A Week for Foodies and Fiance's

Congratulations to Alex and Alicia on your engagement!  We are so happy and excited.  We love you and this gives us one more thing to look forward to when we get home.  We love you both!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving; we certainly did.  But let's back up to the first of the week.  As President and Sister Clark were at a mission presidents' seminar most of the week, we filled in for them on some duties. On Monday, we picked up a sister companionship and took them to Clark Medical City as one of them needed some bloodwork done.  Their area is about halfway between Tarlac and Clark, so we picked them up and got back on the highway, but we mistakenly went the wrong way.  Sister Whiting was busy visiting with the sisters, and Elder Whiting automatically turned toward Tarlac instead of Clark.  We didn't realize our mistake until there was nowhere to turn around except at Tarlac.  The sisters were good about the whole thing and Sister Whiting had a good time teasing Elder Wrong Way.  We finally got to Clark, the sister had her bloodwork done, and we delivered them back to their apartment.  We must say, if ever we need medical treatment, we will go to Clark--it's a first class facility, one of the best in the Philippines. Not scary like some hospitals we have visited.

Tuesday evening we began the week of feasting as we had the Tarlac sisters over for dinner.  We love hosting them, and it's fun to get to know each new sister assigned to the area.  Wednesday, we fulfilled another assignment for President Clark.  If each companionship in a zone baptizes two people in a month, they have achieved the Standard of Excellence and earn a pizza party.  With all of the hard work in October, we had several zone achieve Standard of Excellence.  Three zones chose to have their pizza party on the same day. and since the Clark's were at the seminar, we were asked to take the pizza to Gapan Zone, about an hour and a half drive from Tarlac. So we picked up the pizza, made the drive, and were warmly welcomed by the Gapan Zone.  We joined them in eating pizza, then continued south through an area of the mission we had never been to.  We made a loop around Mount Arayat, the dormant volcano that is a prominant landmark in the mission, and made our way to Angeles to pick up orientation books and look for ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner at a duty free store in Clark. We were happy to get out of the car that evening, it was a long day of driving, albeit through a very beautiful part of the mission.

Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, we sort of celebrated.  It was one of the office elder's birthday, and Elder and Sister Pugh came to Tarlac for errands, so we took him and his companion to a Chinese restaurant for lunch--his first experience with Chinese food. Afterward, we had cake and ice cream at the office.

Friday, President and Sister Clark were back in town, so we met at the mission home in the afternoon for our Thanksgiving celebration. Each of us brought a dish to share and we had turkey, ham, funeral potatoes,  and other delicious food, including apple, pumpkin, and pecan pie that the Clark's found at S&R on their way home from Manila.  We couldn't believe our good fortune!  It was such a nice time.  We then visited and planned the Christmas Conference.  It was a wonderul day that we hated to see end.

Yesterday, we finished up the week's work in the office, and today we attended church in Dapdap. And yes, we have been eating Thanksgiving leftovers, which are the best!

We leave you with the following thought: As Elder Whiting has been preparing to read the Christmas Story (Luke 2) at the upcoming dinner party for the stake and district presidents and wives, he has thought we often overlook verse 19: "but Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart."

Mahal Kita and Maligayang Pasko,
Elder and Sister Whiting

Jeepney of the Week

Left to right: Elder Whiting, Sister Touli, Sister Lagilayan, Sister Whiting, Sister Evans, Sister Bandoy

Gapan Zone Pizza Party

Up close and personal with beautiful Mount Arayat

Birthday lunch.  L-R: Elder Whiting, Sister Whiting, Sister Pugh, Elder Pugh, birthday boy Elder Apolinario, Elder Silva

Thanksgiving at the Mission Home

Pie!!

Thanksgiving dinner at the Mission Home.  L-R: Elder and Sister Whiting, President and Sister Clark,
Elder and Sister Pugh, Elder and Sister Spung, Elder and Sister Dansie.

It's Still Hot

We see where it has turned off cold back home with some snow falling.  No such luck here--it's still hot.  We did get some rain last week, and looking out the window of the mission office it looked cold. But it was just an illusion brought on by the air conditioning.  We ran into a senior couple serving in the Quezon North Mission while shopping at S&R last week. They are from Canada and have been here just three months. The sister summed up how we feel when she said she missed the crisp, fresh air. Here, sometimes the air is so heavy it's hard to breath.

The highlight of the week was Zone Conference. We always enjoy the spiritual feast that it is.  Elder Whiting gave the spiritual thought to open the conference.  He talked about how our mothers love us so much because they do so much for us; and that is why our Savior loves us so much, because of what He had done for us.  The conference theme was one of encouragement to meet the high expectations in the mission, and to develop Christlike attributes.  Also, we had special guests, Elder Collins, one of the doctors from the MRC, and his wife. Elder Collins emphasized the importance of staying healthy. After all, a sick missionary cannot do the work he has been called to do.  He taught the missionaries some habits they should develop to stay healthy.

