Hot Hot Hot

Hello Family,
Guess where I am? Marikina 3rd Ward. An actual ward, how awesome is that? I live in an apartment with 3 other Filipino sisters and my companion is Sister Santos from Isabella. She is pushing 5 feet tall, and I am pushing 6 feet and am the tallest sister in the Quezon City mission. I found that out about 6 million times at transfer meeting. Needless to say there are a lot of stares and there were a lot of chuckles when we went to hug up front after the transfer announcement.
I am happy here. My Tagalog has improved 10 fold here, we practice and talk and laugh and eat and talk, talk, talk. There is still a ton that I don't understand, especially when they speak fast, but oh it is so much better. My companion and I sing in just about every lesson and that I love. We teach a lot of lessons daily. There hasn't been an American sister in the 3rd ward for quite some time so all of the people stare again and call out barbie or princess or Americana, but this time instead of feeling awkward or weird I smile and answer back in Tagalog. That is fun. Sometimes the people let us into their house because they want to know why an American is trying to speak Tagalog. Plus with the height difference we get a lot of looks. Sister Santos is loving it, she says that tracting has never been so easy. I am glad that she is supporting our differences and using them to strengthen our companionship.
District Meeting was awesome today, Elder Smith (who was in my last Zone) became our District Leader, its nice to have him as a friend already. Also Elder Arthur that I met in the MTC is his companion, so I feel completely comfortable.
As for my eyes, Mercury Drugstore stopped carrying the prescription that Sister DeLaMare gave me on Thursday but today we went to a mall for lunch and I was able to get it there. It is the one that starts with a G, I can't remember the name. Hopefully it will help. Luckily I didn't get pink eye like Sister Miras, she got it bad and rubbed her eyes a lot so it spread to the other one and needless to say our last day together she wasn't very happy. Sigh. I hope she is happier now. Sister Santos' old companion and I just swapped places, she went to Morong and I came to Marikina. Sister Santos' first area was Morong/Tanay (they were combined then), so I have more to talk about.
I am so completely jealous of all of you and fall weather. Sigh. Here in the city, well here it is mostly all slums so it is really really hot. Hotter than Morong, actually. Also more polluted, I wipe black off my face every night. But the people are so humble, a lot of them are still having a hard time building back up from last years Undoy, [Undoy is the name of a deadly 2009 typhoon. Think of it as a Filipino Katrina. - Emily] which I didn't hear about a lot in Morong but here almost every person mentions it. I can't believe how oblivious I was back in America, yes I was swamped with school but how could I not learn more about this. The people here are so amazing, so happy, I am so grateful that I get to help teach them! Even if I am sweating more than I thought was ever possible, fun times!!!
What else?? Oh tomorrow is my 5 months as a missionary mark, woot!
Oh we have lunch everyday as an apartment, that is fun, I am learning how to cook native dishes. When I get home I am going to hopefully be able to give you a little taste of what food here is like. I hope you like soy sauce and vinegar and a lot of meat.
The Church is True!! Go to the temple as often as you can, the blessings are eternal.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
I love you all.
Sister Jensen

Side note. Saying goodbye was one of the hardest things I have done. I was excited to leave but being able to only say goodbye to one family (Sis Miras wouldn't go inside because there were kids, so I was on splits with 2 young women) it was so hard to tell them that you are leaving. But the church is true no matter who is teaching them. It was hard but at the same time a wonderful feeling to know that they really were sad that I was leaving, to know that in some way I have helped them in their lives.

MORE INFORMATION ON SISTER JENSEN'S NEW AREA:
(THANKS, WIKIPEDIA!)

The City of Marikina (Filipino: Lungsod ng Marikina), known as the Shoe Capital of the Philippines, was formerly the capital of the province of Manila during the declaration of Philippine Independence. Located on the island of Luzon, Marikina is one of the cities and a Metropolitan municipality that make up the Metropolitan Manila Area, the National Capital Region of the Philippines. It also belongs to Eastern Manila District of Metro Manila's four districts.

Marikina City is located along the eastern border of Metro Manila; it is bordered on the west by Quezon City, to the south by Pasig City and Cainta, Rizal, to the east by Antipolo City (the capital of Rizal province), and to the north by San Mateo (also in Rizal). It is approximately 21 km. away from Manila.

Marikina was given the title the "Shoe Capital of the Philippines" because of its notable shoe industry. Shoemakers in the city recently finished creating the World's Largest Pair of Shoes and it was only recently that the Guinness World Records recognized this feat. The Shoe Museum located in the city is the home of the famous shoe collection of the former First Lady Imelda Marcos, shoes of the world leaders, past presidents, famous celebrities and persons, shoes of different countries around the world etc., and contains the largest collection of pair of shoes in the world.

The people of Marikina are amongst the most disciplined in the Philippines. Marikina City is considered as one of the healthiest and livable cities within the Asia-Pacific, and it is also the most industrialized and business-savvy city in Metro Manila. Marikina City is one of the wealthiest local government units (LGU) in the Philippines in terms of current assets, cash in banks, share of internal revenue allotment (IRA), gross income and gross net income. The city features many spacious parks, tree-lined streets, bikelanes, boulevards and commercial areas. Despite the latter, most of the city is classified as residential.