THE QUEZON QUIBBLER: Too Much Drama!

Dear Family,

For the first time in a very long time we had NO mission meetings that I had to speak at all week. Last Sunday night we drove to Manila and met Derrick, who brought a year's supply of shredded coconut for the mission (impossible to find here) and other stuff. We had a fun morning and lunch together, then he miraculously made it from hotel to airport and onto the plane in one hour! The hotel is only 15 min from airport, but still--it usually takes longer than that to just get through security. I forgot to even take a photo, but he sent me a selfie from the plane.

Tuesday we attended a zone training meeting in Valenzuela and saw the recovering dengue victims and watched great zone leaders, STLs and district leaders teach the missionaries. The main training was from a Filipina that confides to Stewart that "speaking English gives me a nosebleed!"but she did well. That day we heard from a sister in Malolos that she couldn't breathe so she went to local hospital for breathing treatment for her asthma. Later that night she struggled again, and her kind bishop-next-door-neighbor took her to the ER, 45 minutes away. She passed out on the way and spent the night in the ER, and our new nurse--who panics even worse than me--told us she'd had a stroke! Stewart, who's dealing with a lot of dramatic sisters right now, went to sleep--he felt she was okay. By midnight the doctors confirmed that she was fine.

Fortunately, we had our Health Council with AMA and MHS then next morning, and the Area Medical Advisor told us to send her to St Luke's (good hospital in Manila) if she had any problems, so we knew just what to do when she struggled that afternoon. Stewart was in Manila the next day and I called him when I heard she was in a member's ambulance on her way. (NOTE: Never have a life-threatening illness in metro-Manila because ambulances are not much faster than regular traffic.) Dad met her there and stayed with her in ER for about five hours until her companion arrived.

We went to the temple VERY EARLY the next morning with a departing batch of missionaries. They usually go on their own or with a senior couple, but it worked out that we could meet them there. I noticed a couple of sisters (not our missionaries) smiling at Stewart A LOT and when we talked with them in the celestial room we found out they are from Pakistan and one is coming to our mission in two weeks!! After joining the missionaries for breakfast in the area office cafeteria and chest Xrays for the departing missionaries (TB is real) we (Stewart) drove back to the hospital to visit our sister and switch companions.

Friday morning we were back to area office and met with mission presidency and wives for lunch near the temple. One of Stewart's counselors lives in Malolos so it seemed like a good place to meet since his temple shift is Friday. Four times driving into Manila in one week was enough for Stewart!! After the office meeting here at the mission home I took the four senior couples (the Tohiariki's came to the office for a car training--two accidents since February and no license since the area was trying to get their visas) to the best restaurant in the mission for dinner: Fridays! They loved it and would have stayed all night. Stewart joined us after his meeting with assistants and brought the homemade cheesecakes so we could celebrate his birthday. He was super embarrassed when the staff came and sang LOUDLY and played instruments to wish him Happy Birthday.

All he wanted to do for his birthday on Saturday was stay home and not drive anywhere. The highlight of the day was a call in the morning from ALL EIGHT OF YOU CHILDREN AT THE SAME TIME!!!!! It was really special for him and he enjoyed it a lot. We watched the slide show from MIMB and saw the good projects the girls are helping with. He enjoyed reading and resting and ate leftovers for dinner and fell asleep watching the first 30-min segment of TV BBC series Derrick gave him from the 80's. No offense, Derrick--I thought it was hilarious! It's just that missionaries texted him at 10pm, 11pm, 4:30am and it's hard for him to get back to sleep sometimes.

This morning we attended our home ward and observed one set of missionaries on the back row with four investigators and another set on the front row with ten investigators! (I wanted to take a photo but it might look bad from the stand.) We drove back to the hospital after church to check on SIster Acob and who's still having tests (MRIs, spinal tap, blood tests, etc.) to diagnose illness. We had a formal birthday celebration with ten missionaries from a near-by district and Joanna Manlangit who shares the same birthday. Good thing Connie & Steve put NATIONAL ICE CREAM DAY (we made it "international) on the calendar so we had a good excuse to eat it. The missionary from Sri Lanka thinks all our food is bland, but he loved the ice cream! And when Stewart left for the office to meet with an American sister who is experiencing emotional difficulties, I had my second dessert, just to make sure I gave proper observance to the holiday.

Zone conferences start tomorrow morning, and then I fly to Utah Friday in time for the Hughes reunion on Saturday. We've tried to keep the focus the missionaries focused on their purpose to teach faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ and its central role in the plan of happiness, and having this always before me has been a big blessing. The mission has revealed my weaknesses to me in great clarity and I'm so thankful for the hope and knowledge that I should and CAN change. I know it is because of Him and through Him that I receive that strength and increased capacity. I appreciate your prayers for us so much. I know they count and we are being lifted and blessed by your faith.

Love,

PHOTOS