Week 2-3 July 6 to July 18, 2015
July 6-9 was spent learning the various office programs we would be using. Tom will work with finances, the newsletter, the mission history, and be the secretary to the mission president. Garnalee will do referrals, baptismal records, letters, travel, and general office duties.
We spent Friday, July 10, doing our laundry and repacking the suitcases. We said good-bye to the other missionary couples who were in the training with us.
Garnalee at the Salt Lake airport.
Tom as the Salt Lake airport.
Garnalee on arrival at the Manila, Philippines airport. We left Salt Lake City at 12 PM and flew to Portland. We left Portland at 1:26 PM for Tokyo arriving at 4 PM on Sunday having crossed the International Date Line. We left Tokyo at 6 PM and landed in Manila, Philippines at 9:30 PM. We exchanged $430 at the airport and just over 19,000 Philippine pisos. The exchange rate is 45.16 pisos to $1 Us dollar. We cleared immigration and customs and proceeded to Bay 3 outside to meet our driver. He didn't come and a kind street cleaner allowed us to use his cell phone to call the contact number we were given.
Tom at the Manila, Philippines airport waiting for the driver from the Philippines Area Office to pick us up and take us the hotel. We arrived at our hotel at 11 PM and had to arise the next morning at 5:15 AM to meet the driver at 6:45 AM. The driver arrived at 7 AM to take us to the Area Office.
Map showing the Philippines divided into the 21 missions. Our mission, Quezon City North, is on the northern island of Luzon and is shaded yellow.
Elder Algar and Elder Howell, who are assistants to President Bertin, picked us up at the Area Office. They then took us to get our driver's licenses. Driving in Metro Manila and getting a driver's license here are both great adventures. Part of getting a driver's license is to visit a "medical office" (we use that term loosely) where we were weighed, measured, our eyes checked, and deemed suitable to receive a driver's license. We received a temporary license and have to return to the Driver's License Bureau in two-three months to receive a permanent one.
We were taken on a tour of the MTC in the Philippines by President Trask. There are 200 missionaries there for five to 90 days depending upon their assignment. There are additional buildings under construction which will raise the capacity to 400 missionaries. After that tour we went to KKK Restaurant in SM Mall where we had pork adobo, milk fish soup, fried vegetables, and a mango shake.
We were then taken to the mission home where President and Sister Bertin gave us a tour. They then took us to our apartment where we started to settle in. President Bertin came back to get us at 6 PM for dinner at his house.
Cleaning items provided by the Bertins were on our table when we arrived at our apartment.
Also a good variety of food provided by the other senior couples was on the counter to get us started.
We crashed into bed at 8 PM. Tom arose at 5:30 AM, however Garnalee slept until 7:30 AM.
We didn't have to go to the office until 10 AM because we were riding with Ences. Tuesday is their coding day. Coding is an effort to curb the pollution from car exhaust by not allowing vehicles on their assigned day to not drive from 7 AM to 10 AM or from 3 PM to 7 PM. Our coding day will be on Friday. Violators face a hefty fine and the loss of driver's license.
This week is Zone Conferences for the mission. The meetings are held on Tuesday and Thursday with different zones. Our zone had their meeting on Thursday. The farther out zones travel to the mission office in a jeepney. See picture to the left.
The inside of the jeepney with the missionaries smiling faces.
We spent Tuesday afternoon going to the mall purchasing sheets, a blow dryer, skirt hangers, and other necessary items for our apartment. We also tried to sign up for cell phone service but since we didn't have a CRI card we couldn't sign up.
Wednesday morning we went to the Bertins' home to check out internet and cable companies. We finally decided on a plan and will get the service hooked up on Saturday. We then went to S&R (a Costco-type store in the Philippines) where we purchased towels, food, toilet paper, etc. We spent 12,298 pisos or $273 USD. We also went to the Area Office to get the Bertins' passports with their CRI cards so they could sign up for two additional lines for our cell phones. When we arrived back at the mission home we had to transfer our purchases to the Toyota Corolla that will be our car because it was coding day for the Bertins' car. Garnalee drove from the Bertins' to our apartment and then to the mall for phone service. Tom drove from the mall to the Bertins' and then to our apartment. It was a scary first adventure as driving rules in the Philippines are suggestions only and generally not followed. There were no fatalities in our first driving adventure.
