Kumusta kayo!

Kumusta! My time at the MTC has been great, and very very busy!  The days fly by here since they keep us so busy! There are 2000 missionaries in the MTC right now, we are the 2000 Stripling Warriors.  I am learning so much Tagalog and so much about the gospel, it’s insane!  We have 6-9 hours of classroom time almost every day.  Every class, our teachers only speak Tagalog, all the time.  Even when we aren’t doing language study, they will speak Tagalog.  I am the Hermione of my class, no joke.  I am picking it up great!  It’s a lot of work, but I like it.  We already finished teaching our first “investigator” and we are getting FOUR next week.  And we’re teaching them all in Tagalog too.  Ah, So much Tagalog! 

I have been sleeping much better and have started adjusting to missionary life.  My hair is getting better, but I still miss my long hair.  The MTC food is not good, but it’s bearable.  Lots of oatmeal and sandwich wraps for me!  And caffeine free Diet Coke (I miss my go-go juice. Ha Ha!)  I had a dream that I was walking around the MTC and I found a cooler full of Diet Coke!  I also have been working out and attempting to play volleyball with the rest of my branch, so I feel a lot more energetic.  I’m always leaping down the hallways and Sister S laughs at me.  I just miss ballet.  The MTC has been fun and I love getting to know the other missionaries.  I’m glad I was away at school for a while and was on my own a little bit.  It was good practice for the mish.  

Dallin H. Oaks came to the Tuesday night devotional to speak to us missionaries!  Awesome! A group of missionaries from our branch left for the Philippines this week.  It make me so excited to go!  Saturday and Sunday last week were really great.  We went to the temple as a branch (so basically everyone who’s going to the Philippines and speaking Tagalog) and got to be with Sister Kebaimoa as she went to the temple for the first time.  It was really special, and fun to be with so many missionaries there.  On Sunday we had church and a few meetings and then got to go on a temple walk.  It was so nice.  I love the warm weather, but I’m going to miss fall when I leave on October 1st.

My companion is great.  We are complete opposites.  My other roommates are awesome too.  Sister Kebaimoa is from Kiribati, which is a tiny island by Fiji.  She is so sweet.  She had never seen mountains before! My other roommate Sister Wittwer is the most like me.  We’ve bonded over lots of stuff.  She also loved tank tops and stuff before the mish, and we laugh at all the same things.  She’s awesome.  

I am so so excited to leave and go to the Philippines.  I have learned so much about the Filipino people, and I love them even though I haven’t met them yet.  I am excited to be a missionary.  

Ingat! (take care!) I LOVE YOU!

xoxo Sister Anna Ray Allen