My parents spent this week saying goodbye to their first big
group of missionaries and welcoming in the new group of 13 missionaries – it
was supposed to be 18, but 5 are on Visa delays. The new group consisted of 1
American sister, 4 Filipino sisters and about 6 American Elders / 2 Filipino
Elders.
Miracles were seen as they said goodbye to the missionaries.
One Elder had to stay behind for another day because there were no flights to Guam
until the following day. When this specific missionary got to the hotel in Manila
the next day they didn’t have his passport (they keep the passports in Manila
and then hand them to them before they fly home) While looking for it, the
shuttle driver said “I gave it to the Polynesian sister that was leaving
yesterday”. Well you can see where this is going… she was on a flight to Tonga,
so there was no way they were going to be able to get it from her. So my
parents thought “How are we going to get this missionary another passport? So
we prayed and prayed and then just minutes after, got a call saying the
passport was found - a concierge had it at the hotel in Manila.”
It came so clearly to my dad which missionaries should be
the new missionaries trainers. I liked a
comment he made where he said that in his opinion trainers are the most
important missionaries! He said that before the trainers found out who they
would be training, one sister said “I got goose bumps when I shook that sisters
hand” - even though she did not know it yet, that was the sister she would be
training. Another new elder, right as he entered the
room, pointed to one of the trainers and said , “I think he is going to be my
trainer” and it was. My Dad said, “It’s definitely not our work,
it’s the Lords work.”
Missionaries coming and going, for my mom, means a lot of
cooking! She is doing a great job (I wouldn’t expect anything less, she is a
fantastic cook!) and the missionaries all loved her “costa vida” dinner and
“kneaders” style breakfast (French toast and breakfast burritos).
All the new missionaries were offered a Filipino delicacy,
Balut, to indoctrinate them into the culture. Since Dad was already in the club back from his mission days in the Phillipines mom decided to join them! Balut is a fertilized duck egg which has been incubated for a period of 14
days. The contents are eaten directly
from the shell.. and it looks like this.. YUM!
We hear great things about the new group of missionaries.
Dad said they are some sharp missionaries! Humble and ready to go! He told us about one of the sisters from
Arizona. As the only American sister out of the group, I think he wanted to
make sure she was ok as she went out to her area. He said “We took her out to
her area and I walked in that apartment with her and her trainer/companion to
help them with their bags and such and it wasn’t much. It was just a dinky,
dirty little apartment out in the middle of nowhere and I thought when I was
looking at her that she was going to start crying and man was that hard. We
will see what happens but the missionaries are finding out RIGHT NOW that this
is hard.”
On Saturday, they drove back to “Ballasteros” for a district
conference. They do all the sessions in one day because it’s hard for the
Filipinos to travel back and forth. Dad
spoke in all three sessions. During the
Priesthood session, the women and children usually just hang around the church
waiting for the men, but this time, Mom gathered them all in the gym and did a
training on Ministering.
Enjoy the video/picture overload below!....
-Lacey
Eating lunch in front of the mission home. "Costa Vida for the outgoing missionaries. Even the Filipinos like it."
"Feeding the outgoing missionaries at Shakeys Pizza. I think the last time I saw a Shakeys in Idaho was 1977 haha."
"Something useful Dad brought from home... showing some missionaries how its done!"
"Our first big batch leaving. Even though we were only with them for a month, we felt like they were ours from the beginning."
"These two little stinkers showed up to the mission office 2 hours after they were supposed to. We barely go them to the airport on time to head home"
"Waiting at the airport and enjoying some AC"
"Our first Empanadas"
"French toast and breakfast burritos!"
Fresh off the plane
"Our first batch!" The new group of missionaries
"The Assistants posing on the new sofa in dads office. It looks like children's furniture but it is just Filipino size. Perfect for the office as it doesn't take up much space."
"The Assistants and Office Elders getting an English lesson from their President"
"Our new Senior Sisters, Sister Cox and Sister Snyder (sisters) just off the plane"
"New batch and their trainers"
"Our first ward party. It was in honor of us and the Senior Sisters arriving and the Nelsons leaving." They fed them hot dogs because they think that's what Americans like. They also stuck marshmallows on each end of the hot dogs which I thought was really funny and cute.
"The ward gave us these framed posters as a gift. The Bishopric is standing with us. The sister on the far right just got back from her mission."