A TALE OF THREE HOSPITALS

What a crazy week. I know we say that we are busy every week, but honestly I (Eileen), need a few minutes to do the wash and clean my apartment. As this blog is the only journal we have, I am determined to have something documented weekly. In a few minutes I will go to the hospital to meet some missionaries who will be arriving soon at the ER.

Monday I went with some senior sister missionaries to an international bazaar in Manila. I did not buy anything as my time was spent trying to deal with medical issues the whole time there. I recognized that visiting the bazaar truly was a blessing as a medical issue came up that needed to be dealt with ASAP. Shortly after arriving at the bazaar I saw a man in scrubs with a missionary tag on. It turned out it was the Area doctor (AMA) whom I needed to talk with!  We had never met each other, just communicated by phone and email. I spent quite a while talking with him and was able to get the medical support I needed for a specific missionary. I actually think this doctor from the Area office was bored and grateful for something to do while his wife shopped. 

Tuesday we traveled to Pasig to take a missionary to a hospital there. What a beautiful hospital! Elder Perez was seen by a doctor whose office overlooked the Manila temple. He tried to share the gospel with the doctor during the appointment. Although she wasn’t interested in hearing about the gospel, she sure was intrigued by two young American missionaries speaking Tagolog fluently. When she asked them how they learned the language, she was told by Elder Perez that Heavenly Father helped them learn it.  She thought he was kidding and asked what was the real method they learned the language so well. Eventually she kindly encouraged us to leave.

This week we were able to become official by getting our Filipino driver’s licenses. One less thing to worry about.

Thursday was zone conference. Russell and I both spoke. We gave out new induction burners and instructed the missionaries to use up their propane tanks and then go to all electric. I begged the missionaries to use their bug lotion, use hand sanitizer and to have drinking water with them at all times. I rewarded the ones who were prepared  with an American candy bar. I am hoping that if fear and begging don't work maybe bribery will. Somehow I need to convince the missionaries that even though they are serving the Lord they are not invincible. 

Friday we went to Pakil, which is about 2 hours away to look at an apartment some missionaries had found. It has truly become the desperation stage to find apartments for our missionaries. These missionaries current apartment is very unsuitable. They had such bad plumbing problems at one point they had to find restrooms in the community to use. They finally moved in with and have been staying with their zone leaders.They had been diligently searching for a new place to stay. Thursday they had been fasting to find an apartment and approached a woman at a building asking if there was any availability. She said there was one apartment that was vacant.  By Friday afternoon we had seen the apartment and the deposit applied.  We were so grateful for their diligence in searching until they found a new apartment. Perhaps not having a place to shower and use the toilet was a good motivator.  

Friday night the companion of the sick missionary we evacuated last week was diagnosed with Dengue. He was at a very small local hospital. The charge nurse was excellent, however the hospital did not have the capacity for care that we needed. Russell went to pick him up today. It took several hours to get him out of the hospital due to some insurance issues. (I am being kind as I say that). They are now on their way to the hospital near us where hopefully he will be able to be admitted.

Saturday we delivered a washing machine to the elders in Malaya. Their machine had broken. It was only a year or two ago that missionaries started using washing machines here in the Philippines. Before that it was all doing wash by hand. We know they are capable of hand washing their clothes, however thought we could spoil them a little bit by replacing their washer quickly. While in the area we visited the elder with Dengue. We knew immediately that we needed to get him to a hospital closer to us so I could keep tabs on him.  It took over 24 hours to make the transfer. Saturday afternoon we were told he would transfer using an ambulance. It wasn’t happening and so we finally took care of things ourselves and Russell is doing the transfer. 

Sunday morning church was the best experience of the week. The couple who has been coming to our home to have the missionary discussions went to church with us.  It was the primary program and the children did a beautiful job. Afterwards Lance and Grace went to the Priesthood and Relief Society meetings. They seemed to genuinely be interested in the classes and Grace participated in Relief Society. Currently they plan to have another discussion on Wednesday at our home. This has been a wonderful experience for us, and definitely has been making our mission seem worthwhile.

Elder Perez  trying to make a difficult situation a little humorous

The Elders loved the Costo style pizza from Landers. It was a little bit of home on a hard day.

YUMMY-notice the cheese dripping down Elder Blackhurst's mouth

We are official now. 

