all is well ...

i had a great three weeks with the jensen's in norway but it felt good to come home to the philippines last night.  i am so happy to report that lauren continues to astound the doctors with her miraculous recovery!  we are so grateful for all the prayers on her behalf ... they were truly answered!  as a result of her stroke, the doctors expected her to have difficulty with language, vision, balance and memory but she did not experience any of that except for the first few days after the stroke.  the only lingering effect is that she gets fatigued easily.  she is doing a great job of trying to comply with doctors orders to rest as much as possible but it's been a real struggle for her as she finds it difficult to sit still!  the time flew by but i am grateful i was able to be there to help with anything she, christian, or the girls needed.  one activity that is always on the agenda when i come to visit is playing 'hair salon' and i am posting proof that the tradition is alive!  while braids were the order of the day, i did madeleine's and madeleine did stella's, when it came time to do mine, madeleine the hairdresser said my hair was too short but she would do what she could!

the mission is always busy, but more activities were crammed into the 3 weeks i was gone than have ever been scheduled in any 3-week period, EVER!  i missed so much i can hardly believe it, but i was where i needed to be, plus, as a bonus, i got to be there for stella's third birthday!  i got home last night and had a restful sabbath attending a special broadcast from salt lake city just for the philippines with talks from sister oscarson, elder robbins, elder bowen, elder ardern and elder bednar.  it centered me and i feel ready to jump back into the work tomorrow.  IT'S TRANSFER WEEK AGAIN!!  my favorite!  and the countdown to our mission presidency changeover rolls on.  there is so much to be done.  while the day to day work is sometimes daunting, there's just an excitement in the air on a mission.  it truly is the Lord's work and i am grateful every day for the love and blessings my Heavenly Father bountifully gives me.

this sight out of the jensen's window the day before i left just reassured me that He was mindful of us and all would be well.  prayer and faith are tangible.

A New Stake...and so much more

At 10:30am on Sunday, June 4, our Olongapo District became the Olongapo Stake!!  Elder Evan Schmutz presided over the two day conference with Elder Merdegia assisting.  Years ago I witnessed this happening in Oklahoma City, but I was too young to remember our Oklahoma City Stake formed.  This was amazing to feel the power and strength of the spirit in the room.  Our new Stake President was sustained along with his counselors.  Then, one by one, each Branch stood as their new Bishop was announced and sustained.  The rest of the Stake and Ward leadership positions will be put into place as quickly as possible in the coming weeks.  A Patriarch will also be named for our new Stake.  Elder Schmutz encouraged those adults and young adults who do not yet have their patriarchal blessing to be ready to receive it.  

Sisters, Sisters, Sisters

Sister Dahle, our Mission President's wife, had the privilege of entertaining the wives of the two visiting seventies on Saturday before our evening session of conference...and she included us senior sister missionaries!  When we have visitors, we go to Ocean Adventure Park for shows and the fish spa and then Camayan Resort to eat on the beach!  We had fun getting to know each other!  

Fun at Ocean Adventure Park!

President and Sister Dahle will be released on July 1 as we receive a new Mission President.  Because the Dahle's are from the USA, they won't have the opportunity to see many of their Philippine missionaries again.  A Mission Reunion was planned and happened last week.  The venue was changed to the church building right by the office.  That made it very convenient for me to run over at different times during the day and still get my work done.  I knew most of the missionaries that came; I was surprised at that.  The missionaries all looked soooo good!

Mission Reunion 2014-2017

The two weeks that Donna has been gone have been very busy and full of activities!!  Donna left on Saturday before our departing missionaries left on Monday and our new ones arrived on Wednesday.  I know she hated missing this week because it is one of our favorites!

Our trainers are on the top row!!

Two weeks ago, I talked about this transfer and how hard it was going to be for us!  The Elders that were serving in the office, and were our Trainers when we arrived last April, finished their missions!!  I jumped in this picture so that I could have one with my trainer!  I love these missionaries!!!  It just gets harder and harder to see missionaries go home because I have had longer to get to know them!  We have another transfer in one week!!!!  It was moved to 3 weeks instead of 6 weeks because of the transfer of mission presidents on July 1.

Auction Loads!!

We had an auction last week.  We are trying to clean up our storage areas and get rid of all our surplus 'junk'.  I loved watching the purchasers load up their goods and drive away...not in trucks.  Take a look.....it makes me smile!

Donna missed something else!!!  I sent her this screen-shot from my phone. 

