This
is transfer week. That means that our
efforts in training missionaries for FH approaches have come to a stop. This will be short report but great
memories. We went to the full day
workshop that Hoopes put on for the departing missionaries. It is designed to help them prepare for
their futures and is amazingly good.
They take most of their material from a talk by Elder Christiofferson
about being the best you can be and knowing that Father does not expect us to
live in humble poverty but wants us to have an abundant life. For the Filipino missionaries it means they
have to get an education rather than go home help their families exist. If they do that they are enabling the circle
of poverty. This batch of missionaries
have had an enormous impact on the mission and we will miss many of them. Sister Bakly, and Elders McMurtery,
Tuituvaki, Abasante, Christianson, Petero…Sister Watson is just in the picture
I am taking because the missionaries wanted her there. She is not trying to sneak home. There is a potential Typhoon on it’s way so flights may be
disrupted. There are 21 new
missionaries coming in and 12 going home.
Elder
Tuituvake lead the singing in the workshop.
He has great (not) skills.
The typhoon hit us but didn’t
do much damage. It did mess up some
flights so we were waiting to find out when the new missionaries would arrive
by bus or air and the batch could fly out.
The departing missionaries were going home to Fiji, Australia and
USA. We finally got word on Wednesday
morning the new missionaries left Manila on a morning flight and would be at
the Pili airport at 10:50 AM. We took
all four of the mission vehicles to pick them up. Sister Watson and I took the Hyundai Van and packed it with new missionaries
from Hawaii and the Philippines. The
trip back to Canaman chapel with them was so fun. They were dazed and confused and still had a long day of training
ahead of them. The departing
missionaries finally left in the afternoon.
We saw them at the airport. They
were passing the time enjoying each other for one last time. There were a couple of rowdy ones in that
batch. We will miss them so much!
On Thursday Sister Watson and I went Christmas
shopping for gifts from us and from the Rosemary Ward to distribute to the
humble people in the Iriga district that we have served with for the past
year. We wanted to give the children
one Christmas to remember. We packaged
the gifts and took pictures of what the great Rosemary ward did for them.
We were supposed to go to the
Christmas party in Ibayugan on Friday but it was still raining and it is a
muddy walk up to the meeting area on a good day so we went to Cotnogan
instead. We took Hoopes with us and met
President Oliva at his Barangay office.
Last night he was awarded his special honor of being the most productive
Barangay chief out of 418 barangay in his district. The local leaders, the mayor of Palangua, and the provincial
officials, governors etc. were all there.
It was in Lagazpi so we were not allowed to go but President Oliva said
there were pictures of Sister Watson and I and videos of us supporting him in
his community events. We attended his
presentation and was asked to speak about his accomplishments in November. We got a picture of him with his award on
his office desk.
We love him and his family so much!
The bagio (typhoon) has
passed and left only puddles in Naga.
However, it really hit the southern Luzon area around Iriga and Bato and
was worse in Albay where Cotnogan is.
President Oliva had been without power since Monday. The school was shut down on Tuesday and many
people spent Monday night in the church building because it is a cinder block
structure. There was a lot of damage to
the jungle and some huts in that area.
This is just part of their lives.
The media makes a bigger deal out of it for us to see in North
America. We would be scared and
devastated by the destruction but it is part of Filipino life. They are a resilient people.
We did more Christmas business on Saturday and
had choir practice at 3:00 PM in the Naga chapel behind our apartment. The practices are so fun! Tomorrow is the musical presentation. It is their first attempt at a musical
sacrament presentation so we are starting from scratch. This is part of the choir getting ready to
sing on Sunday morning before the congregation arrived. Sister Watson is front and center and I am
with Elder Hoopes in the bass section at the back on the left side…hiding!
There was a group of people
gathering in the parking lot behind our apartment beside the church at 6
PM. It was dark and hot out. I had to go to the car and asked what they
were doing and they said they were gathering to go caroling. I invited myself and went upstairs to get
Valerie. We took our car with two other
vehicles and bought 25 people went caroling to some select less active and
senior members. We had a great time and
enjoyed the laughs and Christmas spirit.
This ends a very busy yet uneventful week. We love you all! Only four more sleeps until Santa comes…although he is not a big
figure here and rarely visits. If there
are gifts they are given at midnight on Christmas eve. The big things about this season are the
parties, fiestas, gatherings, food and excitement. Even the poor find ways to be excited and party in their own way,
and Filipinos know how to party!
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