November 25 - December 29, 2010

It has been awhile since I have taken the time to blog, will try and catch up.

I have loved going to the shopping malls here, they play Christmas carols and everyone sings along with them, I feel like I've heard a choir when I leave. The filipino people do love to sing and since they are a christian country they are very comfortable singing Christmas hymns anywhere.

The temple Christmas lights were turned on December 1st and is beautifully done. It does seem a little strange to see palm trees with lights on them. The manager scene is quite large and very realalistic.

My companion and I baked cookies for the people in our department, can't believe I didn't burn a one. There are 20 people that work in the Member Statics Records (MSR) so that was a lot of cookies, couldn't eat very many or would not have enough.

We were invited to the employee Christmas party, it was a catered affair in our cafeteria that was all decorated and festive. We heard from the Area President and PAO choir. MSR had a party also, the code word to get into the room was "eat", of course all filipino food, some very good some not so good, but I managed to leave feeling full.

Eva, the sister that was an interpeter for Scott when he was here on his mission, husband works in the MSR, I invited them to our apartment for dinner. They have four children. They do not own a car so a friend was going to give them a ride so I invited him and his family to dinner also. They have 3 children, so we had seven children ages 3 yrs to 14 yrs, it was great. I made spaghetti and meatballs using a filipino sweet spaghetti sauce, tasted good. The 3 year old didn't want to eat because we didn't have any rice. I got some games, crayons, etc to keep the kids busy and we all had a good visit. We used paper products, so no doing dishes.

I taught the branch Relief Society lesson a couple of weeks ago, it was on Gifts of the Spirit. I didn't know quite what to expect as the lessons are always given in Tagalog, and we know I don't speak nor understand it unless they use hand motions, sometimes I get it. I felt like the lesson went pretty well until the very end when the Relief Society president asked if people with the third eye had a gift of the spirit. I had no idea what the third eye was, so I said "would that be like when as a child I asked my mother how she always knew what I was doing, she said she had eyes in the back of her head?" She said the third eye was people who could see beyond the veil. I explained that if the Lord felt we had a need to see beyond the veil he could bless each of us to do that, it was not a gift of the spirit just a blessing from the Lord if he feels it is needed. I think some of the Catholic teachings get mixed in sometimes.

I had my first and possibly last experience riding a tricycle. I walked to the mall and had to many bags to carry back, so hired a tricycle, wow, what a ride! It was one of those moments where I said, "I can't believe it, I am in a tricycle riding down the street in the Philippines."

I have decided to see if I can drive here, my companion and I depend on others for rides, and it is uncomfortable to me, so I am going to get my drivers license and the motor vehicle department guys, here at the PAO will take me out to prove I can drive. Of course, I really don't know if I will be able to drive in this traffice, like I said before, it feels like driving in bumper cars, I may just freeze up, however if I do it just means I shouldn't drive, if I can do it, good for me. We'll get a car and watch out traffic, I'm on the road. I feel anxiety just thinking about it.

Starting the second week of January we will be having mapping meetings at least every other weekend and during the week as we can schedule them. We will be flying to Cebu again but most of the trips will be by vehicle. I really wish we could get this mapping done by the time Sister Clark leaves, but that is not her goal.

I hope you all had a Very Merry Christmas, this was a new experience for me. For the first time in my life I was completely away from family and friends, well I have made new friends here and they are great people. This is the first Christmas I can remember where my focus was totally on the Savior, some emotions rose in me that were very tender and heartfelt. As they say here, I am "much grateful" for the Saviors birth, love and sacrifice for each of us. I am so grateful for my family and their support, they truly are a comfort and satisfaction to me. I am also grateful for my good friends and their kindness.

Happy New Year!

November 9th-November 26th

We have been doing a lot of traveling so I am really behind on my blogging. Last week we were on Panay Island for four days and three nights meeting with stake presidents and branch presidents. We flew to Kalibo and met with stakes that evening, spent the night, drove to Iloilo the next day, about four hours, met with two stakes that evening, spent the night, drove to San Jose, about 2 hours, met with stake, drove back to Iloilo, spent the night and caught a flight from there the next morning to Manila. It is exhausting, but very satisfying, not only to accomplish the mapping but to see so much of the Philippines. The island is beautiful, full of rice fields and sugar cane fields and wide open spaces. Whereever we go the people are warm, friendly, kind and helpful. Tipping is not something that is expected here, in fact they are embrassed if you tip them.

We always have a driver as Sister Clark and I don't have the courage to face the traffic. In the Metro Manila area traffic is very slow and quite often at a stand still but out in the providences traffic moves very well, in fact, at first I couldn't understand how come the driver was going so fast, 80-120 miles per hour. At first, I checked to see if a fire was chasing us, there was none, guess when the drivers get out in the open country they make up for the slowness in the big city. We fly through the providences at 60 miles and hour, with the horn tooting, people all over on sides of road, businesses, etc. I often wonder which wears out first on the church cars, the brakes or the horn.

