Office Day

Left for the office this morning at 7, and spent most of the day there. We spent a lot of time trying to make a new spreadsheet to keep housing info on. Hiatts came in at lunch time, and we went with them to sign a contract. Our name is on it; hope it's right! Later we walked down to where the Notary Public is.  We can get all the copies of a contract notarized for 100 pisos, which is about $2.50. If we go to the American Embassy to have it done, it costs $50.00.  That seems a little extreme, but no one is sure if something notarized here for the 100P would hold up in America.

Just a little more about our apartment. These are actually condos, individually owned.  The original owners of all three missionary apartments have moved out and leased them to us. The church, or at least, the mission president, wants the senior missionaries to be happy and healthy, so they put into our apartments two air conditioners, the washer, the dryer, a heating unit for the shower (we have no other hot water in the apartment, except the washer), the stove, curtains, and nice wardrobes for closets. They seemed pretty basic when we moved in, but we didn't realize how upgraded they are! We don't brush our teeth with the sink water, but carry cups of filtered water to the bathroom with us.  The water filter systems are also church-installed.

Sunday

We are beginning to settle in to our Sunday schedule, which is International (English) Ward 10:00-1:00, then pick up the Makati 3rd's last two hours. We did this again today, and again, though five hours of church is a long time, we found we really enjoyed those last two hours.  We can understand some of what is being said, and the people are so sweet and friendly. David and I were called on to offer prayers the last hour, and I was first.  I determined that I had to take the plunge and try in Tagalog.  I was shaking! I haven't been that scared in a long time.  But, I managed a brief prayer and they were so congratulatory and excited that I had done it.  David had longer to think and said a much better prayer, but he said he was equally frightened.  Again, many shook his hand and thanked him for his prayer. We may decided to attend sacrament in the 3rd ward from now on, though the Int'l. ward needs our music skills more. Have to think about that.

They have their version of "Linger-Longers" called "Munch and Mingle", but we didn't know about it ahead of time so will go next month.

P-DAY

Our first kind of normal "P-day", for preparation day. We cleaned all morning after sleeping in a bit (and I do mean "a bit"). We were supposed to have a meeting with the handyman at 1:00 to arrange for bars on our windows*, but when we texted him at one, he said, "Later, sir, about two." We didn't feel like playing that game, so kept our appointment with the Thelers to visit the Ayala Museum of Philippine Culture at 2:00. It is a lovely museum that gave us a bit of a handle on Philippine history from prehistoric times forward, including their magnificent history of making beautiful gold jewelry and ornamentation. We spent a little over two hours there, then walked to the Greenbelt Mall.  The museum is actually part of the mall.  Malls here are a little different than those at home, well, at least the last two we've been two. They are VERY upscale, with Prada, Juicy Couture, Ralph Lauren and the like, plus about a million restaurants, but they are so beautifully landscaped with walkways on the second floor that wind through palm and other sorts of trees, all with beautiful lights.  I'm not describing it particularly well.  Shopping here is great in some ways but can be intimidating. Labor is extremely cheap, so when you enter a store or a department in a large store, you are often quickly surrounded by beautiful young Filipinos offering to help you or pitching various goods.  On Friday I was looking for a king-sized topsheet because the queen we have is really probably just a double. I asked for a single flat sheet, and they said, "How about a mattress protector?" No, I really need a single sheet.  Ok, we look for a bit, come up empty, and then, "Our mattress protectors are on sale! Don't you need a mattress protector?" It's kind of funny, but also kind of weird to shop with quite so much help!

