This and That

Always Room for One More

This past week brought a change for us—we will now be working all day on Tuesdays. The temple presidency asked if anyone was willing to switch to mornings on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, since they needed workers in the morning on those days and had too many in the afternoon. We thought it would be nice to have at least one morning shift, as that would give us a free afternoon to get things done. But instead, they signed us up for mornings and kept us in the afternoons as well. I’m sure it will all work out.

Our afternoon shifts are truly overcrowded with female workers. In our preparation room, there are two rows of five chairs for the women and two rows of four chairs for the men. There are also eleven chairs across the back where most of the couples sit. Sometimes we have as many as 37 women on our shift. If you do the math, you can see there isn’t enough room to accommodate all the women. But as the women arrive, we squeeze together and make room for each one who enters—sometimes there are as many as eight or nine women sitting on just five chairs.

Every time one more woman squeezes in, I am reminded of the parable in Luke 14 about the banquet—where the Lord sends His servants out to gather people to the feast. He tells them to go out to the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in, that His house may be filled. We have workers who come from the highways and the hedges—other islands and distant cities—and they are truly filling the Lord’s house and feasting at His banquet. Everyone is welcome and there is always room for one more. I love this so much!

Transportation in the Philippines 

There are a few unique ways of transportation in the Philippines. I thought I would share a few pictures I’ve taken of different ways to get around.

Filipino Tricycle - they are not allowed in the area where we live, probably because of so much traffic but 

we see them everywhere when we travel around the smaller cities.

Jeepney - a modified, elongated Jeep originally made from surplus U.S military jeeps left in the Philippines after World War II. They are usually brightly painted and you enter them from an opening in the back. Very popular and they have routes that go everywhere.

Motorcycles - they are everywhere! Motorcycle drivers are crazy, at least some of them are!!! When we come to a stop light they will all drive up to the crosswalk on every side so they can get a jump on things when the light turns green. There are taxi motorcycles and delivery motorcycles and sometimes I have seen families of 4 all riding on one motorcycle. 

We have a 12 passenger van that is here just for the temple missionaries. We usually only use it when we all go someplace together, otherwise we use a taxi which is nice because driving here is way different than at home.

Meeting Bethany’s Mission Companion

This week I was able to have a nice visit with one of Bethany’s former missionary companions. She was Bethany’s second companion. I met her once before but this time we were able to get a picture and have a nice chat. She was in the waiting room with here two little girls waiting for her husband who is the bishop of the ward and was with the youth doing baptisms and I was assigned as the waiting room attendant.  I believe there are no coincidences in the temple. We look forward to seeing her again when Bethany comes to visit next year. 

Lunch Invitation

On Monday we were invited to go with the temple presidency and two of the sisters who work in the office to go to Talisay City and have lunch with the Millers who work in the temple on Saturday mornings. She is from the Philippines and he is from the US. They lived in Texas for a while but moved back to the Philippines so Sister Miller could be close to her grandkids. It was so sweet of them to invite us over and she made so much yummy food. We had a great time and enjoyed seeing more of Cebu and getting to know them better.

All in all it was a good week, and as always went by fast. We hope all of you had a good week.  I’m so thankful for modern technology that allows me to keep in touch with my family and see your wonderful faces. I love you all so much and always look forward to our visits.  Write if you can we miss you all so much.

Month 4 in the Philippines 🇵🇭

Another month has flown by, and we have now been in the Philippines for just over four months. We’ve been working hard in the temple, and every day brings something new to experience. In some ways, it’s quite different from what I imagined a mission would be like. We don’t have meetings, zone conferences, or reports to fill out. We still haven’t even received our name tags and continue wearing the ones the Elders made for us using a label maker with black tape!

Outside of our temple shifts, we’re mostly free to do whatever we like, as long as we stay within the temple district—which is actually quite large and includes several islands. We plan to visit a couple of them when the temple closes for maintenance in August.

This month, our assistant temple recorder kindly took us on a tour of Cebu. He’s incredibly busy—he has a family and serves as a stake president in a neighboring stake—so it was very generous of him. 

Since two new senior couples arrived, we revisited some familiar places for their sake and explored a new site: Fort San Pedro, built by the Spanish in 1738. It’s small and triangular in shape, still featuring several original cannons and rich history. 

While we were there—likely due to Holy Week—we saw the filming of a reenactment of Jesus carrying the cross, complete with two nuns crying. It was… unexpected and a bit disturbing.

Later that night, we attended a farewell party for Elder Dumas, the temple recorder, who was an area authority and member of the Eighth Quorum of the Seventy. He’s been called to serve as mission president in the Philippines Cagayan de Oro Mission. He’s such a kind man, and we’ve really enjoyed getting to know him. The party, of course, included karaoke, games, and lots of food! This week it was announced that the assistant temple recorder will take his place.

One special highlight this month was a fireside about the translation of the hymnbook into the Cebuano language. The process is called a “transcreation” because a direct translation from English to Cebuano isn’t possible. The translators seek words and phrases that convey the original meaning while matching the musical meter. They formed a choir and sang a verse of each hymn, and then we joined in using a slideshow to follow along. It was one of the most spiritual events I’ve ever been part of. I had no idea how monumental a task it is to translate the hymns into the many languages of the Church. Realizing the time, effort, and cost involved filled me with an overwhelming sense of our Heavenly Father’s love for all His children. This same effort is happening worldwide to bring hymns to everyone in their native language. The joy and excitement on the members’ faces as they sang in Cebuano was unforgettable.

At our recent stake conference, Dad sang in the choir, and it was so fun to see him among all the tiny Filipino choir members! There was also a Primary choir, and they sang a couple of numbers together. The Spirit was so strong when they sang “Gethsemane”—those sweet Primary kids sang their hearts out. The members go all out for choirs here—the women have a collection of dresses to choose from, and the men wear matching ties. The Primary girls all wore white dresses, and the boys wore white shirts.

We had a little excitement recently. About a week ago, Dad tripped and fell while walking from the baptismal chapel to the office to turn in names. He hit his head on a chair and got a big goose egg on the back of his head. He thinks he may have blacked out briefly. He also got a huge bruise on his arm, a cut on his ankle, and some very purple toes. He’s doing well now, but he gave everyone a good scare! Shortly after we got home, the temple president and matron came by to check on him, and later she brought arnica extract to help with healing. He’s recovering well and hopes the bruises fade soon.

We also got exciting news—Elder Kearon will be visiting our temple this Friday with his wife, along with Elder and Sister Nash. I’m not sure if I’ll get to meet them, but I really hope so! Elder Kearon has become one of my favorites, and it would be wonderful to see him in person.

We are truly enjoying our service here and feel so loved by those we serve with. Recently, for our temple matron’s birthday, the U.S. missionaries brought her a cake and sang “Happy Birthday.” The next day, the temple president invited us all to their home at 7 p.m. because she had forgotten to take a picture. When we arrived, she had made dinner for all of us—so sweet! We love them so much!

One especially touching moment happened while I was getting dressed for my shift. I sat down to put on my socks and shoes, and one of the sweet sisters knelt down and put them on for me. I felt awkward and tried to stop her, but she insisted, and the others around us encouraged me to let her serve me. It was such a humbling and tender moment.

We miss you all so much and treasure our FaceTime calls and emails. Please keep them coming! Sending all our love and warmest wishes your way.