Week 33 - August 27
Monday - A holiday in the Philippines so we met at Denny’s for breakfast. Owen’s, Grimshaw’s, Tucker’s, and Duncan. The waffle maker is broken so that is a bit challenging for we missionaries but we survived somehow and substituted with pancakes and french toast. I enjoy our holiday time off so we can catch up with friends and family at home. We had a quiet afternoon and then headed into the office for FHE. It was our Italian theme night and the food was sooo good. We ended up sitting at the table with with the Wakolo’s. Elder Wakolo is a member of our new Area Presidency, while we were visiting with them and their daughter and niece we were able to figure out that they were Kaitlyn Mecham’s Mission Presidents while she served in Little Rock Arkansas a few years ago. They remembered her quite well and were so happy to share stories about her and what a great missionary she was. I was so proud to tell them that she taught swim lessons for me for several years. It is such a small world in the church in the Philippines.
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| Elder Taneilo Wakolo and his wife Anita |
Tuesday - We were able to attend the weekly devotional and got to hear the Vanwermeskerken’s speak. He is the doctor over at the MRC and she does tons of work in the humanitarian field. They are from the Netherlands and have the best English with the most beautiful accents. They told of their conversion story and it was lovely and inspiring to hear. Such good people! We were then invited back to the conference room to hear Deanna Murphy from People Acuity speak on disengagement and the challenges it brings in the work place and at home. She shared a great and insightful message. I left early to go up to the DTA’s office to present our final review for our Infant Care Kit Project. It was interesting and at times a bit of a controversial debate (that I really learned a lot from), but in the end it was approved. Victory!! In the afternoon we met with the Public Affairs Committee to prepare us for the HR Congress Convention that we were to participat in Wednesday and Thursday. As Humanitarian/Welfare Missionaries we are not allowed to proselyte so we needed training in how to answer FAQ’s (frequently asked questions). We tried to eat dinner at Fridays but we had the weirdest experience. We walked in and they seated us and then nothing. We could not get anyone to look at us, talk to us, bring us water or take our order. We were the only customers in the restaurant and there were many employees standing around visiting but no service to us. When we finally got up to leave as we were walking out the door they just smiled and thanked us. I let them know what happened and they all looked like they just got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. They knew they were talking too much and not paying attention to their jobs. We showed them though....we walked over to McDonald’s and had a chicken (parts) sandwich and a berry float to drown our sorrows. Only in the Philippines.
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| Deanna Murphy - Motivational Speaker |
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| When all else fails for dinner go to McDonalds |
Wednesday - We stayed at home in the morning and got caught up on e-mails. Mary Ann came to our apartment at 10:30 and we went to Denny’s for breakfast. We then drove to the Mall of Asia for the HR Congress Convention at SMX. We helped man the booth for “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” and handed out our pamphlets on Family History, Money Management, Family Values and Addiction Recovery. It was pretty slow until Mary Ann got creative and we started offering chocolate bars. It’s a bit intimidating with so many nationalities and languages. We left at 4:30 and headed for dinner. Imagine our delight and surprise when we found a Chili’s. I could have cried when we walked in. It smelled, felt, and tasted like Chili’s, we had the best dinner ever. Of course I had a quesadilla explosion but it was sad not to have Nancy to share it with. After dinner we drove to Mandaluyong. It was the craziest and slowest commute we have had so far. I think we were about 10 miles or less away and it took over two hours to get to the church. We met with Stake Leaders to orient them on ARP. It was a long day.
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| Our booth at the HR Congress Convention |
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| So happy with his chocolate bar |
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| What a wonderful sight, a touch of home |
Thursday - When I got to the office I checked in with S. Gunnell to see how she was doing because she was at the HR Congress from 4:00 in the morning to 9:00 at night on Wednesday. She was headed back out to the mall without E. Gunnell so I told her I’d go with her so she wouldn’t have to be at the booth by herself. Of course we have drivers and such but nobody wants to do that alone. I talked her into lunch at Chili’s again because why not and then we manned the booth in the afternoon. We tore it down around 5:00 and then headed for another horrendous commute home.