So, after the museum we walked around the mall, which is actually five buildings, Greenbelt 1-5. We found a little restaurant which I didn't get the name of, but which featured Philippine food.  Maria may recognize what we had: lumpia, which is their eggrolls, with sweet potato in them, lechon, which is porkbelly -- pork with a great deal of fat still attached-- that is deepfried or roasted until deliciously crispy. It's wonderful if you can either trim off the fat or shut your eyes and not think about it! Served with an unusual sauce I couldn't determine the ingredients to, and with rice that I ordered separately. David had camote, which is sweet potato.  These were halved, the centers hollowed out, and stuffed with onions, green beans, and carrots. I didn't taste but he said it was delicious.
*The mission standard for senior and sister apartments is screens and bars on the windows. Ours had never been installed, so we're working on it.  We do have screens.  The elders don't have quite such stringent standards. There was a robbery at some sisters' apartment right before we arrived, so no one is feeling like relaxing the standards.  There really isn't much violent crime here, but a lot of theft.  We've been told to NEVER lay phone or purse down anywhere, not even the mission office, or sadly, the temple. Once you have seen the conditions here, though, it's not hard to understand why

Another crazy day!

We planned to visit five apartments yesterday.  We always plan what we hope for, and prepare for what may happen! So, we had addresses for the five programmed into David's Garmin, and set out confidently. After forty-five minutes or so, we arrived at a street we knew to be significantly northeast of our apartment, and we thought we were heading southwest. Hmmmm.  Reprogram the Garmin. Told to go somewhere else. Do we trust it, even though it was just crazy? Tried programming in cross streets.  Yes, that was better.  Just an hour later, we have arrived at streets that seem to have the right names! We turn down the street, park, find the apartment, surprise some untidy missionaries, and come to find the next apartment. It is only a few streets over; yea!!

We arrive at the next street, turn down, go to the cross street, start looking for numbers, and what the heck!? The numbers jump up and down from door to door and across the street! We stop and talk to some helpful people, and they ask, "Old number, or new number?" Apparently they had renumbered the houses, but people did not take down the old numbers. :) This is life in the Philippines.  After looking more minutely for cross streets and landmarks, we find the number engraved on a gate, and soon locate the sisters.  By this time it is 11:45, and we have had it! We come home, eat, and rest a bit.

We have until April 26 to finish these apartments, and right now, don't have quite enough to do to fill our time.  We decided the Hiatts are helping us so that we can get settled, so decide to drive in the afternoon to a new mall we learned of, called Market Market, to pick up some more necessities. Do you know it, Maria? It's HUGE, about six stories tall, circular around a central opening.  Perhaps as in the States, Friday afternoon is NOT the ideal time to visit a mall.  There were literally probably 10,000 people in the mall, and we could hear all of them! We bought our things, making several trips to the car to deposit them.  We had planned to eat dinner there, and had been told to cross the street by the mall and look for several American style restaurants.

Now, you need to understand that right now we are working as support missionaries.  We do everything we can to help the young missionaries, but we are done when we are done, or by about 4:30.  We don't have rules.  We can go where we want and do what we want.  So, there are some deprivations we suffer, mostly of seeing grandkids, and of a few comforts, but there are perks, too.  One perk last night was that the first restaurant we saw was Lartizan, a French bakery and dine-in restaurant owned by a Chinese-Philippino man.  We were very tired and didn't really want to look further, and it looked delightful, so we stopped there. Oh-my-goodness, it was exquisite. Dad had three-cheese mushroom ravioli in cream sauce, and I had flank steak, fries and a mesclun vinaigrette salad. They gave us a very generous bread basket with samplings from their bakery. It was so good that we just sat there like Mr. Collins--"Mmmm, mmmm,mmmm." For dessert, I asked for creme brulee (surprise, surprise) but they were out.  Instead I had a mango crepe. Again, words fail me.  It was just so good. By the time we left, night had fallen, the day had cooled, and we had a nice walk back to the car to begin our forty-five minute drive home, started by just getting out of the mall, which was like coming out of the Super Bowl. Bumper to bumper traffic for a long time.

Since it was Friday night, we watched Louisa May Alcott's The Inheritance.

