I'm Here!!!!

Helllllllllllllooooooo from the Philippines!!! 

It seems so weird to say that!! This week has been so crazy! I can't believe that just last SUNDAY I was hanging out in Utah eating normal, American food and complaining about how cold it was in the classroom. Oh, how I long for that seat right by the A/C vent but I wouldn't trade being in the Philippines for anything!! 

We left the MTC right after church on Sunday. It was a mad dash to get all of my stuff from my room to the travel office and say all my goodbyes! I was running on only 3 or 4 hours of sleep because, just like the crazy college student I am, I waited until the last minute to pack. The whole zone came and watched us leave which was awesome! It was so weird to leave the MTC and go into the real world after being cooped up inside for 6 weeks! 

We flew from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Manila and then had a 4-hour bumpy bus ride to Olongapo where the mission home is. All of the traveling went well except for in LA. We were all calling our families and getting dinner, thinking we had tons of time. When it came to be about 30 or 45 minutes before our flight, I became a little nervous because our gate number still wasn't up on the departure board. Being the savvy traveler that I am, I decided to go ask someone. Despite receiving many groans from my travel group, we all took our stuff and went to find someone to ask. Well, let me tell you, it's a darn good thing we asked because not only were we in the wrong terminal but we were also in the wrong BUILDING!!! Needless to say, we ran to the correct building, printed our boarding passes, flew through security, and made it to our correct area with minutes to spare. We were out of breath, but we were there!! 

The flight to Hong Kong was soooo long! I slept for most of it but was uncomfortable the whole 14 hours. When we got to Hong Kong, the sissies in our travel group ate at McDonald's for breakfast but I, being among the brave, ate a traditional Hong Kong breakfast of ramen noodles with beef, "scrambled eggs", a toasted roll, and herbal tea. It was pretty good! From Hong Kong it was just a hop and a skip and we were in Manila.

Once in Manila, we grouped on the sidewalk and looked for a man holding a sign that said, "The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints". This man never came! We waited for three hours and finally someone came and told us that they thought we were coming in at 11 o'clock pm instead of am. Whoops!! So we got placed on a bus and off we went. That night we slept at the mission home and then after some training the next day we were off to our assigned areas!!!

I am in the Santa Rita 2 area in the Olongapo zone and my companion is Sister Leahkehe from Utah.  I love the people here already and can't wait until I can really communicate with them to tell them how much I love them and this gospel!

You can write to me at the mission home and since we are so close, I won't even have to wait for a zone conference to get my mail!  Please see my new address below and write often cuz you know how much I love those letters!!!

I love you all and appreciate all your love and support!

-Sister Miller

Sister Marissa Noelle Miller
Philippines Olongapo Mission
Km. 140 National Highway
Mangan -Vaca, Subic
2209 Zambales
Philippines