We went to Lingayen and Dagupen this week, three days and two nights. We drove about five hours to Lingayen, met with two stakes, drove two hours to Dagupen spent the night, met with only one stake as other two stakes got dates mixed up and came the week before. We visited One Hundred Islands and saw where General McArthur landed when he returned to the Philippines, spent the night again in Dagupen and drove home. Our drivers are usually brethern that work in the MSR dept with us, occasionally one is hired.

I love the chapels here, they are so open and consist of usually 2-4 buildings. We sit in our branch each Sunday, no air conditioning, the sacrament hall has nine fans blowing and the windows open. I hear roosters crowing, birds singing and feel a nice breeze, amazing is what I say to myself every Sunday.

When we travel I always sit in the back seat and look out both sides of the car. In doing that I finally figured out how rice is planted clear through the harvesting of it goes. It really is quite a process, I am told one of the biggest hazards of rice farming is cobra snake bites.

The senior missionaries are having Thanksgiving Dinner at the mission home on Saturday, but Sister Clark scheduled a mapping appointment that day, so don't know how long we will get to stay. I have met the two new couples last week and they looked as jet lagged as I felt when I arrived. Guess we all have to go through the process.

Everyone is getting very excited about the "50 Jubilee", scheduled for April 22, 23 24, 2011 in Manila. As we visit the different stakes, there are always youth practicing their dances.

Serving in the Philippines has certainly given me a new perspective on a world wide church, the Lord does love each of us wherever we live, wants everyone to return to live with him, and has his servants hard at work to accomplish that.

October 27th - November 8th

Things are going fine here in the Philippines. I am still learning about the culture, loving the people and having great experiences.

We have had two Philippine holidays in the past two weeks. The day they vote is a national holiday: they vote every six years for a new president and every three years for barangay president, etc. (would be like our local elections). And All Saints Day, which is like our Memorial Day but lasts for about four days.

We went to another mapping meeting with a driver, he works in our department. It was up in the mountains and around a beautiful lake, the winding roads were a little rough at times. His name is Ralphie and he took us by his home to pick up his 4 year old son, Ammon, and 9 year old daughter, Lalia. His home was interesting, it is in a long row of house connected to each other, no yards and just a fire wall between their house, front & back, from the neighbors. The houses were dirty looking but at one time were painted eggshell colors, his house was pink. Right out in front of his house a lady had set up a street vendor to sell food she was cooking, all this in a street that equals one lane of our traffic. The kids rode in the back seat with me, it took them a little bit to warm up, but all I needed to do was scratch Ammon's back and we were friends. Lalia laid her head on my shoulder and fell asleep.

I have started a walking exercise. They have that treadmill in the apartments where we live but I have told you about that, it just doesn't work for me. I walked a couple of days back into the neighborhood that is near the office and that wasn't great but better than the treadmill and then I decided to see if walking around the temple grounds would provide the exercise I needed, so that is what I am doing 5 days a week. It takes me about 30 minutes to walk three times around the temple grounds, it is pretty warm but I am loving being outside and feeling safe walking.

We had a senior couple go home last Thursday and another senior couple go home today, another couple will go home on the 16th and the last for awhile will go home on the 19th. We had a new couple arrive last Monday to replace the couple that went home today. There is not a replacement for the first couple.

It is so interesting to see signs here, of course there is the US military influence but just how they speak english is interesting, almost sounds like baby talk. The filipino people say they love to hear Americans speak Tagalog because it sound so cute and formal. Some signs I have seen lately kind of give an idea how they put english words together: Construction sign- "Caution Men active", another construction sign-"bear with us"; temple sign-"no picnic or socials on temple grounds"; road sign-"Killing Zone-because of Recklass Drivers;" orange juice ad-"lots of pulpy"; name on package of toilet paper you put in your purse just in case-"Joy Pop Up". Well you get the idea, keeps me chuckling.

I am loving the branch we are attending even though it takes an hour to get there. The missionary couple we ride with started teaching a family history class two weeks ago, so for the last two weeks I have gone in their class instead of the gospel doctrine. Sometimes it is just good to hear good ole english during a lesson, however I will be going back to the gospel doctrine class next Sunday. I saw this little baby boy and went to his mother and asked if I could hold him, she handed him to me and he immediately kissed my cheek, well I am in love with 8 month old Enos and held him for a bit again yesterday.

Sister Beckstrand and I were asked to bear our testimonies in RS and then I was asked to teach the RS lesson on Nov 21st. Sister Clark teaches piano students during sunday school and RS and they are doing very well, she says one of the girls father decided he wanted to learn with his daughter so she is teaching him, too.

We will be going to Iliola mission next week for four days and hope to complete the mapping for that mission while we are there. Elder Bunnell who is over the mapping of the Philippines told me that no where else in the world are they doing the kind of mapping we are doing, we are the pioneers, doesn't seem that complicated to me, I have learned it very quickly , the first time I sat down to try the mapping, I suddenly felt like I had done it before. This truly is the Lord's work and need in the Philippines and I am thrilled to be called to be part of it.

