Our Incredible Children

West Philippine Sea at sunset

Steve, Jared and Sterling

All four of our children have now flown around the world to visit us in the Philippines! Meredith visited us in mid-December and Jared and our five-year old grandson Sterling just left this week. Both Meredith and Jared had to navigate work schedules, two small children and many other variables to make their trips happen. Many thanks to both of them! And many thanks to Trent and Eden for sharing their spouses. They all knew this was important to me and I am grateful!

Meredith flew into Manila, which gave us the opportunity to take her to visit the American Cemetery, a beautiful and sacred site that honors the many American and Filipino soldiers who died in the Pacific Theater in WWII. We've visited the American Cemetery a few times now and it is still a highlight for me.

We took the official picture in front of our mission office, proving for real that Meredith was here.

We went to dinner at Playa Papagayo, one of our favorite local restaurants on Subic Bay, where the food is good and the sunset is spectacular.  

We visited the islands off the coast of San Antonio, about 30 minutes north of us. Because the boat makes its landing right on the beach, we're never quite sure when we start out what the surf will allow us to do. Our landings change each time and sometimes we can't land at all. This time we were able to go ashore on Capones Island, the bigger of the two San Antonio islands. 

We had a lovely time on Capones Island but I was quite surprised at the amount of plastic debris on the island. I think I am finally convinced to use a refillable water bottle ... this innocent island was covered with the plastic caps from disposable water bottles. 

On our way south to Bataan, we drove along our favorite scenic but very twisty road through the mountains and stopped for a picture at our favorite view of Subic Bay and the West Philippine Sea. This is likely our very favorite spot in our entire mission. 

And of course we did a hike, which was super fun. We hiked a smaller mountain in the Mt Mariveles volcano range, paralleling the jungle this time rather than hiking in it. This gave us a spectacular view of the ocean and the jungle canopy. 

We hiked high enough so that we could enter the jungle, just so Meredith could have the experience of being in the dense and fascinating Bataan jungle.

And, as usual, Steve was our trailblazer and did a great job keeping us on a difficult to follow trail.

Just ten days after Meredith went home, Jared and Sterling arrived. Sterling is five and our oldest grandson and he is our only grandchild old enough to possibly remember a trip to visit us. 

We welcomed Jared and Sterling at the Manila airport and because of their late arrival, we overnighted with them at the Marriott in Manila.

The next day we visited the American Cemetery again, still a highlight for me. 

On our way back to the mission home, we stopped at Playa Papagayo for dinner and walked along the shore of Subic Bay, enjoying both another spectacular sunset and the playfulness of our grandson. Steve taught Sterling how to skip rocks and Sterling taught us how to really look for shells.

When we arrived at the mission home, we were greeted by another amazing banner created by Sister Davis, our office secretary. She has created a banner for all of our guests and it's such a nice surprise when they arrive. This time she also had a collection of small gifts for Sterling.

Here's the official proof that Jared and Sterling were here.

Sterling shared the same passion for two of our favorite Filipino treats, mangos and these delicious popsicles that we've come to love. Strawberry, mango and melon, our favorite flavors, were also a big hit with this adorable little boy. 

I am clearly delighted that Sterling (and Jared!) are actually here in our mission home.

We visited the local market in Subic but this was a bit overwhelming for a five year old and he ended up in his Dad's arms.

We take all of our visitors to Jollibee's, the most popular Filipino fast food chain. We recently learned that Times Square now has a Jollibee's.

And, of course, we made a few trips to the small toy store in Waltermart, our local mall. Now that Jared and Eden live close to us in Georgia, we'll have to figure out a good balance of how many trips to the toy store are actually healthy for a child.

We visited the San Antonio islands again, this time landing on the smaller island of Camara. Sterling took shell collecting to a whole new level. The colorful sea glass is for his mom. 

We learned that Sterling is a little water boy and we discovered two pools in the Subic area, both with lovely views of Subic Bay.

 

We've passed the signs to the Zoobic Safari many times and we finally had a reason to go there. It's a nice sized zoo, perfect for a five year old.

We visited Mt Samat, the memorial honoring the last stand of the Americans and Filipinos before Bataan fell to the Japanese in WWII.

Our last outing was to Las Casas Filipinos de Acuzar in Bataan, our favorite hotel in our mission. We thought about doing a hike/walk in the mountains but the pools and the ocean were all Sterling needed. 

"Coconutty," Sterling's newfound friend came back to Subic with us, with a promise that we would keep it safe.

Thank you to Kevin, Brandon, Meredith and Jared for trekking around the world to visit us! 

Meanwhile, back in the world of the Philippines Olongapo Mission, missionary work continues. In early December we attended our Mission Leader Seminar in Baguio, the only place in the Philippines where it actually can get cold.  

All 23 sets of mission leaders and the area leadership

The mission leaders who arrived with us in 2020

The sister mission leaders in our group

The mission presidents in our group

In November, we welcomed 18 new missionaries and in December, we welcomed our first Polynesian missionary. He has been serving for a year in Tonga and will finish his mission in the POM.

We said goodbye to three missionaries in November, one of which was waiting for her visa and will now head to her permanent mission in Madagascar. 

We also said goodbye to one missionary in December, who is heading home a few weeks early to start her review course for her accounting board exam. Her parents picked her up and joined us for her farewell FHE.

We had three delightful Christmas zone conferences. We let the missionaries plan the two hour afternoon sessions with Christmas fun and games and it was a magical change of pace from our usual missionary training.

Balanga Zone

Iba Zone

Lubao Zone

Olongapo Zone

Orion Zone

San Antonio Zone

Santa Cruz Zone

At each zone conference, we sang the best version of Jingle Bells, called Jungle Bells ...

Jungle Bells

We're in the Philippines, without a hope of snow.

Beneath the spreading palms, a typhoon's sure to blow.

Santa Claus will know what traffic will allow.

Instead of driving eight reindeer, he'll drive a carabao.

Oh! Jungle bells! Coconut shells!

Sticker burrs all the way!

Oh what fun it is to ride in a carabao cart today.

Oh! Jungle bells! Coconut shells!

Sticker burrs all the way!

Oh what fun it is to ride in a carabao cart today.

Brother Bennie spoiled all of us at zone conference with his amazing lechon, specially raised and prepared for our missionaries.

If you've read this far, you are my hero and you deserve a medal. Just a few more items of interest ...

In November I returned home again for a follow up mammogram. All is well. And I was able to spend Thanksgiving in GA with my kids and grandkids, my parents, my sister and sister-in-law and my brother and his family.

My sister-in-law Carolyn makes custom-designed, hand-crafted, made-with-love storybook quilts for her great nieces and nephews. She gave our grandson Hugh his quilt over Thanksgiving and we were all amazed and enchanted.

Our friends the Wrights, who live just north of us here in the Philippines, invited Steve and our senior missionaries over for Thanksgiving dinner.

It's now January 8 and we are wrapping up another wonderful Christmas season in the mission field. I'll end by sharing a picture of this lovely nativity that Sister Stones, our multi-talented mission nurse, cross-stitched for us. She is wonderful. We love our missionaries and we are honored to serve with them here in the Philippines Olongapo Mission.