The First Week

February 11, 2012 Amazingly, we manage to get up Saturday evening in time for dinner and get our first taste of Filipino food . . . and we like it! I don't last much longer than dinner, but Elder Armstrong gets a quick tour around the facilities with President Taylor. Sunday morning we find that we, along with Br. & Sis. Riddle, are scheduled to give our testimonies in church that day. All these missionaries make the Spirit very strong. Here is the membership list of our branch: President and Sister Taylor The President's 1st & 2nd counselors: Brother Martinez and Brother Barramedes, and their wives. The Nurse Specialist and spouse, who is also the President's executive secretary (that's us). Elder Boehme (the Area Medical Advisor—read 'missionary doctor') and his wife. Whatever missionaries are in the MTC at the time (along with the translators that come with them). Of course, the missionaries change every 19 days, but the three senior missionary couples and the two counselors and their wives remain the same. It is difficult for the counselors because they have a home ward where their children attend church, but they come here every Sunday (and other days as well). Our missionaries come from Austrailia, East Asia (India, Pakistan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Thailand, Mongolia, Singapore, etc.), and the Philippines. This is not a complete list, but that's all I can think of right now! They are mostly sent back to their own countries to serve their missions, but not always. One missionary is here now is headed for Salt Lake City. Sunday afternoon after church we get 'trained' for our new jobs. Elder and Sister Riddle have about 2 hours before dinner, and then their drivers will come to take them away. They aren't looking forward to the trip home. Sister Riddle is very concerned about how her husband will tolerate the trip and they upgrade their ticket to first class. We find out later that Br. Riddle had a blood clot when he got home anyway. (He's now out of the hospital, though). Sunday evening Elder Boehme gives a fireside about Family Home Evenings. He holds a mock FHE where some missionaries play the roles of a family and he asks Elder Armstrong and I to play his dead grandparents, who sit and look on. After that, one group of Filipino missionaries begin calling us grandfather and grandmother, touching the back of our hand to their foreheads in the way they show respect to elderly people. They are very fun. This MTC is currently undergoing construction and reconstruction. There was previously a building here that housed all the missionaries. According to those who lived there, it was awful. It was filled with black mold (from the moist weather) and then there was a sewage backup (on the carpets)! I don't know how long they had to live there like that, but President and Sister Taylor are still a little traumatized, I think. Two new buildings have been built, one for housing and offices and the other for a huge (HUGE) gym with wood floor for the missionaries to exercise in (they're currently meeting out in the parking lot at six am, rain or shine.) This picture is the new gym building. It's HUGE. Bottom level is where the temporary cafeteria is. The gym area is 60 x 90 feet that give the missionaries the ability to play two cross court games at a time. (great...more injuries)

In the foreground is the old building that's being renovated. That's where our apartment will be when it's done. The two new pods that house missionaries (and us temporarily), the receptionist desk, and many class rooms are in the background.

This is the area office building, which is right next to the MTC...same parking lot.

This is pod one, where President and Sister Taylor live, and the breezeway between that & pod two, where we live. When the first building was ready, everyone moved over here. We're currently staying in temporary housing (2 missionary rooms joined together). It is very nice and clean, with shiny tiles on the floor that you can almost use as mirrors. We have an apartment stove and a sink in the kitchen, plus a microwave and a bookcase. There's a strip about 1.5 feet of floor space and a counter about 2 feet long. (not conducive to large prepared meals!) There's a refrigerator just outside the kitchen, a small dining table, a TV, some chairs and a leather couch in the rest of that side. Then there's a door into the bedroom area, which has some large, portable wardrobes and there's a bathroom area with door to toilet on one side and a door to the shower on the other, sink in the middle. Brother Dobson, a construction engineer on site here till the building is complete, came in to inventory all the things in our apartment the other day. He looked in the kitchen for the stove and said, “Oh. You don't even have a stove in here!” I was relieved and very happy to hear him say that. I certainly wouldn't want to complain (this is a VERY comfortable place to be...I keep thinking of the first vision I had of the Philippines where were hacking through the jungle with machetes to go give village children immunizations!) but it would be nice to have a real stove and a little counter space! Apparently, we'll have much more than that: a bathtub, an island with chairs, a real dining table (we could even have company over!), a bathtub, and a walk-in closet!

Here's a picture of the Manila temple, it's across the street from the MTC. Thankfully, there's a tunnel that goes under the street for pedestrians! As you can see, it's undergoing a complete renovation and so isn't currently open. We hear it will be a few more weeks until it opens again.

The food in the cafeteria is generally excellent, although fairly predictable: the menus is usually white rice, stewed meat, and cooked vegetable. We get green salads occasionally and fresh fruit every day. Sometimes it can get interesting, though. Here's a pic of our snack one day. If you don't recognize it, it's a Filipino hotdog with banana ketchup: