President and Sister Peterson went out of their mission boundaries😱 Actually, they got permission from Elder Wakolo to check out the hospital in Tuguegarao. Tuguegarao is just below their mission boundary. It is where the missionaries on the Cagayan side of their mission would go if there were a medical emergency. There are clinics near the missionaries that can handle most things, but something like an appendicitis would need to be taken across the mission boundaries. So far they have not had to send a missionary there, but they wanted to check out the hospital so they would be familiar should the occasion arise. They enjoyed seeing a few things outside of their mission, but both agreed that it felt weird to them and as soon as they crossed back over
into their mission they felt better.
On one of their many long drives, President Peterson said the following:
"We are heading out to Ballesteros on the coast of northern Philippines, we've done 48 interviews in the last 72 hours- traveling from area to area - and it's been crazy, but good. So here we are cruising along. I know it's game day today (BYU vs. Utah), and it's nice I can be out here and not have to worry about it. I can just do interviews and do the Lord's work, because your heart doesn't have to be broken when your heart is on higher things. Right now we are working with the districts and of course missionaries. We have a few concerns, one of them being a sister who has gotten Dengue fever. Mom has been communicating with her every day. Dengue is from low flying mosquitos and our missionaries rarely get it, but if they do it lasts at least 2 weeks. It is like having a really bad flu, and missionaries are miserable as they are stuck in their apartments feeling terrible and not being able to work for so long. There's nothing you can really do for it, it won't kill you or anything, it just has to run it's course. We constantly preach repellant, mosquito nets and Permethrin!
The last two transfers we got a lot of Filipino missionaries and in the next few, we are getting a lot of Americans. The whole time we have been here, we have always had more Filipinos than Americans, but after the next two batches arrive, we will, for the first time, have more Americans than Filipinos. We have been really happy with the missionaries as they are coming with a different attitude towards obedience. They are training them well in the MTC. They are ready. There has been such a different atmosphere than what we first came to in terms of obedience and being consecrated to the work, and we have certainly spent our first year trying to promote these principles."
Sister Peterson said the following:
"I think we told you that we have two new Sr. Couples coming! One of them are the Wards - Kim and Kathy Ward from Nils' ward in Meridian. They will be here the end of September! Then we have Dad's missionary friend who served in his same mission, Elder Roundtree and his wife. They are coming in December. We are very excited to have both of these couples! I am busy getting apartments ready for them. It is like my own little version of extreme home makeover - fixing, upgrading and deep cleaning a place that they can feel comfortable in.
Another interesting fact is that there about 8 missionaries from our mission who are now couples - some of them are engaged! These are missionaries who have completed their missions, gone home, and then met up with fellow missionaries who were serving at the same time. It's kinda fun! They have all emailed us and told us, "We promise we didn't have a relationship while we were there!" 😊
Today is the first day of September and the first day of the “Ber” months - Septem-Ber, Octo-Ber, Novem-Ber, Decem-Ber - haha. This is when the Filipinos begin to celebrate the Christmas Season and so, today in Sacrament meeting, we sang Joy to the World for the opening Hymn. Although there are Christmas items in the stores, most people still do not put their tree up until December. It is mostly just the music. It is on the radio, over intercoms in the stores and people are singing it. I love Christmas music and so I have no complaints.
We drove to Cagayan last Saturday, to the Aparri District Conference that Dad was presiding at. Due to how expensive it is to travel, all three meetings; Adult, General, and Leadership sessions are all held on Sunday. The whole family comes and the members of the family who are not involved in the meeting sit outside the building visiting and the kids play. During the general session, I love looking out at the congregation of 100s of Filipinos and seeing 20 of our missionaries standing out like buoys in McCall Lake - smiling and looking for anyone who needs support and lifting. Some of them are new and their eyes have a glazed over look as the Ilocano and Tagalog languages flow from the pulpit, but it doesn’t come from Dad and I - other than a word here and there, we still give our talks in English - just at a much slower speed and enunciated like a phonetics lesson - haha. The Filipinos understand English - they just don’t want to speak it. They refer to speaking English as getting a “nose bleed” because it supposedly hurts their brains so much haha. The other day, one of our Filipina missionaries was commenting in MLC and she stopped and put her finger up and said, “wait, while I make my English” - it was so cute! We are encouraged to have all our Zone Conferences and other meetings in English. English is the universal language and Filipinos, who learn it well, get better jobs and become leaders in the church. Every Filipino is given books when they arrive in the MTC to study English with and then are tested at the end of their mission.
It is a big deal to help them learn English.
We have really incredible missionaries! They are consecrated! They are working so hard and loving it! Like a proud parent, my heart swells with pride at the things they are learning, the work they are doing and the way they are growing! Yes, we still have a few that struggle and don’t see the vision of what is possible, but we don’t give up on them! We are not only finding Scattered Israel here in the Philippines, we are building up the next generation! Our goal is to send home missionaries who are more fully converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ than when they came!"
Well there you have it! It's literally Christmas in September in the Philippines. If that doesn't make you want to visit, then you must be crazy. It seems to me that this is so cheerfully typical of the Filipino culture - they are always focusing on the positive things of life and love to have a good time. My parents are thriving and we are so thankful for your thoughts and prayers for them.
We love you all!
- Sadie
As always the pictures and captions below are from Sister Peterson!
Our Senior Sisters came to wish me a happy birthday! Sister Robinson had made this way yummy (and darling) chocolate cake with Almond frosting and they all gave me a gift certificate to take me to lunch
and have a pedicure with them.😊
“Keep Distance”
I gave a little pep talk on exercise that gets “your heart pumping and makes you breath hard”.
Then we gave everyone jump ropes.
Then we gave everyone jump ropes.
Sister Drzayich and Sister Robinson have started checking all the apartments for cleanliness on the Ilocos side and for the first time we gave some awards. Next cycle they will do the Cagayan side.
Dad told the poignant story of Brigham Young and Heber C Kimball when they were called to serve foreign missions and then had all the missionaries repeat the phrase. If you haven’t read the story, I recommend it. It is powerful!
Vaccinations given at Zone Conference. I recruited some of the Sisters to help with the process.
A continuation of my birthday celebration - the Sr. Sisters took me to lunch and we got pedicures (Sister Snyder got a manicure). This is at a place in the mall - there was a cockroach running around my chair and the faucet did not work, so she went in the back and brought out a bowl with water that was brownish tinted... Sister Robinsons lady didn’t even give her any water to soak in, just wiped her feet off haha. Oh well, it was just fun hanging with these wonderful ladies!
I haven't had toenail polish on since well before we arrived here and so
I decided to go with bright red!
Sr. Sisters are THE BEST! Their service in our mission is so appreciated!
We made some cleaning kits to give to each apartment, and the missionaries are so excited to receive them. I am sure it is the last gift they would have wanted before their mission 😉
Game time during MLC.
I love making it for our missionaries!
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