THE LAST TRANSFER

This last week was transfer week.  Every six weeks we have missionaries going home and new ones coming in.  Monday and Tuesday are spent with the outgoing missionaries and the new missionaries arrive on Wednesday.  In a future entry I (Russell) will go more into the process and our part in it.  On the Tuesday, the missionaries going home get to go to the temple with President and Sister Alder.  Since there were more missionaries than could fit in one vehicle, they needed Eileen and I to drive our car and attend the temple with them.

Outgoing missionaries

Incoming missionaries, the pillows and roll of TP are a gift from Sister Alder,  TP is typically not used here 

The mission van ready to take Elders out to their new assignments

This Elder was thrilled to feel real grass. He laid down on it and was commenting on how soft it was.

On paper, getting to the temple in Quezon City (near Manila) is a relatively simple matter.  It is slightly less than 10 km from our home; approximately 7 km straight down (going west) the street in front of our apartment complex, turn a right and go 2 km north, and then a left turn and a couple of rights in a neighborhood and you are there.  Sounds simple enough.  However, having been warned about how bad the traffic can be we left at 7:00 am to make an 11:00 am session.  

Almost everywhere we go in the car besides to and from the office we use Google maps and a Philippine map tool called “Waze.” In addition to directions they also give us traffic congestion reports and estimates of travel time.  Eileen, as the navigator, will usually have both on simultaneously, and no they do not always agree.  

There is no way we are making it down that alley

Traffic was 4 vehicles wide with motorcyclists riding between the cars and buses

On Tuesday morning the traffic was as expected very heavy. Both navigation tools told us to abandon the direct route and divert to an alternative route, which we did. After an hour of winding around small streets we found ourselves at almost a complete stop for 30 minutes 12.5 km from the temple.  The Waze tool was saying to turn off the road we were stuck on onto a series of side roads (alleys the width of a walking path) that looked navigable on a motorcycle but highly questionable in a car.  We declined to follow the directions as did all but one car around us. After a necessary pit stop and another hour-and-half of congested driving pleasure we finally made it to the temple about 10:15 am.

President Alder taking a photo of all the departing missionaries

We were so happy to finally have made it to the temple

Sister Rose is on the right. Russell's brother used to be her Bishop and now is in her stake presidency. It is a small world in the church.

Inside the temple gate, everything was peaceful and uncongested.  The temple grounds are beautiful; the whole atmosphere, a stark contrast from what we had just experienced on our journey getting there.  The temple session was wonderful.  Being inside a temple truly is the closest thing to heaven on earth.

Afterward I spent a long time considering the contrast between life inside and outside the temple, and how my experience that day was perhaps analogous to life in general.  Through both ancient and modern-day prophets, God has revealed how we can find our way back home to heaven after this life.  On paper, the path seems rather straightforward: have faith in Jesus Christ; keep the commandments and repent when you breech one; obtain the necessary ordinances from those having God’s priesthood authority; and then endure to the end.  Unfortunately, like my two navigation tools that failed me on my way to the temple, the world would have us believe all sorts of ideas that divert us from the path God has prescribed for us.  Those professing alternative paths can sound so appealing and authoritative at times.

Although yesterday was our preparation day, we took the morning to take four wardrobe cabinets, fans, mattresses, a toaster oven and hot water kettle to a sister’s apartment about an hour away.  Driving a van in narrow alleys is not doing good things for my nerves or blood pressure.  But we did make it without scratching the van!

The managers of the stores really are getting to know Russell from the large quantities of items we buy

The sister missionaries in front of their new wardrobe closets. They had been living out of suitcases and were very happy to have them. The first wardrobe took Russell an hour to put together. By the 3rd and 4th wardrobe it was only taking 13 minutes to put them together.

There are accidents and there is maliciousness. This broken ceramic sink was an accident.

These Elders literally live in the middle of a rice field. They had no complaints and were trying to make their apartment look extremely tidy.

The mother goat and babies were grazing outside the missionaries apartment

The rice fields are beautiful

Eileen’s 95-year-old father fell earlier this week. Fortunately, Eileen's sister Chris was visiting Mom and Dad and has been able to care for them.  Just prior to our leaving yesterday to make our delivery to the sister’s apartment, Eileen was able to call and speak to her father.  He died about six hours later.  I feel truly blessed to have been his son-in-law and I look forward to seeing him again someday.  Eileen posted the following on Facebook about her father.  The response has been heart-warming.  She has heard from friends in the U.S., Japan, Indonesia, Russia, Germany, and Spain.  The support from acquaintances around the world has been wonderful. 