View of the Laguna from the Elder's new apartment

These lovely creatures had been smashed in the door jam. I think they are officially fossils now

We took these missionaries out to eat for their hard work - Elder Blackhurst, Perez, Miller and Douglas

This is the hospital where our missionary was staying 

The elders with the sick missionary in his hospital room

The banana from the lunch was eaten but wasn't tolerated

As a former labor and delivery nurse and recovery room nurse I was interested in their surgical area and delivery room shown above

We passed a funeral complete with a band and baton twirlers (who weren't twirling their batons)

The primary children of the Taytay ward after a beautiful program.

TWO PERSPECTIVES

Due to a miscommunication between the two of us, we both sat down on different computers and simultaneously wrote the blog for this week.  After reading both accounts, I (Russell) thought it would be interesting to include both as it shows our different perspectives on the same events.

Eileen’s version.  

As I have been thinking about the past week, I (Eileen) wonder if our life sounds the same from week to week. Perhaps much of it is, as we are so focused on helping the missionaries with their medical issues and trying to find suitable housing for the missionaries.  We have 16 new missionaries coming into our mission in 3&1/2 weeks. Russell has put a lot of pressure on himself to find enough housing for all of them. We have specific parameters for housing, such as it has to have public transportation nearby, be secure, have relatively easy access for delivering items for the apartment, plumbing that works, enough electrical plugs to operate appliances, and we also need to have missionaries within their ward boundaries, but  if they are of the opposite sex they cannot be so close that they can visit each other. It is very difficult to find apartments with these qualifications. Both Russell and I scour the internet almost daily looking for ads. The only missionary housing we have found on the internet so far, is our own personal housing.  It just doesn’t seem to be the way to find apartments here.  In the past week we have closed on one apartment, put money down on another apartment and will close on another one tomorrow. The first apartment we found was by cold calling a broker after seeing a for sale sign and negotiating the unit as a rental instead of as a sale. The one we looked at on Friday was found by sister missionaries going from high rise to high rise, asking if there were any rentals. They finally found an owner who said he had one unit he would rent. Another apartment we are closing on tomorrow the sisters found through members. The owner lives in China and Russell has been communicating with her through email.  Needless to say, it has been a daunting task. The pressure is on to find several more. Over the weekend Russell has been talking to some Elders who have been searching for housing in their area. They have found two possibilities. One apartment only has one plug in the whole apartment and that is in the kitchen. We are trying to figure that one out. It is not like you can unplug the fridge to charge your phone or run your electric stovetop.  Forget drying your hair with a blow-dryer or an electric alarm clock. The other apartment they found is located down a dirt road with nowhere to park and no way to turn around if you did actually take a vehicle on the dirt road. We will know we are really desperate if we rent that one. Our senior missionaries have all been praying that we will find housing in the next few weeks before the new missionaries come.

Normally at night I turn off my phone so that I am not awakened by the many emails or messages that come from the states during the night. This past week we were awakened as Russell’s phone rang at 2:30 a.m. It was Sister Alder saying that we had a sick missionary who couldn’t get through to me and called her. I called the missionary and determined that he was sick enough I wanted to get him to a hospital.  He had been throwing up and had diarrhea for several hours and was really weak. He received a blessing and we headed out to pick him up. To say that it is dark at night in our area of the Philippines is an understatement. It is pitch black and many trikes and jeepneys drive without their lights on. It was a rather harrowing 2-hour drive on windy mountainous roads to go pick him up. We picked up this Elder and his companion and brought them back to the hospital where we have had our other missionaries admitted. I had given him some prescription drugs from my own personal stash to help him make the trip.  I don’t normally do that but figured under the circumstances it was needful.  The elder was kept in the ER for several hours and then discharged with several prescriptions. We were supposed to have been speaking at a zone conference that day. Russell picked us up and took me and the two elders to zone conference. Overall, he made 3 trips to this location during the day - approximately 6 hours of driving. When I spoke, I introduced the new missionary medical books that I had created. It would give tips on how to treat medical illnesses and when to call the mission nurse.  I also talked with the missionaries about avoiding Dengue. I was pretty annoyed when I asked how many missionaries were using their bug lotion and only about 20% raised their hands.  Each missionary is given both Off bug lotion and Permethrin to utilize.   Apparently, they don’t take it very seriously. I told them if they didn’t care about their own health, think about the time and effort it takes Russell and I to evacuate them, their companion who has to stay in the hospital with them, and their poor parents who are worried about them. I wonder sometimes if missionaries think it is a sign of manhood to have a good war story about their mission.

Russell talked about the new directions regarding missionary apartments from the missionary department in SLC.  All missionaries in our mission will now be using electric hotplates vs the gas hotplates they have used in the past. The gas poses too much of a risk.  Every apartment is supposed to have access to hot water. We have been supplying each apartment with a hot water kettle that they can heat water and use for dishes or cleaning.  Also, we have told the missionaries we will be inspecting the apartments every 2 months. Some of the apartments have been downright disgusting when we enter them. Our desire is that as they have better, cleaner living conditions that their apartments will be a place where the spirit can dwell.

