Second Good-Bye

We had a second good-bye dinner with the Thelers, and hello to the Hansens. We went to Chilis in the Power Plant Mall (I have no idea why it has that name). The lights there, inside and outside, were amazing. I didn't get my camera out in time to take pictures of the palm trees with lights strung down each frond, but we did take some inside the restaurant and one out in the mall.  No, your monitor is not distorting things, the Christmas color of choice in this mall was orange!

Northrups, Hansens, Paines, Thelers

If I cropped out Elder Paine's shoulder, I would not have all the lights on the second floor!

Thelers flew out the next morning, Dec. 20.

Farewell Testimony Meeting

Two couples left us this week, the Thelers and the Jensens. We didn't know the Jensen's as well. They were the Self Reliance Center missionaries, and started their mission being headquartered over in Manila proper. A couple of months ago, a portion of our ward building at Buendia was remade into a new SRC, and they moved their operations over there, just across the parking lot from the office. From then on, we saw much more of them. The Thelers were in the office, he as Mission Financial Secretary and she as Mission Secretary.

Jensens, from Kansas City

Thelers, from Draper, UT

Since we knew they would be going and not be replaced, our assignment changed to include their duties with ours. David is now Financial Secretary, and I am the Mission Secretary. We try to check apartments two days a week now, and work in the office the other three days, and go look at new apartments as needed.

Thelers took a few days to go up to the Banaue Rice Terraces, and returned Wednesday afternoon. that evening we had our formal farewell dinner for them and the Jensens at the Mission Home.

 The remainder of the evening was spent in sharing testimonies, and how they had been strengthened by missions, lots of hugs and farewells.

Tuesday, December 16

Tuesday, I got to go to Virlanie again. Sister Jamie Bohn was the person who started it, and she moved back to the states last summer. Then Sister Theler took it over, and their mission ended. So, now it's mine. On Tuesday, many people were celebrating Christmas holidays, so there were only two of us to go, The RS president, Micah Bremner, and me, but-she brought her six kids. It was really great. They and the children enjoyed each other and all went well. However, I need to remember some more kid songs, and to learn some in Tagalog.  That's my new project. If any readers have suggestions, I welcome them!

Tuesday we also started walking around the roof deck, mostly because I'm bored to death with the exercises we've been doing since we got here (when we exercise, which is not nearly as often as we would like to.) The internet is not reliable enough to get our exercise program we subscribe to, so we just do the same. Anyway, it's really nice up on the roof. At this season and time of day, anyway (December, 5:30 am) it is beautifully cool (70s) and beautifully visual, with sunrise and the river flowing through the city.

 

Mondays our car is coded, meaning we can't drive between 7 am and 7 pm. Last Monday, we drove in at 6:30 because we knew we needed the car in the evening to attend a missionary farewell.

The Paines had also driven in because they had late evening plans, so when the office closed at 4:30, we all walked about half a block over to a little restaurant, La Creperie. We have a hard time with Whole Foods Plant Based eating in restaurants, but we, at least, are able to avoid meat. I had a delicious pumpkin soup, then a crepe with mushrooms (and cheese). David had mushroom soup and the same crepe. They were all delicious.

After dinner we walked over to the church for the missionary going away of a sweet sister, Parizia Albania, in the Makati 3rd Ward (a Tagalog-speaking ward). When we first arrived in Manila, she adopted us and translated for us, and greeted us very warmly every Sunday. Just last month she served as a part-time missionary to help us out as numbers came out uneven. (This happens as missionaries are very sick, or go home, or have been waiting for visas to other countries and they finally arrive.) Her mission call is to Australia, via the New Zealand Missionary Training Center, and she was very excited.

Third Ward has a monthly ward Family Home Evening, and they used this one as Paris's (her common name) farewell. We gathered in the cultural hall, and only 45 minutes late (this is the Philippines!) started with an "icebreaker" activity.  We sang a little song in Tagalog but it was essentially nonsense words as we patted our thighs, shoulders, and head. Then while one leader was telling us which to do--"Bago" meant thighs, "BagoBago" meant shoulders, and something like "BagoTAY" meant head-- the other leader was doing the wrong actions. We got eliminated if we could not follow the correct words. It was pretty fun. (And we both were eliminated!)

