Random Parades

We've had a pretty good week, busy as usual.  We are grateful for modern technology that keeps us in touch with our loved ones as we serve on the other side of the world from them.

On Monday, Elder Whiting dropped Sister Whiting off very early at te office (6 a.m.!) and he drove again to Muñoz to meet with the landlord and her attorney to get the signatures needed for the senior couple apartment.  Now that that task is done, we will go this coming Tuesday to clean, deliver appliances and prepare the house.  We have been bringing down items that have been in storage from the third floor of our apartment, washing linens, and kitchen utensils, and sorting through things to put in the house.  We will be very glad to be done with this task.  This will be third house we have prepared for an incoming senior couple.  We may have to do one more.  It's been a lot of work but we are so grateful to have these senior missionaries here.  They lift burdens and do a great work in the mission.

If going to Guimba Zone (Muñoz) wasn't enough on Monday, we were asked to take a sister companionship who had been in Tarlac to the eye doctor home to Paniqui (pronounced "panicky", haha) that evening.  Paniqui is only a half hour away, so it wasn't too bad, and we had a good visit with the sisters during our travel.  We didn't quite beat the big storm home, and had to hurry into the house.  We didn't get too we though.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were days with no rain and plenty to do in the office.  Wednesday evening we went to the grocery store because we had no food in the house.  On our way, we passed a protest that made us a little nervous.  It was a group of about 50 people with signs and loudspeakers protesting the new Philippine president's attitude that Marshal Law is something he will not hesititate to use.  We hope he doesn't turn the Philippines into a dictatorship.


Friday, Elder and Sister Pugh came to Tarlac to train us on how do to apartment inspections.  We have been assigned to inspect the missionary apartments in the Tarlac and Mabalacat Zones--a total of 16 houses.  We learned to inspect for safety and cleanliness, as well as check their 72 hour kits and area books.  We started with the zone leaders, sister training leaders, and the sisters who are our neighbors.  These were pretty easy as they are some of our best and most obedient missionaries, so there weren't a lot of issues.  We did replace one smoke detector and some light bulbs.  Sister Pugh then left a spiritual message with them and our neighbor sisters asked us to kneel with them in prayer.  We love the young missionaries! They are so faithful.

We then went to lunch with the Pugh's before they went back to Camiling.  We appreciated them helping us--it was a sacrifice for them to come in from Camiling, which is an hour away, to help train us.  That evening, just as we got home, a huge storm came through and knocked the power out for a half hour, but it seemed much longer than that.  We huddled in the dark around our emergency combination fan and light, stripped down to our underwear trying to stay cool, wondering what to do without the internet.  We are extremely spoiled.  We were very grateful when the power came back on.

As if traffic isn't bad enough in this counry, it is often made even worse by funeral processions and random parades.  Friday, we had to slowly inch past a parade of hundreds of boy and girl scouts. They were really cute in their full uniforms, but doubled the time it took for us to get to the office.  Yesterday it was a trade or technical school of some sort.  This parade not only had hundreds of students walking along, but at least a dozen big floats.  The floats were big flatbed trucks elaborately decorated--many of them with a Harry Potter theme.  This parade was making it's way through the narrow streets of Tarlac as the Barangay Police stopped all traffice to let it pass.  Again, it doubled our travel time to the office and we had to take an alternate route besides.  Yesterday was National Family Day in the Philippines, and the Tarlac wards had gathered at the stake center for their own random parade celebrating the family. After their parade, which we politely declined an invitation to participate in, they spent the day at the church with games and activities and the requisite way-too-loud rock music playing all. day. long.

Today will be a trip to Pisapungan for church--we haven't been in a while.  We bought some cheap rubber shoes in case it rains.  We look forward to seeing our friends and to see how the Church is growing in that little village.

We leave you with this thought as we prepare for General Conference:  "The enemies of your own human 'fortress' are both physical and spiritual...And so I beg of you...to live each day so that you might receive from the fountain of light the nourishment and strength sufficient to every day's need.  Take time to be holy each day of your lives." --Harold B. Lee--

Mahal Kita
Elder and Sister Whiting

Jeepney of the Week

A trike covered in stuffed animals

Selfie with our neighbors, Aira and Richard

Boy and Girl Scout Parade

Funeral Procession

Breaking up concrete by hand

Mall cop checking all cars for bombs "wink wink".  It's pretty much a joke of a search

One of this country's many creepy crawlies

Supper, Shopping, Storms, Stuck, Stake Conference, And Transfers

It has been a busy, busy two weeks, and we let a week slip by without a post, so be prepared; we are going to make it up to you!

On Labor Day, we had the four sisters who live down the street over for dinner.  We do this once a transfer, and it was a good thing, because Sister Gonzaga and Sister Cutar have been transferred to other areas, with Sister Cutar being called as a Sister Training Leader. They are wonderful, obedient missionaries and will do well wherever they are.

Tuesday the 6th, Sister Whiting and Sister Clark took a trip to Angeles to the Capiz Shell Factory, where they purchased and ordered some beautiful Capiz shell items. It was also a lot of fun to watch the workers create these beautiful pieces.

The rest of the week was spent in the office.  Saturday the 10th, we drove the mission truck over to Muñoz to look for a house for the new senior couple. It was a waste of a trip as we were not able to even see any houses.  Turns out the first house we looked out two weeks ago, which we thought we couldn't get, became available with some conditions. The landlady is really being difficult, though.  We went again yesterday thinking she would sign the lease only to be told she wanted her attorney to look at everything. So it was another frustrating day, and Elder Whiting has to go back early tomorrow to meet with her and her attorney.  Hopefully he can get the deal done.  The time draws short and the senior couple will be here soon!

So after the frustrating morning a week ago, we started our drive to Cabanatuan as we were staying overnight there because we were speaking in stake conference the next day.  We left plenty early for the 1 1/2 hour drive to Cabanatuan, intending to check into our hotel and be early for the Saturday evening adult session. Well it ended up being a 4 1/2 hour ordeal as we were stuck in traffic not knowing there was construction on a bridge.  Most of the time we were at a dead standstill--we could have gotten there quicker by walking!  We were an hour late for the evening session.  But we had a good evening as we met Elder and Sister Dansie for dinner, then slept well at the nice Harvest Hotel.

We gave our talks in Stake Conference, picked up a departing missionary, made our way back toward Muñoz and San Jose via a different route which was very beautiful and had very light traffic to pick up another departing missionary.  We delivered them to the mission home, had some dinner and went home to bed.

Monday we taught the career workshop to the 7 departing missionaries--our smallest group yet.  Tuesday, we said goodbye to this wonderful group of missionaries. Wednesday, we welcomed 20 new missionaries.  Because some of them had come from the Provo MTC, and because of a national holiday on Monday, they had to do their immigration processing that morning, so instead of getting to the mission at 10 or 11 a.m. they were delivered to the mission home at 4 p.m.  We did our arrival orientation, which with this size of group took about two hours, had a nice dinner, and the missionaries departed to their accomodations for the night.  We were assigned to get all their luggage to the mission office, which took two trips. With help from the office elders, we accomplished this task by 10:30 p.m.

Thursday was an early arrival at the office for us for transfers, which went quit smooth. The 20 new missionaries got their companions and were sent on their way to areas near and far throughout the mission.  We can't help but say a prayer that they will adjust quickly and not be too overwhelmed by the demands of missionary work and the strange culture. We can tell they are a good group and are going to do great things.

Regarding our trip to Muñoz yesterday, it was not a total waste of a trip as we stayed to the baptism of two 17 year old young men. Elder Whiting was asked to be a witness, which was a special tender mercy for us as we missed our granddaughter, Chloe's baptism that very day back home.  The Lord is mindful of His servants.  We are very blessed.

Last night we went to dinner with President and Sister Clark at a coffeeshop that serves great food.  They told us we had won a cupcake and asked us to pose with "I Love Javalogy" signs for a picture.  We thought it purdent to hold th sings in front of our nametags as we were pretty sure we would end up on their Facebook page.  So we were just four anonymous white people instead of missionaries endorsing a coffee shop.  We had a wonderful evening until it came time to leave.

In the Philippines, all businesses have security guards/doormen/parking attendants. They greet you, open the door for you, and will go out in the street and stop traffic so  you can back out and get onto the highway.  This is a real service in this country of heavy traffic and no rules.  It is difficult to back out into traffic without help.  We usually tip these guards a few pesoes for their help.  The Javalogy security guard (Javalogy is located right on crazy busy MacArthur Highway) was a cute little man who greeted us with a big smile and opened the door for us.  There was a brief power outage during our dinner, and he came in to check the breaker box, which was right by our table.  As we were preparing to leave, Sister Clark noticed a commotion in the street outside. A van was stopped and a man was on his phone frantically talking to someone.  In front of the van was the security guard.  He had been hit by the van as he attempted to stop traffic to let a customer back out.  We didn't see it happen, but he lay there not moving at all for a half hour until the ambulance came and carried him off.  We do not think he survived the accident.  It made us sick.  To top it off, when we finally felt like we could leave, there was Elder Whiting and President Clark out stopping traffic so we could back out.  Scary! Our wonderful evening out ended on a very somber note.

Today we attended Burgos Branch. Our missionaries were the featured speakers in sacrament meeting, and when they were finished, the Branch President called a member up to the stand, handed him his mission call, and the young man opened and read it right there in sacrament meeting!  We had heard that this was commonly done in the Philippines, and it was a treat to get to witness it.

Sister Whiting lead the singing in Relief Society and they sang "Hark the Herald Angels Sing", because after all it is September, and the Christmas season is upon us.  Our new missionaries confirmed that the Manila MTC has already put it's tree up, and the nativities are being built around town. Religion doesn't hide in this country, it is front and center in all phases of life.

