*The following statement must be read with caution by the members of the arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as symptoms may include finite trunkyness and desire to go home.*
WHAT TIME IS IT ITS UWI TIME WHAT TIME IS IT ITS UWI TIME WHAT TIME IS IT ITS UWI TIME
(UWI is Tagalog for ‘going home’ pronounced oo-we) and if you haven’t noticed I am absolutely and COMPLETELY terrified. Its unreasonable for me to be this scared but it feels like I have a chunk of ice in my gut. You would think that would help me stay cool in the Filipino heat but it's not doing me any favors. Its unreasonable to be so worried as I have plans and I have goals and everything so I'm not entirely sure where the feeling of foreboding is coming from but… *shrugs* ce la vie. (French for ‘thus is life’) or ganun siya (Tagalog for That’s how it is)
I take life by the horns… literally. Background; our investigators live behind a few houses where we had to walk between some alleyways to get to the house. No problem on the way in, the coast was clear. When we came out of the teaching appointment there, standing in the middle of the alleyway was…. Not a thief or a murderer, but a momma cow and her baby.
You don’t mess with momma cows, they mess you up.
Luckily it was tied so I got close-ish to it and insulted it and its baby so it charged at me, bringing itself to the end of its rope. Its head at a slight angle because the rope went through its nose, it tried swinging its horns at me so I did what any reasonable person does- grabbed it by the horns and made it so it could only see me. Sister Latu was able to squeeze past it without a problem as I stood there with its horns in my hands. Sister Pamugas, however was frozen in place and refused to move, By this time the momma cow freed her head from my grasp and saw that we had it surrounded. Big mistake. She started pawing at the ground and bellowing and flames came out of her nostrils (I’m kidding she just started pawing at the ground.) But by then there was NO way of getting sister Pamugas to go past the cow, Sister Latu pointed out that the neighboring wall was tall and that we could climb on the fence bit which is solid and had plenty of foot holes (see attached picture, it’s a bit lie that but the concrete part was higher and didn’t look that fancy) I'm all about finding my inner spider-man so I jumped up on the wall with the baby cow licking at my feet (he wasn’t tied up) and made it safely to the other side… with Sister Pamugas stuck on the wall. By this time our investigator noticed we were having a hard time and just walked right up to the cow and she moved out of his way. But at least I can say I fought a cow and turned into spider-missionary for one day!!
Then this Sunday a few of the girls from Batac came to visit me, they came for the Sunday services and got to hear my farewell testimony!! Seriously made my day, my week, my mission. Im seriously going to miss this place. I cried when they left.
But that’s all I really have to say about this week besides how sad I am to leave this area.My companions Sister Latu and Sister Pamugas are incredible and not only are they dedicated to the work (which helps keep the trunky cloud from hanging over your head) they are outright hysterical! Since its rainy season it rains daily, and since I have holes in both of my shoes I’m wet once I step out the door. I like to thrust my umbrella towards sister Latu and cover her with the rain drops that have collected on top as she always makes the best faces. Then scraping ice out of the freezer to wake them up on time… it's been good times. I'm going to miss them and all the incredible members that I've met here and not to mention the 3 upcoming baptisms I'll miss. Shout out to Hery Joy who passed her Baptismal Interview last Saturday!!
From the soon to be RM
Sister Eldredge