Settling In

We are beginning to settle in to the general "hang" of our assignment. We were able to find and visit three apartments yesterday morning, switched out a leaking water bottle (the missionaries are to have one 5 gallon jug of water per companionship), and promised to obtain a replacement fan for another apartment.  We can only visit until about 11 on Tue-Thurs because that's when the missionaries leave, so after lunch we went shopping and purchased 3 fans, 3 water jugs, and 20 pocket knives! Pocket knives are hard to find here, and necessary in their 72-hour kits to open cans, cut gauze, etc. So, we had been told to buy all we found.Unbeknownst to us, the Hiatts also found a good supply, and bought 16! However, we have 48 apartments which mostly have four missionaries in them, so that's two 72-hour kits per apartment, and  hardly any have pocket knives.  So, I'm sure we'll use them.

Today we spoke to the handyman and paid a down-payment for bars and screens on our apartment windows, as well as one other couple's.  This is supplied by the mission and is considered necessary by our MP's wife. However, one of the couples chose not to add theirs. We are on the 17th floor, but our common area is open to all and we have a big and a small window on that side.  I say open to all, which is true, but there is security at the entry gate and they have to know who you are and why you're coming in, though I don't know how foolproof that is.

Just a little commentary on missionary life here:

• One elder, to his roommate's complete delight, had been bitten on the eye by a cockroach, which apparently causes immense swelling.  I didn't even know they bit!  
• One apartment, which we are seeking to replace, has been flooded, so they came in and raised the floors about one foot. They did not, however, replace the floors under the cabinets, they just raised the cabinets.  So when you open the bottom cabinet door, you see down into a foot-deep cavity---which is full of cockroaches and other ilk, hopefully, dead, but I'm not sure.
• One apartment is keeping their food (ALL food), books, scriptures, pamphlets, etc., in the refrigerator because otherwise the mice eat EVERYTHING.
• This is not just missionary, but I have never seen so many starving and mangy dogs and cats as I have seen here, some you cannot believe are still walking.
• I had a woman knock on my car window while we were stopped in traffic yesterday and ask for money to feed her baby, which she was holding, and it had sores on it's face. It may have been a con but I do not have it in me to refuse.  However, I don't understand the money well and I gave her two of the biggest coins I had--I think equivalent to about a quarter.
• American missionaries can buy most American food here, but couldn't afford it unless Mom and Dad are sending extra support.  One box of wheat bran I bought was $7.
• I woke up Sunday morning with an itch on my face.  When I looked in the mirror I had a patch of bumps about 1 1/4" in diameter. It has stopped itching, but the bumps and the redness are still there.  We haven't been aware of any bugs in our apartment.

But, the highlight of today was the RS trip to the temple.  It's about 20 minutes away from the office, and Sister Theler and I rode with the RS pres., a woman whose husband works for the foreign service and is here for another year of a two-year stay.  One of their perks is a driver, who drove us to the temple.  The temple is very small; seating for only 24, and only four places to pass through. Apparently you get there and pick up a ticket, and hope you can get in within two or three hours.  This morning we were lucky, and got right in to the ten o'clock session. Left my camera at the office, but Sister Theler got pictures, so will share them when I get them.

Our best news is that our Ooma is now up and running, and phone calls are easy and great! The only problem is that we are fourteen hours ahead of MDT, so in the evening, we should probably wait until our 9 pm to call anyone, and we're going to bed then, or call at our six or seven, which is okay, but we have lots to do to get out the door in the mornings. Saturdays or Sundays may work the best.  We hear Skype is unreliable, and Google Facetime better, but apparently both parties must be on Apple products.

 This is the front room of our apartment as it looked when we first walked in.  Out of sight on the right is a big water cooler. The wall the Savior is on is sheetrock; all the rest are concrete. Somewhat hard to drive nails into!
                                         

    This is after a trip to the store for some lamps, pillows, picture frames, tablecloth and placemats, etc.

 Elder Northrup taking a call at his desk in the little office beyond the living room.