The rest of the week was spent in the office; except Friday we did some more apartment inspections.  We went to Dau and Santa Lucia, two areas of the mission we hadn't visited yet.  Santa Lucia is a very quaint farming community which made us feel like we had stepped back in time. The elders in these two areas are good, strong, obedient missionaries and the inspections were easy because both places were clean and orderly, and their 72 hour kits were in good order. Elder Whiting replaced one burned out light bulb and that was it.  After the inspections, we met up with Elder and Sister Pugh at S&R for lunch, as they were doing apartment inspections in the area as well.

Last week Elder Whiting was a little under the weather, and this week it's Sister Whiting's turn.  We are very grateful to have had such good health on our mission, and when we have been ill, we are grateful for speedy recoveries. The upcoming week will be a busy one. We will celebrate Thanksgiving this coming Friday at the mission home with the Clark's and all of the senior couples. We are supposed to bring our favorite Thanksgiving dish to share.  Sister Whiting had to settle for her third choice of what to bring because the ingredients are not available here for the first two choices.

We hope all of you have a happy Thanksgiving and always remember how blessed we are.  We leave you with this thought from President Howard W. Hunter; "Those who are filled with the love of Christ do not seek to force others to be better, they inspire others to do better."

Mahal Kita,
Elder and Sister Whiting

Jeepney of the Week

L-R: Elder Pugh, Sister Pugh, Sister Clark, Sister Collins, Elder Collins, Elder Whiting

Zone Conference Tarlac Side; about half of the missionaries of the Angeles Mission

Horse drawn peddler's cart with homemade items for sale

Pedicab in Santa Lucia

The Beginning of the End?

We've had another busy week--it seems like every week is busy.  We are happy to be busy helping the Lord's Kingdom roll forth in this part of His vineyard.

Monday, Elder Whiting met up with Elder Spung and the Zone Leaders in Guimba to look at housing for a companionship there. Have we mentioned how challenging it is to find adequate housing in this country?  When we say adequate, we mean a safe, sound structure that is screened, doesn't leak or flood, has decent plumbing and water pressure, in a safe neighborhood within the missionaries' area.  None of it is fancy, just very basic housing. We have been looking for some time in this area and thought we had a place, but the landlord wanted too much money for the necessary improvements, so we just keep looking.

The rest of the week Elder Whiting spent setting up his new computer and catching up on work.  Friday, instead of going into the office, we inspected four missionary houses--which were of varying degrees of repair and cleanliness. Then we traveled to Clark to the big mall there searching for some needed office supplies. While there, we ate at Wendy's! We were looking forward to a Wendy's frosty, but it just didn't taste the same as back home.  Whether it was the lack of ingredients found in the U.S. or a tweak in the recipe to appeal to the local taste buds we don't know, but it was disappointing.  We finished the day with a shopping trip to S&R where we stocked up on Kirkland Chocolate Covered Almonds, which taste exactly like they do at home!  We got our real California milk and other imported American products and left happy.  We are glad for this little slice of America.

Yesterday morning, Sister Whiting went with Sister Clark and a member who is a seamstress to purchase fabric for a malong--a traditional Filipino fabric tube that can be used as a dress or turbin or bag or a hundred other things depending on how it is tied.  The member guided us to a little shop down a narrow street full of little shops crammed with all sorts of items.  Of course we got lots of stares as usual, but we are used to it now and just smile at everyone.

At about 11 pm one night last week, Sister Whiting noticed flashing lights outside the window.  She peeked out to see a barangay police car parked and the power pole and lines across the street on fire.  The wiring was burning and dropping flaming debris on the ground.  The wiring for power, phone, and cable is a mess here.  They never take down the old cable, just add new on top of it.  We don't know how they know what is what.  Back to the story.  The police car left and the fire was still burning!  Below the fire was the neighbor's car.  Elder Whiting walked across the street and pounded on the door for at least 15 minutes, but no one ever came to the door, and the fire burned on.  About 20 minutes after the barangay police left, the power company came with a boom truck (most of the time they just lean a ladder on the wires and climb up the ladder to service them.)  They put the fire out, looked around a bit and left.  That's the Filipino way. We assume they came back the next day and repaired things in the daylight.  We never did see the neighbors.

We found an unused set of Christmas lights and some left behind missionary Christmas stockings, so Sister Whiting decorated our room for Christmas.  We have been listening to Christmas music for a couple of weeks now.  That is also the Filipino way! Today, Elder Whiting woke up not feeling well, so we only attended sacrament meeting.  There's been a lot of flu going around the mission, but Sister Whiting thinks it was the jalapenos he had for dinner last night.

Yesterday, we got the notice that our replacements have accepted their call and will be here the first of February.  Ironically, they are classmates of our brother-in-law Leon, and he and Sister Whiting's sister Marilynn know them very well.  How small of a world is that?  Now we shift gears a little and begin preparing for their arrival the first of February.  We are grateful that we have a month to train them--we will need it!  It's a strange feeling ...

We leave you with this scripture to ponder in the aftermath of the stunning election results, as we contemplate the future of our nation, and know it is our responsibility to keep America great:

"Behold, this is a choice land, 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 2:12 (read verses 7-12)--

Mahal Kita
Elder and Sister Whiting

Jeepney of the Week.  Horses are a common hood ornament.

Maligayang Pasco!

