Welcome Home

We're here! After nine months of anticipation, we now find ourselves in the mission home of the Philippines Olongapo mission! We were greeted with a lovely welcome from the three office sisters (Sister Redondo, Sister Leduna and Sister Pallad), the two assistants (Elder Presentacion and Elder Malacaman) and the interim mission leaders (Sister and President Perez). 

Our quarantine time at the Marriott hotel in Manila was surprisingly short. During our first afternoon there, we received word that our Covid tests were negative (hallelujah!) and that we could leave the next day. Our one-night stay at the Marriott was just long enough for us to appreciate the excellent quarantine care provided by the staff. We were restricted to our room and the staff delivered pre-set meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The highlight was definitely the chocolate cake delivered as an afternoon treat. We had brought a small gift for the other mission couples and we were not even allowed to leave our rooms to deliver the gifts. Hotel security kindly played middleman, picked up the gifts from our room and delivered them to the other four rooms for us.  

The Area Office of our church had arranged for a driver to pick us up on Saturday, Aug 15, at noon, and drive us to our mission home. After gearing up in our required Covid gear, we then made the 58 mile drive from the hotel in Manila to the mission home in Subic.  We drove for about an hour until we were out of metro Manila and then two more hours in rural and gorgeous countryside until we arrived at the mission home. God knew my heart when He called us to this beautiful mission.

And now here we are! We're required to finish our 14 day quarantine in the mission home so other than our initial welcome, we'll be restricted from any in-person contact and from leaving the mission home until Aug 28. We spent yesterday and today unpacking suitcases, setting up our church phones, figuring out if we can brush our teeth with the tap water (no), meeting our 24-hour security guards, getting ready for our Zoom Meet & Greet, and adding some little touches that make us feel like our grandsons are not quite so far away. 

  

We've had a warm welcome to our mission, despite the bizarre circumstances of Covid, including a generous and surprise gift of rambutan (a fruit) from Brother Wright, who has been serving in the Mission Presidency, and delivered to our front door by our wonderful office sisters.

We ended our first full day in our mission with a 30-minute Zoom Meet & Greet with all of the missionaries in our mission. We shared some stories and information about ourselves and let them know how thrilled we are to be here. At the end of the call, Steve asked the assistants to ask someone to say the closing prayer and they turned it back to him and asked him to pray in Tagalog. Steve has now endeared himself with all 70+ of our missionaries.   

As I head into this great adventure, I'm especially grateful today for friends and family who are on Team Jeri and who are helping me navigate the myriad of unpredictable emotions that are coming my way.  Thank you so very much.