Saturday, we had our first real p-day in over a month. Usually p-day is spent preparing for the upcoming week. For seniors they often like to do something that they wouldn’t be able to do during the week. We went with President and Sister Alder and Sister Gibson to Danarak and Batlag Falls in Tanay. Afterwards we visited Elder and Sister Gordon who live out that way. They are serving as an MLS couple in Sampaloc and are pretty isolated. We then went out to eat for lunch.  It was a much-needed break for all of us. 

Russell’s version. 

This week we got the opportunity to do something new, not something I (Russell) enjoyed doing but an expansion of my resume as a driver. Sometime after 2:00 AM on Thursday morning, I heard my phone ringing only to find that Sister Alder was calling me. Actually, not me but Eileen.  We had not heard Eileen’s phone ring earlier. It turned out that we had a sick elder in Malaya, who for the last few hours had been throwing up and blowing out (my term - not the correct medical term).  After discussing the situation, we left to pick him up around 3:00 AM. At night here it is really dark. The street lights are dim and once you leave the major cities there are very few of them.  The roads have a lot of curves and few straightaways.  Oh, and many of the motorcycles, trikes and jeepnies have a habit of driving at night without their lights on.  The journey actually went without any major excitement and I dropped Eileen and the two elders off at the hospital emergency room near our home around 6:00 AM.

We had been scheduled to be the first two speakers at a zone conference held in Morong (same direction as Malaya but not as far) that morning. We didn’t make our previously scheduled speaking time but I did make it there by noon to deliver new induction stove top cookers (and new pots and pans) for each of the apartments in the eastern third of the mission; we are moving away from gas cooking appliances for safety reason, something I have wanted to do since we arrived.  And then driving back to Morong for a third time that day at 2:00 PM with Eileen and the two elders from the hospital (food poisoning - not dengue fever).  We then gave our presentations and returned home and went to bed early.

At church today we met a new Philippine couple who had just moved back from San Diego, California so they could work in the temple here.  The brother was surprised that I was driving. He said he couldn’t drive here in the congested city traffic.  I guess that is what happens when you have a choice of whether to drive or not.  On Wednesday we get our local drivers licenses.  Between my experiences last Thursday, my close encounters with a motorcycle on Wednesday night and a parking garage post on Friday, I’m not sure if my license will be something earned through hard experience or unwarranted. 

On Saturday, our preparation day (day-off), we went to a couple waterfalls about an hour east of Antipolo.  We invited the other senior missionaries to go with us.  President and Sister Alder, and Sister Gibson went with us.  It was a much needed break.

I was surprised at how differently Eileen and I remembered the past week.  After having written most of this week's blog entry, we had the sister missionaries over to our home to teach a couple a second lesson.  This was the same couple that we mentioned last week.  I was amazed when the couple started talking about what they had read in the Book of Mormon. It was very evident that they had made a serious effort to read and understand what they were reading.  We will be meeting with them again next week and also taking them to church on Sunday.  For me the experience was both humbling and a gentle reminder of what is the most important part of our work here.

Russell discussing necessary items to buy with the APs for their new apartment

Our son with our newest granddaughter, born on October 15th

This granddaughter now shares a birthday with her youngest cousin

Annie, the owner on left, wanted to have an official handing over ceremony  of the keys to the new apartment

This is what we saw with our lights on as we pulled in front of the missionaries home at 4:30 in the morning. It is a cow, and yes it was very dark.

I felt badly for all the babies in the ER, especially thinking of my brand new grand baby

The nurses couldn't get an IV in this elder

A missionary at zone conference wanted to know what this was.  Yucky is all I can say

This is a real picture, not even photo shopped. The water is really that color

Goofing around for the Filipinos

Lots of young men were swimming. It was very hot and looked very inviting.

This picnic set can be rented for the day for 12 dollars

Sister Alder and I thought these were real. They were set up for a movie that was being filmed earlier in the week at this location.

President Alder in from of the very tall bamboo

Beautiful flowers

Picnic pavilions for eating a meal-you had to rent these

There were several trees with branches reaching way beyond where you would expect them to be

This bridge over the water was a little rickety for my taste

President Alder near one of the large trees at Batlag Falls

We had to pay more and walk a ways to get to the Batlag Falls.

