Russell and Eileen's Church Missions: 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.