                                                  The view from the end of our hallway.

 A view more straight down from the side of our floor; you can begin to see the great disparity that exists here.

 This is standing right outside our apartment door (there on the left) and looking toward the elevators.  We are on the 17th floor, and lucky to be on this one.

                          This is off to the right of the photo above, and shows a little sitting alcove.

And here is the view from that alcove. At the left is a basketball court on top of the parking garage. There are two pools below, which as Senior Missionaries, we have no prohibitions against.

                                            A beautiful sunset from the same vantage point.

 This one was taken from the other end of our floor.  At the bottom of the picture is the Pasig River, which runs right beside our residence.

 Another view down below, where you can see what basically middle-class Filipinos live like.

 This is the view from our bedroom window. The curving road is Makati Avenue, which we take in to the mission office.

   

                                       A close-up of some of our neighbors across the river.We are probably looking at five or six families' residences.

 Our more decorated room.  The washer, dryer, microwave, and a/c were added by the mission. Those are family pictures surrounding the CR door.  Stands for comfort room.

 This is our galley kitchen--where's Giovanna when I need her? There are no drawers in the kitchen! Notice two clocks? One is Manila time, one is Mountain Daylight.

                                               Our bedroom. I think the angles are pretty.

                The other side.  The wardrobes, and all the furniture, are supplied by the mission.

          So, now you have a bit of a visual of where we are.  I took pictures of the chapel today, and will try to post them tomorrow.

          Spent the first two hours of the workday trying to find out our actual parking space number. This, apparently, is par for the course in the Philippines. We finally rolled out at 10:15, and the other car was still parked in our spot.

          We visited four missionary apartments, just us and our (somewhat trusty) GPS! It is so fun to meet these wonderful young missionaries, especially when they are all doing exactly as they should be and are working hard, living in these postage stamp sized apartments that are at least in the 90s. Today we saw two elders' apartments (8 missionaries) and two sisters' (also eight.) We had to ask for help on the street for all of them, but with the way Philippine addresses go, that was not a count against us. The streets wind around in circles, don't always have street signs, and often don't have numbers, either. The Hiatts have been working very hard to get each apartment on the map, so that it can be found, but I think we can still improve on it a little. And, Elder only sideswiped one parked motorcycle!

          When we returned home, the other van was gone!! Yay!! Hopefully, we have now staked out our parking spot.

          We were talking yesterday with some of the other missionaries.  The Thelers went to China a year or two ago, not officially as missionaries, but as English teachers. they were forbidden from talking about the church at all. The Paines have served two other missions, one in South Africa and one in Scotland. They were talking about Magnum bars.  We had never heard of them, but they are premium ice cream bars found all over the world in the same quality. We began talking about "ice cream kind of days." Sister Theler told how there was no one else in China who had been there any longer than they had.  It took them months to figure out the best places to shop, and none of the signage was in English.  She said she found Magnum bars there, and ate a lot of them the first several months!  Then President Hiatt commented that they ate quite a few when they first got here. So, Elder Paine walked us down to the 7-11 (yes, they're all over) and treated us to our first Magnum bars. They are, indeed, quite good.

          So, to continue the comfort theme, after dinner (delicious hamburgers) tonight, I made my first brownies.  The only problem was that I thought I'd brought vanilla, so didn't buy any.  So, we had almond brownies--not a bad substitute! We also popped popcorn and watched "Roman Holiday," so had a very nice and traditional Friday night.

Some days start out well....