A typical jumble of power and phone lines.

Bath time!
The view outside Elder Whiting's office window.  

Guys Day Out

A typical fresh street market known as Palangke

Tarlac City Street

A Grandmother (the word for grandmother is Lola) out for her morning walk.

"Day of the Dead" Computer

It's been a week of ups and downs and an upside down schedule which had us wondering at times what day it was.  Because All Saints/Souls Day fell on the day Mission Leadership Council was scheduled, and because this is a lock-down day for the missionaries, MLC was moved from Tuesday to Thursday, which meant that we had a late night in the office on Wednesday instead of Monday, and, well it was just a confusing week.

Halloween is hardly celebrated in the Philippines, but November 1st--All Saints/Souls day is one of the biggest holidays of the year.  Think Memorial Day on steroids.  It's a national holiday and people go hang out at the cemetery at their loved ones graves or crypts.  They clean things up, play games, have a picnic, light candles, decorate the graves, some even stay all night.  In the past it has been a dangerous night because many would also get drunk and cause problems.  But Philippine President Duterte said no alcohol this year and things seemed quieter.  But our missionaries were in by 6 pm anyway. That afternoon we had one innovative sister companionship go to the cemetery in their area and hand out Plan of Salvation pamphlets.  We thought that was a good idea!

In keeping with the "Day of the Dead" theme, Elder Whiting's computer decided that would be a good day to die--literally.  It started slowing down, and then, just quit! Nothing Elder Whiting did could revive it.  Fortunately, he had backed up the data the day before. This was a great lesson that backing up is important! Of course it being a holiday, there was no one availabe at Church IT in Manila.  We did call an IT service missionary who is really good, and who has helped us out before.  He agreed to come on Wednesday, but long story short, after working on it all day, he declared it dead and gone.  The service missionary verified with Manila that the computer was toast (hard drive failure) and arrangements were made for delivery of a new computer.  It came yesterday, and Elder Whiting has it almost back to where it was.  Meanwhile, he was a man without a computer and could be found wandering the office using whatever computer was available to do his work.

Thursday we traveled to Burgos and Dapdap to do missionary apartment inspections, all the while getting updates from Sister Clark; who, being from Chigaco was monitering the Cubs/Indians game in between her turn at teaching Mission Leadership Council.  It was a happy day for Cubbie fans.  And since three of the five senior couples--including President and Sister Clark--are from the Chicago area, it was a happy day for the Angeles Mission!

Friday, we had a really nice senior outing day. We gathered at the mission home, and the sisters left for Rosa's quilt shop in Angeles, while the elders went sight seeing at Clark.  Rosa's makes beautiful handmade and hand quilted products and we all came away with lighter wallets and beautiful handcrafted quilts and bags. We then met back at the mission home where we had a delicious lunch (Sister Lopez is the best cook in the Philippines!) and spent the afternoon decorating the mission home inside and out for Christmas.  Now don't judge! We're not early with Christmas decorations! Since the Philippines start celebrating in September, (the Manila MTC has had their tree up since then) we are actually a little late with decorating.  There are beautiful nativities appearing everywhere in town, from McDonalds to the Provincial Capital.  It is refreshing to be in a country that embraces Christianity and displays it proudly.

Yesterday, we attended a baptism at the stake center and Elder Whiting worked on getting his new computer up.  We told you about the "October Blest" initiative in the mission.  In spite of two typhoons, and two baptizing weekends lost because of the typhoons and General Conference, we had 1/3 more baptisms than average, and the momentum is spilling over into our "November Quest".  And we are hoping for a very "White Christmas" in the Angeles Mission.  It is very gratifying to play just a small part in helping our brothers and sisters find the restored gospel. Many lives are being blessed.

We leave you with these words from Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Twelve from his October 2016 Conference talk, "To Whom Shall We Go?":

"If any one of you is faltering in your faith, I ask you the same question that Peter asked: 'To whom shall (you) go?' ... where will you go? What will you do? ... Never abandon the great truths revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Never stop reading, pondering, and applying the doctrine of Christ contained in the Book of Mormon.  Never fail to give equal time to the Lord through honest attempts to understand what the Lord has revealed.  As my dear friend and former colleaugue Elder Neal A. Maxwell once said, 'we should not assume ... that just because something is unexplainable by us it is unexplainable' ... In the end, each one of us must respond to the Savior's question: 'Will ye also go away?' We all have to search for our own answer to that question ... I'm just grateful to know that the answers are always there, and if we seek them--really seek with real intent and with full purpose of a prayerful heart--we will eventually find the answers to our questions as we continue on the gospel path."

Mahal Kita,
Elder and Sister Whiting

Jeepney of the Week "Top Gun" -- for you Alex and Alicia

An example of a Philippine cemetery

Brother Abao doing CPR on Elder Whiting's computer

Rosa's Quilt Shop
L-R: Sister Clark, Sister Dansie, Sister Whiting, Sister Spung, Sister Pugh

Elders outing at Clark
L-R: Elder Dansie, Elder Spung, President Clark, three "guards" they had to hire, Elder Pugh
Photographer -- Elder Whiting

Mission Home Christmas Tree