October 14th - 26th

I didn't get the opportunity to blog last week or rather I didn't take the time to blog. It seems like everyday I think of something I need to tell everyone and then forget, so I have started to make notes, now if I can find the notes, I will be in good shape.

On October 13th the office had a devotional with Elder Quentin Cook, Elder Jay Jenkins and President McClure. They did a question and answer type devotional, it took everyone by surpise so there weren't that many questions but it was informative and enjoyable. Elder Cook was very comfortable and really is an ordinary man with an extra ordinary responsibility. The office put together a choir for the occasion and did a good job. Filipino people do love to sing, they often do not have pianos in Relief Society or other meetings besides Sacrament Meeting, so someone gets up, sings a few bars of the song, says okay and we all sing and it sounds great. All the hymns are sung in English and I am grateful for that.

One of the sisters that works in the office was determined for me to try horseradish, so she brought some to work and made it into a salad. I found that what they call horseradish is not what we call horseradish. Philippine horseradish looks like a cucumber that is corregated and has a very bitter taste. The sister sliced the horseradish very thin and mixed it with onions and fish and some sugar. I ate some of it, but my stomach paid the price all afternoon. I think I have said before how anxious they are that we like their food. Everything they want you to try, they will tell you what part of your body that particular food is good for, I can't remember for sure but I don't think horseradish was good for digestion.

Most of the apartments here do not have clothes dryers, fortunately ours does but to use it we have to hang the dryer hose out the window. They do not have dryer sheets here, but the washer does make a buzzing sound when it is time to put in the fabric softener, most of the time I catch it. We really are so blessed in the US with such modern conveniences, I feel like I have stepped back in time about 30 years or more when it comes to household things and equipment.
I will never get used to the brooms here, I've thought about giving up sweeping because I get so frustrated doing it but then the dust bunnies get so bad I get the broom out for another try, unfortunately it is just as frustrating as the last time I used it.

I was looking at a visiting teaching report in one of the wards we were visiting and I was surprised to see that there were 12-16 sister on each route, some of the routes had a 100 % and all of the routes had at least visited some of the sisters on their routes and the traveling here is so bad and costly for many of the visiting teachers. Some of us are so lame in the US compared to the Filipino sisters dedication, they also work out of their homes as we do, have young children and many of the sisters on their routes do not have phones.

Sister Clark and I rode to Tarlac Stake with a driver on Saturday. It was a wonderful, the trip, took us about 2 1/2 hours and was outside of Metro Manila. It felt like a road trip in the country to me, so relaxing and refreshing. Everything was green, lots of sugar cane and rice fields. I really think I could live in a Nimpa Hut here in the Philippines, I like them. I would like to visit a shanty town before I go home just to see how the people adjust and live in their shelters. The people are so happy, I keep thinking they must have a secret inside their shanty towns that we don't know about.

A lot of the senior missionaries here read novels, that really surprised me, Sister Clark said we can do what we want on our down time. I don't think missionaries every have a down time from being a missionary, at any rate, reading novels on my mission is not on my list of things to do and going site seeing is not a priority either. I hear all the time, oh we will have to take Sister Burwell here or there, if I went to all those places, I'm not sure when I would have time to do my assignments.

I feel really proud of myself, we were sitting in a gospel doctrine class on Sunday and the teacher was teaching about forordination, I know that because she said the word in english, at one point the teacher and one of the sister got into a discussion that was getting a little heated, of course it was all in Tagalog, but I somehow sensed what the problem was and raised my hand and explained that I could not understand Tagalog but maybe I could answer, so I explained that we were forordinated to certain callings in the pre-existence but we are given our agency and it is up to us to be worthy to receive the forordination in this life, the sister immediately began shaking her head yes, the teacher agreed, she had left out that bit of info and the lesson preceded. The gospel is true everywhere in the world!

October 12th

The internet was down all morning yesterday so am a day late blogging. I know you have all been waiting with baited breathe to hear news from the Philippines.

The other two senior missionary sisters invited Sister Clark and I to dinner last week. Sister J is filipino but has lived in the US for 24 years. Sister J does all the wooking and her meal was delicious, good ole pot roast, potatoes and carrots with a nice tossed salad. It was a nice evening.

I decided when we go to the temple, one week I do a session and the next I do inititories, I really love going to the temple each week. After going to the temple, two other senior couples and us went out to eat at a place called MOMO. I have told you before how I feel about eating out here, but I was nicely surprised. The meals all came about the same time, they were hot, in fact, I burned my tongue and the meal was delicious, I had enough to take home and have dinner the next night. I guess you just have to look or go to the right restaurant here.

I don't believe I told you, in the Philippines a restroom/bathroom is call the "comfort room" or CR, it totally makes sence to me. I must be really getting into the Talalog because I am having a hard time spelling English words, even when I sound them out.