             We had our first two apartment inspections today; Elder Northrup drove, with the Hiatts in the back seat. We went to the Santa Mesa area of Manila.  These were two particularly nice apartments in nice areas. Those sisters were lucky. They were also both spotless, which was impressive. They are checked on general cleanliness, bed made, kitchen clean, dishes put away, no food left out, emergency kit in order, water filter changes up to date, etc., and they get extra points for having their emergency money.  They are asked to have P3000 set aside, which is about $75. Both of these apartments were wonderful, and they were all at their desks, studying, as they were supposed to be.  This is in contrast to one of the first apartments we visited, with six elders.  A Monopoly game was set up on their kitchen table, one elder was still in bed (this was after 1:00), there were pans on the counter with food still in them, and dirty dishes in the sink. Not impressive. They lucked out because we visited them because Hiatts had some business with them, and we didn't have time to do an official inspection. If they make less than 800 points, they lose some of their support money for the month.
                  After pizza for lunch, leftover from training meetings the missionaries were having, Hiatts drove us out to a big mall we wanted to visit so we could train our GPS and ourselves, then we drove them back and had the car on our own for the first time. We were much to tired, and I was still too sick, to go back to that mall, so we stopped at a littler one on the way home.  Ended up being there an hour, then when we finally got home, drove around for half an hour trying to find our parking place. Finally called Pres. Hiatt, who tried to guess at the number, then finally called us back with the correct one, or so he thought.  In any case, someone was parked in it.  We just parked, went upstairs, grabbed the minimum for dinner, and collapsed into bed.

                  This morning (Thursday) when we got into the car to leave, we found a note on the windshield saying we were in the wrong spot. We had planned to go shopping before going in to the office, and were able to get a lot done at a place called Cash and Carry Mall. Got a camera, a phone, a toaster, and other apartment supplies, then drove over to the office. A large group of youth from several stakes was practicing at the stake center for a performance tonight for a big US Chamber of Commerce meeting.  We got to watch them rehearse.  They were dancing traditional Philippine dances, but had a professional dancer as their coach, to make them more beautiful.  They really were lovely, and lots of fun to watch. Again, I'll post pix as soon as I can.
                    The Hiatts had been up at missionary meetings most of the day, and didn't get to the office until 4:30.  We trained with them on writing apartment contracts, then came home.
                    The other car was still parked in our spot, so we went to the desk and asked.  Of all the Philippinos to not speak English, it would have to be these.  We finally made ourselves understood, and they said they would give us a place to park tonight. I brought all our stuff up and David waited for thirty minutes for the guy to show up. Just as David was leaving, he came. We have to go to the management office tomorrow and see if we can make ourselves understood there.
                     Just a little explanation: Our church building is the first in the Philippines, built about 50 years ago. In the meantime, Manila has greatly expanded, and the building is now in prime downtown real estate. The mission office is on the same lot.  So, it's very easy to walk over to the bank to cash checks or visit the ATM, because it's all right there together.

Sick

Nothing much to report today, as I was pretty sick and we stayed in all day.  Got home last night at six, went to bed and stayed there twelve hours!
Back in the saddle tomorrow by eight.

First Day at Church

            Today was our first day at church. We were told we could attend either Makati 4th Ward, which is the international ward where all is done in English, or the Makati 3rd, which is a Tagalog Ward. Today we chose the 4th. Hiatts attend both.  I'm not sure where our records will be, but I assume 4th.  Anyway, we hardly felt like we were in the Philippines.  There were a few Philippines, a couple of New Zealanders, several church employees, embassy employees, businessmen/women, and many senior missionaries from the States, and one young man from Iran. Elder Northrup was asked to say the opening prayer, which made him feel right at home! As in the States, there is a dearth of pianists. The sacrament music was by a senior sister, Primary's pianist is leaving this month, and the RS pianist was on her last day today.  I feel fairly certain we'll both be playing soon, especially since we told the bishop's wife that Elder loves primary!
            One really fun thing was that the bishop's family played the special music today: one on piano, one on violin, and two on cello.  They played Love One Another. Brought back lots of nice memories. Their mom said, "At least they didn't drive away the Spirit!"  That, also, sounded familiar!
            Cooked our first real meal, and it was pretty close to real. We had few choices because we haven't fully stocked our pantry yet.  After sleeping most of the afternoon, we went on a walk around the building--first up to the roof, 40 stories high and a magnificent view of the city, with several furniture groupings that made it really inviting.  Then down to ground level to walk around the pools. It was a beautiful, cool evening with a lovely breeze.