Then we had a short lesson in Taglish, so we were able to understand most, and then were served a delicious meal by Paris's parents. We had been in town since 7 am, so at 8:30 we decided we needed to leave, so Paris bagged up some food and sent it home with us. It smelled heavenly. We love the people in this ward, and are sad that Jan. 1, the building schedule changes, and there will no longer be overlap between the two ward meetings. We will have to choose between attending the English-speaking ward and this one, and we both have assignments in the English ward, so it will probably win. To attend both would mean 7 hours at church, and I don't think we're up to that!

A Very Meaningful Service Project

When I look out over the Makati skyline at night, and see all the beautiful skyscrapers lit up with outlines of various colored lights, or drive down Makati Avenue past the Greenbelt Mall with it's Prada store, and other very upscale, trendy stores, it is hard to remember that parts of the Philippines are living, positively, in the Middle Ages.

One aspect in which this was revealed to me was the prison system. There is no right to a speedy trial here; if one is accused, one enters prison to wait until the extremely backlogged court system gets to their case. Worse than this, though, is that a prisoner has exactly what he brings to prison with him, or what his family can provide for him. The only thing given to them by the government is a bowl of nasty mush once a day. No pillow, no bedding, no clean prison uniform, no toiletries, no more food.

So, for our ward service project last Saturday, we took action. A few weeks ago, a list was passed around in church, of things that would be useful for the 750 prisoners in the Makati Prison. Things like Pancit (similar to Ramen, only not a soup), laundry soap, bath soap, toothpaste, shampoo, protein drinks, bottled water, and chocolate crackers. On Saturday, these were laid out on tables in the gym, and the 70ish people there took plastic bags and just walked around the circuit, putting the allotted number of items into each bag, with a smaller bag for the scented toiletries, to prevent contamination of the food items. We tied them up, then double-bagged them. Later in the afternoon, the Relief Society presidency and up to 30 others delivered 750 bags to the prison, where the prisoners filed past and received their gifts with heartfelt thanks. This was one time when the Savior's admonition to do it unto the least of these my brethren became very clear.

Following the service project, there was a baptism for three people into our ward. Two were women from the Philippines, and a man from Ghana.  All three of their stories were spirit-filled and remarkable. The man from Ghana, Sam Owusu, has had a several-year journey to arrive the church.

Today we spoke in Church (Makati 4th Ward) for the first time here. I spoke on having a Christ-centered home, and David spoke on what think we of Christ--at Christmas-time, do we remember who He really is. we are mostly glad they are over, but they did seem to be well-received.

We stayed for the last two hours of Makati 3rd Ward, and I played the piano and David conducted in their Gospel Essentials class, then we went to Priesthood and Relief Society meetings. The members are so sweet and so strong in the gospel of Christ. We are humbled and grateful to know them.

Thanksgiving in the Philippines

Thanksgiving is a completely American holiday, which, it turns out, is somewhat hard to explain to Southeast Asians. Our Thanksgiving began as gratitude for a bounteous harvest, much needed to see the settlers through the coming harsh winter. Here in the tropics, gratitude for a timely and bounteous harvest is hard to explain, as there is no winter or non-growing season, and the harvest is pretty much always bounteous. The exception would be when a typhoon wipes everything out, but that is a different concept. So, explaining this uniquely American holiday to our Philippine and other Asian friends has been more difficult than you might expect!

We had two Thanksgivings. Our first was at the Mission Home (home of the Mission President). The other office couple, the one's whose places we are taking, were asked to stay there Thanksgiving week with the president's 15 year-old son while President and Sister Ostler were away up north at a mission presidents' seminar.  Most of us worked on Thanksgiving morning here at the office, then gathered over at the mission home mid-afternoon. While the others were at the office, I stayed home and baked three pies: pumpkin, apple, and chess.

Everyone brought parts of the feast, and it was delicious. Stuffing is uncommon if not nonexistent here, so when Sister Lemmon, our mission nurse practitioner, had to escort an ill missionary back to Arizona, she stopped at Wal-mart during her twelve hours on the ground! We had a lovely dinner, and enjoyed our time together.

Elder Northrup, Sister Jensen, Elder Jensen (Perpetual Education Fund and Self-Reliance Center), Elder Lemmon (area attorney). We even found Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, in with the taco sauce and other Mexican food!

Elder Theler making gravy, Jensens again, Sister Paine, and Elder Lemmon.

Caleb Ostler, Northrups, Jensens, Elder Theler, Elder Lemmon, Sister Lemmon, Elder Paine and Sister Paine. Sister Theler took the picture.

