Transfer Week

Dearest Family and Friends,

It's transfer week. That means by noon today there were 13 Elders and Sisters here with one day left in their mission! Only one! They are worried about some things looking forward: "Can I still speak in my native language? Can I learn to go places alone again? Will I be able to figure out what I'm supposed to do with my life?" And they won't say it out loud, but many go home to uncertainties of family relationships and how they will meet other basic needs. Embrace them when you see them!

Last night we had a Philippines-wide broadcast by Elder and Sister Oaks, Elder Robbins, Bishop Causse, and Elder and Sister Ardern. They gave out tools! The exact ones these Thirteen will need. We hope they will be utilized daily, to guard against our greatest concern for them; inactivity. We pray for their barges to remain lit all the way through their storms and their fairer days! Embrace them when you see them.

Tonight there will be a pizza party, a final testimony devotional, emailing families, wonderful conversation, repacking, and much weighing and reweighing of large suitcases. Tomorrow morning after our goodbyes are said I will find small piles of discarded items that just wouldn't fit. It's interesting to see what is chosen to be left behind. Generally clothing, personal care items, language study books, a fancy first aid kit and one tragic choice it seemed to me, a mission's worth of weekly planners! Ouch.

Then on Wednesday the cycle is refreshed with fifteen brand new missionaries straight from the MTC! They have a different air about them than the ones we just said goodbye to. A little fresher, nervous, excited, optimistic and ready to try their hardest, compared to the Thirteen; competent, deeper, self-assured, weary and a little worn around the edges, maybe even solemn, but so well matured and ready to go forward in more permanent ways. Once again, Heavenly Father's plan is perfect. We are so grateful to be part of it.

There have been a few of our very best hunters and fishers that have finished their mission early for medical reasons. We are so sorry to see them go, but know that this is all part of an all-knowing Father's plan. Please, embrace them when you see them.

Our Christmas trees are up! Are you shocked and appalled? When in Rome...!

Tree of Treasures!

Group effort! Yes, Johnny Mathis did his part.

With so much love,

President and Sister Dahle

P.S. We have had some other adventures this week!

All Saints Day:

We drive past this cemetery every time we head 

south. Graves on top of graves all the way up the hill. 

We took this picture from across the bay. It gives the rest of the story of the cemetery; spreads clear up the point of that mountain. 

On All Saints Day, Nov. 1, it's like Memorial Day. Families come and clean, paint and decorate their loved one's final resting place. 

Along the road food carts appeared to feed all the visitors. Some leave food at the grave as well.

Mabayo:

Mabayo Branch baptismal font. Not kidding!

Mabayo Elders

Where we went to church today...Mabayo Branch. 

On the road to and near Mabayo:

Guard Chicken

Down on the bay.

   Who's that good looking guy?

Caught on the path to the beach.

Yes, beach living. 

End of the Next Six Weeks

 Dear Ones,

We have been told that time flies in this calling, but I had decided that those were big fat lies. Imagine my surprise when I realized we have already completed the first 1/9 of our time here! Need I say more? :) 

Since I last wrote, we have learned a couple of things we never ever wanted to know:

  1. What the inside of a Philippine hospital emergency room looks like. (Three times in one week, no kidding!)

  2. How to help someone stop a hyperventilation syndrome event. (And how long it takes to recover yourself afterwards.)

I admit to praying for less growth for a day. Stagnation! Boredom! Please! Just for 24 hours! 

Today we have had a lovely recovery day. Prayers are answered! Even weak, wimpy, uninspiring ones. 

We have been to an outdoors baptism! Up in the jungle of the Bataan Peninsula there is the lovely town of Morong. They have a quaint little chapel with twenty or so wooden benches that have slats along the back. The windows open and the ceiling fans blow. Out to one side there is a white cement font and on Sunday there were four people baptized in it. A newly widowed mom, and two of her young sons. Her two older daughters were converted a few years ago, one who would dearly love to serve a mission, but is torn about staying home to be the support her mother needs.  There will be a discussion in Branch Council Meeting about how to help. And there was a younger man who looked like a much needed future Young Men's president or another counselor for the branch president! Gather!

