Viruses

In spite of the fact that we are in the tropics, Elder Whiting came down with a nasty winter chest cold this past week.  He's been quite miserable, but is finally on the mend.  Sister Whiting is crossing her fingers that she stays healthy.

Another virus invaded Elder Whiting's computer after a power outage last week.  It fried it completely.  Fortunately, we have smart office elders who were able to save his files, but it took two days and many calls to the church IT department in Manila to get it up and running.  They basically had to wipe it and start over.  Then, ironically, the day after the head IT guy was here in the office installing new printers, the office elders' computer went down like Elder Whiting's did.  We hope this virus doesn't spread to the rest of the computers in the office.

We fed the sister missionaries on Monday, and that's always a treat to host them. They are awesome, wonderful young ladies with powerful testimonies.  They had several investigators to church today.

It was the Tarlac Melting Pot Fiesta this past week.  We're not sure why Tarlac is called the melting pot--there's not much diversity here.  But Elder Whiting and I always turn a lot of heads in town.  Anyway, they had a grand parade down F Tañede Street right past the mission office.  We watched it for a while until it got too hot for us.  We've included our favorite pictures from the parade below.

Our new senior couple, the Pugh's will be here this week.  We have been working hard to get their house ready for them, and we are almost finished.  We look forward to welcoming them to the mission.  They will be a huge help.

Yesterday, we attended the baptism of a young man our AP's taught.  We always love attending baptisms, as the Spirit is always there.  Then we served lunch to all of the Stake Presidents in the mission after their training session with Elder Meim of the Area Seventy.  Many of these brethren travel for hours at great sacrifice of time and money to attend.  We appreciate their faithfulness.

We leave you this week with the words of the Savior from Matthew 20:26-28:

"...whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."

Mahal Kita

Jeepney of the Week:  King Rodessa!

Striping the road by hand!

The Tarlac sisters--L-R:  Sisters Tumala, Lina, Whiting, Panitla, and Nuku

Selfie with the Sisters

The Tarlac Dog Walking Club's float in the parade.  Is this a problem?  Hilarious!

Members of the Tarlac Dog Walking Club. The man on the right is our friend and former
 bishop, Brother Mercado.  He breeds Jack Russell Terriers.
 He helps us out whenever we need anything.

A view of the parade down F Tanedo Street just in front of the mission offices.