It is no wonder that movies are filmed here. It was truly beautiful

This swimming pool was in the middle of jungle. I don't know if anyone ever swims in it

These were gelatinous on the inside

Very unusual plants and colors

Russell made friends with this little boy

Squid that could be roasted over hot coals

Delicacies out for purchase. It smelled delicious but we didn't dare eat them

We were having problems with our internet. Here I am using my phone, iPad and computer trying to  write the blog

MINISTERING

The last two weeks have been busy ones wherein we have been dealing with sick missionaries (see last two blog entries) and trying to find housing for additional missionaries coming in mid-November (three houses/apartments) and three more locations by November 1^st for turnover of existing contracts.  So far, I (Russell) have one of the six signed up, offers out on two more and still searching for the remaining three.  Being one who likes to have everything well organized, the housing issues (like the driving challenges) are perhaps how I am being taught patience.  I can’t say yet I am learning patience, only that God is providing the lessons.

Recently I started going out with a member of the Tayuman Ward Elder’s quorum presidency visiting inactive members after our church meetings on Sunday.  Two weeks ago, we visited three families.  One was a former member of the branch presidency. He and his wife had not been to church for a number of years.  He is currently suffering with cancer and has a great deal of difficulty getting around. After talking for a while, I asked if he would let me pick him up for church next week.  He said he would think about it. It wasn’t until a couple of hours before church began last week that he decided to take me up on my offer. Not only he came but his wife, son and daughter-in-law.  And when I got to church, I found five members of another family we visited the prior week had come.  It was nice to see these members who had not been in church for a while warmly greeted by the other members of the ward. It was also good for me to experience some success in ministering to the spiritual needs of others; a change from my regular duties of administering the housing needs of the mission. 

Eileen's Dengue Update - two new missionaries diagnosed positive for Dengue this week. 

Late night update-we just finished an amazing evening with a couple from our apartment building.  Eileen first met the woman and her daughters at the swimming pool, then we met them on the elevator again a couple of days ago. The woman was just returning home from the ER where she had been treated for an infection. We talked as the elevator went up. This brother's aunt and his mother are members of our church in Idaho.  We invited them for dinner this evening and to meet with the missionaries  and they happily accepted. They returned home with Eileen's marked up copy of the Book of Mormon. They preferred English over the Tagolog version that the missionaries offered them. We hope to be able to continue meeting with them weekly. 

We drove into Pasig which is close to Manila to see this apartment. Everything was new, it was just  a tad bit small (think 25 sq meters). When I asked the broker if this apartment had a bed room, she said yes. It had a bed, and it had a room. They were just all together. This is a photo of  the whole apartment. The thing that really clinched it as a "no" was when President Alder found that a washing machine couldn't be put in the apartment. There was an inexpensive laundry store on the main floor, but he didn't want someone else doing the missionaries' wash.

Here is the "bed" in the "room."  Since missionaries need separate beds, one would get the bed and one would throw a mattress on the floor.  This rental didn't happen.

This tiny apartment had a beautiful view of Manila

When we realised the tiny apartment wouldn't work for us we wandered the streets looking for signs such as this one.

This was a row of 3  houses/rooms Russell visited while visiting members.

Eileen with the sister missionaries and the couple being taught. They were truly delightful!  The brother has problems with cataracts and was struggling to read. I too (Eileen) struggle to see the words in books at times.  Fortunately I had my mother's lighted magnifying glass that he was able to read with.

EVACUATING A MISSIONARY

A week ago yesterday I (Eileen) received a call from Elder Rivera.  He said that his companion Elder Ivins was pretty sick. As soon as I heard the symptoms the thought came to me that he had Dengue. The symptoms of Dengue include high fever, severe headache, joint pain, nausea, and pain behind the eyes. The care for Dengue is supportive care --- keeping the patient well hydrated and checking to make sure lab values don't go too abnormal. I was concerned about these two missionaries as they are rather isolated in a small branch up in the mountains. The nearest missionaries to them are over an hour drive away.

By Monday morning Elder Ivins was telling me he was feeling better, however the members wanted him to go to a local clinic.  I agreed that would be appropriate.  After his visit he let me know that his platelets were significantly below average.  Tuesday morning he returned to the clinic for his daily blood draw.  He called me and told me that the doctor wanted to admit him and give him IV fluids for dehydration.  I was really concerned about the best course to take. I wanted him closer to the mission office and better medical care. Since Russell and I were the only ones in the office we had to make the decision without consulting with anyone else. Our Area Medical Advisor was out of the country with another missionary. It was transfer day and the departing missionaries were with President and Sister Alder and the other senior missionaries at the temple.  The APs who are usually available, were at the doctors office as one of them was sick. After several prayers asking for guidance we made a decision. Russell would drive to pick up the Elders and I would stay and do a workshop we had prepared later that day for departing missionaries. We would meet each other later at the ER.