We watched conference this last week end. Salt Lake sends us cd's of all conference sessions, so everyone in the Philippines always watch conference the week after the US. The mission president and his wife invited all the senior missionaries to the mission home to watch conference. It was great, we watched conference and then had a pot luck meal. I decided to make Taco Soup and baked beans, so off to the groacery store I went, list in hand. It took me over two hours just to find the ingredients I need and two stores (actually I cound everything but one ingredient, so I just left it out). When I had trouble finding something I would think I can substitute something else, but they didn't have that either anyway both dishes were a hit and I was pretty proud of myself. I used fresh green chilis for the first time, fortunately I got the right amount in the soup because my hand sure did burn for ahile after cutting them up. Sister Clark and I had to leave after the meal, we had an appointment with the stake president of the Las Pinas stake and his bishops to map out the boundaries of their stake. We were suppose to watch the second session with the Las Pinas ward but it took us 2 1/2 hours to get there so we missed the session. (45 minutes to get home, I don't know how that works). They are getting so excited about this mapping and we have found the best time to meet with the brethern is when the stake presidents have their monthly meeting with their bishop, etc. They usually do a little business and then we do the mapping which takes about 2 hours. At Las Pinas they also served us dinner. Just great humble people here.

Last Monday I got a call that someone was in the foyer to see me, when I went up, I was introduced to Eva and her husband. Scott and his companion had taught her the gospel 25 years ago, she is so grateful that they brought the gospel to her. I hope to see her again, she says she will bring her children in to meet me. Also when we were at Las Pinas a sister come up to shake my hand, looked at my name tag and said Burwell, I new an Elder Burwell who was here in 1983, I said that was my son Scott, she said yes, in his first area I was assigned to be an interpeter for him and his companion as they taught. I am impressed with Scott and with them that they truly do remember him. They both said he looks like me, has the same eyes, nose and smile and could even tell me somethings about their time spent with him. The sister from Las Pinas husband works here at the church offices and he was thrilled for her to meet me. It just boggles my mind, Sister Eva has had a sincere desire for years to personally thank Elder Burwell for bringing the gospel to her and to let him know she has served a mission, married in the temple and has four children. The Lord has blessed her and answered that desire, now it is all our hope that Scott will be able to come to the Phillipines while I am here and meet these good people again in person.

Elder Quentin Cook, from the 12 apostles, is here this week, everyone is so excited, they have been cleaning, painting, putting some new furniture and everything looks very nice. We will have a devotional with him on Wednesday evening, looking forward to that. Today is the day everyone, well not everyone but lots, so to the monthly world bazaar. There is such an interest in the mapping, Sister Clark and I decided we should stay in the office, wouldn't be very good if Elder Cook wanted to talk to us and we were out shopping.

I do have Skype now, still seem to be working out some bugs, but will be wonderful to hear voices I recognize.

September 27th - October 3rd

It has been another busy week. Our devotional was interesting, a sister gave the talk and did a lot of it in Tagalog which is very unusual. She gave a funny story, but most of us could not understand the funny part since she spoke Talalog, but we knew it was funny because all the Filipinos laughed.

I went to Talalog class on Tuesday, but the teacher interpets for general conference and so she is pretty busy until the third week of October. I know about 10 words now but am hesitate to speak them. I did say salamet (thank you) to our driver yesterday and he responded thank you in english, so I was thrilled I said it correctly.

I went home early on Tuesday, one of the couples gave me a ride, I was nauseated and the ole stomach thing, really felt awful. I didn't go into the office on Wednesday but Thursday was back again feeling somewhat better. It is no fun to stay at the apartment, gets boring pretty quickly.

I forgot to to tell about my second day in the Philippines. Sister Clark and I were going grocery shopping and came out our apartment door to catch the elevator, she was locking the door and as I went to push the elevator button, I look down and see this HUGH bug coming towards me, I jumped back and said what is that, Sister Clark said oh thats just a cockcroach, I said that thing is so big if we had a bridle we could ride it to the store, all the meantime dancing around. Sister Clark went back into the apartment got a big can of Raid (my first indication that the Philippines might have some modern conveniences available) and sprayed the cockcroach but it kept going, when I mentioned that the spray hadn't killed it, she said oh it's okay, it will eventually go feet up. Thank Heavens the elevator come and when we returned from the store, sure enough there it was feet up. I ask Sister Clark what we should do with it, she said the maintenance/cleaning people would take care of it and the next morning it was gone.

My fourth day in the Phillipines I was just coming out of my bedroom, the conversation between Sister Clark and I went something like this: Sister Clark said Oh we have a geko, I said a geko, she said yes a lizard, (I thought I know what a geko is, my mind was racing trying to remember if Scott had told me they live in peoples houses). I asked what are we going to do with it, she said just leave it, it won't hurt anything and it eats bugs (my thought, there is no way that tiny little geko is going to eat those hugh cockcroaches). I said, we cannot leave the geko here, I don't want it crawling on my bed or anywhere near it, she said it'll kill the bugs, I said I'll kill my own bugs, how do we get rid of it, at this point Sister Clark was getting very protective of the geko and I was pacing the floor, so finally I got hold of myself and went to my room. When I come out Sister Clark had picked up the geko and put it outside on the window ledge, much to my relief. I have found two more cockcroaches in the apartment, but they were dead, I keep forgetting to ask Sister Clark how many you have to see before they spray the whole apartment. I suppose there is some rule about they have to be alive when you see them, dead ones don't count.

