A LOT has happened as well as another week skipped, and our excuse is that it takes a LOT of work to “split” a mission and we were surprised how many parts of the puzzle belonged to us as the housing couple! Additionally, us Epperson’s were indeed given a new geographical area, so we are moving from Cebu City to Bogo (top of Cebu Island) within the next month. We haven’t confirmed everything yet, but we inherited 9-10 new apartments and 20+ new missionaries in that northern area of Cebu and we need to find our own place to live. The new Cebu Philippines mission now includes Bantayan Island and the areas ranging from the very north of our island to the very southern point and the changes start officially tomorrow.
The New Dumaguete Mission includes a large portion of Negros and Siquijor Islands. There are now two missions on that island, and we gave them 60 of our missionaries! But the Bocolod Mission on the other side of that same island gave them 50 of their missionaries so we have two missions now on Negros which is a larger island. We had a farewell conference, and it was heartbreaking to see so many of the young missionaries we have come to love so much leave us! Many of the Philippine missionaries are from islands all around the Pacific (New Zealand, Australia, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, Marshall Islands, and more). The “islanders” have a very specific culture that all melds together somehow and makes them super special! Many of our beloved “islanders” were assigned to the new mission and at the end of our farewell conference they sang a gorgeous song that made me bawl!! As if that wasn’t enough – they ended with HAKA that made me cry even harder! I have come to love the people of those nations almost as much as the people of the Philippines and it was hard to say goodbye. I continued to leak tears as we said goodbye to Elders Gonzaga, Besada & Manzon. Many of our lovely sisters but…. I FINALLY stopped crying and tried to be happy about the “new beginning” theme, but it was hard. Here is a map of Negros Island below: Cebu is the skinny island next to the larger, sock-shaped island of Negros. They are in the process of building a temple in Bocolod the western side of the island. The new Dumaguete mission includes the very top of Negros to the very bottom (around to the western side) ad , Siguijor island. It will be a big mission with close to 200 missionaries and ours will shrink a little and be closer to 150.
We will certainly survive the changes and probably even have fun with it but we have gotten very attached to our wonderful senior couples and the ward we attend and the missionaries we work with BUT…. I’m sure we will have fun getting to know new people and new missionaries. There are probably 20+ missionaries scared to death of all the changes facing them and having to say their own goodbyes to companions and mission leaders. We will be there to love them and feed them and have a LOT of fun with them too. President Fernandez is so tired he actually looks tired for the first time! As busy and Roy and I have been with the mission changes … our mission president has had twice the work to do! We have had to ensure that files are not only created, but up to date on every apartment. All contracts needed to be updates, payments sorted out, systems updated, and all of that data handed over to the new mission. We also spent weeks arranging housing for the two new senior couples assigned to that mission. Short-term housing for the mission president to include all of the contracts, deposits etc. etc. In the meantime we have continued the ongoing efforts to keep missionaries supplied, broken items fixed, apartments changed around to accommodate the number of missionaries assigned there and working very hard to get everything – especially on Negros – in order in time for the mission changes. Just keeping the refrigerators working is almost a fulltime job and washers break about one per week, and we are helping our health people with missionaries getting Dengue fever …. So, we talk to the Landlords and try to get screens on the windows. The apartments that have security problems constantly need new doors and locks and the list goes on…. It is fun but CRAZY busy, AND… we love almost every minute of it!
BELOW: just had to throw in a shot of our new grand-dog Bernie, a Bernese Mountain dog crossed with a Standard Poodle.
BELOW: A boy & his dog, what's not to love!! (Leatham & Bernie on day one). I think that great set of hairy legs in the background belong to my number 1 son!
BELOW: two of our BEST; Manzon & Gonzaga ... thats Franklie Gonzaga - is his name great or what!
BELOW: Elder Moea'i and Sister Hogan ... a couple more of our favorites!
Below: Our new Bocolod Assistant Elder Watkins, Sister Winter (supposed to marry our grandson Landon!) and Elder Besada
BELOW: Most of the young missionaries we "lost"... which I shouldn't say because they are called to the work and NOT to the place, but I will miss them all TERRIBLY!! And... they represent about 10 different nations!
BELOW: our "islanders" singing right before their Haka. I was doing OK up until this point and then I started leaking BAD!!
Sis Amai is STILL making me cry! I wish I had one more son for her to marry! Maybe I'll just talk her parents into letting me adopt her!! She is absolutely AMAZING and does the scariest Haka I have ever seen.... and she is 6 feet tall. What a woman!! She better marry someone great or I'll have to intervene!
On a personal note, my ribs are healing and almost not hurting anymore which helps my attitude a LOT. We are healthy in spite of living in a place where the climate and Mother Nature seem to be always trying to KILL us with either too much water, too much sun, too many bugs, not enough water, rodents, or viruses! Oddly it is still WONDERFUL here and we see many things every single day that make us smile and laugh out loud! These are the kindest people in the world with the most beautiful smiles. They are spiritual people and humble people and the saddest thing of all.... I absolutely LOVE Filipino food. I thought I would get skinny in this heat … but nooooo… I find things to eat like Pancit, Adobo, Bibinka, Lumpia, Turon, etc. etc. The good news is that I’m learning to cook these things so I can STAY fat when I get home... yeee haw!
OK…. I’m rambling like I always do when I do the blog so I'll stop and finish with pictures. We are fat, healthy, and happy, and missing everyone from home while we also love it here. I hate that I am missing birthdays and my first grandchild wedding, AND not being able to help when someone needs us at home. But I also LOVE what we are doing here! May the Lord bless and keep you all! We love you!
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