Friday - Quiet day after a busy week. We worked on e-mails and our projects for school supplies and eye screening kits. Steve is working hard to put together some clinics to visit for next month when our Ophthalmologist from SLC comes in to help us find a partner for a 2018 eye initiative. We ate dinner at Peri-Peri because we are running out of places to eat. Steve was not too happy about that, you can only try.
Saturday - It’s September 1 and we are in the “ber” months, that means Christmas is officially upon us. It’s crazy, trees and decorations are going up everywhere. Who knew? I went with Mary Ann to Temple Hill from 9-11 for another class by Deanna Murphy called “Using Strength and Strategy to Build Strong Families”. Mary Ann wanted to go to lunch but I was too tired so I went back to Eastwood and had a float and fries w/Steve at McDonald's. Just needed something to hold us until dinner. I met S. Grimshaw and S. Duncan at the theater to watch “Crazy Rich Asians”, we then met our husbands for dinner at Friday’s. I was a bit gun shy from our experience on Tuesday, we did have a manager come over and apologize to us.
Sunday - After church I spent the afternoon baking cookies and making a casserole for Book Club. Mary Ann met us at our apartment and we went and picked up the Grimshaw’s to head into Manila for a mock ARP training meeting for a group of Bishop’s. We had another interesting commute home when Steve missed a turn and then we ended up on crazy street. I keep wondering why people are not home in bed at 9:00 at night. For some reason we got the giggles and poor Mary Ann, I’m just not sure she was loving our humor. You have to do what you have to do to make it all work.
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| Mock Training for ARP with Stake Leaders and Bishops |
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| The Grimshaw's |
September 3 - Week 34
Monday - Started out the day in an 8:30 planning meeting then headed for a 9-11 meeting for Temporal Affairs. We took the Kaneen’s and met at the Bowman’s beautiful house to wish Maricar Happy Birthday. Maricar cleans all of our apartments, she is the best and we love the way she irons and folds Steve’s socks. We wanted to show our appreciation with a card with some money in it that we all contributed to. She got tears in her eyes, I’m sure she has never had any gift like that before. At 5:00 we met at the MRC to have our Book Club discussion. We had 11 people show up with wonderful appetizers. The MRC was all decorated for Christmas complete with tree and all. I added to the atmosphere with some “Carpenter Christmas Album” music. Our discussion was lead by S. Stinchfield. Our book was “Life after Life” by Kate Atkinson. It was a great evening, the men all went for pizza.
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| I take cookies to the office every Monday |
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This is Ana who is a church employee, she had been
joining us for Book Club and office lunches. |
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| Discussing "Life After Life" |
Wednesday - We were invited to take the CSM’s (Church Service Missionaries) to pizza at Lander’s. That would be like taking them to pizza at Costco. They needed Steve to drive so away we went. We found ourselves in yet another challenging traffic situation. There are Pulis (police) Officers on many corners just looking for a reason to pull people over. We were in the right lane and needed to be in the left lane to turn left, long story short we were blocking traffic just a bit before the light changed. As we turned left it was hard to tell if the officer was trying to pull us over or not so I told Steve “Just keep driving”. Next thing we know another officer puts on his helmet and hops on his motorcycle we thought we were toast but turns out he was after someone else. You just never know around here, only in the Philippines...... Our CSM’s were so thrilled with their lunch you would have thought we were at 5 Star Restaurant. On the way home one of them said to me “Sister, you look like an Injun”. Really? I’ve never been told that before, maybe Pocahontas?? What do you think?
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| Lunch with our CSM at Lander's |
Thursday - We had our weekly committee meeting. The Singleton’s from Cebu and the Robinson’s from Baguio were able to join us. We provided our usual weekly office lunch. We brought in Potato Soup, Ham and Bean Soup, fruit, and several deserts. It was like the loaves of bread and the fishes, it was a miracle we had enough for everyone and it was appreciated.
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| Jairus, Mary Ann, Kenneth and the Singleton's |
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We were so thankful the food seemed to double as people
kept coming to have lunch with us |
Friday - We got up and drove to Novaliches for a Mabuhay Medical Screening. Steve takes the photos and I write down the information. Mabuhay partnered with Couples for Christ so after our 3 hours of screening they took us to lunch at Savory in SM Mall. It was a Filipino lunch but this one was quite good.. We had a very interesting drive home. Steve said to me “I think 6 months ago you would have been scared but anymore we are calm and it all seems normal”. That is progress for me and part of the changes that I wanted to accomplish in myself. We had dinner at Outback with 5 other couples.
