THE QUEZON QUIBBLER: Go About Doing Good

Dear Family,

We completed our 19th transfer this week, with only seven to go! On Tuesday, we had our regular exit day with trainings, dinner and testimonies. When it's all over, after they get their travel packets but before they leave, the financial secretary, Brother Ogden, goes around with the room and collects any leftover mission funds and their ATM and health insurance cards in a zip lock bag. Usually the missionaries have no leftover money, or just a few coins or pesos, but this time there were lots of paper pesos in the bag as he passed it around. We were shocked when one missionary, returning to Australia, put in a lot of 1,000 peso bills. I asked him how much he was returning and he counted it and said, "!6,000 pesos!" That's two months worth of missionary support. He budgeted his money very carefully and was extremely mindful of the sacred nature of the mission funds. Interestingly, he is one of only a a handful of missionaries who earned the entire amount for their missions--so he could have considered it as "his money" and kept it. He told us he chose between a spot on the Australian National Football League and serving a mission. He sacrificed in a lot of ways, and was a very bold missionary.

Wednesday's arrival day was a little different than usual because when we finished the 7-9am training meeting and went with the trainers into the chapel to begin the meeting, there were no new missionaries -- they hadn't arrived! Usually we complain because the MTC sends them too early, but this time they had a mix-up and delayed their arrival 2 1/2 hours, so we were happy when they finally arrived. The day went miraculously well, and Stewart was able to interview all of them and send them off with their new companions by 4pm. Only one is Filipino, a sister, and the other sister and eleven elders are all "foreigners", mostly Americans. They are finding out this week that they are on another planet!

Stewart received a directive from the Church that missionary apartments need to have hot water in the bathroom and kitchen, flush toilets, and "adequate cooling." Unless we get further direction from our area presidency, we need to find new apartments for most if not all of our missionaries, including the seniors. I think the mission home is the only missionary housing with hot water in the kitchen, and only the seniors have it in the bathroom. And only the seniors have "adequate" cooling.

We had our best MLC ever (in my opinion) on Friday where Stewart led a discussion about things the missionaries were doing that were effective. The leaders shared about tracting near members' homes, only knocking on doors with four pair of shoes outside (that way you know it's a family and they are home!), teaching short lessons to keep attention span, and working with the stake president to get effective ward mission leaders. I wasn't feeling well, but was blessed to still be able to do my small part.

On Monday we signed a waiver to get our American dengue elder out of the hospital, and Stewart was back very Wednesday night/Thursday morning with our Mongolian sister being rushed to ER for cellulitis and a panic attack. (I'm glad I'm not the mission president--I didn't even know he'd gone to the hospital until the next morning. There are real advantages to being hard of hearing!) . She seemed better the next day, so we spent four hours getting her discharged, but she went back in last night -- another four-five hour ordeal, which fortunately the mission nurse handled. The nurse also took care of fevers, blood in stool, blood in urine, LBMs, sore teeth, sore bones, abdominal pain and rashes--so thankful to have her!

We went to Deparo Ward today where Stewart was asked to speak briefly and he taught about following the example of Jesus in "going about doing good." After the meetings, we saw nine people, all taught by the zone leaders, baptized. They seemed like solid converts, most of whom bore their testimony afterward and included one complete family. They will be confirmed next week.

Driving down the street here reminds me of my blessings--there is so much poverty, disease, handicaps, and hunger that it's easy for me to see my blessings and the prosperity I've always taken for granted. Many people here are in very humble circumstances and are open to the missionaries teaching them because they really need hope. I need to remember to choose to be humble--because certainly all my blessings come from the same God these people are learning about, and come in large part because of my birth in amazing circumstances in comparison to these. It's hard for me to understand and reconcile these differences, but I want to view them with gratitude and humility, and to go about doing good.

Love,

Mom

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