Letter to Tess

I wrote this email to Tess tonight and I decided it was actually a pretty fun recap of my last two days. It's kind of like my whole life--fun, weird, and a little crazy mixed in with some spiritual. Plus I really use my own voice when I write to Tess, so it's just more me :) 

Dear Tessa, 

  I ate duck embryo tonight. Seriously. It was actually a lot like an egg, but it was kind of like a soft boiled egg and kind of gross... I'm probably not going to eat that again... On the plus side, it involved a fun night at the boulevard. The boulevard is this brick laid path right by the ocean. On Friday nights there's live bands and everything and it's just so fun! I loved it! We also had some squid rolls and tempura there at the street stand, and they were very good! We ended the night with desert at an actual restaurant called Sans Rizal and I ordered this delicious lemon lime cake stuff. Not as good as I was hoping, but still very yummy! 

  While we're on the topic of food, there are these two drinks here that are to die for! Both of them are actually fairly healthy! One is a Buko shake which is a coconut shake. They just put in evaporated milk, a bunch of fresh coconut meat, ice, water, and wala! Deliciousness! My favorite though, which will be served at my wedding is called mixed fruit. It's a lot like that drink the Tonga's make, but instead of grating the fruit, you cut it into chunks and you put the watermelon, apples, bananas, and papaya all in the same drink. Then you just add some milk and cream. Seriously so good! I have one or the other of these drinks almost every day. 

   More food stuff...haha we eat shrimp a couple of times a week and I love it! It's SO cheap here! I think the last shrimp we bought was like 35 pesos per kilo, which is about 70 cents per kilo! It's a steal and it is SO fresh! Anyways, I'm eating delicious food here, and I can't wait to hear about all your fave Argentina foods :) Get the recipes! 

  Anyways, I just had to tell you about the duck embryo cause I'm still kind of freaked out about it?! Haha I hope you're having the best day, and when you're served something super sketch down there, just think about your brave sissy who is actually a sissy, but is trying to be brave and do cool stuff. 

  Anyways for reals this time! Haha I love you and I pray for you every day. I know prayer works and I know you're doing what's right. The Lord loves you. I went to an institute class here last night and we talked about the Atonement. I don't know what was different last night (maybe cause I was relying more on the spirit than the language), but I really realized how selfless Christ was. We made a list on the board of the reasons Christ preformed the Atonement and all of the reasons were for us. I was just filled with overwhelming gratitude and had a huge awakening at how I need to be SO much more selfless. I need to put others desires and needs first. I need to be more compassionate. I need to do what the Lord wants. (The list could go on and on and on...) On the way home I got to thinking about you and how selfless your choice to serve a mission was. You didn't necessarily want to go, but you wanted to do what the Lord needed you to do. So Christ-like. You decided to go and try to help others come closer to their Savior. So Christ-like.  You decided to leave the ordinary life and go into the unpredictable, putting your life in God's hands. Once again, so Christ-like. 

  Well Tess, you're my hero, and for reals this time, I'm ending this letter! Haha I love you a lot and I hope you're having the best day! If not, I hope this brightens it :) You're my best example and I love ya! Buena suerte con el español!! 

Con amor, Livi :)

Two 23rd's

When I came to the Philippines I didn't plan on anyone I was with knowing that my birthday would go by while we were here.  Well, on Sunday I became friends with Yet-yet on Facebook, and she found out!  The lovely Ryskamp family and Leo and Yet-yet went out of their way to make my 23rd birthday great!  My day started out by being greeted by these signs when I walked down the stairs.  They had stayed up the night before and made them.  So nice of them! 

The day was fairly normal with school in the morning and then a trip to the beach in the afternoon.  We also had Cebuano lessons, which I love.  

Here's a 23rd birthday selfie at the beach, because I will probably never have a birthday at the beach again, seeing as how my birthday is in January :)

That night, Rix said we were going out to dinner and that I got to choose the place!  I had no idea where to go, so we went downstairs and asked "the guys" (the filipino men who work for Rix) what some of the best places were here to get some authentic food.  They suggested Captain Ribbers, so that's where we went!  It was so fun!  Our plates were these giant banana leaves, and we all kind of shared.  

They brought our food out in these huge platters that had a little bit of everything in them!  I tried it all, and I liked it all!  Even those little fish :)  I felt so brave! 

When we got home I was given these cute birthday flowers.

Then we had a delicious cake that was made and decorated so beautifully by Leo's mom.  Angie bought the candles, and they were awesome!  Seriously, so fun!  Everything was just so great!  

Then the next morning, the 27th here, I continued to receive the birthday love from everyone back home.  I had emails, messages, and Facebook posts all wishing me a happy birthday.  It really is amazing what a kind word or two can do for someone, and I was humbled to be the recipient.  What fun to be celebrated twice :)  

Twin Lakes

We went on the most beautiful outing yesterday.  Leo put Rixy and Reed on the back of a motorcycle, Yet-yet put Faith on with her, and Maddie and I hopped on Angie's new scooter, and we headed for the mountains!  It was so refreshing to get out of the city and into a little cooler temps :)  Here's a little video of our trip :)  I just couldn't get over how green it all was!  Seriously, so surreal!  Anyways, the little GoPro does a pretty good job, but still doesn't quite do the beauty of this place justice.