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| Pictures with the crew |
Saturday - We got up and drove to the church with Grimshaw’s to help clean. We then went to S&R and Lander's to shop. Of course we had to have lunch at Lander's which is enjoyable because it’s clean and who doesn’t like pizza and fries for lunch?
Sunday - Steve and I were asked by E. Grimshaw to contribute to the Family and Marriage class. The lesson was on forgiveness and he said we had credibility on that subject. After class I was able to make another connection with a new member of the ward. She is a young mother who is new in the Philippines and will be here for 3 years. After visiting for a while she told me that her mother-in-law is Nan Whatcott from Twin Falls. Imagine my surprise as I have been thinking about this family from my childhood and have been prompted to make some contact but didn’t know how to get a hold of anyone. God moves in a mysterious way!! We had dinner at the McIver’s with 4 other couples, Teri makes the best dinners and it’s always a pleasure to have company on a Sunday evening.
Week 35 - September 10
Tuesday - It was chaos when we got to our office. Our CSM’s were invited in from all over the Philippines for training with S. Eubank. It’s so fun to walk in and see them all in our environment and we know many of them personally. We started the day with our Area Office Devotional and some great messages from some visitors from Salt Lake. From 10-12 we received training from S. Eubank. As Director of LDS Charities she had many wonderful things to share and teach us. After that we broke for lunch and you should have seen the CSM’s clamor to get their picture taken with her. I stood up front and grabbed phones and clicked away as fast as I could, it meant the world to each of them to have this opportunity. We had another wonderful lunch catered by 3rd Floor and then afternoon training. S. Eubank had Kenneth and Jairus do some role play to show how to meet with government officials to develop projects. It was seriously hilarious, who knew Jairus could be so funny. I told him he needed to quit his day job an become a comedian. We learned a lot and hope to put it all to good use.
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| She has a huge heart and vision for humanitarian work |
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Our Service Missionaries waiting for S. Eubank
They flew in from all over the Philippines
For many it was the first time on an airplane |
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| They were so excited to have their pictures taken with S. Eubank |
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This picture was the last one taken before we went back in for lunch
S. Eubank put her arm around me and pulled me close to her
I think it was her way of thanking me for taking so many pictures |
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I got to teach S. Almeda how to knit,
she was so excited and she did a great job |
Wednesday - You would think it would have been a let down after so many days of excitement but we had a lot to do to get caught up on our projects. Yet another near death experience. I went over to the MRC to wait to go to Mabuhay, I have not been able to go sing to the kids in 3 months. Imagine our surprise (S. Skinner, S. Gunnell, and I) when out of now where there was a huge bang and light flash. The closest I have ever been to a lightning strike in my life. E. Vanwermeskerken came out from the MRC and said “that hit right here in the parking lot”. S. Vanwermeskerken came out and said “We could feel the floor shake”. The guards were running all over the parking lot looking for cover. Many in the Area Office heard the noise and felt the vibration, only in the Philippines..... We went to dinner at the with VW’s, Owen’s, and Tucker’s, it’s been months since we have been to dinner there and it was a nice evening.
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| These girls have developed a friendship and were all smiles |
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S. VW on one of her last visits before she and her husband
return to the Netherlands |
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| Jmar leading "Wheels on the Bus" |
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| They love to play the ukulele |
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| Dinner at Mama Lou's |
Thursday - Quiet day after a busy start to the week. We ended the day with an appreciation dinner at Chili’s for our CSM’s the Nortate’s, the Soleta’s, and S. Bausing. We love eating at Chili’s but getting anywhere in Quezon City takes lots of time. We got home late and tired.
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| Dani and Ella |
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| When two or more Filipino's are gathered a picture must be taken |
Friday - Easy drive into the office. There was an erry feeling of the calm before the storm. Not very many people in the office and after a few hours of work we were all sent home to prepare for Super Typhoon “Ompong” that will hit the northern part of the island. We came home and waited for Pest Control, so sad to say we can’t stay on top of our cockroaches. Fortunately they are very small and only in the kitchen but it’s really getting to me, we are hopeful this will work. We enjoyed a quiet lunch at Fridays and a quiet boring evening at home. We got brave and took an evening walk because of the claustrophobia, it’s slippery around Eastwood when it’s wet but it is our only option. Thank Heaven for the Semi-Finals of Americas Got Talent.
