Ano po ang Inggles?

    Magadang umaga!

  I hope you all had a great time celebrating American Friendship day! In the Philippines, they celebrate Filipino independence from America on July 4th. So we all dressed up in the colors of the Philippines flag, red, white, and blue. We even got to stay up late and watch fireworks from the Stadium of Fire! It was really weird to be outside when it got dark, and we were super exhausted the next day. But we had a lot of fun!

  The other day we had one of our last lessons with our "tinuturuan" named Greg. During our lesson, I knew I needed to share a scripture that I didn't have prepared. So I just flipped through my scriptures and almost instantly found a verse that fit perfectly. I know that we can go the the Book of Mormon with any question we have, and if we search and pray, we will find an answer every time.

  This week has been quite the whirlwind. A week ago I received my travel plans to head to the Philippines, but we all knew there was still a very real chance that we would be reassigned. We didn't know when we might be reassigned, and we didn't know when we would know we were going to the Philippines. Well, we knew on Tuesday. One of the elders ran into the cafeteria to tell us, but we weren't sure if we could believe him. So we all ran to the computers to see if we'd been reassigned. When I logged in, no longer did the corner of my screen read Philippines Cauayan, instead it said "Florida Jacksonville Mission." Everyone in the room was reading off their reassignments to Scottsdale Arizona, Las Vegas Nevada, and Salem Oregon. 

  Of the twelve of us in my district, only four are still going to the Philippines next Wednesday. Two of the other elders will be going with me to Florida on Tuesday morning. It still hasn't set in that in less than a week I will actually be in the field. Unfortunately, I've never taught a lesson in English, so that will be an adventure. I'm also going to have to figure out how to continue learning Tagalog on my own. But I know it's possible, and that I'm going to have a great experience in Florida.

   A few weeks ago, four of us held a fast for our visas. However, while the other three fasted that their visas would come, I fasted to feel reassurance that whatever happened was God's plan for me. Well, those three sisters are going to the Philippines on Wednesday, and I am not. So I know that God really does answer our prayers. I don't know why I'm going to Florida yet, and I may never know the exact reason. But I don't doubt that this assignment was received through revelation, and that I will be serving in Florida "for a wise purpose in Him, which purpose I know not." (1 Nephi 9:6)

    I'm going to miss the friends I've made here at the MTC. But I'm excited for each of them to serve in all the places they've been called and am certain they will be able to help so many people. I'm so excited to go to Florida and to begin sharing this wonderful gospel with everyone I can.

  So five weeks have come and gone. It honestly has flown by so much faster than I expected. We have a saying here that the days are like weeks, and the weeks are like days. And you honestly can't understand what that's like unless you've experienced it. I'm sad to be leaving my friends, though that would have happened anyway. But we won't have a 15ish hour flight all together. 

  I'm glad I'm not going to somewhere cold and dry, because that would be an unpleasant adjustment. And I won't be complaining about sleeping in a bed, having a hot shower, and being able to do laundry. My new companion is going to have to get used to hearing a lot of Taglish, and I've decided I'm not going to have a companion, just a kasama (person I go with) :)

  It has also been recently announced that we will no longer be using the word investigator, instead they are "people we are teaching." Fortunately the Tagalog word we've already learned, tinuturuan, literally means "person we are teaching".

   The Provo temple closed this week, but we've been able to go every other week. The week before we did sealings and initiatories which was a really cool experience.

  It was only a few weeks ago when the fact that I was going to the Philippines really hit me, and now I have to readjust. And I haven't completely readjusted yet. My head knows this is the right thing for me, but my heart hasn't quite figured out yet. But I'm excited to leave the MTC and to actually start teaching people.

   Mahal po kayo at mamiss kayo

   Ingat po,

       Sister Harrison

-Our Philippines pride ;)​

-Sobrang nakakatawa!

-With Brother Beagley, one of our favorite teachers​

-My MTC family!​