Thanksgiving 2013!!

Thanksgiving, 2013. 

It is Sunday and we are home from church today as Dan has thrown his back out, so I thought I would journal a little about my thoughts. It has been a busy couple of weeks.  We have traveled to Manila to hear about the new PEF Self Reliance Centers and loan changes.  I am so excited that bachelor's degrees are back and that we can be useful the last five months of our mission.  We were so concerned about the drop in our PEF applications both Dan and I wrote letters to Elder Gay about the circumstances here in the Philippines and the lack of jobs without a bachelor's degree and PEF listened.  Of course after going from over 200 applications down to 2 applications, we must have known what we were talking about.  The program will combine the Employment Recourse Centers and the PEF offices into the PEF Self Reliance Centers with computers for writing resumes, job searches and other training and classes.  We do not know where the Galo center will be, since there is not room in the Galo building, but it will be exciting to watch and be a part of the planning even though we will not be around when it opens and starts to build the self reliance here in the Philippines.

On our return to Bacolod we helped transport the transfer missionaries from the Tacloban Mission.  We received 16 transfer missionaries who had experienced the devastation of the typhoon. They had seen death and destruction and yet were so anxious to get back to work.  They were sad to have left the wonderful people and mission president they love in Tacloban, but so excited to get back to serving the Philippino people.  We also met three missionaries fresh out of the MTC in Manila slated to go to Tacloban. We were able to spend the first day after their arrival just visiting and assisting them getting used to a new area and president and then they had the same orientation new missionaries get before sending them with their new companions out into the Bacolod mission area.  We love the young missionaries already and they have the most valiant spirits.  Only one of our missionaries here in Bacolod lost family members.  Sister Bendoy lost nine family members in Tacloban and decided since she would be returning home in December she would go to be with her remaining sister and brother.  Her sister lives in Manila and so she and her brother (who survived the typhoon) will go to be with her in Manila.  What a tragedy for her family.  Overall, there were only thirty members of the church killed and minimal damage to the roofs of some of the buildings, but not one missionary was lost.  What a miracle.

Friday we assisted with repacking rice and clothing into family size packages. The leaders thought it would take us all day to pack three kilo bags of rice and several articles of clothing per family member, all day to do.  But there were so many volunteers we were done by lunch time.  I can't explain how thankful we were to be able to help with the assistance for the families in our mission area who were affected by the typhoon.  Another group of members have been building homes in Escalante also. The leader of that group is a medical doctor (anesthesiologist) from Bacolod Stake, Dr. Marty.  We love her and  can't begin to know where she gets her energy.  She has a thriving practice, has been to Manila for a conference and helped build six homes in the last two weeks.  I wish I had her stamina

As excited as I am to be getting close to our return home, I will miss the wonderful Philippine people.  I have made such dear friends here and will always appreciate the example of faith that they have shared with me.  The people here are so friendly and genuinely happy to see us.  Even the security people at the grocery store are so thrilled to see us.  I want to remember to make other feel as special as these humble people make us feel. They are generous with their meager belongings and always have a smile of their faces even when they are dealing with death and tragedy. 

We will have Thanksgiving with the senior missionaries couples this week prior to traveling to Cebu for Dan to train the priesthood leaders there, and then the next week we travel to Iloilo for the same meetings. Two weeks later we will travel to Bohol (the area affected by the earth quake) and can't wait to see our friends there. That will end the year here, and begin the last four months of our mission.  Before we came on our mission I thought we would be some of those senior missionaries to serve multiple missions, but I must admit that although this had been the most rewarding thing I have ever done, it has been the hardest thing I have ever done.  I hate being so far away from my family and unable to just hope on a plane and get to them to visit or assist them with their struggles.  I know the Lord has blessed us and our family in so many ways, but I am so excited to return to being a full time grandma.