Elder and Sister Whiting in the Philippines: Rainy Days and Auditors

We have had almost constant rain for two days now--the remnants of the typhoon that hit Taiwan. We have had almost daily afternoon thunderstorms for quite some time now, but not the steady, at times heavy, rain we are experiencing now. It is cooler, but that is countered by the 90% humidity. It's kind of tough for a couple of desert rats like us. The only upside is that our skin rarely needs lotion. A downside is that it takes forever for anything to dry. We have a member lady do our laundry, and she often puts things away damp. Friday, Elder Whiting got to the office and realized the clean socks he had on were still damp. It was kind of funny to see him sitting at his desk with his white shirt and tie, dress slacks, and bare feet as he tried to dry his socks. Not exactly "matching the message", but we were the only ones in the office at the time so it was okay. He put is shoes and socks back on when the office elders and AP's came to work, and endured damp feet for the rest of the day. Sister Whiting wishes she would have gotten a picture.

Elder Whiting not only had to deal with damp socks, but auditors as well. They spent two days last week going over all the records and procedures in the mission office. They even took inventory of our computers and printers. (apparently we have one too many of each) Of course Elder Whiting is used to auditors; having dealt with them a lot when he was working for Lifetime Products. He describes auditors as people who come in after the battle is fought and bayonet the wounded. Hehe. However, the mission passed the audit with flying colors!

In addition to the auditors, other events this week were Mission Leadership Council, a birthday party for one of the office elders, and a baptism of a 14 year old boy (who looked no older than 9) taught by the Assistants. Today, we attended church in the Burgos Branch where we sat in on the Gospel Essentials class taught by a member of the branch who is a counselor in the stake presidency. In attendance was a newly baptized family and their investigator father. It was a very spiritual lesson.

Because we need to be at the office by 8-8:30 am, we do our study in the evening. It's a nice way to end the day. This week, Sister Whiting was impressed by the doctrine of witnesses as described in Helaman 10:6. In this chapter, Nephi, because of his faithfulness, is given the sealing power by the Lord. It says in verse 6, "Behold, I declare it unto thee in the presence of mine angels...". God Himself uses the doctrine of witnesses to accomplish His work, whether with His own declarations, or in the mission field or in our own wards. Elder Whiting has been reading Helaman 12, which are Mormon's editorial comments. Verse 5 ends with, "men are slow to walk in wisdom's path."

That's about it for this week. We love you all and hope you are "walking in wisdom's path".

Mahal Kita
Elder and Sister Whiting