We usually drive together, as I usually navigate and watch the road for near misses with motorcycles and jeepneys, while Russell drives. This day we didn't have a choice. Russell drove by himself, and I met the departing missionaries in the afternoon and conducted a transition workshop. We discussed what lessons were learned during the mission, how those lessons would apply in the future and what goals the missionaries would make as they arrived home.  As soon as that was done I met Russell and the missionaries from Infanta at the ER. As I arrived I saw Elder Ivins sharing a missionary brochure with another sick lady waiting to be seen. It was pretty touching to see that even with a raging fever, dehydration and significant fatigue he still wanted to share the gospel.  I was also impressed to observe the kindness that Elder Rivera offered his companion.  He had been cooking and caring for Elder Ivins for 4 days straight. He was extremely attentive to his needs. In fact on Tuesday night, as there was no where for him to sleep, he slept on the hospital floor at the bedside of his companion.

It is difficult to get a semi-private room and even more so a private room in the hospital in the Philippines. However, I am learning how to best work with the system. The admitting people at the hospital recognise me now and I know some of them by name.  Wednesday morning I bought some fresh treats from the local bakery and brought those and some American chocolate bars to the workers in admitting. By Wednesday afternoon a private room had opened up and we were ready for the transfer.

Wednesday morning 16 new missionaries arrived in the Antipolo mission. Russell and I each did some training with the new missionaries and then I spent the rest of the day at the hospital.  Elder Ivins was assigned to train a missionary straight out of the MTC. This Filipino missionary had never been in a hospital before. Russell arrived with him at the hospital just as Elder Ivins had a bad bloody nose. Bleeding is one of the complications of Dengue.  It was rather chaotic as I was running to get the nurse. The poor new elder looked helplessly on. The needed care was given although it shook us all up a bit as we all knew bleeding was a sign that the disease was getting worse. That night President and Sister Alder visited. President Alder, Russell and Elder Soaras (the new companion) all laid their hands on Elder Ivin's  head and gave him a priesthood blessing. There was a beautiful spirit in the room as the powers of the priesthood were invoked in blessing this missionary. I was so grateful to be able to be witness this beautiful blessing.

Saturday morning Elder Ivins got the word from the hospital that he could go home. I had been requesting that he be released early in the morning as we wanted to drive him home and it would be a long day's drive. Initially the missionaries were told he wouldn't be released until later in the day.  It truly felt like a miracle when he was discharged by 10:30 am. We took the mission van and loaded Russell and I, the two young missionaries and some other senior missionaries (Sister Gibson and Elder Bills) for the trip to Infanta. The other senior missionaries have never seen the eastern part of the mission.

Elder Ivins is a very strong young man. He is athletic and normally does 240 push ups twice/day. During the course of his illness I could see that he was  losing some of his energy and strength. Yet as we rounded the mountain and drove into Infanta, he raised his arms in a cheer and said "yes, I am home!" It was a blessing that he was able to return to do his missionary work and to train Elder Soaras.

Elder Steed, our former AP getting ready to go home. Sister Gibson is weighing his luggage.

Russell was able to close on the new apartment for the APs. This was truly a miracle!

Elder Ivins with his scriptures in the ER. They are well loved and well read scriptures.

These trainers were selected by President Alder to train the  newly arrived missionaries. Elder Ivins was supposed to be there but was in the hospital.  

This note were instructions from Elder Rivera for whomever was staying  with Elder Ivins at the hospital. He was very thorough. 

Elder Chandler stayed at the hospital at night with Elder Ivins. This is the 5th time he has stayed with a missionary at the hospital. He is actually considering going into medicine.  He is really sharp and would be a great doctor. 

Their last time as companions. Elder Rivera leaving Elder Ivins to meet his new companion.

The hospital chapel was right by the elevator. I was waiting for the elevator, when the doors opened a woman did the sign of the cross. At first I thought it was because of my missionary tag. On second thought I think it was due to seeing the chapel behind me. 

Elder Ivins and Elder Soaras, newly assigned companions at the summit overlooking infanta. 

The grade is quite steep yet we saw several bicyclists. The guy on the bike here was grimacing trying to make it up the mountain. 

These beautiful flowers were in front of the missionaries' apartment. 

Nobody ever seems to be at this amusement park, but the sun streaming through the clouds was certainly stunning.

These tuna were just freshly caught and were on the side of the road.