It's been a great week in the mission. On Monday, we had a sisters conference with all the sister missionaries. A good friend of Sister Clark's, Jan Saumweber and her husband Les came for a visit. Years ago, Les was diagnosed with a debilitating disease that left him unable to work, so Jan became the breadwinner in the family. She works for Walmart and was traveling home from India and since she was in the neighborhood, stopped for a visit. She was the keynote speaker at the conference, the theme of which was "Believe to Achieve". In addition to hearing from her, we also heard from President and Sister Clark, had lunch, workshops, and a fashion show. Sister Whiting, Sister Dansie, and Sister Pugh did a role play that was so convincing the young sisters thought it was real. Sister Whiting got on the microphone after lunch and told Sisters Dansie and Pugh to go backstage and set up for the fashion show. While backstage, there was a microphone left on and Sisters Dansie and Pugh started gossiping about Sister Whiting, making fun of her dress, saying things like "someone said that when she was relief society president she was so bossy everyone quit coming to relief society", and "we do all the work and she takes all the credit." It was so convincing that the sisters thought it was real and they were visibly upset and wondered why Sister Clark didn't put a stop to it. Sister Whiting acted shocked as well, and soon Sisters Dansie and Pugh feigned that they didn't know the microphone was on and hoped that "nobody heard them". They peeked out to see all of the shocked faces. Then Sister Whiting joined them on the stage and we had a wonderful discussion on how we can't let this happen to us in the mission because we will lose the Spirit and will not progress. By the way, Sisters Whiting, Dansie, and Pugh really love each other and get along well!
Thursday, we welcomed Elder and Sister Spung to the mission. The Clark's were in Baler, so we welcomed them, oriented them, and showed them around. They were in culture shock and we just smiled as they exclaimed about everything they saw for the first time that we are now used to. That evening, we had a welcome dinner at the mission home with all of the senior couples. It was wonderful to have such a crowd, unlike a year ago when it was just us and the Clarks. We like it!
Friday we were supposed to escort the Spung's to Munoz to their house, but with the pending typhoon it was decided they should stay at the mission home until Monday. President Clark didn't want to make them feel abandoned by sending them two hours away in an unfamiliar setting where they know no one, in the middle of a typhoon. We will escort them up there tomorrow. Yesterday we monitored the typhoon, took the Spungs to dinner, dropped them off at the mission home and got home as it started raining.
The power went off for about three hours in the middle of the night, it got a little warm, but we feel blessed that that was the extent of the power outage. We have been in "lockdown" today and all church meetings were cancelled. It's been nice to have a down Sabbath day, but it's back to work tomorrow!
We leave you with this story from Elder Brett Nattress' conference talk:
"Each morning my mother read the Book of Mormon to us during breakfast. During this time, my older brother Dave and I would sit quietly but irreverently. To be completely honest, we weren't listening. We were reading the print on the cereal boxes. Finally one morning, I decided to square up with my mother. I exclaimed, 'Mom, why are you doing this to us? Why are you reading the Book of Mormon every morning? I then made a statement that I am embarrased to admit to. In fact, I can't believe I actually said it. I told her, 'Mom, I am not listening!' Her loving response was a defining moment in my life. She said, 'Son, I was in a meeting where President Marion G. Romney taught about the blessings of scripture reading. During this meeting, I received a promise that if I would read the Book of Mormon to my children every day, I would not lose them.' She then looked me straight in the eyes and, with absolute determination said, 'And I will not lose you.'"
Keep reading the Book of Mormon to you children!
Mahal Kita,
Elder and Sister Whiting
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| Jeepney of the Week --"Keep Calm and let Buddy Handle it" |
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| Angeles Mission Sisters Conference |
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| Angeles Mission Sisters Conference Luncheon |
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| Sister Pugh and Sister Whiting |
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| Tracking Typhoon Karen on Saturday. The blue line goes right through the middle of the mission. |
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| On "lockdown" during Typhoon Karen. It was lighter than forecast! |
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