Thursday night Elder/Sister Burningham, here on a security mission, invited all the senior missionaries to their apartment for a spaghetti feed. They furnished the spaghetti and sauce and assigned everyone else part of the meal to bring. It was so nice, they have a beautiful apartment. After we ate, the entertainment was to tell funny mormon stories, we got to laughing pretty hard at some of them, particularly the "real" ones, of course everyone tried to convince you theirs was really true. I still was not feeling very well and almost didn't go, but so glad I did, just the lift I needed to get going again.

There is one day a week that everyone has a no drive day, here where we are, on your no drive day, you can't drive after between 7:00 am - 10:00 am and 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm, some areas you can't drive at all on your no drive day. The couple we ride with have a no drive day on Friday, so we leave the office at 2:00 pm every Friday, really makes a short day.

I've learned that when someone in the Philippines tells you something is just across the street, don't believe it, across the street to them could be anywhere within a 2-5 mile radius. And rarely does anyone go home the same way they went somewhere. Even driving to the office each day, we come one way and go home another way, it still confuses me but makes since to everyones else and since I am not driving I don't need to figure that one out.

Our mission president did assign us to go to the La Mesa branch, so we went for the first time on Sunday, as we don't get conference here until next week end. Elder/Sister Beckstrand have been driving to the branch for about 2 months, so we go with them each week. I am so excited to finally be able to go and see the same people each week. They have two fulltime young sister missionaries there too and they are really excited to have us. Everyone welcomed us with grins, handshakes more than once, I love it! It takes us one hour to drive there and often the Beckstrands said 2 hours to get home, depending on the traffic. I enjoyed the drive, saw lots of families out doing things together, mostly along the street. It was so good to see so many children and families. The branch has several children so that will be nice. I was surprised the chapel is very nice and set back in amongst some interesting housing on a dirt road. Sister Clark already has about 12 piano students lined up to teach during sunday school time, sounds like a big task to me, there is one adult sister who is self taught on the piano, but doesn't have confidence enough to teach, so Sister clark has her work cut out for her.

We got home from church had about 3 hours and left to meet with a stake president and all his bishops to check their boundaries. We had one of the drivers from the area presidency drive us. The drive took about an hour, we met with the brethern, which took about two hours, part of that time is waiting for everyone to get there. I love meetings with the filipino's, they know how to laugh, get things done and have a great time doing it. Things may take a little longer with all the laughing, but you sure feel good when you leave the meeting.

I don't know who is reading my blog, just a short comment "read it" would be nice, it is easier to blog when I feel like I am talking to someone specific.

September 20th-27th

Can't belief another week has gone by already, seems like time is beginning to fly by, I will habe been here a month on October 1st.

We have a devotional every Monday morning here at the chuch office building, we sing a birthday song in english and tagalog to whoever has a birthday that week, have an opening song, an uplifting message and closing prayer. Really does get the week off to a good start. The speaker today said he had been assigned to speak last year and then the typhoon came so his talk had been waiting patiently in his drawer and of course his talk was on patience.

I am still doing the Tagalog lessons and they have turned hard, I have learned that I do not have a natural instinct of how to pronounce things, even when I learn it, it doesn't stick in my head for some reason. I mix peoples names up, we have a couple here with the last name of Ayres and I called them Avery until I was corrected, another couple's name is Dufrey and I called them Duprey, I really am embrassing myself. So am hoping learning a new language will help me learn to speak english better.

We attended the temple again on Wednesday evening. The Manila Temple has one of the most beautiful celestial rooms of any I've seen. When we leave the temple, everyone shakes our hand and thanks us for coming.

They have a place here called Mabuhay Desert where Filipino people, particularly children can come and stay while they are having medical problems taken care of. The people there also try to find free medical help. The people are usually from the providences and are very poor. Most of the children are there for cleft palates and club feet. Adults usually have cataracts or some kind of eye problem. A sister here whose husband is a church employe goes every Thursday morning and provides a fun short program for the children. They sing songs and last week they talked about families. They were given a picture of a tree, some cut out leaves and glue. With help they wrote the names of their family on the leaves and glued them to the tree. They were three adult women there who joined in and seemed to enjoy it as much as the children. One little girl Adrianne, who was 2 1/2 years old had a hugh cancer on her eye, it broke my heart. Her mother is 47 years old has ten children, Adrianne being the youngest, and then she has 11 grandchildren already. Her husband is a fisherman. Another little boy who was about 1 1/2 years old was born with a tumor on his nose and didn't get the attention he needed and now has a nose the size of a grapefruit. Really sad and I just wanted to hug them and make it all go away but the best I can do is go each week and help them have a fun time.

Thurday night we had a birthday dinner for the mission president at a greek restaurant. Elder Gunnerson and his wife sat across the table from me and in visiting found that he has worked for the church for over 30 years and a good part of that time was spent going around the world looking for temple and ward building lots. He asked me where my children lived and when I said Rebecca and her family lived in Franklin, TN, he told me that he had picked that lot for the temple, he had four lots he showed the prophet and he chose the one where the temple sets. I was surprised that he remembered it was built by an existing chapel next to an academy. Needles to say, I enjoyed my evening.