This morning at 1:30 am Utah time, my father passed on to the next life.  He was looking forward to seeing his parents, his siblings and my older sister once again.  One of his greatest desires was that he and my mother could pass away near in time to each other. They have been married 70 years and didn’t want to be separated any longer than necessary.  My guess is that Dad is up in heaven anxiously awaiting for her to join him.  He is a wonderful man.  I will sorely miss him but am so grateful for the close relationship we had with each other.  This photo was taken of my mother and father just a couple of hours before his passing. I am grateful that Russell and I had the opportunity to talk with my father just a few hours before his passing.  In typical fashion for my father, he quickly changed the subject as to how he was doing and inquired as to how our mission was going.  Even though he was in tremendous pain and in his last hours he was concerned about others.

Last moments together. True love

Today was stake conference. President and Sister Alder both spoke and did an excellent job of encouraging the members to utilise the missionaries in introducing their friends to the gospel. The Filipinos are so kind and friendly to us. Afterwards many welcomed us to the Philippines.

This sister is riding side saddle on a motorcycle in the rain to get home after church

WAITING AT THE BARKADAHAN BRIDGE

This past week has gone by quickly.  Perhaps that is because we have been quite busy.  It seems just when we think we have things somewhat under control, reality sets in and we learn of something else that is not functioning quite as it should.

We spent two full days doing apartment inspections. You would think that going to see eleven apartments, none of which are farther away than 20 km away couldn’t take that long.  On Thursday morning we left around 6:30 am to go to Taguig, which is in the southwest corner of our mission.  Since Taguig is near Manila the traffic is even more congested.  It took three hours to reach our first destination.  This was partly my (Russell) fault since I did not remember that our car could not go into the Manila area on Thursdays.  We lost an hour going back to change cars. To reduce traffic in the Manila area, vehicles with license plates ending in certain numbers are prohibited from being driven there on given days of the week.  We waited to cross one bridge we needed to use for an hour, both on the way there and again on the way back.  Much like the Jakarta metropolitan area, the Manila metropolitan area has grown in population and vehicles faster than the infrastructure. 

I am amazed at what you can learn about people by looking at how they take care of where they live.  We witnessed quite a range of housing cleanliness and neatness during our inspection visits.  While the quality and size of apartments/houses that the young missionaries live in vary quite a bit, some take far better care of what they have. And it does not seem to correlate with their housing conditions.  Some young people just care more and are more self-reliant. Hopefully, we will be able to both provide better living conditions for the young missionaries over time and also teach them how and why they should take better care of what they have.

On Saturday we went to the Pinto Art Museum with the other senior missionaries.  It is the number-one tourist attraction here.  The architecture and gardens were beautiful.  The setting is a collection of Spanish, colonial era, houses and buildings.  Or I should say it was built to resemble that since most of the structures are not that old.  Afterward we went to the one Mexican restaurant in Antipolo.  The food was quite good.  This is the second time Eileen and I have eaten there.  Hopefully we are making friends with the owners.  We are going to try and do as we have done in prior missions and organize outings with the other senior missionaries a couple of times each month.  I believe it helps to get out and see some of the local culture.

Earlier this week President Alder asked us to start attending a ward on Sunday that is about a half hour (10 km) away.  The Tayuman Ward is part of the Taytay Stake - one of the five stakes in our mission.  We also have a district out on the eastern end of the mission.  Today they welcomed four new members who were baptized yesterday. We also met several investigators the missionaries are currently teaching.  Hopefully we can be an asset to the ward.

Jeepney photo of the week

Russell doing apartment inspection. The green in the background is a mosquito net

 You need a new ironing board and iron Elders!  The cord was wrapped with electrical tape where the wiring had frayed, and the ironing board is held together with rope.

These missionaries did a great job with being clean despite some logistical challenges

They must always have their 72 hour kits ready to go

Traffic was 5 cars wide in a 2 lane road waiting to cross the bridge

If you look closely this lady on the back has her oxygen tank on her lap while riding on the motorcycle

Vendors sell their wares walking through traffic

I was disgusted by this toilet and very tempted to send the photo to the  missionaries' mothers in the U.S. The Elders hadn't cleaned the toilet or taken out the garbage for the last 6 weeks.