For those of you who don't read Tagalog, this says that an earthquake of 5.4 magnitude is going to hit San Marcelino at 10:27pm...prepare!!!
Also notice that I received this emergency text notice at 1:59am!!
It doesn't matter, thank goodness.  There was no damage to my building.  I was in the middle of texting my other sister when it hit.  Usually, they are so quick that I don't realize what I felt.  This one was much stronger!!  I was in the bedroom and everything was shaking, even the built-in closets.  I knew what was going on this time!



One more great closing picture!!!  These flood gauges are lining the highways through the cities. Summer is over in the Philippines.  School starts back up tomorrow.  AND rainy season is here...the season of floods, mud slides, and accidents.  I had to make the picture large enough for you to be able to read the words!  ;)

Flood gauge!

a brief hiatus ...

as sister epperson mentioned last week, i have temporarily left the philippines and my duties there to be with my daughter, lauren, and her beautiful family in norway while she begins her recovery from a huge medical scare.  on her 34th birthday she suffered a cerebellar stroke.  as far as strokes go, cerebellar ones are somewhat rare and the fact that she is under 60, makes it even more so.  when i received the phone call, all i wanted was to run to her side.  after taking care of as many end-of-the-month financial duties as i possibly could, i hopped on a plane and made my way to norway.  lauren was in the hospital for just over a week while they ran multiple tests and evaluated her.  what she shared with me about her condition on the phone before she knew i was coming was a little rosier picture than she shared once she knew i was on my way (more tears throughout the brain, temporary blindness, etc).  however, i am so happy to report that the prognosis for a complete recovery was given!  she has amazed the doctors with her rapid recovery and lack of significant language and vision issues.  she will have to make some changes, of course ... removing some things from her overcrowded calendar and slowing the pace of her everyday life.  she will add physical therapy to her schedule to help with the balance issue but the doctors assure her there should be very few, if any, long-term physical effects.  the lifestyle changes need to be permanent though.  she is a type-A superwoman who is busier than just about anyone i know, who excels at anything she commits to, including job, friends, masters program, community, but most importantly, family.  some may call her lucky; i choose to believe she and her young family have been blessed beyond belief.

daughter extraordinaire

madeleine is one of the world's greatest huggers! just what i needed after 24 hours of travel!

madeleine and stella

grocery sack races and lego building with besta the babysitter! 

this trip is all about helping her, her amazing husband, christian, and the two most adorable granddaughters any besta could hope for get through this time of healing and adjustment.  it has done my heart good to be here, to see that all will be well with them.  

sometimes a mom just needs to be with her children.

Am I correct??

One of our favorite people says "am I correct? or am I right??!!!!!"  It took me a minute to figure out his jest!  He made me laugh!  That is always good!

I continue to marvel at the miracles and tender mercies around me.  I grew up knowing that I was very blessed, but I don't think I realized the magnitude of those blessings.  I am trying to better recognize those blessings and thank my Father in Heaven each day for the daily miracles.  I realized in these few sentences I used miracle, tender mercy, and blessings all to mean the same thing and often they do.

Today, I saw a certain beautiful young woman for the first time in over 6 months!  She just radiated.  Her name is Jehda, and she was one of the first Filipinas we came to love.  She was baptized about a year ago and was a part of our lives.  She has come back to this area for awhile, and I am thrilled!  I am afraid that there are so many of these wonderful people of the Philippines that I am never going to see again.  I will always have them in my heart.  

Below are some of my favorite sights as I travel around the mission.  I call them the traveling vendors, and they come in all sorts and sizes.  I keep getting surprised at what I see and how they are traveling.  It is never a boring drive for me.  I wish I was better at capturing scenes on camera.  I miss so many of them.

Traveling Vendors

Donna, Sister Hays, isn't with me today.  She traveled to Manila yesterday to catch a plane for Norway to be with her daughter and family.  Lauren has had a health crisis that needed her mother by her side.  Donna will catch us all up next week.

Good-bye sister companion!!

Good-bye my sister companion!  She is Financial Secretary of the Mission. We are going to do our best to not leave a horrible mess for her to repair when she returns.  My first big hurdle is tomorrow with the departing missionaries.  We love them and want them to be free of any hassles in their travels.  

A side note about our departing missionaries...our two elder trainers, Elder Kresge and Elder Hollis, are going home tomorrow!!  They were our rocks!  There were four Elders in the office when we arrived last year.  They were running the whole office by themselves.  The senior couple that we replaced had been gone for over a month!!  It is going to be a very hard departing devotional for me tomorrow.

Our first Office Elders

This is a throwback to our first week.  One of the mother's sent matching ties for them to wear to our first training...Elders Daquero, Hollis, Heta, and Kresge.  Elder Hollis was my trainer and Elder Kresge was the trainer for Sister Hays.  How we love these Elders! 