Elder and Sister Aguilar, who I met at the MTC, took me to lunch on Friday. They were so anxious for me to try more filipino food and were so excited when I told them I liked it, of course, I can't remember the name of it, but it was very good and they were happy when I told them so. They want to take me to a fancy restaurant, I will not tell them I am not impressed with the restaurants here and going out to eat is not one of my favorite things. They didi not invite my companion so I brought here back a cinnamon roll.

On Saturday one of the couple missionaries as us to go to the Asia mall, the biggest mall in the world, again not my cup of tea, but we went. You can imagine how surprised I was to find out the couple wanted to stay only 1 1/2 hours and visit only one store, so that is what we did. Since I found that sales floor at the top of Mega mall that is where I prefer to shop.

We still do not have a ward or branch assigned. The mission president wanted us to attend a branch that is over an hour away and since we don't have a car we would have to take a Taxi which would be very expensive, so Sister Clark is trying to get him to change his mind and in the meantime we are attending whatever ward. The filipino people have such simple, strong testimonies and understanding of the gospel and such a strong love for the Lord, even though I don't understand a lot of what they say, it is wonderful to part of their meetings.

September 14th - September 20th.

I started Tagalog lessons last Tuesday, it's hard, but I am determined so will probably be taking lessons, twice a week until I go home eighteen months from now.

Have been working hard on learning the mapping and Sister Clark has finally trusted me enough to give a serious mapping project to prepare a stake boundary map to be sent to Salt Lake for approval. The work is very tedious but I like it. My next big undertaking will be to work with stake presidents & bishops with their maps to see if the boundaries we have match theirs and if not to make the changes, of course if there are stake boundary changes, then we have to talk to all the stake presidents who stakes border that stake to make sure they agree with the changes, you can see it does get complicated and sometimes a lot of discussion to get a stake president to be willing to change his boundaries. Mostly though the are co-operative altho we do have one now if the boundaries are changed the one stake president will lose a elder quorams president, relief society president and one other leadership position, don't know how that is going to pan out.

I'm starting to get the hang of the grocery stores but still confusing, I have lost a little weight, maybe I'll just stayed confused at the grocery store and see how the weight goes.

We still have not been assigned a ward/branch yet so we just go to one that is close because we have to pay a taxi. This last Sunday we were able to get a ride with a senior missionary couple and went to the Makati Chapel which was the first chapel built in the Philippines. It is also a chapel Scott went to for six months while he was on his mission here. He said he baptized several converts in the font and spoke several times from the pulpit, who would have thought I would ever be sitting in that same chapel? The Makati area is very clean and I would love to be living there.

I would like to do some walking outside, but can't find an area that feels safe enough. They do have an exercise area in our apartment building, I did buy some walking shoes and socks with the idea of walking on the treadmill, but I prefer the outdoors. Okay, so I'm looking for excuses to stay off the treadmill, let you know how that goes.

One of our senior elders was bit by a misquito that gave him dangue disease and had a really rough time, spent five days in the hospital and one week at home and still gets tired very easily. I have increased by committment to spray Off on me everyday. Our medical personnel here at the office said the misquitos will be worst this year because of the flooding in our area last year.

They are building two new buildings next to our apartments, it is so interesting to watch the men work, the work is 24 hours a day and the workers have living quarters right on the site, you see the change of shifts as one group leaves the sleeping quarters and other group go in to sleep. They have their laundry hung out to dry and every team wears a different colored t-shirt mostly with long sleeves. At around 7:00 am every morning they all gather in a group listen to some encouraging words, have a prayer and then do calisentics, mostly arm waving and some leg lifts and then everyone goes to work. In the warehouse district it is the same ritual except some mornings the workers there do some jogging down the street. Almost everyone here carrys some kind of towel or small rag for face wiping and you often see workers take off their t-shirts wipe down the upper part of their bodies back and front and put on a clean shirt. Even little children will have a small rage stuck in the back of their shirts. I have been using kleenexs but may at some point try the small rag, probably not, wiping my sweaty face more than once on a rag would be like using a bath towel twice in a row and you all know how I feel about that.

The mission president is having a birthday this week so we are all going out to dinner to help him celebrate. I haven't been to a restaurant here that I really like. All the orders are taken at the same time but the food is delivered to the table all at different times and the food is often cold. No one seems to mind, well I do but when in rome,etc.

Typhoon season is about over and so far haven't had one. I am told when the typhoons come through the building get cleaned up, the way these buildings here look, I think we are due for one to clean them up, but of course you can't just have a typhoon that cleans buildings they seem to want to clean everythings else in their path.

September 9-13, 2010

I have been working hard on learning the mapping, it is done on google earth. Salt Lake sends us maps they have of the stake and ward boundaries of the Philippines, we take what they send us and draw out the boundaries on google earth and then meet with the Stake presidents, bishops, ward clerks, or whoever the stake decides to send to our meetings and they make corrections to our maps. We come back to the office clean up the changes and they go to the area presidency and if they okay them they are sent to Salt Lake for approval, so far 32 are either approved or in the process to be approved. I don't know how many there are but this is only a handful.

