Elder and Sister Whiting in the Philippines: "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