I keep thinking our lizard escapades will thin out, but not yet! President Dahle keeps a few treats here in his closet. One day he carelessly left the lid off his prized trail mix. You guessed it!

We have another transfer coming up and the six week cycle begins again! The sister missionaries that came out in the wave are starting to go home in the same flood of numbers that they came out in. We lose nine next week! Nine! Nooooo! I always tease them about staying for three years. They laugh really hard and pack their bags. "We need to go home and get married, Sister Dahle!" We are sending home women of faith who aren't afraid of anything, and who look beautiful and are happy even while living in the humblest possible circumstances and working so hard in their labors. They are choice and will be pillars of power and light in their future homes.

Off to the races!

With all our love,

President and Sister Dahle

By the friendship gift tower and bell given by Japan.

Monument at Mt. Samat

A visit to Mt. Samat. 

We went up into the top of the cross.

This is harvest! Cut it by hand, feed the sheaves into the thresher, the grain comes out into a bucket which is then dumped into white sacks. These are carried to the road so the rice can be dumped out and spread to dry. It is scooped and swept back up at days end and hauled away.

It's a surprisingly deep harbor! Isn't that a beauty!

Morong Chapel

A ride home from church in Morong.

Newly set apart missionary. His first name is Lehi. He is called to the Provo, Utah mission!

The covered faces are standard business. Sun protection. 

Also, do you see anything here that seems alarming? 

Up in the clouds. 

This mountain is in the center of the Bataan Peninsula. We could see the ocean on both sides. 

Delinquent!

Hello! 

We are still here! But preparation day found us preparing in other ways than writing home. Here's what we were doing!

It's time for mission president interviews, so Sister Winters and I took ourselves down the hill to do some shopping and to get bins and bins of cookies to be used for holding off starving missionaries until we can finish talking with each one. 

Interviews are the most wonderful experience! I don't actually interview, because I am less official. I chat and ask hard questions like "What did you eat for breakfast this morning?" "How is your English study coming?" and "Are you exercising each day?" (Thank you Elder Klebingat! See general conference, Saturday afternoon) To these questions they smile big and say "Ummmm".  I give my best pep talk to those who need it. Then I ask about how each one's family is. This question gets varying responses; often there is much to tell, sometimes it is tearful. Again I wish I could shout from the rooftops about our valiant ones! Many have little or no family contact. A few are disowned. And, there are many who are well loved, supported, and have parents counting down the months while their son or daughter tries hard to ignore the number signaling the end. 

But there is one question that elicited identical responses without fail: "How did you like General Conference?" 500 watt light bulbs go off in every pair of eyes, and they spill out their love of this talk or that one. How they needed just exactly what a specific speaker taught. How thrilled to have a new focus. Many even liked the talk by Elder Klegingat which scored a direct hit for most of us. 

We love these missionaries! We are so proud of them. We are honored to serve side by side, shoulder to shoulder with them. For all the jokes about the church being true because "how else could a bunch of teenagers not bring it to ruin," we want to say, take a closer look at these teenagers. They are budding Ammons, Lehis and Nephis, Almas and Amuleks! We are all striving together to be the Lord's missionaries and bring the world His truth! And some days we are surprised that hapless rookie mission presidents and wives don't crumple the forward motion of His work! That's where the real jokes could begin. :)

So, that's the long answer for the short question of why we were delinquent in getting the email out on the first half of Monday. Cookie buying. Oh, and we finally got a griddle for pancake making, too. Did you know they actually try things out in the store before you buy them to make sure they work? I had to wait a bit for the repacking...avoiding melting plastic and all. This is the practice with light bulbs too! Good idea, right?!

Then, in the evening, President Dahle had a very special talk to give.

