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.