Most fruit stands are beautiful, but there is no where to park to get to them.

Pinto Art Museum, very hot and humid.

Elder and Sister Bills mimicking statues

The grounds are beautiful

We loved the flowers

The artwork wasn't really our taste, but we loved the architecture and gardens.

The gong below is from Mindinao and reminds of us our gong at home which we bought in Indonesia.

Since Eileen's maiden name is Cannon, of course she needed a picture in front of the cannons.

The video below is to show the traffic on the bridge.

WILL GOOD COME FROM AN ACCIDENT?

I (Eileen) experienced some of the frustrations that young missionaries feel with going to a doctor this past week. As I mentioned in our previous blog you can't make appointments with physicians here in the Philippines. Last week I was diagnosed with an ear infection and was told that I should return to visit with an ENT physician on Monday. I went to the clinic during the hours that the ENT should have been there, only to be told that the doctor wouldn't be in that day. Try again on Wednesday. The doctor also wasn't in on Wednesday. Fortunately I was able to see another doctor at another clinic. I was told that I shouldn't swim for 2 weeks. I have thoroughly enjoyed using the swimming pool at our complex early in the morning or late in the evening.  Since the weather has been rainy, I am the only one in the pool. I figure I am wet anyhow, so it doesn't matter if it is rainy. It has been a great way to exercise. I am looking forward to feeling better so I can swim again.

Sometimes with missionaries it is determined that their health problems are more than can be handled in the mission field. We have had two missionaries return home for medical reasons during the time we have been here. A missionary that we are very fond of was advised this past week to have surgery. He has been told that he would need to return home for 4-6 weeks if he chooses to have this surgery. He is doing his best to avoid needing to return home. We can see the determination of some of these missionaries as they want so badly to serve the Lord that they will endure pain rather than leave the mission field. Sister Bills who arrived just a few weeks ago has also struggled with her health.  Elder Bills has been a real trooper in doing double duty serving long days in the office trying to keep up with the necessary work. We have been praying for the health of all the missionaries but especially those with specific challenges, hoping that they can feel better and continue their mission.

It has been determined that there are some apartments within our mission that are greatly in need of some improvements. Russell, Elder Mulet and I went out to see some of those apartments this week. It is interesting how four Elders can live in a cramped apartment with water leaking all over the floor and not complain. Some sisters were upset that their apartment is too big to clean. There are many missionaries who would love to have some room to actually hang their clothes.  Some Elders haven't had a fridge for over a month. One set of missionaries were told they had to really do a deep cleaning of their apartment by President Alder.  Four missionaries worked 2 days straight and moved out dozens of bags of garbage out of their apartment. From a health perspective, I can understand why some of the missionaries get sick, based on their living conditions. Russell is working as fast as he can to remedy some of these problems. I am very impressed when I see missionaries who make the best of their situations. I asked one set of missionaries who had NO extra room in their apartment how they exercise. There was about a 2 foot strip of floor in the kitchen that was empty. The elder told me that is where he does his pushups to stay in shape. These particular elders have been tasked with finding another apartment ASAP.

Thursday I went to the Zone Conference for the Taguig/Pasig missionaries. I have been asked to present health topics at each Zone Conference. I went with President and Sister Alder while Elder Steed drove. He is one of the APs. We  traveled 19 km in 2 hours 20 minutes. The return took 45 minutes. During the conference I thought we were in the middle of a cyclone. Rain was battering the roof of the chapel and I could see the trees outside whipping around. I was rather distracted and entranced at the same time by the weather. One Filipino missionary calmly stood up and closed the curtains in the chapel so we couldn't see what was going on outside. There was a beautiful spirit of calm and refuge from the storm outside. Some takeaways from Zone Conference: 1) President Alder taught about how our relationship with our companion is like a triangle with the two companions at the bottom of the triangle and the Savior at the top. As we become unified as a companionship and strive to get closer to the Savior our purposes will be one. 2) Begin with the end in mind (by President Nelson), what kind of missionary do we want to look back and say that we were?  Work on that right now, rather than waiting until the end of the mission to accomplish your goals. 3) Do not procrastinate the day of your obedience. If you are not obeying the rules, change now!  4) If someone isn't progressing it might be fun to hang out with them, however could your time be better spent moving on to someone that needs to hear the gospel? 5)  Are we being a good example in all we do?  As we drive (only senior missionaries), do we get impatient?  Are we kind to others we interact with?  Are we good tenants for the apartments we rent?  6) Invite, invite, invite-nobody will ever join the church if they are not invited. President Alder again challenged the missionaries to make invitations on their way home. Out of 40 missionaries, 156 invitations were extended. It was a spiritual feast for the day. Many missionaries approached me during lunchtime with health issues. I am getting to know them, and I believe they are feeling comfortable approaching me. Russell spent the day delivering rent checks to other parts of the mission and checking up on the apartment for another senior couple who will be coming on Tuesday. Not only is their apartment ready (they went home for medical reasons), he said it is truly beautiful.  The Relief Society sisters were cleaning it this week in preparation for the Gordons arrival.

