The one where Paige is bad at laundry - July 25, 2015

Kumusta pamilya ko! And friends! I should probably learn how to say friends in Tagalog. Anyway, this week has been kind of crazy. But a good kind of crazy. We got to do TRC for the first time, which was pretty cool. We talked to a guy and a girl from Sandy. They dated in high school, then he got called to the Philippines, then she got called there like 3 months later :) cool, eh? 

Oh, so last week I washed all my clothes together because there wasn't very much and I've never had a problem with colors running before...  bad idea. My dark green skirt (which I'd neglected to prewash before sewing) decided that it really wanted to share its greenness with the world. So some of my whites are now a really really light blue. BUT HERE'S THE KICKER. This week, having clearly realized the errors of my ways, I decided to wash all my clothes together again but without the green skirt. Cause I'm a problem solver. 

HOWEVER. I also accidentally started washing them on hot, and there's apparently no going back as soon as you hit the button... so my lovely fuchsia cardigan, which has never before bled onto my whites, decided that today was a day to yolo it up. Now about a third of my whites are light blue, another third are light pink, and I shan't be surprised if the last third turn orange next week. 

But yeah. Tagalog is crazy. We're starting to learn grammar though, which is helping a bunch :)

I also learned how to say, "At sa pamamagitan ng kapangyarihan ng Espiritu Santo, malalaman ninyo ang katotohanan ng lahat ng bagay." First to tell me what that says wins a high five upon my arrival home. Maybe.

Oh! I also wrote a story today! Enjoy. Love you all!

     Once upon a time there was a little cottage which sat at the edge of the woods. It had once been beautiful,k with bright flowers all around and a warm fire in the hearth. 

     However, one day its people left. There was no one to take care of the cottage. Over time the cottage began to fall to pieces- the walls became dingy and dull, the floorboards began to rot away, the flowers outside withered and died until thorny weeds took their place. And the cottage became so, so cold. 

     The cottage wasn't alone, of course. It had visitors all the time. Villagers from all over the kingdom had heard stories of the "haunted" cottage. At first, the cottage was shocked. "What?" it thought, "I'm not haunted. I just don't have any people to take care of me." But when people realized that, they would leave, which made the cottage sad. It missed having people.

     Soon the cottage started to play along. When villagers came, it would creak its doors and make scratching noises in the attic. It tried its very best to look as rickety as possible, and the people loved it. They would stay longer, and that made the cottage feel much better.

     But when the people were gone, the cottage remembered how cold it really was. When the people were gone, the cottage tried to remember how happy it used to be, but it just couldn't. When the people were gone, the cottage felt so unwanted and so unimportant that it hurt.

     Years and years went by, and every time it was the same. Villagers would come to visit and the cottage would feel great. But as soon as they left, the sadness would set in once again.

     Until, one day, a kind man and His little dove came to stay. He had heard from two young girls that there was a shabby little cottage at the edge of the woods. It wasn't much, but they knew it would be good enough for Him. 

     "Why would he want to stay here?" thought the cottage. "I'm not pretty anymore. I'm too broken, I can't offer Him anything. I'm not good enough." 

     Nevertheless, the kind man moved in. He worked diligently, doing all that he could to fix the cottage. He put His blood, sweat, and tears into perfecting it. He washed the cottage, He replaced the floors, He fixed up the walls with a fresh coat of paint. He pulled weeds until His hands were raw and He didn't feel like He could do anything more, then he proceeded to spend hours and hours planting flowers of every kind. He wanted everything to be perfect.

     What used to be a broken-down, dirty, "haunted" cottage was now a beautiful, welcoming, clean home. There was just one thing missing.

     The kind man finished working on the cottage. Though exhausted from His labors, He went to the hearth and set to work. It started as a tiny flicker, but quickly became a big, glowing fire that soon warmed the entire cottage. Finally! The memories of all those sad and lonely years were washed away by the warmth of the fire and the love of the kind man. 

     He lived there forever more, tending to the cottage. His dove always perched on the windowsill, which comforted the cottage whenever storms came through. The cottage always felt loved. There was always a warm fire in the hearth, and, at long last, the cottage was really, truly happy.