A few weeks ago, maybe even several, President Dahle interviewed a wonderful sister just younger than we are for a temple recommend. She was a less active returning! She was so excited to go to the temple, and actually had a sweet experience in her interview and talked about it after to the missionaries. The branch temple trip was scheduled for October 21 and she would be going! She was a cancer survivor, and was just going back for some rechecks. A minor surgery was decided on. So, so sadly, through some complications, she passed away suddenly. Her funeral was Monday night, in her home, where her casket was surrounded by flowers upon flowers, and her family. Her temple recommend was placed in her right hand and she was in her temple dress. Branch members and friends gathered, many of us seated out on the porch and some out into the street. There were talks and hymns, and all was concluded by President Dahle. More somber, but still, sweet is the work.

This was a renewed look at the eternal perspective.

To end on a lighter note, basketball, bats, and beetles. That's the short version of our date last night. I will say that the conclusion found just us out on our court, under the lights, having two short games of PIG. I won't say who won, but I will say that we were both rather surprised! :-)

Name that beetle!

And, as we were driving in the night recently a lizard landed on our windshield!!! The force of the wind blew him unwillingly up, up, up, until he couldn't hang on any longer and disappeared into the dark! Or is this a teenage lizard thrill seeking night game for reptilian delinquents?!

We love you!

President and Sister Dahle

Excellent transportation!

The red bag may hold the catch of the day. 

Masinloc Branch President

Fisherman in every sense. He was out at 3:00 am that morning netting a catch of just over 2 kilos. Smaller than usual.

How many times have you wanted to do this?!

The program for a zone meeting.
Can you guess what it means?

Masinloc Chapel. 

Small or large, our chapels feel the same. 

Nope! No Christmas hymns!

Small word of advice!

Mt. Pinatubo erupted in 1991 filling valleys

with muddy ash while making its way to the ocean. 

Sickle in hand, he begins the rice harvest.

In Their Shoes

Dearest Family and Friends,

October is here and literally the only hint of Halloween is the random single t-shirt worn in a crowd of teenagers the other day that said, "This is my costume". But Christmas continues to gain steam. This week when we had a small delay at the beginning of MLC we sang Christmas hymns to prepare us spiritually! :)

Each day has something miraculous! At temple recommend interviews in Cabalan, there was a darling grandma who had been a member for over thirty years and was just that evening getting her first temple recommend. President Dahle taught her how to do a high five to celebrate. 

First Temple Recommend

Another day we went to do follow up training with one of our newer Sister missionaries and her companion and when we went to take them to their next appointment we got invited along to meet their recent convert. A beautiful and gracious woman. We were invited in! This Sister has a home sewing business that puts out hot pads. She has a serious sewing machine and two employees. How fun to see them in their industry. She was so kind to give us a few to take home, calling the gift an s.r. That stands for simple remembrance. It's a common and lovely practice. 

Visting Recent Converts

We were doing some grocery shopping in the store here that most resembles Costco, and a long time member from Mariveles introduced himself! Coincidence? We met his wife, friend and some other of their neighbors who had all come from there together. He and his wife are newly called area family history missionaries, which is becoming an exciting tool of conversion, retention, and reactivation. We have a trip planned down there for mp interviews next week and so have a dinner invitation! We will plan about connecting them with our missionaries in a powerful joint venture.

Members from Mariveles

Mission Leadership Conference

Finally, this was the week of Mission Leadership Council! It is the day that the mission leadership comes together to council and train together. They are magnificent in their work! They are professionals. They are inspired! And they are a lot of fun. Lunch is served by the incomparable Brother B. and there is an hour when our home if full to overflowing with some of God's greatest.

We love them. The scene of dozens of well worn shoes out on the front entry is my favorite. Their shoes tell a story: each well worn pair carries a son or daughter into daily high adventure in this sacred work. Who would have thought that a pile of footwear could carry such a strong spirit?

We love you! Thank you for your prayers and return messages. 

President and Sister Dahle

Rice Story

Green waves of rice. New favorite color: Philippine Green. 