Waiting for dinner in the living room. Caleb had a very grandparenty Thanksgiving!

 Second Thanksgiving was at the Area Offices by the Philippine Missionary Training Center and the temple. One of the couples serving in public relations arranged to have the event catered, and gave them her personal recipes. What we were served was reminiscent of Thanksgiving in some ways! But, again, we had a nice time. Dinner was preceded by a performance by some children from Bahay Kalinga, a home for street children, those who have parents who can't keep them right now as well as those who are orphans and abused children, ranging in age from one week to 30 years.

I posted a picture on Facebook, but now can't find it!

Catching up!

Maybe I'm having a normal reaction to blogging, I don't know, but I seem to have less news and less time to detail it!

We had another transfer last week, and it seemed crazier than ever. We have missionaries coming and going off-schedule, which means they often need special transportation. One of these was a very favorite missionary of ours, Elder Wjendran, going home to his land of Sri Lanka to open it for missionary work. He is a perfectly wonderful young man, and we were really sorry to see him go. He actually went the afternoon of Going-Home Day, so we didn't get to enjoy all of the going-home activities with him.

Tuesday is going-home day, so we came in to the office, then went with the Thelers and all the returning missionaries to the temple. It is really fun to be in a temple session filled with people you know and love! Afterwards, Elder Wjendran had to leave, and the rest of us ate pizza in the gazebo at the back of the temple. Another trip to the American Manila Cemetery, and then over to the Mission Home for dinner and testimony meeting. We started with the temple at 10:00 instead of 1:00, hoping that the traffic wouldn't be so bad going back to the Mission Home from there, and our evening might be over before 10:00 pm. So, we were lucky--it was only 9:00 pm!

Elder Northrup, Elder Dennis (New Zealand), Elder Hart (California), Sister Northrup

Sister Belardo (Philippines), Sister Teeteka (Kiribati), Sister Cava (Fiji), Sister Brockbank (Utah), Sister Chong-Nee (New Zealand), Northrups, Sister Wemhoner (Colorado), Sister Mafi (Tonga), Sister Cooper (Utah), Sister Bishop (Virginia), and Sister Larsen (Virginia)

The missionaries singing their last "Called to Serve" in Tagalog.

Mt. Pinatubo

 We had a very interesting field trip yesterday. [Actually, Saturday the 7th--took me awhile to write this] We got up at 1 am, left our apartment at 2, and drove over to a McDonald's in Pasig City (about 20 minutes at that time in the morning). There we met the rest of our group of missionaries, the Thelers, the Lemons, and the Jensons, and the rest of the people signed up for the TriPinas excursion up to Mt. Pinatubo. Mt. Pinatubo is an active volcano that no one knew was a volcano until it started venting steam and smoke about a month before it's first eruption, in 1991. It emitted 2 cubic miles of solids.

At three am we loaded into vans for the drive up to the base camp, about 57 miles. A good bit of it was in Manila traffic, so it took us 2 1/2 hours. At base camp, we rented hiking poles if we wished, and all of us "senior citizens" had to have our blood pressure read. Interestingly, all four in our group had identical bp.  Only in the Philippines! We then stepped into the back of 4x4s for a further hour and a half of driving over the ash that had filled the valley to the depth of over 300 feet, to the beginning of the hiking trail.

An example of the terrain we drove over in the 4x4s.

There we were in for a bit of a surprise, as we had thought it was a 1.5K hike to the crater, but it turned out to be 7! I had been sick all week with a cold/bronchitis, so was not surprised that I only made it halfway up the mountain before bagging it. But, we really enjoyed seeing the lahar and the beautiful green jungle, and meeting up with darling Aeta children. They are believed to be related to other aboriginal peoples in the Pacific area, and live a hunter-gatherer culture in the jungles near Pinatubo.

All fresh and frisky at the beginning of the day.

David overlooking our backtrail.

This was on the way back down, after I was pretty well dead!

Such cute and friendly kids, though a little shy. Their mothers were in the background, washing clothes in the river. Notice that they still do some of the universal photo posturing!

These two entertained us at the shelter where the group rested on the way up, and we on the way down, again. They made birdcalls and whistles with their hands, very nonchalantly, but making sure we were watching.

David is looking back up the trail, where we had just come down. The crater was on the far side of the furthest peak in the photo.