The past two weeks we have witnessed several intense lightning storms that remind us of the description of the "great and terrible tempests" in the Book of Mormon at the Savior's death.  We have had much of "exceedingly sharp lightnings", thunder that shakes the rafters, and deluges almost every day.  We never cease to marvel at the intense weather the Philippines gets.

We leave you with the following thoughts:

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ DID come to Joseph Smith.
It's as true today as it was in 1820.
We are so very blessed to have this knowledge.

Mahal Kita and Maligayang Pasco
(see if you can remember what the last part means)

Elder and Sister Whiting

Jeepney of the Week

Dinner with the Sisters L-R: Sister Gonzaga, Sister Cutar, Sister Whiting,
Sister Fosita, Sister Evans, Elder Whiting

Creating beautiful pieces of art at the Capiz Shell Factory in Angeles

Banner Announcing the Guimba District Conference

Program for the Cabanatuan Stake Conference we spoke at.
We were each given our own program with our name on it.

Elder Whiting with the Jollibee in Muñoz on Grandparent's Day.
Sister Whiting was not asked to have her picture taken.
Now we know who looks like a granparent!

Sister Whiting and Elders Apolinario and Smith in the mission truck crammed with luggage

Baptisms of Elders Quinzon and Cox's investigators in Muñoz September 17, 2016

Carabao Caravan

We Heart Javalogy.  L-R: Sister Whiting, Elder Whiting, President Clark, Sister Clark

A Good Week

We have had a great week with lots going on.  President and Sister Clark felt there was unfinished business after Zone Conference and scheduled more training for our leaders.  So on Tuesday, we were at the office early to help serve breakfast to the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders as they met a week early for Mission Leadership Council.  Then at 10:30 am the District Leaders joined them and President Clark rolled out the "Octoberblest" initiative in the mission.  We spent the remainder of the day in training to achieve the very lofty goals set for this initiative.  Our Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, and District Leaders have been called upon to step up and provide more leadership in helping their districts fulfill the goals set for Octoberblest. New reporting tools were introduced to support the initiative and everyone seemed excited to reach for the goals.  These goals do not include any specific baptism numbers other than each missionary should strive to baptize every week. We hope we can do whatever we need to to help the Elders and Sisters achieve their goals.

Friday, we had a senior couple meeting at the mission home.  We did some calendaring, had some training and received assignments for house inspections, and watched a training video for mission presidents on how transfers should happen.  We are proud to say that the Angeles Mission's transfers are in compliance with the standards set forth!   After the training, we had a delicious lunch and headed to S&R for an afternoon of shopping.  It was a fun, informative day and we enjoyed building friendships with each other.  It's so nice to have more senior couples in the mission; and the Pugh's and Dansie's are doing a great work.

Yesterday was a busy travel day.  We left early for Munoz, which is an hour and a half drive.  We met the Zone Leaders and took them to Jollibees to breakfast. Then they took us over to see a house we are considering renting for the new senior couple who come in October.  We assessed the house, asked questions, took pictures, and made requests of the landlord.  Then we hopped in the car and made the hour and a half drive to Camiling--through some horrible road construction--where Elder Whiting again participated in District Training--this time for the Camiling East and West Districts.  Since there is no mall to get kicked out of in Camiling, we three sisters--Clark, Pugh, and Whiting grabbed some Jollibees hamburgers and went to Sister Pugh's house for a nice visit while we waited for the training to finish.  Jollibees is the last place we like to eat, but that is the only eating option in both Munoz and Camiling so we went with it. We had a few errands to run on our way home from Camiling, but got home at a decent time and had a nice evening.

It hasn't rained as much this week, for which we are glad.  The fall forecast is for a cooler and wetter than normal pattern. This kind of pattern is good for the Philippines because there are fewer typhoons.  We're good with that!

We leave you with some excerpts from the Book of Ether.  We are so blessed to live in America!

"For behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands ... and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the god of the land, who is Jesus Christ."  --Ether 2:10 & 12--

Mahal Kita
Elder and Sister Whiting

Jeepney of the Week--Dumlac--dumb luck :) 

Seniors at S&R -- Left to Right:  Elder and Sister Pugh, Sister Clark
Sister and Elder Whiting, Sister and Elder Dansie

Senior Couples Meeting. Front row: Elder and Sister Whiting
Middle Row: Elder and siser Dansie, Elder and Sister Pugh
Back Row: Sister Clark.  President Clark had already left for an appointment
He is a busy, busy man!

Weighing bags of rice--each one is about 90 kilos.

Elder Whiting only weighs 71 kilos!

I love Guimba!

Crazy Philippine road construction. The new part is used for cows and rice and parked cars.  Really!?

Old road on the left, New road on the right, and it's an art to avoid the oncoming traffic using the same single lane.