Last Zone Interviews

So every transfer, which means some time in every 6 week period, we have individual interviews with our mission president. The thing is, we are getting a new mission president next transfer. This means that the next time that I have zone interviews, it will be with the new mission President – President Hughes. I don’t currently know how he is, also I have heard that the mission presidents don’t talk to each other. They do this so mission culture and biases do not carry over between mission presidents. A lot may change or a lot may just stay the same. It is very hard to tell right now.

     

With that we will have a small part about my current mission president, President Bertin. President Bertin is a doctor, or he was a doctor before he was a mission president. He is one of the best problem solvers I know. He loves all his missionaries and he is exceptionally intelligent. He tends to know what his missionaries are thinking when he is talking to them.

       

President Bertin has been a big factor in how the mission is right now. A lot of missionaries have a problem with him because he can be very strict – but he is very loving. I think I was called here because he is the mission president here. I do, however, look forward to seeing what will happen with someone new.

       

I got a new roommate, his name is Elder Stephens. If that doesn’t sound familiar, I will remind you, this is the same Elder Stephens that was my companion in the MTC. We are now in the same house and Elder Kirifi is his companion. We already did exchanges for a half day (it was really just one appointment) but I got to teach again with my MTC comp. It is really fun living with someone from my batch. Batch can mean a lot in the mission – these are the people that you started your mission with. It is easy to start comparing yourself to your batch mates because you have been in the mission the same amount of time as them. Elder Stephens has started speaking up a lot more, but he is still struggling with the language. I look forward to helping him figure it out by sharing things that helped me learn.

       

Culture: Batch: So here in the Philippines, they use the English word “batch” to describe people that went through major life events with them. Your batch includes all the people that you started school with, or graduated with. It is not very clearly defined, but when you find that you have been with this person for many a laugh and many a hard time, they are your batch.

         

Tagalesson: “Ka”. This is a prefix that can be put on many words to say that someone is your companion in something; kind of like the prefix “co” in English.

Examples:

Ka – Bahay-house: Kabahay roommate

Ka – Batch: Kabatch- Batch mate

Ka – Sama-together: Kasama-companion

Ka – laro-play: Kalaro-Guy you are playing with

Ka – Laban- Fight:  Kalaban- Enemy

This is a pretty useful thing to know.

Welp I am on my way, sorry no pictures this week, the internet is being kinda whack here at the computer shop.

I love you all keep up the good work.

Elder Faulkner