Friday, Elder Wacolo from the Area Presidency came by the office to visit. He spent most of the day with President and Sister Alder at their home.  Elder Wacolo and his wife are from Fiji and previously were mission presidents in Arkansas. We had a few interactions with them in the missionary department as we tried to help them get some senior missionaries assigned to their mission.

I had an interesting experience this past week which I hope will morph into a bigger and better experience.  We have a sister missionary who has had some bad foot problems. I wasn't able to find a podiatrist to send her to, so I sent her to see an orthopedist. She ended up seeing someone different than who I sent her to, and she was rather excited as this doctor said his wife was a member of our church and he was happy to treat her.  He scheduled  her to have a steroid shot the next day at a nearby hospital. Friday, the weather was horrible and the sisters traveled far to reach the hospital he was going to meet them  at. He never showed up. Later they were able to make contact with him using my cell phone and he offered to have them come to his home. Not only did his anaesthesiologist wife feed the sisters dinner, but the sisters were able to give him a message after he treated the missionary free of charge.  Later I texted him to thank him. It turned out in the bad weather on Friday he was in a motorcycle accident and tore his ACL.  That is why he had the sisters meet him at his home. I had a strong feeling that evening that Russell and I should get to know this doctor and his wife better. I assumed it was to get some insight into medical care in the Philippines. This morning I checked with the doctor to see how his knee was doing. He said he was going to the hospital to get checked right after he went to the local ward for church.  I was excited as I thought perhaps having this sister see this particular doctor was really a blessing in disguise.  Perhaps he can be a resource for our missionaries, and also learn more about our church in the process.

Life is good here. Some things are  hard, but many things are very good. This morning in church the sister that prayed expressed thanks for the senior missionaries that were serving. In our four missions I think that is the first time I have ever heard someone particularly pray for the senior missionaries. It was the first time that we had attended this ward, and we were met with many handshakes, smiles and warm greetings. Many told us that they hoped that we would return. We are technically within this ward's boundaries, but we don't know as of yet where President Alder will assign us to go.

Sister Gibson and Sister Bills going down the travelator to get to parking.

Selling fresh corn on a very rainy day

The Elders all have this workout plan in their apartments. I guess it is how to get fit without a gym.

I never thought I would see Russell parking in front of a no parking sign. We were desperate for a place to leave the car. He parked so close to the wall he had to get out of the car from the passenger side. 

I am wondering why there was a rule listed that you can't burn things in your room. That seems a little obvious.

Ummm, there was more than a little garbage in this one apartment

Elder Wilde and Elder Carrion-the front of their apartment was very overrun with huge weeds. They cut the weeds down with scissors and took shoots off the the tree to plant in front of their house.

These pigs are double decker in the back of this truck. There is a passenger bus right next to the truck. The pigs were fighting and squealing so loud we could hear them inside our car.  

Elder Keller is actually on the phone with a sister who is upset. He has been an office missionary for 7 months. I think he is happy to be getting out. 

Elder Mulet and Elder Keller during their last day in the office. 

Russell determined that we would have a celebration for President and Sister Alder for their 40th anniversary.

There were many "trikes" lined up at the church today. I especially like the  one with the umbrella and the angel Moroni on the back.

The video below is of some Elders memorising a verse from the Doctrine & Covenants to music

FINGERPRINTS, APARTMENTS & MEDICAL

This past week we went to Quezon City to the MTC to get fingerprinted for our visas. Although we are less than 10 km away from the MTC, it pretty much took the whole day. We took care of some business at the Area Office which is in the same complex as the MTC and were able to get a good look at the Manila Temple which is across the street from the MTC.  We enjoyed talking with some senior missionaries from the Cebu East mission who had flown in that morning specifically to get fingerprinted. They were flying out later that day. After visiting with them, our commute time didn’t seem so bad.

