February, 2014
Dear Family and Friends,
Two months until we return to our homeland! I am not excited
much! We had our chest x-rays today so that we can get our exit visas. We also
have our reservations and tickets ready for our departure. We have made all of
our doctors and dentist appointments and I have made appointments for my hair,
manicure, and pedicure, so I will be back to normal. We are packing a box to ship home with our
Philippine nativity, and some clothes we never used (too heavy for this hot
climate).
We have heard from our replacements and they have already
served two missions in Africa and England.
They are from St. George, Utah.
They were hoping to overlap, but we will be leaving on April 7 and they
arrive on April 10. They are more
intelligent than we are and only signed up for an 18 month mission. Dan has
been sending them instructions and other helps to set up their stay here and we
spoke on Facetime. They are very nice
and will do a great job here. They also have previous experience with the
employment services so they will be able to assist in setting up the new Self
Reliance Center here in Bacolod.
Dan and I are already making plans for after we come
home. We have trips to take to see all
the grandchildren and children, one to Hawaii, Sedona and Boston already in the
works. Plus, Dan needs to purchase a car
and a lap top (his is on it's last legs), we need to finish our back yard with
the built in kitchen and some furniture, and then decide what we want to do with
the rest of our lives. We do want to
work in the temple so we will be looking forward to that in the fall after all
the trips are over.
This week I was given the assignment to put together the
preferred job and school documents for the Bacolod and Iloilo missions. We
thought it would keep me busy for the entire week, but it took about 8 hours
total. Dan keeps saying we struggle to cram
one day's work into seven days. I guess
we are not your normal old people. We
have finally heard from those priesthood leaders in charge of the new program
and still do not really have any idea how they will proceed or if we can assist
in getting things up to speed before we go so we just continue to make things
up as we go and try to keep busy. I feel
very guilty watching the other senior couples run around crazy while we sit in
our office with air conditioning and try to keep busy. It is difficult to be in this transition
period and feeling like we can be doing more.
We have loved being able to help the young adults here, but know it the
new program were in force sooner we could have helped so many more. It will be exciting to keep in touch with the
young people as they progress and finish school and become employed. Their lives will be so much better with a more
secure future.
Today was Super Bowl Monday in the Philippines and
unfortunately it was a sleeper of a game and we did not have any internet to
entertain us. At lunch time we went to
the mall to eat lunch and buy groceries (yes the markets are in the mall). While we had internet during lunch we found
out that many of our Tacloban transfers were being returned to Tacloban so we
quickly went to the Stake center in hopes of seeing them and giving them our
love before they leave. We are so
thankful for the many missionaries that came to Bacolod and infused our mission
with enthusiasm and spirituality for the last three months. We were talking to many of the mothers on
Facebook as we sat with their daughters waiting for the Mission President. We
will miss Sister Hogge, Sister Nelson, and Sister Campbell (Australia) so very
much and I am not sure how many others are going back. The only reason I know about these sisters is
Sister Hogge's mother sent us the heads up that she was returning so we went to
hug her and ran into the other two sisters.
Although I sometimes wonder why we were sent here, the young sisters
always thank me for the love and support we give not only them, but their
mothers. Our Mission President does not
understand a mother's love and concern so if it were not for me the mom's back
in the US would not know much about their children. One of the Senior elders said the mother's
should butt out of the mission business and it is not their business and I just
let him have it. The mother's of these
young missionaries who were in Tacloban did not know for days if their
missionaries were dead or alive during the typhoon. I told him if he had ever lost a child in
death he would understand their need to know how their missionaries are doing.
I also told him that their children was their business. Oh my trouble making again. No I have not changed much at all. Sorry to those who thought I might mellow out
a bit (Bishop Stewart). So after taking
photos, exchanging emails, taking belongings to ship home to the US (it is too
expensive for the young missionaries to send so we will do it), and giving hugs
we came home to spend the rest of our day relaxing. We will be the lucky ones ( not sarcasm) to
drive the young sisters to San Carlos tomorrow so we will get to visit more
with Sister Smoot who has been here 6 month and is now transferring. We had lunch dates set with her and with
Sister Hogge this week and transfers cancelled them. We are thankful for the
opportunity to serve the young missionaries. They sometimes keep me going.
Well, that is it for February. I know you all sit with bated breath waiting
for these letters so I will get them ready and into the mail. I love you all so very much and am counting
the nine Sundays until our return home
Lots of love and hugs.