We've just begun a really great week in the mission. Yesterday morning, we were able to sit in on a devotional for all church employees with Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve, his wife, Kristin, Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the Presidency of the Seventy, Bishop Gerald Causse, and our Area President, Ian S. Ardern. The main message of that seemed to be being wise with the church's resources, working smart as well as hard, and, from Elder Oaks, paraphrased, Life is about Growth, and we only grow through challenge and adversity. There is no growth from prosperity. He also counselled us to expect belt-tightening in lots of areas.

Then last night there was a special broadcast to all of the Philippines which was filmed at our chapel and we were in the audience. It will be shown Sunday night to everyone else. The messages there were specific to the Philippines and the problems here, but, the answers were universal. To really know the Savior we must study the scriptures daily. We need to keep our baptismal covenants, fulfill our callings, pay our tithing, and be good parents. Elder Oaks also said that as the only Christian nation in Southeast Asia, the Philippines is key to carrying the gospel to China and the rest of Asia. When we were on our cruise to London last year, Mike Wilcox spoke of how grateful he was to the Catholic church for preserving Western Culture at a time when much was being destroyed. Here, also, we sometimes feel great antipathy toward the Spanish Catholics for their oppression of the gentle Filipinos. However, it was they that brought Christianity to the Philippines, and saw that it was so well entrenched. So while we might decry their methods, and the lack of any infrastructure left behind, we can be grateful that this is a believing nation. Nearly every jeepney has a Christian name, phrase, or picture on it, and there are many large billboards with scripture or scripture-based homilies.

Today we have a mission-wide meeting with Elder Robbins this afternoon, and then on Sunday, another stake-wide meeting with him instead of our regular Sunday schedule. This is all very special for missionaries, but especially for the Filipino people. To have the church recognize them in this special way is really wonderful.

We are leaving shortly this morning to go try to negotiate for a new apartment for some missionaries whose home was sold out from under them. We are really praying for success because our time runs short!

Learning Along the Way

For the last transfer (six-week period between arrival of new missionaries and general reshuffling of missionary assignments), my message to the missionaries as we visited their apartments was on the Word of Wisdom. This is a revelation given to Joseph Smith regarding health. (To read the scripture, go here.) Spending six weeks teaching and studying this revelation caused us to ponder more about how we were living it. Most members of the church focus on the "don'ts" of the Word of Wisdom: Don't use tobacco, coffee, tea, alcohol or drugs. These are, obviously, very important for physical, spiritual and mental health.  However, fully half of the Word of Wisdom gives us things we should do. We are to eat meat sparingly, and eat every grain, and fruits and vegetables with prudence and thanksgiving. This is a great response to the Paleo trend that I just couldn't feel good about. The biggest discussion I'm aware of, with members of the church, is the meaning of sparingly. We have long felt that it meant less than we were eating, but we didn't feel it strongly enough to do anything about it. Then, again while teaching about this principle, I came across a post on Meridian Magazine about fully living the Word of Wisdom.  I read the post, by Jane Birch, who works as the Assistant Director of the Brigham Young University Faculty Center. It linked to other posts by her, and to a book she has written, called Discovering the Word of Wisdom. We ordered and read the book, and then went on to other things she recommended, including The China Study by T. Colin Campbell (amazon), Forks Over Knives (a documentary available on Netflix), and the website of Dr. John A. McDougall, MD, (drmcdougall.com)

After much reading and pondering, we decided that we would seriously cut back our use of meat, and try to follow a Whole Foods Plant-Based diet. We do not want to label ourselves as vegetarian or vegan, or, indeed, anything at all but disciples who are trying to follow the diet the Lord prescribed, as well a secure the best health we can for the remainder of our lives.

We began this on October 1. We are not willing to throw lots of things away, so we continue to eat what we had on hand, though spaced much further apart. We won't be able to tell much in the way of blood work, etc., while here, so we'll have to go purely on feelings until we get home. The only thing I can say, so far, is that I haven't had any Tums since starting eating this way, and I was chugging them down pretty regularly just days before.

We would like to invite each of you to read the resources we did, and draw your own conclusions. We'd love to hear what you think (after you've done the reading/watching!)