Here's a little story that didn't get put in the video, because there's no footage of the event: 

When we got to the second lake I decided to walk across this giant log that went quite a ways out into the lake. Part of the log was under the water, but I didn't think much of it. Next thing I knew I was heading into the lake! I ripped my purse off and held it high above my head! My purse had my water bottle, GoPro, phone, and money in it, and I still had my shorts and t-shirt on over my swimsuit. I let out a squeal, and in I went! haha It really was SO funny! Luckily I was able to keep my purse above my head, out of the water. I couldn't touch the bottom, but was able to swim to the side pretty quickly. NONE of the stuff in my purse got wet. It really was such a blessing! I bought this purse on Friday, and it's kind of water resistant. I still don't know how I had the reflexes to get that thing off, but I'm so glad that I did! Needless to say, I was pretty blessed. Because I was already soaked, I decided to take my shirt and shorts off and just swim around in the lake for a while. Angie, Faith, Rixy, and Reed jumped in with me too. It was pretty dang funny, but none of them really laughed. I don't know if they were too worried about me and my stuff or what, but I know that all of you would have been laughing your heads off! haha

That was just an excerpt from the email I sent my family.  The unexpected dip in the lake was actually the icing on the cake :)  What an awesome day!

p.s. when we got home we discovered that the invitation had been accepted and we went over and ate some of the pig.

The Pigs

Remember those pigs that were in the yard? Well last night they were killed. 

And this morning around 5 am their buddy was brought over and killed as well. 

Now they're being roasted. 

We were invited to attend the feast (it's following a funeral, so it might be kind of weird...), but I have yet to hear if we're going or not. I hope we do. 

An Afternoon on the Town

Yesterday afternoon Faith and I decided to do a little exploring!  We caught a petty-cab to Portal West, which is the west entrance to one of the four universities here, Silliman University.  From there we just walked south for a ways, taking in all the sights!

Lee's Market where we have bought groceries, clothes, and yummy smoothie drink things!

 Fruit, fruit, fruit!

Eventually we ran into the Cathedral.  We went inside and it is beautiful!  We didn't take much time in there as many people were in there praying.

Then, right next to the Cathedral is a bell tower/lookout tower that was built back when the Spaniards came in the mid 1700's.  It was used to see and warn the people of Moors coming to pillage the city.

Across the street we went inside of a sad little park.  It's actually the first park I had seen, and it's in pretty poor condition :(

Faith still enjoyed the swings for a minute and we had some fun on a teeter-totter.

Then we made our way down to the Boulevard!  It was Faith's first time!! (I go there almost every single day to exercise.)  We talked to some cute kids there that were just getting out of school.  She was loving just taking it all in!

I asked Faith what she wanted to do next.  She then asked me what I would do if I was alone.  I told her that I would probably go and find the local market.  So, we flagged down a petty-cab and headed to the public market!  We had so much fun and even made a few purchases!

We had some Cebuano lessons earlier in the day and so I decided to practice throughout the afternoon!  I greeted everyone with "Maayong japon!"  Which means "Good afternoon!"  The people were loving it!  After we'd walk by they'd be saying to all of their friends "Cebuana! Cebuana!" Haha  I would also greet the petty-cab drivers in Cebuano and tell them where I wanted to go and one even started talking back to me in Cebauno, and I had to quickly tell him that I actually didn't know hardly anything?! He continued to talk to us in English :)  I'm excited about learning Cebuano though because I'm kind of getting sick of not being able to communicate with everyone.  Up to this point I haven't even known how to greet them.  So, hopefully I'll be able to pick some of it up fast!

Anyways, to end the afternoon Faith and I caught a petty-cab ride back to Lasola Drive, our beloved home :)  What a great afternoon!

The Farm Next Door

I've always wanted chickens, and living next door to some boisterous roosters hasn't changed my mind yet!  I actually kind of love sharing a front yard with these crazy animals.  

These animals are these people's pride and joy.  There is always someone there watching them, and so I asked what the purpose for these creatures was.  The roosters are trained to cock fight!  How fun is that?!  I have to go to one of the fights!

The pigs are just being fattened up to eat at the next party :)

Even though the roosters are SO noisy and never seem to stop, I still think they're pretty cool.  They're so pretty too, so that's redeeming.  

I took this video at 5:11 am.  I'm telling you, they are always squawking!  I recorded this in my room with the windows closed and our fan blowing.  

Life Near the Sea

So I've been here about two and a half days, and I've been doing so many sea-ish things!  The first night we went to a seafood restaurant called "Labas" which means fresh.  And fresh it was!  It was right next to the ocean and they had containers full of seafood.  You would go over and say what you wanted to try and they would get it out, cook it up, and bring it to you.  I've never had fresher!  

