Kamusta mo!! (How are you) Ako
si (I am) Elder Smith emailing from the sa
pinakainit place sa kalibutan (warmest place in the
world)! Wow what a week it was but im finally here in Siquijor and i
cant wait for what is to come. We arrived from Manilla to Cebu at 8am on
Wednesday and its been chaos ever since then. We were trained all day along
with getting to do a session at the Cebu Temple which is by far the coolest
temple you will ever see. We got to our hotel Wednesday night and went to bed a
little early in a very interesting hotel. The next morning we were taken back
to the mission home and they had us line up to find out where we are going and
who are companions were. I turned around and there was Elder Ranon! Nagkaon ko
uban Elder ni Elder Ronan the gabii (I ate with Elder
Ronan the night) before and I was so pumped because this meant i was
going to Siquijor! Known as "the promise land" to all Cebu
missionaries this really is the place to be if you go to cebu. Everyone wants
to serve here and I was the only one called to train here with only me and
Elder Ranon, along with our roomies Elder Hansen and Cox that work over the
entire island! Very crazy and I am so excited to be working here. Out of the 25
in this batch to Cebu I was the lucky one to Siquijor so i will be spending the
next three months at least trying to get things going here. After a 6 hour bus
ride yesterday along with a 30 boat ride we made it to Domiguete where we had
to stay with the zone leaders because the boat rides to here stopped at 6. My
zone leaders are nindot kaayo!(very nice) hahah
they are very jealous that i get to come here and it is very weird that we
really have no one else with us on the island so akong Kauban is the DL and the
man in charge over us four hahah. We wont even see our zone leaders or other
batch mates until next month i think but i cant wait to get to work here and
get things turned around. Elder Ranon has told me that we have a branch of 40
members about for the whole island and he has been working very hard here to
get more. He thinks im going to be called as the first councelor in the
presidency because they dont have a lot of members haha and my bisaya is still
gami jud. I hope you all are doing okay and I wish some of you were awake right
now but all is well! Hinumdum si Jesukristo ug sa pag-ula matag adlaw. (Remember Jesus Christ every day??) He is the reason
why I am here! Also sad that I had to say bye to Hoffy but im sure all is well
with him and he is going to do great things sa Cebu East. Love you all. Press
forward in faith.
Just a bit of info on Siquijor aka paradise....
With a land area of 327 square kilometres (126 sq mi) and a coastline 102 kilometres (63 mi) long, Siquijor is the third smallest province of the Philippines. 95% of the island's residents belong to the Catholic Church, while the remainder belong to various other Christian churches.
Siquijor's long-time reputation as a place of magic and sorcery both attracts and repulses visitors.[Siquijor is also well known for its festivals that focus on healing rituals where incantations are sung while the old folks make potions out of herbs, roots, insects and tree barks.
Among the many attractions are the beaches, caves, waterfalls, Bandila‑an natural park and butterfly sanctuary.The coral reefs ringing the island offer some of the best diving in the Philippines for snorkelers and scuba divers.
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