Just Plodding Along

We are nearly through with another transfer. We hope to visit our remaining seven apartments tomorrow and Friday, because next week is transfer week when it is very hard to visit. We are teaching them about the Word of Wisdom this transfer, specifically the part about eating meat sparingly and eating fruits and vegetables of every kind in their season. There is pretty much no excuse over here, as there is no winter and not famine here in this area, and the fruits and vegetables are abundant. We had a very nice Relief Society meeting on Saturday, where some of the seasoned expats taught us how to use many of the unfamiliar vegetables and fruits. For supper tonight, we tried sauteed garlic, onion, carrots and sayote, a funny green, pear-shaped vegetable, and garnished with malunggay, a tiny-leaved green plant that is a wonder food.  It was quite tasty!

We are in the heart of the rainy season now, which means a rain almost every day, sometimes a shower and sometimes a downpour. I am still enough of a SE Colorado girl that I like to go watch it rain. It does cool off the air somewhat, but not as much as one might think.  And the days without rain are still astonishingly hot!d All of those "rainy season" warmer clothes I brought hang unused in my closet. The only need I've ever had is to take a sweater because the air-conditioning at church is frigid!

Yesterday I figured out that we drove for 3 1/2 hours, had two, one-hour apartment visits, and a two-and-a-half hour shopping excursion. It's like driving to Denver every day! We don't like to spend an hour in an apartment, but I'm having the missionaries score themselves, with oversight, and they sometimes take a long time, and particularly so if the apartment is dirty. These were.

Our favorite mall has a grocery with flowers, and David pretty much keeps flowers on the table all the time.  It is very nice, and helps a little with my surprised missing of my garden, and plants in the house.

One last thing.  I've mentioned that there are traffic directors at every busy intersection. I love them! They really help to keep traffic flowing. We have a couple of favorites, though. I wish I had pictures, but so far we have been unable to take them. There is one woman who directs traffic, standing in the middle of a very busy intersection, wearing a moderately short-skirted uniform, with 4-5 inch-high heels! In keeping with Filipino custom, she also wears a towel on her head to protect herself from the sun.  It's quite a cute sight. Our other favorite is a middle-aged man with a large mustache who wears a completely black uniform with black boots and a white cowboy hat. He is also lots of fun to watch. I'll still try to get pictures.

Mission Tour

We just had another great experience in the mission, the Mission Tour.  These are visits by a member of our Area Presidency and his wife, and they occur annually. This time we had President and Sister Ardern. They went to Palawan and had a zone conference, and then the next two days had two here, each for one half of the mainland Manila Mission. We went with our Zone on Thursday. Sister Ardern spoke first, and introduced their family to us, including pictures of the temple near their home in New Zealand, and of her family, which joined the church when she was a young girl. President Ardern is also a convert, whose parents joined but were never active.  He and his twin brother rode a bus 15 kilometers to get to church by themselves each Sunday. A very influential missionary kept track of them and encouraged them, and at the end of his mission, gave his bicycle to Elder Ardern. Elder Ardern stayed active and eventually served a mission himself.

Sister Ardern went on to teach us, and Elder Ardern would pop up and add his views on whatever she was saying. It was a very interesting and effective way of teaching.

We had a lovely catered lunch with white table cloths and covered chairs, perhaps the nicest meal many of the missionaries had ever experienced. After, we took zone pictures, then returned for the afternoon's teaching by Elder Ardern again, and President and Sister Ostler. After the conference, Elder Ardern had requested that they be able to visit some nearby apartments. We loaded Arderns and Ostlers into a van and headed off to pre-chosen apartments, but when we got about a block from the chapel, President and Sister Ostler realized they would have no way to get their cars home, so they ran back to the office and we took the Arderns on. We had picked ten apartments that are fairly close to the Buendia chapel and told the missionaries to be sure their houses were clean in case they got a visit! It was late and the Arderns were tired, so we ended up going to the very closest, one sisters' apartment and one elders'. They were both very clean and thrilled to be visited by the Area President.

We then drove them back to the mission home through very heavy traffic, and on the way home, met the other office couples for dinner at one of our favorite spots, Gulliver's of San Francisco, with the DuFords, who had come over from Coron for Zone Conference.

This is our zone.

Another Farewell

We had another farewell, two weeks ago now. We have been so busy I've been too tired to post at night. Farewells are getting harder, as we get to know the missionaries better, having known them longer. One especially hard one was one of the Assistants to the President, Elder Stephens.  We see the APs a lot because they work in the office a great deal, and handle a lot of the business of Missionary Leadership Council meetings, and Zone Conferences, etc.