OH - MY - GOODNESS

Saturday pm, March 15
          Spent the last two days on ride-alongs with the Hiatts--no, we haven't had to drive yet. Our first errand of the first day was to return a part-time missionary--a young man who has not received his call yet, who is filling in until another missionary arrives. He lives in an area of Manila called Tondo.  From Wikipedia: One of the most densely populated areas of land in the world, Tondo is located in the northwest portion of the city and is primarily residential-industrial in nature. Tondo is known for being one of the poorest and most underdeveloped areas of the country. Many of the city's slums are found in this area. Those of you who have read The Rent Collector might have a glimmer of an idea of what it is like. We drove down many streets that were only half-again as wide as our van, and we were far from the only vehicles on the street.  The buildings are black and gray with grime and filth, and one wonders how they remain standing and what they must be like in monsoon season. However, the people are clean and smiling, and very entrepreneurial. We can't think of anything that would help them more than the gospel.
          We then picked up the APs who had been on splits, so we had to take one to pick up his companion and leave his split companion, clear across the mission.  We stopped for lunch at a burger place called Army-Navy, built in a look-alike quanset hut as homage to the AMERICAN forces.  The food was very good--sauce different, but no more than many American places trying to switch things up.
           More driving, apartment checking, etc. When I am able to put up pictures, you will be astounded that Elder Northrup is planning on driving in these places! When we returned to the office, Elder Paine took us shopping for some groceries in a mall called A. Venue.  Interesting.
           Today we left at 8 am, and drove back to Tondo to deliver the part-time missionary's suitcase--probably holding ALL of his material possessions--and learned that he had purchased a bag of mangos and left them at the area missionaries to thank us.  We were late but felt that it was imperative to show gratitude for his sacrifice--not only the money to buy the mangos, but, at least, a 2 kilometer-walk to deliver them.
            Because of the traffic, we were an hour late for our appointment on the other side of the mission, where we were to look at a new apartment the sisters had found, since they need to move. We had to check for things like deadbolt, bars and screens on the windows, enough natural light for them to study by, and, of course, room for their furniture and permission to hang whiteboards on the walls. We approved the apartment, and will learn how to write the contracts on Monday.
            Hiatts had a baptism at 3, so they dropped us off at a multi-mall. It covered 3 or 4 square blocks, with the store we went to, S&R, covering an entire block itself.  We purchased some things to make our apartment more homey (we'll show before and after pix) and they picked us up at about 4:30 and we headed home.
            We have been completely exhausted every evening, so much so that Elder had a pb&j and I had a wedge of cheese and a piece of bread, and went to bed at 8:30! i hope some of this will go away when our bodies adjust.
             I should mention our living situation. We are in Tivoli Gardens in Makati City, which is searchable by internet.  We are on the 17th floor of Iris, one of the large towers. The apartment is a very nice one-bedroom with an office, hot water in the shower (only), and water filters in the kitchen. So we must remember to either brush our teeth in the kitchen, or take a cup into the bathroom, as the water is extremely dangerous. We wash all our produce as soon as we get home, then soak it in a clorox solution, then rinse it in filtered water. Jon and Maria are, of course, very familiar with the process, having served in Guyana and the Philippines.
             But when you see our apartment complex, you will think we are in a resort. Two or three swimming pools, beautiful hallways between the apartments, a little grocery store (like a very small 7-11) and a fresh market every Saturday.  I bought an ampalaya today, but of course, was too tired to cook it tonight! We're living out of the cans the Hiatts set us up with!
             Tomorrow will be our first day at church.

