Cebuano is a SUPER whack language. There is no verb that means "to be" so I guess Cebuanos don't know how to is. Who knew? I would love to sit here and tell you that this week was super awesome and there were no problems whatsoever but that just wouldn't be the case. I don't know if you guys knew this, but learning a foreign language is really really hard. I know that everyone tells you this before you go into the MTC but they don't tell you just HOW HARD IT REALLY IS. That said, it's a really exciting challenge and I know it's something that we can do if we have enough faith.
Some of the funny things that happened this week in class: we had to teach our first lesson in Cebuano last Friday. Let me just tell you that it did not go well. You think you know a lot, and then they actually start talking and you realize why they call it a foreign language haha. It was priceless to see as one by one each companionship came in after their lesson with the funniest grins on their faces. It was certainly a learning experience.
Saturday was a pretty rough day for the language. We had to teach our second lesson in Cebuano and it probably went even worse than before. This of course led to us singing "Make a Man Out of You" while other classes were going on around us. Personally I felt that the song perfectly matched the situation, Brother Hampton didn't seem as amused.
The Cebuano word for "no" is "dili". At the end of the day, all of us new Elders are 18 and 19 year old boys so this has prompted a lot of "dilly dilly" jokes in the classroom as well as in the cafeteria. One of our teachers, Sister Rush, refuses to tell us what "full send" or "boom roasted" are in Cebuano because apparently they don't apply to our message (???). But that's why they make English to Cebuano dictionaries.
Elder Argyle (the companion of the DL) tried to declare himself the "Assistant District Leader" but everyone knows that he is in fact the Assistant TO the District Leader. Take that, Elder Shrute.
No but in all seriousness we are working so hard but also having so much fun. We all study any chance that we get and we are slowly but surely making progress. Yesterday I was feeling particularly frustrated and defeated by the language when I came upon the scripture 1 Nephi 7:12. It says: "Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him." It was a very important and well-timed reminder that I just need to do my part and the Lord will do the rest.
There was also a really cool experience and story that was shared this week in testimony meeting. I'll cut it short. Basically there was an elder that was telling us about a companion to his older brother that is on a mission. This companion has a heart problem and is actually risking his life to serve this mission but is willing to risk it to share his message. Anyways, he talked about he parable of the Good Samaritan. But, instead of saying that we all need to be good Samaritans, he instead explained that we are the inn keepers that take care of the wounded. Christ is the only Good Samaritan and we need to make sure that we are taking care of his people while he is away, because he will come back and we will be blessed.
By the way, "Andam daan" roughly translates to "I was born ready" which has become our district motto.
Anyways that's all for this week. Thank you all for the support and love. I love hearing from you. I love you guys. I'll talk to you next week!
(Also we've taken some pictures as a district but I don't have them on my camera. I'll be sure to send them to you all next week)