Rix (the dad) and some of the guys that work for him ordered it all, so I was at their mercy?! haha  Luckily, they did a great job!  I liked everything I tried.  My favorite was probably the shrimp because it was the most normal to me, but we had tuna, talabas (kind of like oysters), squid, and kinilew (kind of like ceviche).

Saturday morning Angie, Reed, Faith, Lillian, and I spent quite a bit of time down by the ocean.  We walked and it was less than a mile!  Where we went wasn't really a beachy-beach, but it had a lot of fun creatures and the water was really clear.  

Me, Faith, Angie, Reed, and Lillian

Sea Urchin!!!

The coolest starfish ever!

Faith inspecting the creature.

Reed was a lot more excited than he looks, I promise!  haha

This afternoon we went to a sandier beach called Silliman.  There were lots of families down there swimming and eating and having a good time.  It was fun to see so many families doing things together.  I'm sure we'll be spending more time down at that one.  It was just a short distance as well--maybe a mile or two.  

So, in the short time we've been here, I feel like I've taken pretty good advantage of being close to the ocean.  The water's warm, it's close, and the kids love going!  I have yet to go swimming, but I'm sure I'll cross that one off this week :)  

Another Adventure

Guys, I'm heading to the Philippines for 12 weeks. Crazy? Yes. Exciting? Very. In less than an hour I'm going to be getting on one of these planes that will take me to Seattle. 

Seattle>>Tokyo, Japan. 

Tokyo>>Manila, Philippines. 

Manila>>Dumaguete, Philippines.

I have no clue how long it will take me to get there. I think it's going to be Friday in Dumaguete by the time I get there with the time change and everything. Kind of crazy to think about!

Many of you are probably wondering what in the heck I'm going to be doing in the Philippines for 12 weeks?! Well, back in November a family that I tutor for while I'm down at school asked me to go with them on this trip to homeschool their kids. It only took me a few days to decide to do it :) Part of the dad's business is down there and he needs to go and work with his team down there. Instead of being split up for that long they decided to just move their whole family down. So, they asked me to come with them and homeschool their kids. I'm going to be teaching four kids--3rd, 4th, 7th, and 8th grades. They're great kids and it's not only going to be a great life experience down here, but a good experience for my teaching. I'm nervous and excited and grateful. Wish me luck!! 

I'll have wifi access while I'm down there, so stay tuned for some adventures in the Philippines :)

The Separation

It's been a week and half since Tess left on her mission.  I'm not going to lie.  I've been a little bit lost.  She is definitely my best friend, number one fan, frustration outlet, comical relief, and partner in crime.  I'm going to be fine, it's just a little hard to adjust, ya know? 

                                               

The days before her leaving were pretty rough.  I probably cried more then than I have since.  It was tough watching her pack all of her things away, both the things she was leaving here as well as the things she was taking with her.  I was folding her clothes up to put in her suitcase, and I just couldn't stop the tears.  Pretty soon Mom, Tess, and I were all crying.  Then I cried each time she had to tell a family member goodbye.  I just felt so bad for her.  I know that she's confident that serving a mission is what she's supposed to do, but for someone who loves her family as much as Tessa does, it definitely wasn't an easy choice.  

On December 30th Mom, Dad, and I took her to the MTC where she'll start learning Spanish and get an idea of what she needs to know to be a successful missionary.  I was doing pretty good and keeping it all together until we went up by the temple to take a picture together.  Neither of us could keep it together, and we just hugged and cried.  We dropped her off and there were more tears, but as we were pulling out we saw her wiping her tears away and smiling and talking with the nice sister missionary who picked her up on the curb.  It made me feel better.  

Of course that night there were at least 3 funny memes or videos that I wanted to show here, but she wasn't here and I couldn't just message them to her.  So I wrote her a Dear Elder instead.  

The times I notice the most that she's not around is when I've found myself having to sit alone at the basketball or wrestling, when I hear funny jokes and want to tell her, when I accidentally say something stupid and no one gives me a hard time, ya know, sisterly things like that that Tess and I always did together.  

I've had a fun-filled week, but each time I was doing something I couldn't help but think how much fun Tessa would have doing it with us!  Jazz game, snowshoeing, skiing, watching Dad's girl's team, and playing with the nephews--she woulda loved doing them all!  But, she's doing a greater work.  She's preparing to teach people about TRUE HAPPINESS.  The kind you can't find at a Jazz game or on the ski hill.  She's going to go and teach people how they can be together with their families FOREVER.  She's going to teach them how they can return to live with their Heavenly Father and find true joy.  She's dedicating 18 months of her life to serve others.  I'm so proud of her.  

I'm not going to lie and tell you that there haven't been more tears since she left, but I am going to tell you that she's doing so great!  She's sent us some pictures and she just looks great.  Her letters are positive and happy.  She did tell me that she wishes that we could be companions (even though she loves her companion!) because we wouldn't have to be "nicy-nice" through the frustrating times and we'd just get work done!  haha.  I just love her.  

 

Tess and her companion, Sister Davidson