I'll get to Manila around 11 am, their time on the 30th.
I got a package from my dear friend, Brittni who's serving in Boise, ID right now. amazing woman.
Last Sunday at church, Elder Leavitt (from my zone) and I sang a duet, 'Nearer, my god to thee.' It went well! I'm singing more now too, because I don't have my music.
Earlier this week, I was feeling peculiar about the effects of being a religious person. I wrote in my journal this week, "There's an irrational aspect of believing and then acting on something that typically doesn't appeal to our physical senses, which would be a bit more explanable at least. Our spiritual awareness and spiritual sense is a bit more vague and maybe undefinable in many ways. I realized that this relates so much to the effect that art (in multiple forms) and music has on us. Why it brings people to excitement/tears/humility, etc. is unexplanable, but nobody could deny their effect, and thus their validity." It seems like religion gives people something that keeps them believing despite it being irrational to explain fully. That is true for me, but I wouldn't be able to explain it via an email.
Earlier this week, Sister Stromberg and I sticky noted my entire body so that we could learn body parts in Tagalog!
Tiyan=stomach (Tian, I think of you every time I say that word!)
My absolute favorite word so far is 'dibdib.' It means 'chest.' The best things about that word is that it is perfectly symmetrical. The chest is generally thought of as a center/midline for the body. YES.
A lot of Tagalog words have similar meanings. It's pretty exciting, that many words are associated with each other.
Bunga= fruit, result
Kasalanan=sin, guilt
Biyaya= blessing, grace
OKloveyoubye.