Sister Clark and I flew to Cebu on Friday morning and met with three different stakes. The meetings are very intense and take a least 2 hours as they search for their correct boundaries, some are a little more prepared than others, in fact one Stake President come in by himself and we were done in less than a hour, was great. Sister Clark and I are they only ones doing the maps so I am really anxious to learn so I can hold meetings at the same time as she does and we can do twice the amount.

I really was not looking forward to another plane ride so soon. Their airplanes are buildt with short legged people with small behinds in mind, needless to say I have neither, but fortunately the ride was only about 80 minutes. We stayed at an old hotel but clean. On Friday we didn't get back to the hotel until about 7 pm so we decided to eat in the coffee shop connected to the hotel. There were several men when we entered so we sat way back in the corner and the next thing we knew it must have been one of those good ole boys meeting with lots of beer. Sister Clark ordered as tune sandwich it had almost a tablespoon of tuna on it, I ordered and bacon and egg and got bacon, egg and hamburger patty, at least I could taste what my was. Saturday we have a meeting at 9 am and then attended a session at the Cebu Temple, there was such a sweet feeling there, I felt rejuvinated and wanted to linger but we had been invited to a luncheon with President Ko and all the stake people who were invited to meetings, it was very nice. I took a picture of the luncheon set up and as soon as I learn how to take the pictures from my camera and put them here on my blog I'll do that.

We have not been assigned a ward/branch yet so we went to one of the guys that works here ward because they were having their Primary Sacrament meeting. It was wonderful, all the boys in the primary wore white shirts and ties and all the kids knew their parts with out help, of course some of the little sunbeams went up, looked out and saw all the people and hid their face in their dad's pant leg, cried or just stood there just the same as sunbeams in the USA. I got to hold a 2 month old baby for the entire meeting, it was great.

Wednesday of each week is considered temple day for senior missionaries. Sister Clark and I went to the Manila Temple and did an endowment session. I thought of Scott the whole time, how he would love to have been with me as his mission was over before the Manila Temple was completed. It is beautiful but very small, only one endowment room so sessions are only every 2 hours. Some youth were there doing baptisms. It was obvious how much the filipions appreciate the temple. One of the filipiono sisters that works in the office with me, saw me waiting to cross the street to go to the temple, so she grabbed my hand and led me safely across the street, I just love it! There is an under ground tunnel that goes from the chuch office building to the temple, but it requires 20 steps down and 20 steps up and my knees don't like that much climbing.

We went out to eat with two missionary couples, they all think that is a big treat, but I would rather not do that so often mostly because I never know what I'm going to get. Last night I had a bad case of diahrea most of the night, no idea what food caused it, but fine this morning and all of the swelling of my body is gone, so there is a silver lining in every black cloud.

They want Sister Clark and I to have a car, but she refuses, says she has prayed about it and the Lord told her the priesthood needs to take care of our travel needs. I wouldn't be able to go one block without plowing into someone, so I believe her pray was answered correctly. We have taken a taxi a few times which costs on the average of 60-70 pecos each time. Sister Clark keeps very good track what where we are going so we don't get the long more expensive trip each time.

I'm beginning to catch onto my mapping responsibilities and really like doing it. Sister Clark and I are the only ones working on these maps right now and Salt Lake is anxious for us to complete this project which is still months away or more.

There is no hot water in our apartment. The showers have been rigged up with a small hot water heater but the kitchen has a one handle faucet, there is no hot water tank. Washing the dishes with cold (there is no cold water, just pee warm) is not very sanitary to me. Sister Clark often just rinses her dishes to clean them, but I get out the dish soap for mine.

I still feel like I am in a dream and can't wake up but I'm sure it will get real soon, everyone says it takes up to three weeks to totally adjust. I'm going to begin taking Talalog lessons next Tuesday, I have a hard time understanding everone with their accents so maybe I'll do better learning their language and they'll have to deal with my accent.

I'm missing my family, those hugs and kisses are very important to me, giving and receiving. I did meet up with Elder and Sister Aquilar yesterday at the MTC here. It was so good to see them and I did get two good hugs. Sister Aquilar is a doctor and is temporarily assigned to the MTC here, they were called to the Cebu mission.

What I need are some nice long informative e-mails so I know what is happening with each of you. Was great to get one from Douglas yesterday that brought me up to date. I have been checking Allyson's and Andew's blogs regularly, and often go back to see those five little heads surrounding the TV on Allyson's blog, makes me chuckle and warms my heart everytime I see it. Ingrid sent me a short note yesterday, thank you!

All is going well. I never got my days and nights mixed up so am sleeping good. I was introduced at the office yesterday and got my computer up and running. Today I spent working on maps and reconstructing borders of stakes and wards, just practice, not smart enough yet to be on my own. Sister Clark is a very good teacher and patient.

