Free At Last!

We're out of quarantine! And we went on our first little outing. Here's a sneak peak of the end of our day.  

But first things first ... before we did an outing, we had our first mission-wide conference, by Zoom, with all 69 of our missionaries and it was wonderful, rather, they are wonderful. And I may say that many times during the next three years ... the missionaries are remarkable, amazing and wonderful, truly wonderful. 

Several of the companionships pre-recorded music that they shared during the conference.

   

Overall we had a wonderful experience training and learning together and we are in awe of the talents, abilities, goodness, diligence, skills and knowledge of these young missionaries.  

Another highlight of this past week was a baptism that took place in the ocean. We participated by Zoom and the setting for the baptism was gorgeous.

Now a disclaimer for the rest of this post ... forgive me if I'm a little too excited about our first outing. 🙈 It might be quarantine brain.

After two attempts with the wrong car keys, we finally found the right car keys for our mission car, a Toyota Fortuner, a mid-size SUV, and we headed to WalterMart, which is just a three minute drive down the road from us. We thought WalterMart was a grocery store and were pleasantly surprised to discover that it is a mini-mall.

We parked in the 4-wheels section of the parking lot, not the tricycle section.

We stopped for a temperature check before entering the mall.

And we are, of course, wearing our masks and face shields. Note to anyone who needs to wear a face shield ... they are not opaque, they are clear. But only if you take the plastic protective sheet off before wearing them. 😎 I was the slow learner with this.

Ace Hardware, inside WalterMart, is serious about Covid prevention. We had to fill out a Covid questionnaire, with another temperature check, before we were allowed to enter the store. 

I made new friends with the people at the lemonade stand, with the fresh lemonade thankfully made with mineral water and mineral ice so that we can drink it.  

I found my first outing for our first P-day (officially known as Preparation Day), which we'll have once a week starting this upcoming week.

I have loved Filipino food but it was nice to discover that WalterMart has a very good pizza place when I do feel the need for American food. We had to sit at different tables, per local Covid regulations.

And the best most magical moment of the day was when we walked out of the mall and walked into this magnificent sunset. We stopped in our tracks and looked around to see if anyone else was paying attention (they weren't), even asking the security guard if this was a usual sunset (it was). Wow. Just wow. The sky was ablaze. God created a magnificent world and I am feeling richly blessed.