Here is Caitlin's new address:
Philippines Baguio Mission
PO Box 7
Barangay San Vicente East
Urdaneta, Pangasinan 2428
Philippines
And here is a letter she sent on September 20th and her family received on October 9th.
Pamillya,
Kumusta? Well guess where I am right now? Sitting on a couch in my mission presidents house in the Philippines. Can you believe it?? Wow, it's been so crazy! Our flight from LA to Hong Kong was pretty fun. They fed us a lot of China-ish food, so that was good. I was able to sleep and I totally forgot to take the Advil PM pill. I'll just have to save those for a rainy day, or the flight home. Well, after 38 hours of travel we made it! Our flight was long from LA to Hong Kong. That's all you really need to know. Then when we landed we had 40 minutes until our next flight left...yep, they already had started to board. Mom's panic mode clicked in with me, that's for sure! The Lord was on our side and we made it just in the nick of time. The airport in Hong Kong was really cool and I want to go and visit that city when I get back, it seems really cool as well. That flight was about 14 hours long when we flew to Manilla. We went through customs then we were met by some guy. When we asked what his name was he said Barack Obama...hahaha, funny one. We think he is a Stake President or something, but we have no idea. We also gave him our passports and he asked us why we did that and we didn't know so he told us two reasons; 1. To renew our visas, and 2. If we had any intentions of going home early he would burn them. It was pretty funny.
Our group got all separated into three vans and we set out. We were driving all over and they drive like how it is down in Mexico. Like there are lanes, but they don't use them and the three second rule we learned in drivers ed. definitely doesn't apply to them. It is pretty exciting. We were all taken to a bus station and we got our tickets and waited for a little bit. We put all our luggage on the bus which was pretty interesting. The guy who had been helping us told us to get on the bus so we did. Then the bus left. They were playing Titanic on it and it was so loud and the driving was really jerky so between all of that I got super car sick. It was crazy seeing everything and it is definitely different than the US. but it is really cool. Halfway through our drive I realized I had no idea when to get off or where we were going. So I started to panic again, but I was told we had about two hours left so we'd be fine. We made two stops on our trip. The first stop we were really hungry so we bought this thing that looked like two lumps on a stick. It was actually really delicious. It was a banana maybe deep fried or something with a sugar coat. Masirap. So yummy! Then we still had a forever long ride. I'm pretty sure that it was around 6 hours in total, basically the ride was long & crazy, but it was really fun.
Then the bus stops and there are people with tags outside so we knew we had made it! I never thought it would happen. One of the Elder's jokingly said we had two more hours left and I thought I was going to die but good thing that it was only five minutes long. Woohoo!! We finally made it after 38 hours of travel.
We had a little dinner of PB&J's with some chips and a banana. The bananas here are soooo good!!!!!! The sisters got to sleep in the mission home, which was nice because it was air conditioned. The Elders slept in a house down the street with the assistants without AC (I think they like the Sister's better.....haha). We went to bed at 8:30 and we were so tired we slept right through the whole night. This morning we had our President interviews and it was pretty cool. President Monahan shared Alma 31:32-35 and those scriptures were perfect for what I needed. President and Sister Monahan are awesome! They have really been taking great care of us. Then all the local missionaries arrived (we're considered the foreign missionaries) and they are so sweet! We ate lunch together, again PB&J sandwiches, yummy! One of the sisters was so sweet. She said that she had looked at my online profile before and she was so excited to meet me. I don't really know what profile she meant, but it was really sweet. After lunch we just had a little orientation, took some pictures, and had a testimony meeting. It was super awesome. Dinner is happening soon and these two cute Filipino ladies have been working all day so it's going to be delicious.
Tomorrow we find out our Kasamas (companions) and our area and I'm pretty sure we go straight there and get started. Man, I'm so excited!! I can't really understand anything that they say but the language will come, if I work hard.
I hope you're doing well!! The Church is true!! I love it so much and I am so excited and blessed to be here! I love the people here already and know this love will just continue to grow. Stay great and be a light to the world! D&C 115:5 I love you!! I'll send pictures soon so you can see the beautiful world I live in!
LOVE, Sister Palmer
P.S. You can still send me dearelders!!!
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