Sisters Romero, Grant and Gubac, and Elders Vang, Stephens, Burkhart, Woolsey and Bayatan. The going-home missionaries at the Manila America Cemetery, resting place of over 17,000 World War 2 dead, and the place from which Elder Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Philippines for the preaching of the gospel.

The going-home missionaries always sing us a song together.

Sister Gubac

Elder Bayatan, who learned to be quite the negotiator of contracts on his mission. He was involved in acquiring something like six new apartments during his tenure!

Sister Romero

Sister Grant

Elder Stephens, one of the first APs we got to know

Of course, we know that these young missionaries need to return to the real world and move on with their lives, but, selfishly, we certainly would like to keep them around!

David's Birthday in Manila

David's birthday began with the realization that they had named the day especially for him, National Heroes Day! In honor of that, our car was not coded so we were able to drive in to the office that morning. We worked there for a few hours, then came home for lunch and to prepare for the afternoon's event, a district activity day. The District Leader in our area asked if they could come to our apartment and watch a movie on their p(reparation)day.

They all arrived and immediately donned their "Army of Helaman" t-shirts they had had printed, then ordered JolliBee fried chicken dinners to be delivered. They also presented David with a birthday cake they had brought! We watched "One Man's Treasure" together, and then they left.

(Back) Elder Solis, Elder Elep, Sister Langkilde, Sister T'oa, (Front) Elder Echano, Elder Ingram

After a quick clean-up, we joined the other senior couples at Chili's, located in a mall about a mile from here. Their food tastes pretty much like any Chili's, and we enjoy going there occasionally.  The waiters sang to David, and presented a scoop of ice cream in a cinnamon flour tortilla, with a candle! So, all told, it was a well-celebrated birthday. We even had time for one segment of "Pride and Prejudice"!

Elder and Sister Northrup, housing missionaries, Elder and Sister Jensen, Perpetual Education Fund missionaries, and Elder and Sister Paine (from Grand Junction, CO) and Elder and Sister Theler, all office missionaries.

Salcedo Saturday Market

The transfer (meaning the 6-week period between the normal transfer of missionaries to new assignments) is nearly over, and yesterday we finished visiting all 50 apartments, and giving them all a total of three messages:a spiritual one from  each of us, and another homemaking/provident living one from me. David says it's like having 50 home-teaching families! We love it; it is so nice to share a spiritual moment with these wonderful young missionaries. We also finished obtaining the new apartments necessary for this transfer, a total of seven. We still are working on three more, but they are not essential for the incoming missionaries to have a bed and a roof.

Today we went to the Salcedo Saturday Market, about three blocks from the Mission Office in Makati. This was our first visit. It was really fun, and very Filipino. For instance, this little park is set up with tents covering vendors' tables, and today we bought: a purse, a bottle of coconut oil, two salmon steaks, corn on the cob, a bag of cassava chips, (a "starchy tuberous root" that is a main source of carbohydrates in the tropics, and also the source of tapioca), some baklava, a loaf each of mango-cranberry  and blueberry-cream cheese bread, a grilled brat for my lunch, and fresh ginger ale. The Filipinos stand outside their booths and hawk their wares, and as you walk by, everyone says "Good afternoon, Ma'am, Sir" and offer samples. We sampled cinnamon rolls, Philippine Berry Juice, and the bread and ginger ale we bought. It's very busy and chaotic, and was great. We were only there about an hour, but I hope to go often.

To Our Sons-Nathan, Graham, Carey, Jonathan

When we joined the Church, we learned about all the main principles and practices of the gospel--tithing, Sabbath observance, moral cleanliness, etc., and, every young man should serve a mission, young women were encouraged, and seniors were needed. At that time we decided that we would serve a mission once we retired, and that we would teach our children to save and prepare, as well.

I am glad we made that decision, and have had honorable sons who followed through with that commitment. However, I'm learning that it was probably a really good thing that we had no idea what we were really signing you boys up for! We may have had more difficulty sending you out had we realized what we were sending you to!