Emptying bags of rice onto the roadside

Spreading it out to dry. Yes it gets driven on a little. 

And then at days end it gets swept back into the bags.

 We have yet to see the actual act of harvesting, so we will be watching for the missing link.

Twenty-four hours

Dear Family and Friends,

  Really, you will get more like 27 hours, but that in the subject line just doesn't carry the same punch.

Saturday 

6:30 am. Leave for the Iba District family week celebration. We have a plan we think we will carry out through the day.

8:00 am. Arrive, see the church parking lot full of costumed baton twirlers, a marching percussion group, and families, including investigators, with a variety of banners and signs proclaiming 'family!', a few in matching t-shirts made just for today, even some banana leaf woven hats. (Very cool). And of course, missionaries!

8:30 am. We all march through the town, us under our bright green umbrella and wishing like mad that we had about a hundred family proclamation pamphlets to pass out like candy! One of these days we will start thinking ahead of ourselves. We give out our pass along cards without getting too far behind the parade. 

9:00 am. Arrive at a large pavilion all set up with professionally made banners that tell about our church and all that it offers to bless families. There is a large stage and many chairs. This is a beautifully conceived plan with great potential! There are booths set up to the side for health tests and donating blood; missionaries are not allowed. Food vendors gather around the back with their carts of tempting marienda (treats). The band plays while the twirlers twirl. Someone hands us a program that shows President Dahle as the concluding speaker! Surprise! There is also a nice slot titled Guest Speakers: that's me. :) Surprise again! That is when I start praying.

9:45 am. Again, I am blessed with a little idea of what to say. I say again, because this kind of speaking invitation happens regularly for both of us. President Dahle doesn't bat an eye. I do. But here I must say that those excruciating hours of standing in front of institute and seminary students ( and I should have bolded the word excruciating because my faith and my fear had many arm wrestling bouts), paid off. By the kindness of a loving Father I am able to do this.

10:00 am. (Here is where our own plans are tossed out) There is an hour of really fun games and activities before the closing remarks are given by the mission president. Wow! He really teaches every time! I am married to this man! He too, knows what to say. Elder Uchtdorf said it's okay for me to say, "I am so proud of him!"

11:30 am. Lunch. Someone so kindly hands us each a specially ordered meal from Chow King.

12:30 pm. We take the Elders and Sisters to their respective apartments in Botolan. We see that the Sisters new apartment is lacking in a few basic items, like drinkable water and a rice cooker. Almost equal in importance!

3:00 pm. Arrive at a baptism for four, our Elders' investigators. We are the 'concluding remarks'. Surprise!

4:00 pm. Shopping for Sisters, then a treat of Greenwich pizza! Hawaiian Loaded!

6:45 pm. Return to Sisters' apartment. Here I will note that the Sisters' apartment is located at the back of a large family compound which is guarded by five dogs, and an uncountable number of chickens. Uncountable because they run squawking hither and yon from the dogs. Naturally, the dogs are anxious to greet the new strange lady who reeks of terror, by barking and growling ferociously the whole way. (Only my walking partners can fully appreciate this scene.)

7:30 pm. Back on schedule! Now we are heading to Castilliejos to welcome and interview a late arriving Elder and his trainer. 

9:30 pm. Headed for home.

Sunday

7:30 am. Head back to Botolan for church.

8:55 am. The congregation sings "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" as a prelude/time to be quiet hymn. :-D I am not kidding! This is business as usual for the -ber months! It is wonderful. The night before we heard Kenny G. playing something holiday on his saxophone in the grocery store! I love Kenny G. for Christmas! Even now we are listening to him play, ...and so, I am offering this simple phrase, to kids from one to ninety-two... We usually wait for the first snowflake to fly, but we are out of control this year!!

9:00 am. The meeting begins, and you will never guess who the concluding speakers are. 

We cannot believe how greatly we are blessed! 

Our prayers are also with all of you!

Love,

President and Sister Dahle

Have you ever seen anything this charming?

The definition of cute