We followed Elder and Sister Ence to the office on Thursday morning. They took us on the short cut which is on windy roads. We had the first rain since arriving. It poured!
Friday is our coding day so Garnalee did some laundry. Our washer and dryer are on the roof in a covered cage. We left the apartment at 10 AM and returned home at 3 PM. After we got to the office we remembered that it was a holiday and coding doesn't apply on holidays. Today was cloudy and rainy off and on which means the humidity was higher.
Our P-Day (Preparation Day) is Saturday. Garnalee finished the last of the laundry. The cable guys showed up at 11:30 AM. As they installed the cable and internet they asked why we were in the Philippines. We were able to share a little bit about our Church with them . One of them agreed to let the missionaries bring him a Book of Mormon. He gave us his name, phone number, and address. We will give his information to the missionaries.
After lunch we followed the Ences to where we will attend church for the next 18 months. Some young men were playing basketball in the parking lot. When we entered the church the Primary children were practicing a song for Ward Conference next Sunday.
July 6-9 was spent learning the various office programs we would be using. Tom will work with finances, the newsletter, the mission history, and be the secretary to the mission president. Garnalee will do referrals, baptismal records, letters, travel, and general office duties.
We spent Friday, July 10, doing our laundry and repacking the suitcases. We said good-bye to the other missionary couples who were in the training with us.
We were taken on a tour of the MTC in the Philippines by President Trask. There are 200 missionaries there for five to 90 days depending upon their assignment. There are additional buildings under construction which will raise the capacity to 400 missionaries. After that tour we went to KKK Restaurant in SM Mall where we had pork adobo, milk fish soup, fried vegetables, and a mango shake.
We were then taken to the mission home where President and Sister Bertin gave us a tour. They then took us to our apartment where we started to settle in. President Bertin came back to get us at 6 PM for dinner at his house.
We crashed into bed at 8 PM. Tom arose at 5:30 AM, however Garnalee slept until 7:30 AM.
We didn't have to go to the office until 10 AM because we were riding with Ences. Tuesday is their coding day. Coding is an effort to curb the pollution from car exhaust by not allowing vehicles on their assigned day to not drive from 7 AM to 10 AM or from 3 PM to 7 PM. Our coding day will be on Friday. Violators face a hefty fine and the loss of driver's license.
We spent Tuesday afternoon going to the mall purchasing sheets, a blow dryer, skirt hangers, and other necessary items for our apartment. We also tried to sign up for cell phone service but since we didn't have a CRI card we couldn't sign up.
Wednesday morning we went to the Bertins' home to check out internet and cable companies. We finally decided on a plan and will get the service hooked up on Saturday. We then went to S&R (a Costco-type store in the Philippines) where we purchased towels, food, toilet paper, etc. We spent 12,298 pisos or $273 USD. We also went to the Area Office to get the Bertins' passports with their CRI cards so they could sign up for two additional lines for our cell phones. When we arrived back at the mission home we had to transfer our purchases to the Toyota Corolla that will be our car because it was coding day for the Bertins' car. Garnalee drove from the Bertins' to our apartment and then to the mall for phone service. Tom drove from the mall to the Bertins' and then to our apartment. It was a scary first adventure as driving rules in the Philippines are suggestions only and generally not followed. There were no fatalities in our first driving adventure.
We followed Elder and Sister Ence to the office on Thursday morning. They took us on the short cut which is on windy roads. We had the first rain since arriving. It poured!
Friday is our coding day so Garnalee did some laundry. Our washer and dryer are on the roof in a covered cage. We left the apartment at 10 AM and returned home at 3 PM. After we got to the office we remembered that it was a holiday and coding doesn't apply on holidays. Today was cloudy and rainy off and on which means the humidity was higher.
After lunch we followed the Ences to where we will attend church for the next 18 months. Some young men were playing basketball in the parking lot. When we entered the church the Primary children were practicing a song for Ward Conference next Sunday.
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