Saturday - Not much sleep as the winds were howling and the rain beating on our window most of the night. I heard a crash in the middle of the night but could not go see what it was because the electricity was out and we had no light. We did wake up to electricity and Steve even got in a breezy morning walk. The light in my shower came crashing down from the wind. I was able to visit with all my sisters and Nancy on the phone. We spent the day on our computers and watching Netflix, what do you do when you are waiting out a storm?? We went to Fridays for dinner with Grimshaw’s, Kaneen’s, and Duncan.
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| This is what was going on in our lobby |
Sunday - It was a very quick commute to church as everyone was at home because of the storm. I even got invited to lead the discussion in Relief Society which went well. We talked about mental heath issues and ways to find healing. We went to dinner at the Gunnell’s with Kaneen’s and S. Duncan. Really good porch chops, funeral potatoes, and pumpkin squares. You can’t find canned pumpkin here in the Philippines but I have a stash that S. Haynie gave me when she left. I share it on special occasions.
Week 36 - September 17
Monday - Monday morning planning meeting at 8:30. We met our new intern Alvin, he will be in our department until December. He is a BYU-Hawaii student. Steve offered to escort him back to Oahu when the time comes. We had a 1:00 meeting with the Physical Facilities team to determine where to set up our new sewing machines to get started sewing the items for our infant care kits. Imagine Steve’s delight when it was determined the only place for our sewing center is in our office. He is designing a cabinet for all our sewing supplies. A good chance to use his drafting skills.
Wednesday - Went to the MRC to meet the new missionary couple that will be continuing on for the VW’s. They are here from Nevada, the Dahle’s. I took Sister Duncan for her first time to Mabuhay and she loved it. It was the VW’s last time as they are leaving on Friday. Franco, Melody and Tere gave her a cake, they recognize how much the VW’s have contributed to keeping the spirits of the children and their family members up at Mabuhay. When we got back to the Area Office there was another new missionary couple standing in front of the MTC. The woman looked really familiar to me. I went and introduced myself to them. They are the Kartchner’s and they lived in Boise for a while. Her name is Kathy Kartchner, I know her some how but was not able to make a real complete connection. Anyone know her? They are on their way to Loag to serve with Mark and Kathy Peterson who are the Mission Presidents in that area. Mark and Kathy are from Boise. We had our weekly office lunch, refried beans, chips, and Spanish rice. We had a good-bye dinner for the VW’s at Italiano’s. The employees are always so nice to us which is so appreciated considering a table of 22 missionaries can’t be easy for anyone. We finished off the evening watching the BSU vs Oklahoma game.
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| Beautiful Good Bye Cake |
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| Office Lunch |
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| Dinner at Italiano's (Kathy Kartcher is in the orange blouse) |
Thursday - 9:00-11:00 Committee Meeting. The Robinson’s remoted in from Baguio. They were affected by the Typhoon in that they have had no electricity for a few days. We discussed some proposed projects for Elementary Schools in that area. We learned some new ways of developing projects in our training with S. Eubank. We had to put those principles into practice. The Robinson’s work hard and are really good sports as we learn this new way of implementing LDS Charities principles. At 2:00 we went upstairs to the big conference room for a Welfare Services “All Hands” meeting. Quiet evening with a walk around Eastwood and getting caught up on America’s Got Talent.
Friday - *Day 300 Sister Grimshaw and I walked over to the MRC to say goodbye to the VW’s. They finished strong and were busy with our new batch of missionaries. We met a few of them waiting to get x-rays. Cute boys, they have no idea what is on the other side of our protected Area Office. I pray for them every day. Steve was busy making arrangements for our upcoming visit next week from Justin McPheter's, the International Regional Manager of LDS Family Services. We met him in Salt Lake last November and look forward to spending the upcoming week with him. I walked over and spent the afternoon in the temple. We met S. Duncan, Grimshaw’s, and Bowman’s at Outback for dinner. We walked from there to Nail Tropics in the pouring rain with no umbrella, you’d think we would learn. We had our monthly mani-pedi, the ladies are so nice to us. It’s a great way to spend a Friday evening.