Russell has decided that he will be the housing coordinator for our mission and let Elder Bills do the finances. Although Russell is very capable of doing the finances, it seems like fixing the housing situation for the missionaries has been a pretty big priority. Now that the senior missionaries have their housing taken care of, he has started working with the young missionaries on their housing. This past week he asked the office Elders and the Assistants to the President if he could practice doing housing inspections by looking at their apartment. Although, their apartment was fairly clean for having 4 young men living in one place, there were some things that were sorely lacking. The missionaries were sleeping on mattresses on the floor, storing their clothes in their suitcases as there were no places to hang them up, and didn’t have hot water of any kind to wash dishes with. The next day Elder Mulet and Russell went to go buy items for the apartment to make it seem more livable. When we took the items to the apartment I (Eileen) was blown away by how clean it was.  I guess the missionaries were embarrassed that we saw their somewhat messy apartment. They made a concerted effort to make it as clean as possible before we arrived with their new supplies. It looked great!!! I was really proud of them for their efforts. I am hoping with some new furniture and cleaning supplies they will really be able to make the apartment into something they feel good about living in.

We have heard that rainy season starts in the Philippines in August.  Although it has rained a few times since we have arrived, we didn’t experience any really heavy rains until August 1^st. Since that time, we have had torrential type rains. They were so bad the rain leaked through the space around our air conditioner all down the wall and all over the floor. Hopefully we will be able to have someone look at it early next week.  

Friday evening we had our first dinner party. We invited President and Sister Alder, the Bills couple, and Sister Gibson over to eat dinner with us. Sister Bills was ill and couldn’t come, but everyone else came. It was pretty tight fitting 6 people for a sit-down dinner in our apartment, but I think we all enjoyed the comradery and the food. Since we don’t have an oven or stove, I thought I would try a crockpot meal. I threw some meat, potatoes, carrots together and cooked them all day. I was very grateful when we returned home from the office at 5pm and the apartment building was still standing. I was worried that I might burn the whole place down.

Other than housing, my biggest challenge on this mission has been getting medical care for the missionaries. Since no appointments can be made at a doctor’s office and doctors are only in on certain days and hours, it is anybody’s guess as to when the missionaries should go to be seen. I had one missionary who needed to see an ophthalmologist this past week. The hours noted on the clinic’s website indicated the doctor was in on Tuesday and Thursday from 11-3. I called to confirm, and the receptionist said the doctor would not be there on Thursday, only on Saturday 11-3. The missionary companionship went out on Saturday in a downpour, only to be told upon their arrival at the clinic that there was no doctor there, try next Tuesday.

Another missionary had a fairly big health challenge a few days ago.  He went to a big hospital in Manila. It took 3 hours each way to get there. His condition was diagnosed, and he was told to come back the next day for an ultrasound. He went back the next day, and was told they were all full, come back on Monday or Tuesday. It is difficult for the missionaries to be able to get their missionary work done when so much of their time is spent getting medical care.

On a more positive note I have been experiencing some severe ear pain and suspected an ear infection. I went to the medical clinic next door to be seen. I received excellent service. The total bill was the equivalent of eight U.S. dollars for the doctor and six dollars for the antibiotic. You can’t beat that in the United States. Currently the missionary insurance does not cover this clinic, but I am pushing for it to be insurance approved. That way when missionaries are sick, I could send them to this clinic, and join them while they are being seen by the doctor. 

The jeepneys are colourful and  most are beautiful.

Despite the bad traffic we see many bicyclists on the road.

There are many food stands on the side of the road selling all kinds of food. 

This is a meat market and fish market. You can't see the circling fans above the meat keeping the flies away

Missionaries at the MTC waiting to be fingerprinted. 

Manila temple viewed from the MTC

Weightlifting set at the missionaries apartment made out of paint cans. 

The view out our window

It was tight, but we fit 6 people at this table. 

These are the longest green beans I have ever seen

Our apartment is really two one-bedroom apartments with the wall taken down in-between. It means I have the clean kitchen here to prepare food

And the dirty kitchen here to clean dishes. We are fortunate to have the shelving to put a microwave and a toaster on.

Blood drive at the Waltermart on Saturday. It looked like  it was a slow day.

This 83 year old lady wanted Russell to talk with her today.  She is in a LDS Charities wheelchair.