Fireworks Capital of the Philippines

Alrighty, so first thing is first as it tends to be in a list of things. Because if something else were first, obviously that thing would be first...

       

But anyways, I am moving. I am going to be moving to the city of Bucaue. As you probably don’t know, but may have guessed from the subject of this letter, Bucaue is the fireworks capital of the Philippines. I obviously don’t know how that is going to go yet; but I will be leaving tomorrow. I will move over there and my companion will be Elder Torres. I do not yet know him, so this will be a solidly fresh start with a new companion.

       

Google Map

Welp that is how life is going right about now. I will leave Elder Oronos – who is getting a new trainee. We aren’t yet sure who that is, but they will meet each other tomorrow. He will also become the district leader. I am very excited for him and to see what he can do with our district.

      

I will be a little bit sad to leave Sapang Palay but at the same time I am pretty ready to go. I have been here 6 months and have seen a whole lot of the area and met a lot of people. As a missionary in an area for 6 months, it starts to feel a little too long. You get tired of working in the same place, and you just want to move on. I am excited for my new area and I am ready to set out for newer pastures.

       

Culture: Pancit on your birthday. This is a pretty short thing, but you need to know it. Pancit means noodles. Every time anyone ever has a birthday – ever – they buy and cook pancit. There is a joke that goes along with this: because noodles are longer than rice, they will say that they eat pancit because it is longer and it will make your life longer; that is why they eat it on birthdays.

        

Tagalesson: Birthday: Kaarawan (no one uses this word)

Noodles: Pancit

Party: Party

Kailan ang birthday mo?: ""When is your birthday?"

Anong gagawin mo sa birthday mo?: "What are you doing on/for your birthday?"

Welp that is pretty much what you need to know about this topic.

We are going to talk about the language for a bit before we head out.

I feel that not many missionaries in this mission go home especially fluent. Even the older missionaries in our mission currently are not fluent. They can teach well, but they don’t reach the level of fluency that I have come to expect. I had a lot of thoughts about where I would be in the language at the end of my mission, and what level of fluency I would be at. It is a very interesting thing. Either way it is important to try your best. For me, I want to speak like a native when I come home. Now, that might not be super reasonable, but we can hope, can’t we? (We can also put in hours and hours of hard work and studying, but that is besides the point.)

Love you all

Elder Faulkner