I feel like I'm in Venice, Italy. Well, I've actually never been there, but I
know the streets are water and that's how it is here, too. We've had a minor typhoon the past few days
and it rains SO hard! There hasn't been
much wind, so just flooding of homes -- the ones in valleys -- and the
roads. Sometimes I'm afraid our car will
start floating, and I haven't even been on the dangerous ones. Dad had to go out to "The District"
(Baliwag District that he presides over is at least two hours away, some parts
even more) where they get flooding whenever there is high tide, so with the
added rain it's a lot worse. But he
loves a good storm and the sound of the rain pounding on the roof and
lightening right outside our house!
This has been a tough week for me, but mostly because of my
own weaknesses, worries, anxieties, etc.
On Tuesday the departing elders and sisters began to arrive at 10:30
(they weren't due until 11--I keep forgetting people may come early) after a
horribly stressful morning, and I struggled to keep the Spirit. They are a remarkable group of missionaries
and have served well. I especially love
the three sisters, and I've only known them three week and seen them twice. I
talked to them while Pres Hughes interviewed and they loved sitting in the
living room and talking with each other.
Then Dad gave a great little fireside thanking them for their service,
We had dinner here (that included the mission staff and assistants -- good
thing I didn't have to do ANYTHING on the food), and then photos and a
testimony meeting. The area office sent
two vans for them to drive back to Manila to depart about 1am. I felt sad to see them leave.
I've been asking Dad for over a week to go over the agenda
for transfer day with him, but he always says, "We can do it
later!" The next day was Transfer
Day and we rushed to the office by 7:30 (caught in traffic) and some of the new
missionaries were already there waiting for us and the rest came shortly
afterwards. They seemed a little shell
shocked, but did their best to stay awake during the whole meetings, although
some had woken up 1am at the MTC if their companion was flying to another
mission. Anyway, we were behind from the
beginning. I had three presentations and
two went okay--I just had to do the slide show of Adjusting to Missionary Life
and the language program. My real
training wasn't so good, but I didn't have much time to prepare. Thank goodness Sister Lisonbee sent me some
ideas on obedience! I only did 15 or the
30 minutes, but others were happy to take the rest. So in the future I have to do an obedience
talk every 6 weeks, so please send me some input--especially stories of
obedience from your missions. Our
missionaries often ask about you, so I'd love to share your experiences.
It turned out to be quite stressful because one of the
sisters we were expecting didn't show up, so we had an extra sister there to
train with no trainee or companion. And
one of the elders took six hours to go a 40-minutes distance and we didn't know
if he's gone home or what happened to him.
We took the extra sister back to her apartment so she could get her
stuff and took her to move in with some other sisters for awhile, driving in a
tropical rainstorm that just continues.
I got soaked just going from the car to her apartment, and I had an
umbrella! When we finally got home we
mostly stress ate carbs --it felt so good to be dry and off the road.
The motorcycles have the toughest time, since the water is
so deep they sometimes stall their engine.
They wear ponchos and try to keep dry the best they can. The Filipinos especially avoid getting water
on their head, so they always have an umbrella or at least a rag covering
it. I wish I had photos--lots of people
walking around with rags on their heads.
The next day we trained the new leaders (DL and ZL) but I
didn't do anything but watch. Dad is an
amazing teacher and teaches from the scriptures and PMG. That day our lunch was delayed (the person
picking it up got caught in traffic) for 30 minutes and he just kept talking --
I think I would have passed out!
Friday we had a p-day break in the late afternoon and went
shopping in a nearby mall for groceries while it poured rain outside. It's so crazy! One of the new sisters said her house floods
almost every year (she's in a neighboring mission) and her family just puts
their belonging on a high shelf, wrapped in plastic.
(Motorcyles transporting a motorcycle.)
The members and native missionaries often ask, "How old
are you?" At first I wanted to
respond, "None of your business!" but I've been politely telling them
my age. Sometimes they want me to guess
their age. When I guessed "50"
for a 40-year-old, I decided I'd better subtract ten years from every guess I
make, for PR sake.
We have the next three days off to ponder, pray and prepare
for our MLC and 7-Week Training on Thursday before start all over again with
zone interviews. Any ideas you have
would be greatly appreciated. Actually,
tomorrow we go to Manila to get our visas, a day-long excursion, and we have
District meetings Tuesday and an office meeting Wednesday, but that's better
than zone conferences. Soon the stake
conferences begin. I thought today in
sacrament meeting, "Will I ever get used to sitting on the stand?" Although I love looking into the faces of the
beautiful Filipinos! In this culture,
it's not polite to stare, so I may making them feel uncomfortable. It doesn't bother me too much since I am
uncomfortable, too!
I'm happy to be serving at the same time as you!
Love,
Mom
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