WHITE CHRISTMAS

Very early last Monday morning we left Jessica’s family and began our journey back to the Philippines.  Arriving late Tuesday evening we found the airport busier than during our prior two recent arrivals.  Many Filipinos work overseas, coming home just once a year, and Christmas is their favorite time to do so.  Wednesday Eileen was swamped with nursing work and on Thursday I (Russell) spent the day with a missionary suffering with a kidney stone in the hospital ER.  On Friday we were back on the road doing housing inspections. On Saturday, we were able to participate in Grace’s baptism and see her confirmed on Sunday.  Lance and their two girls were there with us both days.  It has been week of extremes: locations; types of work; concerns over loved ones (family, friends and missionaries); joy over seeing their achievements; and witnessing God’s hand in the details of our lives.  I am very grateful for this week.

We were thrilled to learn that Grace was going to be baptized and that we would be home to witness it.  Although the vast majority of our time here is spent dealing with the health and housing issues of the young missionaries, it has been the moments when we are sharing the gospel and teaching it’s principles that have been the most rewarding.  With Grace’s baptism scheduled to start at 5 PM, I thought we should spend a few minutes beforehand discussing exactly how the ordinance would be performed.  I wanted the experience to be a wonderful one for Grace and her family and to avoid needing to repeat the baptism because we failed to do it correctly.  

With this in mind, Grace came to our apartment at 1 PM for what I thought would be a short visit.  During the next 2.5 hours we learned about the challenges Grace had been facing earlier in her week.  On Monday, a longtime friend of her husband was killed during a robbery by several young men.  On Wednesday, another friend of the family committed suicide.  Then on Saturday morning Grace learned that a very close relative had a serious medical issue.  It seemed like everything that could go wrong did so in the week leading up to her baptism.  We listened and gave our condolences but I’m sure nothing we said was as important as just being with her to “mourn with those that mourn; . . . comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witness of God.”  After her baptism, Grace said that as she came up out of the water that it felt like she had left some of the weight of her challenges behind.  Today as I watched her in church with her family beside her, I couldn’t help but notice the contrast in her from the prior afternoon. The problems Grace was facing had not changed but she had changed.  The Holy Ghost is sometimes referred to as “the Comforter.”  Yesterday and today I have witnessed the Comforter at work.

Our Christmas zone conference with 3 zones. Russell graciously offered to stay at the hospital all day with a missionary so that the rest of us could attend.

Sister Rose catered the luncheon. We had two turkeys and a full pig.

Sister and President Alder performing the  Night Before Christmas.  President was doing the hand movements while Sister Alder was talking.

The office missionaries had a birthday celebration for Eileen.

At Grace's baptism the water only came thigh high as she is very tall. The sister missionaries plugged up the drain to get the water level higher. What we didn't know was that they left the water on during the baptismal talks. The water overflowed all over the bathroom and part of the hallway. The good news was that it only took one try for Grace to be fully immersed during baptism.

Grace with Eileen and Russell. President Alder encouraged every companionship to have a "White Christmas" with a baptism during the month of December. We were thrilled to be able to attend Grace's baptism.

Grace, her family and Sister Lulab and Sister Tampis

Eloisa was baptized on Sunday. She works at the bakery a block from the office. We frequently buy baked goods there.  She is always very happy and smiling, although today she was nervous for her baptism. Eloisa told her boss that if she couldn't have Sundays off to go to church she would quit. The boss likes her so much that she gave her Sundays off so that she could keep her as an employee.

This photo was taken from the window of our apartment. The strange thing is that there has been no rain at all today.