Week 5--July 26-August 1, 2015
On Sunday, July 26, we attended the La Mesa Ward which is the ward we will attend the whole time we are here. The songs and sacrament prayers are in English but the talks and lessons are in Tagalog. They speak Taglish which is a combination of English and Tagalog so we can get the general drift of what they are talking about. Bishop Villalester is a new bishop and is married with five sons. Sunday evening Tom and Elder Ence attended a Self-Reliance meeting for ward leaders.The opening session talked mostly about the Perpetual Education Fund and how to submit an application.
We panicked on Monday when Tom tried to get money from the ATM. He received a notice that his transaction couldn't be completed from two different machines. For Family Home Evening we studied two conference talks. One was President Henry B. Eyring on fasting and the fast offering and the other was from President Boyd K. Packer on the plan of happiness and love and marriage. Both were very powerful talks.
Tuesday morning Garnalee called the credit union to see if there was a problem with our card. They reported no blocks on our account so we decided that Garnalee would try her card today. Tom walked to an ATM close to the office and received the same message so he came back and got Garnalee. As we alked up to the machine the security guard told it was out of P$1000 bills. We asked if there was another ATM close by and he told us there were some other ones across the street in the mall. So we proceeded to head to them. Fortunately when we tried the machine there we were able to get money. Now we know that when the machine is out money it can't complete our transaction. No need to panic. We decided to keep P$10,000 on hand for an emergency.
On Tuesday morning we attended one of the weekly District meetings. The Zone leaders inspected the 72-hour kits to check for out-dated food items. Each missionary is issued a 72-hour kit in a sturdy backpack so in case of an emergency they can grab it and evacuate. Elder Lopez, the district leader, gave an excellent lesson on humility.
Once a transfer we have an activity with the other senior couples in our mission. Before heading out we had a discussion on the development of maps for each area and what a value they would be in keeping track of members and the less active.
For our activity we attended the Ayala Museum in Manila. The fourth floor had a display of gold jewelry dating back more than a 1000 years. The intricate workmanship on the jewelry was beautiful.
One floor of the museum told the history of the Philippines and the Filipino people through amazingly detailed 50 plus dioramas. The next few pictures are just a few of the dioramas we saw.
As were leaving the museum we passed this tree. It was huge with six branches off the trunk. It was beautiful
As we left the museum the Bertin bought a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts for a treat on the way home. They were as delicious as the ones in the US. The traffic to the mission home was going at a snail's pace. It took us two hours to go 25 miles. We took this picture of the traffic in front of us as it headed up the ramp on one part of our trip.
We also saw this jeepney in front of us. If the inside is full then people just climb on the back and hold on. If you look closely you will notice there are four people on the back end. You can see one leg of the fourth person between the legs of the person on the left.
The senior couples in our mission. Left to right: President Kim and Jennifer Bertin, Garnalee and Tom Harrington, Kathy and Clark Ence, Christine and Kenneth Jones, and Connie and James Rogers.
Another group picture in front of the beautiful tree. The Ences, the Rogers, the Jones, the Harringtons, and Jennifer Bertin. President Bertin was taking the picture.
Thursday was "Shake Day." The whole country was practicing for an earthquake. The authorities say the Manila Metro area is overdue for an earthquake. The mission participated by using the phone tree that is set up. A message was sent out by the APs (Assistants to the President) to the Zone leaders. They were to contact the District Leaders who were to contact each missionary. All 211 missionaries were accounted for in a matter of minutes.
Elder Biggs printed out a Google Earth map of the La Mesa Ward boundaries which Tom hopes to put numbered stickers on to identify all of the families in the ward. That will be a great help to newly assigned missionaries. We like to take evening walks together but it still too hot and humid for that.
Friday was a busy day at the office. Elder Biggs shared with us all the jobs he does and that we will be taking over. He has a lot of responsibilities that we will need to learn. We went to dinner at
TGI Fridays with the Ences. We had an enjoyable evening together.
Saturday we went to see the latest Tom Cruise "Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation" which cost us $7.02 US for the two of us. Tom has decided to make a larger scale map of La Mesa Ward. He worked most of Saturday on it.
On Sunday, July 26, we attended the La Mesa Ward which is the ward we will attend the whole time we are here. The songs and sacrament prayers are in English but the talks and lessons are in Tagalog. They speak Taglish which is a combination of English and Tagalog so we can get the general drift of what they are talking about. Bishop Villalester is a new bishop and is married with five sons. Sunday evening Tom and Elder Ence attended a Self-Reliance meeting for ward leaders.The opening session talked mostly about the Perpetual Education Fund and how to submit an application.
We panicked on Monday when Tom tried to get money from the ATM. He received a notice that his transaction couldn't be completed from two different machines. For Family Home Evening we studied two conference talks. One was President Henry B. Eyring on fasting and the fast offering and the other was from President Boyd K. Packer on the plan of happiness and love and marriage. Both were very powerful talks.
Tuesday morning Garnalee called the credit union to see if there was a problem with our card. They reported no blocks on our account so we decided that Garnalee would try her card today. Tom walked to an ATM close to the office and received the same message so he came back and got Garnalee. As we alked up to the machine the security guard told it was out of P$1000 bills. We asked if there was another ATM close by and he told us there were some other ones across the street in the mall. So we proceeded to head to them. Fortunately when we tried the machine there we were able to get money. Now we know that when the machine is out money it can't complete our transaction. No need to panic. We decided to keep P$10,000 on hand for an emergency.
On Tuesday morning we attended one of the weekly District meetings. The Zone leaders inspected the 72-hour kits to check for out-dated food items. Each missionary is issued a 72-hour kit in a sturdy backpack so in case of an emergency they can grab it and evacuate. Elder Lopez, the district leader, gave an excellent lesson on humility.
Once a transfer we have an activity with the other senior couples in our mission. Before heading out we had a discussion on the development of maps for each area and what a value they would be in keeping track of members and the less active.
For our activity we attended the Ayala Museum in Manila. The fourth floor had a display of gold jewelry dating back more than a 1000 years. The intricate workmanship on the jewelry was beautiful.
Thursday was "Shake Day." The whole country was practicing for an earthquake. The authorities say the Manila Metro area is overdue for an earthquake. The mission participated by using the phone tree that is set up. A message was sent out by the APs (Assistants to the President) to the Zone leaders. They were to contact the District Leaders who were to contact each missionary. All 211 missionaries were accounted for in a matter of minutes.
Elder Biggs printed out a Google Earth map of the La Mesa Ward boundaries which Tom hopes to put numbered stickers on to identify all of the families in the ward. That will be a great help to newly assigned missionaries. We like to take evening walks together but it still too hot and humid for that.
Friday was a busy day at the office. Elder Biggs shared with us all the jobs he does and that we will be taking over. He has a lot of responsibilities that we will need to learn. We went to dinner at
TGI Fridays with the Ences. We had an enjoyable evening together.
Saturday we went to see the latest Tom Cruise "Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation" which cost us $7.02 US for the two of us. Tom has decided to make a larger scale map of La Mesa Ward. He worked most of Saturday on it.
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