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"Love you huh!"

I apologize in advance for the shortness of this email.  Sometimes a girl's just gotta talk to her mom, and sometimes as a result, you only have a few minutes to type out a quick email to everyone!
So this week was a blur.  This was one of the fastest weeks we've had.  Probably also because our p-day was on Thursday, so it mixed everything up quite a bit!
Thursday:  We ran errands like madness.  We were just doing a bunch of things we've been putting off, and things I've been meaning to do for months now haha.  The end of transfers will do that to you because you never really know what is going to happen.  Also I am officially a real Filipina, because we bought all our food for the week at the mercado!  I haggled over the price of green beans and mangos.  I'm officially a Filipina.
Friday:  We were able to go on splits with the STL's.  It was really good.  I worked with Sister Nonato, who I absolutely adore.  We've gotten really close this last transfer.  She actually reminds me a lot of a Filipina version of my best friend Sarah.  She taught me some Filipina tribal dances that we do together, and we're always singing together.  We had some really good lessons.  We had interviews with the STL's, which I always love.  And then I made us all my specialty, you guessed it, tuna curry.  It's delicious I promise!
Saturday:  We went out to Guadalupe as usual.  We taught our wonderful investigator Juanito, who is a complete stud.  Except, while we were teaching him, I was sitting on his bench and it snapped in half!  Yes my friends, I broke a bench.  They all laughed for days and told me that I was a big american, and that I should go on a diet.  For real though, I gotta lay off the rice!  We had one of our recent converts work with us and help us out.  His name is Benitez, he is 27 and he's so sweet.  He has a little bit of a learning disability, and he's the sweetest man ever.  We had to cross a river to get to Juanitos house, and  Benitez placed rocks in the river so we could walk across, and then he got in the river and held our hands to help us across.  He's the best.
Sunday:  We had five investigators at church!  Which is one of the most of my entire mission!  Plus, my dear Charlyn and new friend Carl came to church.  They looked great.  And  my boy Carl is just as gwapo as can be.  There was a talk in church that was so good.  It was about grattitude and love.  The Filipino culture is so shy, and often, it's really awkward for them to say I love you.  Even to their family or anything like that.  They are some of the most loving people I know, they ove the heck out of me, but they just are too shy to say it.  Well, over  the pulpit this amazing returned missionary, Annalee, taught about how we have to say it to others.  She read a cute story that had the whole audience crying, and then she said over the pulpit "I love you mom and dad" and then covered her bright red face.  The whole congregation alomst died of shock and embarassment as well.  But the coolest thing happened, the whole sacrament hall  got really loud, really noisy, because everyone was looking at each other and saying "I love you".  It was so cool to sit back and watch as everyone so shyly and with bright red faces, smiling from ear to ear said I love you.  I think it's one of those things I"ll remembe rfor the rest of my life.
Monday:   We had a birthday in our district, we bought cake with buttercream frosting.  I took a bite, and found out that it was literally just whipped margerine, and then I gagged a little bit because I had so much margerine in my mouth!  We had a service project, and ended up cleaning up garbage on a beach, and then a little girl had a bike, so I borrowed it and was cruising up and down the beach on a bike.  IT was basically dreams.  And then I found out that Sister Villacorte didn't know how to ride a bike!  So I ran behind her and held her bike up as she pedadled as fast as she could down the beach, she never quite got it, there was a lot of screaming in fear, and falling in the sand, but it was so much fun.
Tuesday:  Such an amazing day.  I'm almost out of time, so I"ll talk about my favorite part.  Sister Anderson told us that she wanted to help Charlyn out, and if she could use anything.  So I made a list of some things that she could use and I gave it to Sister Anderson.  She picked us up yesterday to visit Charlyn, and as I got out she started unloading all of the stuff.  She went above and beyond.  As she handed it to me I just started crying, and I thanked her for doing what I wanted to do, but what I'm not alowed to do.  Charlyn means so much to me, and I was just so overwhelmed with how generous Sister Anderson was.  We walked for about fifteen minutes to the Pacaldos and Charlyn came over.  We talked for a little while, and then we told her we had a surprise for her.  We told her to close her eyes, and then we brought it all out.  She opened her eyes, and immediately just started sobbing.  She's only 18 years old, and she doesn't have much.  She just sobbed and said Thank you, over and over again in English.  She opened up everything and just cried.  It was amazing, we threw her a little baby shower.  We taught her, and I was able to translate for Sister ANderson.  My favorite part was at the end when Sister Anderson was bearing her testimony, she would say a sentance or two and then pause and I would translate it.  It was such a powerful lesson.  We left and it was pouring, and so the three of us ran through the rain soaking wet for ten minutes to Sister Andersons truck.  It was one of my most cherished nights of my mission.
So.  Quickly, I want to explain "love you huh!".  So in the MTC, SIster Ormsby always added huh to the end of things.  Especially as she was leaving or saying goodbye.  Sister Anderson and I picked up on it really quick in the MTC.  Once I got here, I didn't know how to say much.  But I would always say "amping huh" (which means, take care) and then love you huh!  (Huh is just an emphasizer, it just adds extra umph to it, extra meaning).  It was all I really knew how to say, and I meant it!  I love these people.  I didn't really realize how big of a deal it was to always say I love you.  I didn't realize that wasn't the norm here.  But it was just about all I could say to these people.  And it stuck.  I still say it all the time.  THe cool part about being in an area for three transfers, is that you just get to know people so well.  And everyone has noticed that it's my catchphrase, so the last couple of weeks, people have started saying it back to me.  It's been so fun to watch, as these shy little filipinos will always say it back to me.  Or even just text us out of the blue to say "love you huh!".  I read a talk by President Monson called "Love, the essence  of the gospel".  It's really what it's all about.  We just need to love everyone.  And love everything.  Don't let a day go without telling someone you love them.  Or without loving something.  I'm so grateful for all of you, and I hope you have a wonderful thanksgiving.
Love you huh!
Love,Sister Carlee Beyer
Posted by Sister Carlee Beyer at 5:52 PM 


Sister Carlee Beyer