I was born and raised in the Philippines the first 15 years of my life before moving and settling in Utah. Many have asked me how I feel about my oldest daughter Sierra being called to serve an LDS mission in the Philippines. Or if I grew up anywhere near her area-to-be (Angeles).
To answer the second question, I grew up in the Manila and Quezon City area which (as far I remember), is north of Angeles (pronounced ANG-hel-es). Google says Tarlac (where the mission training center is) is 2 hours away from Diliman, the last Philippine city I lived in. So it’s not the exact same area, but close, and my brother’s family happens to live in one of the cities in the mission. And I did (and still do) speak Tagalog, which is what she’ll be teaching in.
As to my reaction: I never expected her to get a mission call there, of all places. That just seemed so
obvious. I tried to not even wish for a place because I felt that was a bit like sinning and I didn’t want to get my hopes up. When she opened that mission call
(http://youtu.be/YNC3tVdYSDU) I was truly surprised. Along with: amazed, excited, happy!
My poor daughter…she could have had 18 years of preparation for this day in terms of the language, but I haven’t taught her much more than food words. But that’s okay. Every day, she asks me questions. How do you say this? What was such and such like there? Probably the biggest adjustment for me is how interested she is all of a sudden in my culture.
Just two nights before at Family Home Evening, she expressed how baffled she was that people really get into family history, but she’s not as excited. Well, if she ever wanted an answer to her desire to love family history more, here it is.
Perhaps what I’m secondmost excited about is the bond we’ll have when she goes to the Philippines. She’ll know what I mean when I say:
As you fall asleep, watch for lizards on the ceiling.
A woven mat (banig) will feel good at the end of the day.
It’ll rain a LOT.
Real coconut is nothing like that grated stuff on the bakery aisle.
I miss atis, lanzones, guava, chico and makopa.
You know those times when I said you should use an umbrella?
And then she’ll speak my native language. We can talk among our family and no one will know what we’re plotting!
But I’m most excited that, as a disciple of Christ, she will get to serve and bless the lives of the people in a country which still very dear to my heart.
Even if she hadn’t been assigned to the Philippines, I would still have been excited for her. But this has become quite personal. I can’t wait to get her first letter. It’ll be a homecoming of sorts for me, through her eyes.
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