Honoring the Bataan Death March

We didn't anticipate celebrating our own July 4 this year and we were pleasantly surprised when we were invited to participate in a celebration honoring the 75th anniversary of Philippine-American Friendship Day, which happens to be on July 4. The ceremony, which was held in Mariveles, Bataan, the southernmost tip of our mission, included a parade of colors with the Philippine and American flags; the playing of both national anthems; a wreath laying; inspirational messages, including remarks from President Colton; and prayers, including a closing prayer by me. It was a surprisingly emotional experience and we were grateful to have been included.

During the ceremony, the speakers paid tribute to the significant events that took place in the Bataan peninsula during WWII, particularly the Bataan Death March. Bear with me for a short history lesson. The Bataan Death March was the forced, deadly march of 60,000 Filipino and American prisoners of war, starting from the cities of Mariveles and Bagac in the province of Bataan (our mission) and continuing to the final destination of Camp O'Donnell in the province of Tarlac, 60 miles north. It was a brutal, inhumane march and thousands died along the way. Today there are 138 markers that follow the Death March trail, honoring those soldiers who lost their lives. We pass these markers often in our travels and each time we do, we humbly and gratefully acknowledge the lost lives that make our peaceful travel and peaceful missionary work possible. We have chapels in almost every city in Bataan that were once part of the Death March trail. For anyone who likes history and would like to learn more, I recommend the books Ghost Soldiers and Lieutenant Ramsey's War.

The picture below is at kilometer marker 74. The two pictures above are at kilometer marker 0, in Mariveles, one of the two starting points of the march.

Despite Covid's best efforts to thwart us in our work, our missionaries carry on undaunted. In June we decided to hold our first in-person zone conferences in 15 months. Needless to say, each of the three zone conferences was a jubilant gathering. We were blessed to have the Scotts, our remarkable senior missionaries serving remotely from Utah, join us virtually.

 

June also brought a trip to Manila to attend the temple with our missionaries who have arrived over the past few months.

All of our missionaries still participate virtually in their pre-mission training so it was a special treat for them to at least take a picture at the MTC in Manila. 

Also on the grounds of the MTC is a new statue of the First Vision, when Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to the boy prophet Joseph Smith. 

We continue to love our Pday hikes with our missionaries. Recently we hiked a hill in Subic, where we live, and had beautiful views all around, including a beautiful view of Subic Bay. 

Our weeks have fallen into patterns and routines. Earlier this month, we honored three departing missionaries. It's a constant revolving door of in and out and we miss these missionaries when they leave. 

At the same time, we welcomed 13 new missionaries, which is wonderful. We now have 67 amazing missionaries in our mission. This particular set of incoming missionaries arrived in three groups. Our land travel missionaries arrived in the morning; our air travel missionaries arrived in the evening; and the last missionary arrived 10 days later, after he had completed his Covid vaccines, our first missionary to be immunized.  

Each new missionary is given a 72 hour kit and we upped our game this time with cool new duffle bags that contain all of the stuff we give our new missionaries (bike accessories, a pillow, bed sheets, a journal, a water bottle with a filtration system, masks, alcohol, and more).  

My birthday is in July and I had one of my best birthdays ever, all because of two returned sister missionaries, Sister Pallad and Sister Leduna. They showed up at our front door on my birthday and completely surprised me. These were two of my "trainers" when we first arrived here almost a year. My third "trainer," Sister Redondo, was on the phone with them. Such a kindness and such a treat. I still adore them. I was blessed to also have two more of our returned missionaries join in the surprise, Elder Malacaman on the call and Elder Apostol in person. 

We celebrated my birthday, which fell on a Pday, by taking our office sisters, our assistants, my trainers, and our departing missionaries out to lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant, located right on Subic Bay. 

Another highlight of the day was the German chocolate cake that Steve somehow concocted. It took effort on his part to find all of the ingredients and clearly it was a successful endeavor. I also connected on Facetime with my kids and grandkids and I felt loved and appreciated the whole day long.

We continue to enjoy beautiful scenery and beautiful sunsets.

I'll end on this ... how many mission leaders can say to each other and to their missionaries, "Please pass me the alcohol"?! We buy it in big quantities, use it often, and regularly pass it out to our missionaries.😉