We anticipated your having companions that you had to learn to get along with. We anticipated you needing to learn to cook and clean up after yourselves. We anticipated the struggle with sharing the gospel with an often unwilling populace. We even anticipated your having unfamiliar foods to try to get used to, and accommodations that were less than what you were used to. So, in short, I guess we really did anticipate most of the difficulties of your missions. What we didn't understand, and I don't know how we would have, is how really hard all that all is when taken all together! Maybe at our age we are not as resilient as we would have been at 19, but we are over here with SO much better situation than the young missionaries are! We CHOSE our companion! We have an air-conditioned house and an air-conditioned car. We don't have any places that are specifically off-limits, except, of course, any place the Spirit warns us against. We have a difficult and exhausting assignment, which we are giving our all to, but we can quit for the day whenever we need to, and no one cares. Or even knows. We get to stay in contact with our family 24-7 (if they wrote or called that much!).  We watch TV whenever we want, as long as we pay our own way. We get to leave the mission any time, as long as we come home at night.  We aren't proselyting missionaries, so our discouragement  is different. We definitely do not get  as excited as the young missionaries do over receiving a new mop! (Their mothers would be so proud of them!)

We are so impressed with all these young missionaries who are here, sacrificing so much to serve the Lord and bring his word to a people that is in such desperate need. We are impressed with you, dear sons! With how little complaining we heard! And with each of you for fulfilling your call and staying the full two years. There has been some internet activity regarding missionaries who come home early, lately. There should never be any kind of a stigma attached to any missionary who comes home early! We can never know what led them to that decision, and we have no right to judge them in any way.

We have met  many missionaries with mental and emotional problems, many with debilitating health problems, and some with almost no support from home at all. They are truly as the Army Of Helaman, and we are proud to serve with them.

I know the Lord blesses his servants, and I trust, as you each look back, you see growth and testimony that you could have gotten no other way. I hope you also see how proud of  you your parents are, and how grateful we are to have valiant, obedient sons who hearkened to the call, especially since none of us knew what you were getting into!

PS-We are equally proud of our sister missionary, Maria, but had nothing to do with that one!

Facto

Facto, my sweet kitty-boy, left us yesterday, courtesy of some coyotes in Basalt. We had left him and Maddy with Graham's family while we serve our mission. I didn't really expect to see him again after we left, but I have learned that I had great, but unrecognized, hopes. He was a really loving, sweet kitty. Even when the kids hauled him around by the neck, he never scratched or bit them. He was my friend that helped me through the empty-nest transition. I have no pictures of him with me to share here. I grieve.

The Rest of Jon and Maria's Visit

Wednesday, we needed to do a little mission work, so we picked up Jon and Maria and delivered two fans and an iron to missionaries. Maria had a chance to do a little language encouragement to a sister missionary who had been out about five months and is struggling with Tagalog. Next we drove down to the Cavite Mission to deliver a missionary's empty suitcase that for some reason had been in our mission home for a year.

When we returned to Manila we took Jon and Maria to the Balikbayan Handcrafts store to buy authentic Philippine souvenirs. Jonathan bought a magnificent ship! And I always pick something up when I'm there, usually jewelry.  I didn't bring any of mine from home but about five pair of earrings, so I can use more. To end Wednesday, after a short nap we went to Caruso's, a lovely Italian restaurant the senior couples frequent.

Thursday we drove to the Philippine Missionary Training Center which is located next to the Area Offices and across the street from the Manila Temple. There we met President and Sister Beck, the current MTC president and his wife, who were formerly Maria's Manila Mission President when she served in 2004-2005. We had a very nice visit with them, which included them extolling Maria's virtues as an exemplary missionary, followed by lunch in the MTC cafeteria and a tour.   Right now, only Filipino and perhaps some island missionaries train there, but soon, all Philippines-bound missionaries from all over the world will receive their training there. It's a very exciting growth and will be of great benefit to the missionaries in getting a feel for the food and culture as well as training proselyting in the actual country. Funny note: A new missionary just called from our ward, a Japanese elder who lives here in Metro Manila, has been called to serve in Cebu, Philippines, where they don't speak Tagalog but Cebuano. He will travel to Provo to learn the language, and then return to serve in the Philippines! I think that will not happen with the expansion of the Philippine MTC.

President and Sister Beck, Maria, Jon, Cheryl, David

They are planning two new buildings on the campus.

After the tour we went over to the temple, where we did a session, and happened to run into the Atoigue family I mentioned in another post. 

Near the back of the temple

Following the temple we took Jon and Maria to a nearby mall for Jon to look for a bag to carry his stuff in on Sunday--I'm sure there's an actual name for such a bag--and then went to another favorite restaurant, L'Artizan, the French restaurant and bakery, and home, after unsuccessfully trying to find the restaurant at which one of our apartment owners worked.