Once again, I skipped a week.... BUT... in my defense it was "transfer week" last week and I truly believe I could be a navy seal every time we survive transfer week! If we weren't in the service of the Lord, I would call it "hell week"!! We sent 7 missionaries home, one to Jamaica (after receiving his visa), and brought in 10 new missionaries from all over the world! It is always a little sad to see them go and really fun to bring new ones in. All of the new missionaries stay at least 18 months and many stay for 24 months. They are all between 18 and 25 years old and paying their own way to serve in so many ways! We LOVE getting to know them and their stories; where they come from, why they chose to serve as a missionary, and all about their family histories. We also love watching those that we know, and love return home and restart their lives, get married, finish school, etc. Below are just two of the ones we sent home last week. The First one, Elder Frianeza was the finance secretary for the mission office and we got really close to him! The next one was Sis Beauchamp who arrived in the mission only weeks before we did. To be honest (and I told her this), I didn't think she would make it as a missionary. She arrived well before we got the apartments into better shape, and she was in some really tough areas with awful apartments. The heat combined with bugs and new food, AND not speaking the local language made for some REAL challenges as they do for all of our international missionaries. Even some missionaries from the Philippines but don't speak Cebuano. I even messaged with Sister Beauchamp's mom once where she expressed real concern over her daughters well-being. I promised her that we had just been assigned to improve living conditions for the missionaries. I mentioned this early in our mission, but the Philippines were hit really hard with COVID-19. Because of that and the many restrictions in place for more than two years, apartments were not inspected in the manner the church normally would. Many apartments were closed on short notice, not maintained during the pandemic, and then reopened just before we arrived .. bottom line and through nobody's fault, the living conditions for many missionaries were sub-standard! This young woman believed in what she was doing and although she was VERY uncomfortable for probably the first six months of her mission time, she finished after another year with flying colors and was an exemplary missionary! She learned the language and worked really hard! I can't include a picture of every missionary, but we love them all and are always humbled by the sacrifices they make and the hard work they do, day after day after day!
BELOW: Elder Frieneza
BELOW: Sis Beauchamp in her farewell testimony
Below is another fun picture and I'll explain. After 15 months in the Philippines (I can't believe we only have 8 months left!) I realized on my morning walk that with all of the green flowers, trees, green grass that I have never seen an earthworm. The very next day while walking i took a picture of this monster, NOT a snake but an earthworm over a foot long! Im wondering what size of fish I could catch with this guy! The toes of my walking shoes on in the edge of the picture to give perspective to the size!
BELOW: are pictures of our fully decorated office, ready for the holidays! Starting with a beautifully hand-carved Filipino nativity, our lovely office secretary Wendy Beesley, and our VERY tropical Christmas tree, and it isn't even Halloween!
Next pictures are about feeding our missionaries. Our missionaries work very hard and spend many hours in this hot climate walking miles and visiting with people and talking about our Savior. Some walk over 10 miles a day! They also manage their own companionships (24-7 with a fellow missionary called a companion), often share an apartment with all of the duties of shopping, cooking, laundry, cleaning etc. It keeps them busy AND hungry from about 6:00 am to 10:00pm! This mission area is lucky in that there are several sets of "senior" missionaries, and we feed them as often as possible. Below are some fun pictures of well-fed missionaries with full bellies. They had to show off their "dako tiyan" bisaya for big bellies. We had a very fun night with them. As we listen to their stories and get to know them better, we are always amazed at how wonderful these young people are! From left to right are Elders Nidoy (already graduated with a BS in Civil Engineering), Elder Toetu'u Tatafo (Tongan but raised in CA), Harvey (going home in Dec!), Roy, and Elder San Ramon. They are all looking tough and stuffed!
BELOW: Besides feeding missionaries, we provide LOTS of rides when possible. We have a mission vehicle and because there is approximately 7 hours of driving between the top and bottom of our skinny island, the missionaries spend many hours riding on tricycles, Jeepneys, and public busses. Whenever we are delivering furnishing or working on an apartment we try to give rides to our sisters and elders. I believe at this moment there were 6-7 missionaries in our little 4-seater truck! These two happy sisters sitting in the back with Roy are Sisters Zembe (Zimbabwe) and Carter (UT, US). Besides being gorgeous, they are really special, hardworking sisters and are easy to love!
BELOW are two pictures of hardworking people. This country is very free spirited in its method of personal earning. If you have a cart or a little table, you can set up shop and perform services wherever there is a need. The picture directly below is just a random thing we see EVERY single day. This is a land of palms and coconut palms. This guy (or someone in his family) has shimmied up a tall coconut palm and cut down young Thai coconuts. They part them in the shade and hack them up very artfully. Take out the coconut water and have their own secret recipes for a sweetened buko (coconut) juice, milk mixed coconut, or even milk and Jello based dessert like drink. These people work their butts off to earn a decent day's wage!
BELOW: is another random thing we see quite often and again depicts how hard many people work. This is a pretty primitive; homemade cart and these folks save everything! Cardboard is used about 4 times before it is truly trash and these guys are working hard on a VERY hot day to resell and/or deliver this heavy cart full of cardboard. The other thing that is fascinating is that if you are a good cook, you can set up a little table and make your favorite local dish and sell it in your neighborhood and on any road where you choose to sell. For many people this is their main source of income! Not many people laying around doing nothing!
Final picture is the newest "hunter" in our family. Adam and Lucas all geared up for his first hunt. You can see that he is pretty excited, and Adam will be a great teacher!
As always I miss my family.... so much somedays when I wake up to a new picture on my family WIFI picture frame that I cry like a baby. We LOVE the work we are doing. We are loving the people we work with and even more importantly, have learned to love our Lord and Savior more than I ever thought possible as we work hard in His service..... BUT it is also hard to be away from my family. We love you all!
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