Senior Missionaries Are Here!

Elder and Sister Scott have arrived here in the Philippines Olongapo Mission! They arrived on Christmas Day and it was the best Christmas present we could have asked for. These two remarkable senior missionaries have been serving remotely from Utah since August 2020, the same month we arrived in the mission field. They have been an integral part of our mission and we count it as a miracle that they are now here. Sister Scott is our mission nurse and Elder Scott is our supply manager, although giving them official titles like this undersells what they actually do. They are beloved by our missionaries and we are grateful they get to finish their last few months as missionaries actually being here in the Philippines.  

 

In addition to Elder and Sister Scott, we also welcomed another senior couple last month, Elder and Sister Davis. Ironically I had taught their nephew in Seminary a few years ago. Sister Davis is our office secretary and Elder Davis is our finance manager. We are feeling greatly blessed to have two senior missionary couples serving with us. We gratefully acknowledge God's hand in these two miracles. 

The arrival of senior missionaries signals a significant change for us in our mission. Since the start of Covid and long before we arrived, our mission was given special permission to have young office sisters. Usually when senior missionaries are not available, mission offices are staffed by young office elders. We have been exceptionally blessed to have served with outstanding office sisters. Our last team of office sisters is pictured below. As I've said many times before, I adore our office sisters. They basically balance a fulltime job with fulltime missionary work and they excel in both. In addition, they have been a daily bright light and a source of joy and laughter for me as we've navigated the isolation of Covid. To all of our office sisters who have served over the past two years ... well done, sisters, so very well done. 

In November and December, all of the temporarily assigned missionaries throughout the Philippines went to their permanently assigned missions. We received five missionaries who had been called to serve in our mission and who had been temporarily serving in their home missions. They arrived over a period of weeks, in ones and twos, and we are grateful to have them all here. Covid has done its best to up end missionary work and these young missionaries are undaunted. They serve valiantly in whichever mission they are assigned. At the same time, it certainly does make transfers and leadership assignments a lot more predictable when all of our missionaries are permanently assigned to our mission. 

Also during this transition period, we said goodbye to seven missionaries who had been temporarily serving in our mission, their home mission, and who were finally able to travel to their permanently assigned missions elsewhere in the Philippines. Although we miss them, we are so happy for them that they get to finish their missions in their permanent assignments. Some of these missionaries arrived and departed while I was in the US, hence the pictures of President Colton without his companion.

Many of our missionaries over the past 18 months have been missionaries who started and finished their missions here in their home mission. We had the privilege of driving one of these missionaries home at the end of her mission. Witnessing the joyful reunion of mother and daughter was a tender experience for us.  

In December, we hosted another successful Christmas devotional, broadcasting throughout our mission a 45 minute presentation on Facebook Live and Zoom. Our best guess is that we had over 1000 listeners. We shared Christmas music and President Colton and I each shared a message about our Savior. This time we improved the behind the scenes set up with lights and a cleverly designed projected tele-prompter.

We were blessed to have in-person zone conferences in December, only to then move back into Covid Alert Level 3 in January and February, which took us back to virtual zone conferences. We recently returned to Alert Level 2 and are scheduled to have in-person zone conferences next week. Someday this schizophrenia will end. For now we'll just take it as it comes.

I have recently started doing my daily walks at the beach. It seemed so silly to me after awhile that I was walking along the busy streets surrounding the mission home when the beach was just a few minutes away. I do not take these stunning beach views for granted. 

I did see interesting things on my walks around the mission home and one day I happened upon this carabao-drawn cart just outside our fence. We see carabao often as we drive throughout our mission but this was an irresistible and up close picture taking opportunity. 

God continues to send me love notes in the most unexpected places, including this bite of dragonfruit. 

We dearly love our missionaries and we regularly remind ourselves that the best leadership we can provide for them is to stay out of their way as they go about this great work.