Week 37 - September 24
Monday - I went to our 8:30 planning meeting while Steve spent the morning getting ready for our busy week ahead. At 4:00 we left the Area Office with Jairus and Mary Ann to go to the airport to pick up Dr. Justin McPheter's. Justin is the International Director for LDS Family Services and we have been anticipating his visit and training for weeks. We made it to the airport in good time and found a new place to eat. Mary Grace had a great atmosphere, good service, and wonderful food. How is it that we’ve been in the Philippines since January and have not yet had “ green mango's?” I loved it, it reminded me of “sour patch kids”, we also had the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had. Justin’s plane came in at 8:00 and we took him to his hotel.
Tuesday - We started our day by picking Justin up at 7:30 and taking him to the Area Office. Devotional was at 9:00 and Justin was our speaker. We then were in an all day training with him. Mae Ann ordered our lunch in from a new cater and it was really good. Awesome carrot cake that turned out to be one of the highlights of Justin's visit. We left for the Mega Mall at 5:00 with Jairus and Mary Ann to go to Dad’s Buffet for dinner. Kenneth met us there and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner of about anything you would want. A good time to eat sushi that is safe. We got home around 9:00 and packed for the busy upcoming 3 days.
Thursday - We were up early once again and off to the airport. We flew to Cebu and arrived at 8:00. Our driver picked us up and Mary Ann took us for a nice breakfast and then to the church complex for our first meeting. The campus consists of the temple, temple housing, mission home and the church. It’s beautiful of course and such a contrast to the rest of the neighborhood. Mary Ann is from Cebu so she was in her element. We had a meeting with Stake Leaders and Relief Society Presidents about addressing mental health issues. We had some free time in the afternoon so our driver took us to Busay. A beautiful drive up a windy mountain rode. We stopped at some roadside stands for all kinds of native fruit that was new to us, corn on the cob, and roasted bananas with butter and brown sugar (I hate bananas so that was for Steve). We then were able to visit a beautiful botanical garden with a spectacular view. We headed back into Cebu and checked into our hotel and then a quick trip to the Ayala Mall and a wonderful dinner at an Italian Restaurant. Filipinos know how to do pizza but this pizza was extra special. We went back to the church and had some time before our evening Mental Health Forum. There was a Zone Conference for the young missionaries of Cebu so after poking around a bit I was able to find Elder Payton Stastny my friend Caryn & Mark Stastny’s son. We spent some time with him and were able to get stories and pictures to send to his family and reassure them that he is doing well and enjoying his mission. The Mental Health Forum was well attended with many questions and concerns about struggling members and ways to find help when in a crisis. To our hotel and crash!
Friday - We got to sleep in until 5:00am and then after a good breakfast we were off for our 3rd early morning plane ride in a row. We flew back into Manila and drove to the Area Office. By that time it was noon and we took Mary Ann and Justin to the Creperie for lunch. Nothing like a salted caramel crepe cake with 20 layers of crepes. We had an evaluation with Justin to go over our week. We took Justin, Mary Ann and Mae Ann to Kilus so Justin could get some bags for his wife and children. The bag that I carry that is made out of recycled juice box containers is a conversation starter everywhere I go and Justin wanted some of the products these women make for his family. After that we were off to the Aurora building, Shakey’s pizza, and a final Mental Health Forum mtg. This meeting was so well attended, probably 250 showed up to learn about ways to handle metal health issues. Clearly a lot of work to be done in the Philippines to find help. I wish I had a degree and could help more. We drove Justin to the airport (which is a days work in itself) so he could check in to the Holiday Inn Express and be ready for his early morning flight back to Salt Lake. Home by 11:30 pm to sleep and reflect on our week. Crazy!!!
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| So many choices |
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| He ended up choosing the one I would have picked for his wife |
Saturday - Steve and I both got up early to enjoy some exercise with an early morning walk/run around Eastwood. We went to Landers with the Grimshaws for shopping and lunch. Afternoon nap and calendar catch up. In the evening we went to Uptown Mall with the Stinchfiled’s (they work in the Dental Office) for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. It is always nice to spend time with missionaries that are not in our area of service.
Sunday - Church and an easy commute home. Very quiet day with time to catch up on sleep and prepare our blog. Until next month...