Transfer to Apartment

Thursday, March 13---------Started the day with a fully American breakfast--the only thing unusual was pumelo, a type of grapefruit.  We then drove to the Mission Office with one of the office missionaries, Elder Paine, from Grand Junction, CO, and Sister Stucki.  President Stucki was very ill and remained in bed.
          After meeting the office missionaries, Sister Paine and Elder and Sister Theler, we went with Elder Paine to obtain our Philippine driver's licenses. Miraculously finding a place to park (and an obliging Pilipino to "watch" it for us) we went first to have a physical to see whether we were fit to drive. We walked up two flights of winding, rickety steps to a little storefront about eight feet wide, inside of which was a girl behind a small desk, and two waiting benches, the rest obscured by a partition.  For 100 pesos, about $2.50, we were weighed, measured, had blood pressure taken, and our eyes checked for distance as well as color-blindness, and pronounced fit.
           Taking the prized piece of paper with the coveted box checked, we walked down two more blocks to the license bureau. David had brought his satchel, but after the fact was told that we should carry as little as possible because someone driving by in a jeepney (local bus) could reach out and grab it, with nothing to do about it.
          Inside the license bureau, we were surprised to walk across a Catholic church set up in the lobby thereof--full altar, icons, candles, etc., with chairs set up before it.  We just walked right across. Because Elder Paine has brought many missionaries in to get their licenses, he knew just when to bring us, and everything was perfect.  Earlier or later, we could have been swamped with others in line.  As it was, we both walked out with licenses in less than an hour, physical to finish.  This, of course, does not include driving time! Manila metro area has a population of about 20 million, with the traffic to go with it. As we drove, he talked and pointed out things, and it is pretty daunting to think that in the next day or two we will begin our driving experience here.
            Back to the office, lunch of leftover pizza (yummm?) (Yes, you can get pizza here), and we spent another hour getting a cell phone that worked. President and Sister Hiatt, outgoing Housing Missionaries and member of the Mission Presidency, picked us up to collect our luggage from the mission home and take us to our apartment. Actually, we are just trading places--we are getting their apartment, and they are staying at the MH until we are trained and they move over to Palawan, an island in the mission that has two districts Hiatts will help turn into stakes.
            We would like to be including pictures here, but, unfortunately, somewhere along the line we've lost our camera charger, extra battery, and connection cable, so, I'm working on that. Pictures later.

Arrival in Manila!

.  We got to the Mission Home at about 1:30 last night, putting an end to a 31 hour “day” of travel and activity, with no sleep, I might add. Neither of us sleeps on airplanes, unfortunately.

                We were allowed to sleep in this morning, had a late breakfast, and then joined the new missionaries from the Philippine MTC for their orientation, then all had lunch together.  One of the new sister missionaries is the first missionary ever from the UAE (United Arab Emirates, a consortium of seven countries.)  She was very sweet.  Everyone, including MP and Sister, left for the afternoon and we were able to nap.

                 Had a lovely supper of sloppy joes, tossed salad, pickles, chips, and salad with Pres. and Sister Stucki.  No native food, yet! I have a rumbly tummy and don’t know if it’s from travel or because I forgot and rinsed my mouth with tap water this morning! I rinsed immediately with bottled water, but who knows? That’s the big no-no here—drinking the water. We will have a filter in our apartment, but Sister Stucki drinks bottled water almost exclusively.

                We had an interview right before supper when President Stucki gave us our assignment.  We will be housing missionaries. Here in Manila there are over 40 missionary apartments, and we will be checking them for cleanliness, I think, but mainly for working components—fans, etc.—and for safety, ie., bars on the windows, no rats, etc.! This sounds like something we can handle, if we can just learn how to navigate the streets with no addresses! The previous couple have been working on a system for that, and they will be training us for the next two weeks. We will be taking over their apartment as well as their assignment after they transfer to Palawan to help get two districts ready to be stakes, the first on that island. We’ll get our driver’s licenses and be shown where to shop tomorrow, Thursday, morning, begin training, and move to their apartment tomorrow night.