First of all, forgive the title but it is a tribute to my father. Dad had a lot of fun with us as we were growing up and one of our fun memories is decorating cookies at Christmas with gingerbread girls in bikinis and LOTS of Easter eggs in preparation for Easter. One Easter we were using our Paas egg coloring kits and using those crayons to write things on our eggs as we dyed what seemed like hundreds of eggs! For some reason we all remember Dad writing “happy Easter Measter” on one of his eggs. It stuck and our family has said those words for many years. Happy Easter Dad – I miss you LOTS!!
What a beautiful Easter and what a sacred holiday! Filipinos do Easter – if possible – bigger than Christmas! They close the schools and hang banners and billboards and have parade after parade! Actually, I would call them “processions” and they are impressive. Here the more sacred day appears to be Good Friday and I was astonished at the number of processions we saw. They start with a band that leads with more drums than any other instrument. They have members of congregations and church leadership, and choir boys etc. etc. One procession in front of our hotel/apartments was over a mile long and had several impressive floats that depicted life-sized versions of Christ from His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, to his experience in Gethsemane, to His crucifixion, right up to the empty tomb. It was really cool and actually very reverent. Many of the holidays around here are loud and raucous and have lots of video/karaoke and its fun. Christmas is like that …. More like a birthday party than a sacred holiday. Halloween is much like Mexicos “day of the dead” and New Years is definitely a BIG party to usher in a new year. In our city of several million people the Easter holiday was quietly observed by MOST people. Schools have programs and parades. Every church has amazing stuff going on with programs, music, and Easter sunrise services. There were parades before 5:00 am today and even a few minutes of fireworks to celebrate our risen Lord. Almost every business in this giant, busy city was closed on Good Friday and the place was like a ghost town; it was great! We had a simple and short church service today that really impressed us and helped us remember the sacrifice of our Savior. I have come to love Easter even more than Christmas! It is quieter and more sacred and without all of the hoopla that Christmas has. This holiday is more focused on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what He taught us. I truly love this holiday. So Happy Easter to all! I’ve included some picture below that will remind me of this holy week in the Philippines.
Below is a picture of one of the many signs put up in celebration of Easter and a good reminder of what Easter is all about!
Below is another picture of just ONE of the floats in ONE of the Easter parades/processions that we saw. We have seen multiples over this past week. This one just happened to be right in front of our hotel, so I snapped a couple of pictures. It is an awful picture because of the wires in the way and the glare of the lights on a very-bright float... but hopefully gives you an idea of their celebrations. The parade is surprisingly quiet and somber, and this particular one was at least a mile long with most people on foot!
This next picture has NOTHING to do with Easter but we were so intrigued I just had to include it. I have seen a LOT of fun fruits and veggies. When one has a garden, you see crazy potatoes and carrots etc. Chickens lay double-yolked eggs... etc. etc. I am 66 and have never seen a "double banana" before now and it happened TWICE this week! This was basically two bananas in one skin and it was pretty cool! (maybe I'm easily entertained?)
On another note; this was “transfer week” and it happens approximately every 6-8 weeks. It is the week that some missionaries who have been serving between 18-24 months say farewell and return home to Kiribati, Australia, New Zealand, Marshal Islands, Vanuatu, US, Tonga, Samoa, Hawaii & the Philippines! As you can imagine, we get pretty attached to these wonderful older and younger people and as our time here continues, it is getting harder and harder to say goodbye. BUT….. right after we say goodbye, 2-3 days later new missionaries come to take their place and we get to know new faces and fall in love with people all over again! Our humanitarian missionaries Clyda and Bryant Tiechert returned home, and we said farewell to 13 young missionaries! It felt so strange to know that we have been here nine months now and we said some very tearful farewells to folks young/old that we have come to love! As we continue our mission, I realize this is just going to get harder because we know everyone so much better. BUT…. We got two new senior couples; the Waymans and the Hansens. The Waymans are the new humanitarian missionaries and the Hansens are what they call Member and Leadership support. They are both GREAT couples and as we get to know them…. They are wonderful and we really look forward to working with them. We got 11 new “young” missionaries too and are already having fun with them. Additionally, President Fernandez decided to make a full Zone of “seniors” and surprised Roy by announcing (without prior notice!) that Elder Epperson will be the Zone Leader for the new zone. It brought back old memories of when he was a young missionary and missionaries young and old are teasing him unmercifully. The final picture is a bunch of our young missionaries saluting the OLD missionary zone leader. It has become a fun mission-wide joke! This final picture is a whole group of SMART ALECK missionaries "saluting" the new white-haired zone leader, Elder Epperson! (from left to right Elders Santiago, and Besada, Sister Foliaki, Elders Abiera, Ardon, Zayas, McLaughlin, Meredith & Frianeza) We really, REALLY love our young missionaries and sometimes I watch them and can't believe that these young people give up 18-24 months of their lives, paying their own way, just to serve their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! It is a privilege to see them in action and be in their presence. I have a LOT more faith in the future of our world as I get to know this kind of young men and women! OK… I always ramble so I’m hushing up now. Happy Easter (again!)
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