Pretty Soon Christmas!

Again, we are struggling with our busy schedules and the only entry in the past two weeks has been the “light the world” comments.  Apologies and onward and upward:

Christmas is only a week away and the season is in FULL swing here in the Philippines.  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… Filipinos know how to do Christmas!! Decorations are over the top and despite the 90-degree temperatures and lack of snow, people are in the spirit of Christmas; music is always blaring somewhere in our noisy city and the holiday parties are even more noisy! Our busy schedules have included Christmas zone conferences, church parties, our 47th anniversary, and more.

To any of you that aren’t familiar with the term “zone conference” …. Missions are set up in geographical “zones” and further divided into “districts” according to smaller areas. All the younger missionaries are on foot and do their work walking or riding local transportation which, I believe Roy described earlier as “trikes” and “Jeepneys.” Depending on their “areas” some missionaries walk 10-15 miles a day and they do it in the heat and rain, sometimes slogging in knee deep water, or even through little rivers after a hard rain to get to a teaching appointment.  They talk to people about Jesus Christ and His mission, and they serve the communities where they live.  I am impressed when I see the basic services that missionaries provide ranging from community work projects or building walls or houses.. AND running meetings and providing leadership and language training.  It is amazing to see young 20-something “kids” do the work that we see them do.

Which brings me back to the “zone conference” reference.  As we have explained, we do a small part of the missionary work by finding, contracting, furnishing, un-furnishing, moving, repairing … and all other duties associated with the apartments and homes where the missionaries live. Because missionaries spend their own money to serve for 18-24 months, they live very frugally.  We are always moving, fixing, furnishing…. Etc, etc. their living spaces.  We manage contracts and interactions with the Lessors, and it requires a lot of coordination.  I say that because as complicated as our part can be… there are multiple duties being completed at any given moment!  There is a mission doctor or nurse, a secretary, someone that runs a program called “English Connect” that coordinates/assists any local person interested in going through a series of conversation and training groups to improve their language.  They also help each other improve their use of the local dialects.  It is all very impressive and when they complete the official process, participants receive a certificate that actually helps them at the college level.  While alllllll this is going on, the Mission President and his Wife are visiting the Nine zones every 6 weeks and having personal interviews with more than 200 missionaries!  They are the parents away from home. Their work includes constant communication and training with the zone leaders, parents, missionaries and even the senior missionaries.  Additionally, every 6 weeks somewhere between 5-25 missionaries go home after their service is complete and more come in to replace them and the cycle starts all over.  New missionaries are assigned to a more experienced missionary as their trainer, and their trainers help them through the work they do.  They all work in twos, and threes and nobody is ever alone.  Also, in each six-week period they have weekly district meetings, and mission leadership meetings that last at least a half-day to keep everyone on the same page.  I don’t know quite how they do it all, but the one-on-one communication is impressive!  During these six-week transition periods sometimes we seniors participate in the zone/district conferences which are all-day events. Training, teaching, learning, and sharing inspirational messages take the mornings. Everyone eats together, and then games and fun team building games take up the afternoon before they break up and return home.  Every single birthday is acknowledged, and the “senior” part of the mission partnered with the President and made sure that every missionary had a fun Christmas experience and a gift.  We baked for hours, and frosted gingerbread cookies, made candy cane reindeer, stuffed little Christmas stockings, and our Mission Secretary even engraved a personalized pen for each of the 200+ missionaries!  Each Zone and District sang songs about the birth of our Savior, and danced to songs about the Savior with each and every district in ALL nine zones presenting a fun talent associated with Christmas. There were a group of Tongan and Australian missionaries that did a Haka! Us senior missionaries prepared a fun dance show that involved the Grinch and ended up with a blast of soft snowballs thrown at the audience.  I must admit that we were quite the hit!  We are all exhausted but it was so fun to make the missionary holiday away from their families more fun! There were LOTS of hugs and we got to see our young missionaries in a whole new light that made us love them even more!

I always blather too much so next week I’ll do a real Christmas entry.  We are expecting a visit from our daughter Sarah, her husband Ethan and their two girls Lina and Emma.  I cannot describe how bad I miss my Dad, siblings, children, grandchildren and nieces and nephews!  I even decorated my Christmas tree with their pictures and all it did was make me cry.  BUT… I also love the Philippines and the work we are doing here and will eventually get back home to them all with incredible memories.

Below; our classy Mission Doctor (Dr./Elder Heath) playing a game where you have to get an oreo off of your forehead and into your mouth without using your hands. One of our Zone Conference games. Super fun & funny!!

Above; one of our favorite missionaries Elder Gonzaga. He has given us many hours of driving since we cannot drive. We love him!!

The beautiful life-size nativity on the main street outside of the Cebu Temple

Our little apartment Christmas tree. The only decorations are pictures of our family and a few handmade ornaments with the different names of Jesus. Its a happy tree except when I'm crying cuz I miss my family!!