A Tribute

Hello friends and family. We recently experienced an unexpected tragedy here in our mission. We have two counselors who serve with President Colton in our mission presidency and one of the counselors, President Sonny Lucila, passed away from Covid in July. Two weeks later his wife, Sister Lya Lucila, also passed away from Covid. We were shocked and deeply impacted by this. The Lucilas were our mission peers and our personal friends and we feel their loss immensely. They lived and served in the southernmost part of our mission and both of them were involved in all aspects of missionary work: helping with missionary and member training, helping to find new apartments for our missionaries, helping to move missionaries from old to new apartments, helping to transport bikes, helping to coordinate doctor visits for our missionaries, and anything else we might need them to do. We pay tribute to both of them, we acknowledge the significant impact they had on our missionaries, and we express our love and gratitude for their dedication and kindness as they served in the Philippines Olongapo Mission. 

In response to this tragedy and in our sorrow, we turned to Heavenly Father with a very specific request ... please help us find a way to immunize our missionaries. Up until June, Covid vaccines in our mission were non-existent and only in July did we start to hear faint rumblings that people in various parts of our mission were starting to get immunized. Let's jump to the end of this story ... God heard me and within three weeks of my heartfelt plea to Him, all but three of our 69 missionaries were immunized, including me and Steve. When you junior partner with God, miracles occur and we have witnessed a miracle over the past month.       

 

Within this big miracle there were several mini-miracles. We had reached out to all seven stake presidents in our mission to see if they had any information about where we could turn for help with vaccines. Within a few days of our asking, one of the stake presidents who lives in our southern zone reached out letting us know that he could get 25 of our missionaries immunized, as well as the two of us. Little did he know that in our southern zone, we had exactly 25 missionaries. Miracle number one.

We also had several missionaries in our central and northern zones who were close to departing and we did not want them to leave without being immunized. The family of one of our missionaries whose home is within our mission boundaries arranged for our departing missionaries to be immunized. Miracle number two.

A few days later the counselor in our mission presidency who lives in our northern zone reached out and let us know that he could get our remaining 34 missionaries immunized. Miracle number three. 

All of this occurred within three weeks of my pleading with Heavenly Father to guide us in our efforts to find immunizations for HIS missionaries, not our missionaries, but HIS missionaries. God is a God of miracles and I am grateful.

We love you, President and Sister Lucila.

A few weeks prior to our Covid vaccines, we administered the annual flu vaccine to our missionaries, along with other immunizations each missionary might need, such as MMR, Twinrix and more. A wonderful doctor and nurse team traveled to each apartment to administer the vaccines, accompanied by me and one of our experienced drivers who can find every apartment in our mission without any navigation help. 

In other mission news ... our hikes continue with new and interesting places. Last month we hiked Pundakit Falls, literally hiked up the rocks right next to the waterfall. Rainy season fills the waterfalls and they are spectacular. We took a small boat across a small river to access the hike and we enjoyed gorgeous views (again!).

  

We celebrated our one year mark in the mission field on August 15 and shortly after that Steve celebrated his second birthday here. We were traveling to see our missionaries on his birthday and they were so generous with birthday greetings at each apartment we visited.  Steve was given an honorary district tie at one apartment.

Rainy season brings interesting situations sometimes. We've seen significant flooding as we've driven to visit our missionaries and even on the road just outside our mission home. At one apartment, I walked into the apartment in my regular shoes when it wasn't raining and when we left after 45 minutes, after it had rained hard, I had to put on boots that the elders kindly let me borrow. We discourage our missionaries from riding their bikes in the rain but sometimes it's inevitable and navigating puddles is just part of missionary life.  

We continue to visit our missionaries in their apartments once each transfer cycle, which is every six weeks, and I am still amazed at the narrow roads that we travel, day and night, as we navigate our way around our mission. 

We've said goodbye to missionaries ... 

And hello to missionaries ...

And we continue to feel God's presence in the world around us. A sunset just outside our mission home ... 

A rainbow just outside our mission office ...

God's love note on our hike ...

God's handiwork on one of my daily walks ... 

And God's creativity with this enormous jackfruit ...

And the best news of all?! It's September, the official start of Christmas season here in the Philippines and we've put up our first Christmas decoration. Remember this from last year? Look closely at the center and you'll know it's definitely something I would purchase. The gospel is true, we love being missionaries and mission leaders, we love our missionaries, and Merry Christmas!