My office is in the basement of the chuch office building here, but nice. The last two days I have experience filipino food for lunch, only disliked one thing called "adoba"? Of course some of the funny guys are trying to get me to eat the "bullit'? Scott already told me it is a rotten egg, thank you Scott.

Oh, my ride is here so will do more tomorrow.

Here I am in the Philippines, travel weary and in cultural shock but surviving. I arrived in Manila exactly 24 hours from the time I left Salt Lake airport. My legs and feet were very swollen and am having some trouble getting the swelling to stay down but each day is better. The apartment isn't all that great, but I fixed up my bathroom and bought a rug for in front of the awful couch and have hopes to do something with the dinky bedroom I'm in. I have didn't mix my nights and days up, so I have been resting good. No one will believe I am awake and up by 5:30 am. I can't figure it out either, except it is light and I do have a big window in my room.

I feel disoriented but the Lord told me to go to work and that will change, so will go the office on Monday and get started. Sister Clark took me to the office late yesterday afternoon and I met a few people. Will tell you more about the office after I have worked in it for a few days. We will be flying to Cebu on Friday and back on Saturday. Sister Clark says by the time I leave I will have traveled to all of the Philippines.

I have met several of the senior couple missionaries and the senior sister missionary couple. They all are very nice but all the couple missionaries will be leaving the first week of November, some will be replaced and some won't, just not enough to go around. We went to Taco Bell last night for dinner, not my favorite place but we went with 2 missionary couples and that was nice.

Every time I get in the van to ride somewhere I feel like I'm on one of those bumper car tracks, fortunately our car has never been bumped, but almost! I am amazed I haven't seen an accident or pedestrian hit. I sort of feel like I am in a cartoon and can't find the way out.

All said and done, I am doing fine!!

Scott and Taylor dropped me off at the Mission Training Center (MTC) on Monday, August 16th. They were able to carry my bags to my room, thank heavens. I roomed by myself, which was good for two reasons, my bed broke the third night I was there, so I just moved over to the other bed, the other reason is because I am so anxious to have a companion, I love my companion, Sister Elaine Clark, already.

I was the only senior single sister missionary in the group of senior missionaries entering the MTC on August 16th. It was hard, but the couple missionaries were very kind to me and included when they could. In the classes if the teacher said to do something with your companion one of the teachers became my companion and that was so great. Those young returned missionaries are fantastic teachers and very tuned in to seniors needs in learning, resting, etc.

The first week was spent on "Preach My Gospel" and started out very hard, but by Friday I felt like I could actually do some proselyting. The second week was spent learning about my calling as a Welfare Employment Specialist. What an awesome program, this is truly the Lord's church, no man or men could do alone what is being done in the world today to teach the gospel, help everyone become self-reliant and increase testimonies.

The time spent at the MTC was intense and tiring but also joyful, fulfilling, uplifting and I am on a higher level of spiritually than two weeks ago. The spirit is so strong at the MTC, and they constantly remind us that the spirit is strong because of the missionaries that are there, and we would take the same spirit with us into the mission field.

I was done with my classes on Friday, August 26th and I don't fly out to the Philippines until the night of Monday, August 30th and because senior missionaries do have more privileges than the young missionaries, I decided to spend my time left with my family. So Scott picked me and my bags up Thursday evening, I spent one night and one day with Douglas, and his kids when they got out of school. I am at Scott's home now and he will take me to the airport when the time comes. I had a bit of shopping to do with Douglas and he said people would wonder what he was doing with a missionary because I wore my badge, I told him to put his arm around my shoulders and say "My Mom." No one asked or looked puzzled.

All my kids have been so kind, supportive and loving, they really are a great comfort and satisfaction to me and raising grandchildren the same. As hard as it is, I am anxious to get to the Philippines and begin. My apartment is five blocks from the Manila Temple and the office I will work in is across the street from the temple, so that is exciting.

I leave here Monday August 30th and arrive in Manila Wednesday, Sept lst so probably will not be blogging until my mind and body can get caught up, until than know that I am anixously engaged in the work of the Lord.

Almost there!

Everything is bought! Car is sold! I am packing my suitcases tomorrow, giving a talk in Sacrament Sunday, August 16th and will be set apart as a missionary right after the meeting. Just typing this puts me in a daze as my emotions seem to have run amuk ( excited, sad, scared, anxious, curious) , but all with the peace and assurance my mission will be a great blessing for me and my family.

My goal is to keep everyone up to date on things I am learning and my experiences, however, according to my schedule, posting might be sporadic at times.

Comments, advice & etc., are welcomed!

I have added my addresses to my mission on the right side of my blog. I would love to receive letters from all of you so that I feel like I'm getting a glimse of your life while I am gone. Please remember that if you send a letter through the Church Pouch System you can only send letters. They will not accept anything else (i.e. no stamps, pictures or commodities).

In the Philippines, it seems to be tradition to paste pictures of the Savior on the packages, especially across the enclosure, to discourage the mail handlers from getting into the packages. The Church also suggests that families/friends research the best method of mailing packages. Fedex has been known to charge recipient fees when the package arrives to the location specified.