Hello family and friends. The past month has been a fairly usual month here in the Philippines Olongapo Mission. We've mostly been engaged in the normal activities of missionary work, with a few out of the ordinary highlights.
We welcomed new missionaries, even in the rain.
And we said goodbye to departing missionaries, which is never easy to do. Saying goodbye to office sisters is particularly tender for me since I work so closely with them and this time we said goodbye to two office sisters.
For three of our recently departed missionaries, the Olongapo Mission is their home mission and we've already had the chance to visit with one of our sisters in her home. Such a bonus for us.
We received our second Covid vaccine last month, as did the last big group of missionaries in our northern zone. With the exception of our newly arrived missionaries who still need their second shot, all of our missionaries are now fully immunized (which is a big deal!).
We are still having virtual meetings, including mission leadership council. We were part way through our northern mission tour, staying at a hotel along the coast, when we had our most recent MLC. Not a bad view as we gathered virtually with our young missionary leadership.
Our P-day hike last month was in Cabangan, a town about 60 minutes north of us. We hiked an easy trail with panoramic vistas and ended at a beautiful waterfall. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with our missionaries.
God always sends love notes on our hikes...
With our P-day hikes and my frequent at-home walks wearing tennis shoes and leggings, along with my usual missionary work wearing closed-toe church shoes, you can see that my tan lines are becoming quite distinctive. When I put my arm next to our missionaries, it's hard to tell who's who.
I experienced another Filipino classic this month, durian, which according to the New York Times, is the world's smelliest fruit. The phrase Steve has often repeated about durian since serving as a missionary in Davao 40 years ago is "Tastes like heaven, smells like hell." It's not true. I tasted it fully and completely and durian does not taste like heaven. We cut up this durian with our missionaries and they loved it. So perhaps it's an acquired taste.
We often pass trucks and trikes and caribou-drawn carts loaded with goods in our mission travels and this vehicle transporting nipa palms was our interesting find recently.
One of the blessings of a missionary serving in his or her home mission is the opportunity to attend significant family events, such as weddings and funerals. President Colton and I recently accompanied one of our missionaries to the funeral of her grandmother.
White is the color of choice for attendees to wear at funeral services and white balloons are released as part of the ceremony. We often pass funeral processions in our travels and this time we were able to drive in the procession. The hearse takes the lead, followed by friends and family, either walking or driving in trikes or cars. It's such a lovely sight.
We watched as the coffin was gently inserted into this burial chamber and then we watched the mason as he carefully sealed the opening with cement.
We felt honored to attend the ceremony and witness the outpouring of love from family and friends, including the grandchildren who attended the service (pictured below).
This grandmother's funeral was more tender than usual for me because it was right around the time that my mother-in-law, Ellie Colton, passed away. We attended Ellie's funeral services remotely. We very much felt like we were included in the events and we felt close to the family members who attended the services. My mother-in-law was buried next to my father-in-law in Vernal, Utah. One of the greatest privileges of my life is being the daughter-in-law of Ellie and Sterling Colton. Our children and grandchildren attended the services.
My favorite pictures of the whole weekend were the darling pictures of our grandsons at the graveside service in Vernal. Our oldest grandson Sterling collected pine cones and sweetly laid them at the edge of the grave.
Our grandson Hugh had his picture taken next to the memorial marker of his namesake and great great grandfather, Hugh Wilkins Colton.
And Bennett is just as cute as can be ...
Oh wait, more darling pictures at the funeral in Orem, Utah.
I'll end with pictures of these beautiful flowers from this gorgeous place we call home. I need to look no further than God's own creations to know that He loves us.
Patrick described durian as smelling like a dirty diaper and tasting like it too. So, sounds like you're not alone in missing out on the acquired taste for it 😊. We love hearing all your experiences in POM!
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