Monday, 19 Nov. 2018, at Family Home Evening night, we had a Turkey dinner at the Area Office. Everyone pitched in to create the traditional dishes to go with the Turkey that President & Sister Smootz provided. We enjoyed the evening while our guest speaker told us about the time when his father was working as a guard at the Manila Temple, and a military coup attempted to overthrow the government. The entire account is printed in the June 2001 Ensign by Dallin H. Oaks. A remarkable story!
We had two zone conferences this same week, and a regular work-day on Thanksgiving Day but took the morning off to drive to St. Luke’s hospital in Manila. Dad’s bicycle buddy, Dr. Skinner found a Dermatologist to check for pre-cancer skin cells on his bald head so Dad decided to get his checked. Sure enough, he required the eight treatments. A cream to be applied every other day. After the 1st application, he became very miserable and we thought he might have Dengay fever, but after reading the side-effects on the medication, we realized that it was making him feel like he was having a chemo treatment. He has suffered through it and felt fairly good - every other day. Bright red welts cover his head and the left side of his face but he has been able to carry on and do all that he needed to do at the office.
Friday night was the highlight so far of our mission. We went to the MTC for the opening ceremony of “Light the World”. Over a hundred Filipino dignitaries attended a fabulous sit-down dinner and our missionary choir performed. They sang about ten Christmas selections that brought in the Christmas spirit. We helped feed them all before they performed and assisted the Sisters with their red & green scarfs & the Elders with their red & green ties. Ninety-two missionaries in all! One Sister played the violin, & another sang a solo part. A group of Elders sang a beautiful song & one of the Office Elders played his guitar with Elder Christensen from Rigby. It was so wonderful! Sister Lola out-did herself on the piano - she has magic fingers you know.!! She flew back over just to accompany the choir. Afterwards, we all stepped out to see the temple just across the street for the “Temple Lighting”. WOW! Thousands of white lights lit up the grounds and to top it off was a full moon! Pretty spectacular.
The last week of November, President & Sister Koster attended a Mission Conference in Cebu. They returned with news that we will be getting iPhones.(not sure when) in our mission & several other changes with nametags, & phone calls to parents. They told us that the Filipino Mission Presidents are far more strict than the others.
We had scheduled to take the Carpina family to the Temple on 1 Dec 2018, but Sister Carpina had a baby & they decided to postpone it a few weeks. It actually worked out fine because we had been asked to do a fireside out in Teresa for all the new converts that same afternoon. We left at 1:30pm, picked up the van at the Mission home and drove to the corner where we always pick up the Sister missionaries. Then headed out to Ondoy to pick up some new members. Finally, off to the chapel, after the usual one -hour late start, we had a far bigger crowd than we had expected & everyone was very attentive. We talked about Families & the Temple. Our selection of short videos worked great with the language barrier. In between we asked them if they had any questions - it went remarkably well. Lots of questions were answered & we felt everyone had been edified. We delivered the members back to Ondoy, drove back to the Mission Home to return the van, & arrived home at 9:00pm. The Tripoli Family is scheduled to be sealed 22 Dec 2018.
The next morning we left at 8:00 for church - back to Teresa. Then off to Ondoy for our Fast Sunday Sacrament Meeting. Lucky us. We got home an hour earlier this week because we encouraged them to start on time!
This week, while Dad opted to stay at the office with the Elders, Sister Koster, Sister Lola and I went to the Emelda Marcos Shoe Museum in Marikina. We first had a late breakfast at a place called Rustic Mornings. A little French outdoor cafe that honestly made me feel like I was back in Paris!! There was Blue Delft everywhere! Floral tablecloths & metal garden furniture with paintings of roses hanging on rock walls. The waffle was delicious & I took an omelette back to the office for dad. We saw 400 pairs of shoes that the 1st Lady of the Philippines bought from famous shoemakers all over the world. Size 8 1/2 - there wasn’t room for all 3,000 pairs! Did you know she is still alive? She is 89 years old now and lives in Makati - just down the road.
We have only four missionaries leaving this transfer & they are each leaving on different days!! This has been very tricky and hopefully it will all work out. Elder Casares was supposed to be picked up yesterday morning at 5:30am & taken to the airport, but the office Elders didn’t have the correct address for him in IMOS, so the driver couldn’t find him. Just by a strange fluke, (or was it?) I had hand written down the new phone # of Clem who schedules the shuttles. Apparently he made it in time because we called his companion & he said he left. He only had one day in California then he was supposed to get himself to LAX to fly to Israel the next day at 2:30am in the morning!!! SOME PARENTS!!!!
Last Transfer, I made four flight requests for missionaries to return to the Manila Airport from Mindoro. They never got the word from the AP’s and missed the flights!!! NON-REFUNDABLE. I was completely unaware of it until the next office meeting after transfers were over. YIKES! Fortunately we have Boyet. Another Angel that loves to drive back & forth to Mindoro for us. I don’t think this mission could function without him. As Sister Lola puts it, “He is truly a treasure.”
We held our workshops Monday afternoon and the Temple session was yesterday. So we are ahead of the schedule because the actual transfer day isn’t until 12 Dec 2018. We have 19 new missionaries coming in, 8 foreign & 11 local. We have already been receiving notification for missionaries coming in May!
We are in Ether and hope to finish the Book of Mormon by Christmas. We like to take it slow so we can dissect the passages and research some of the verses. What a blessing it is!! Many of the Missionaries are raving about the book “Saints” and we hope to get a copy next time we pick-up the passports at the Area Office Distribution Center.
Our wish is that you will all have a Merry Christmas and that the spirit of love will permeate your homes. We are so blessed to have each other! We want you all to know how much you are loved!
XOXOX
Mom & Dad
Pictures of a road Dad went biking on.
Christmas Tree in Elwood.
Opening Ceremony of Light the World !
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