This week is FULL of activities/work.  I will pray for a clear mind so that I don't forget any of the many details of my responsibilities while Donna is gone! 


Love to you!
Diane 

summertime ... it happens once a year!

well, summer is back in the philippines.  that means traffic is even slower and crazier than usual and it also means more frequent brown-outs (which also means no water since it is supplied by an electric pump).  it also means rainy season is just around the corner and i couldn't be more excited about that!  we had our first long brown-out of the season last sunday so i wasn't able to post.  10 hours with no air-conditioning is hard but i think being without water is harder.  we were notified of a scheduled 12-hour power outage last thursday so we were able to make plans to be away.  talk about desperate ... we went to a movie that was anime ... in japanese ... with subtitles!  when it was over, diane said 'at least it was air-conditioned!' and i had to agree!  plus it was only $5 for the movie, popcorn, bottled water and a DQ blizzard!  the movie choices may be extremely limited here but you can't beat the price!  

don't mind me trying to drive here on this one lane road!  talk about road hazards!

our apartment was being painted last week so we were kicked out for a couple of nights.  we made the most of it though and stayed overnight at the nearby camayan resort (we still attended our meetings during the day so it wasn't a vacation ... but it WAS a very nice respite!).  it was so calming to relax in the shade of a beautiful tree and enjoy the beauty of the country that is the philippines.

we just finished a week of zone conferences.  we love it because we get to see every single missionary serving here in the olongapo mission.  they are remarkable young people ... devoting 18-24 months of their young lives to serving the Lord all day, every single day.  two of my favorite missionaries are in these pictures.  one of them is going home next week and it will not be the same here without them!  i'm excited for them to reunite with their family though so it's all good!  the little girl is chloe.  she is such a light!  when we go to baptisms for the castillejos branch, she sings primary songs while we wait for the people to get dressed.  she sings with such joy and fearlessness!  she just makes me smile so much!  

this mission has helped me grow in ways i hoped for and in ways i never imagined.  i will be forever grateful for the opportunity i've had to be here among the filipino people and the dedicated missionaries serving here.  

We LOVE the Philippines

Yes, we do love the Philippines...and the end of our time here keeps getting shorter!  Our half-way mark has come and gone!

I shouldn't always show the fun outings with the senior missionaries, but we sure enjoy being with them.  Last week we went to a secluded cove for the day. We had to travel by boat and the scenery was beautiful...wearing the required life jacket.  Vendors came on shore and Donna found the Tahitian black pearl necklace she has wanted for years.  He made it right on the spot!

Transfer week comes every six weeks.  Many missionaries are transferred to new areas and new companions, beloved, faithful missionaries leave and return home, and new missionaries arrive!  New trainers are called and matched up with their new missionary for a 12 week training.  President Dahle chooses his best missionaries to be the trainers.  He prayerfully matches those trainers with a new missionary after interviewing the new batch.  This transfer was small...we had 9 new Elders!  It was perfect for a picture collage page. 

New Missionaries and their Trainers

Baptisms are wonderful events.  At a recent baptism, I just had to take pictures of all the cute children.  Most of these live close to us and play at the church.  The basketball hoops in the parking lot are constantly being used.  Surprising to me, basketball is a big sport for the Filipinos.  I am amazed when I watch these small children throw a perfect basket!

The cutest FACES...found at a baptism

Missionaries in Action

The pictures above are some of our everyday occurrences...missionaries singing at a baptism, baptisms with pictures taken for remembrance, and teaching and learning and inspiration going on at MLC (mission leadership council).

I wanted to start taking more pictures of the things we see as we travel the mission.  Below are just a few of the pictures I will always have in my heart and mind when I think about the Philippines.

Our Olongapo District (like a Stake) Relief Society had a celebration and everyone got involved.  Each Branch chose a country.  They performed a dance and brought food representing their country.  One representative from the Branch came to the front and told some history, culture, and stories about their country.  It was like a "Miss Universe" pageant with questions and talent.  It was such a fun afternoon with the sisters!

District (Stake) Relief Society Activity...done right!!!

Easter season is over, but I had to include one more picture for our family.  The Epperson's have a tradition that we wanted to participate in even though we are far on the other side of the world.  We call it an "egg fight", but it is really harmless.  Our mother would make soft boiled eggs for part of our Easter breakfast.  We would then take our egg in hand with either the 'large' end or 'small' end out and challenge someone.  We hit the eggs together and the one that doesn't crack is the 'winner'.  We continue until we have a champion 'large' end and a champion 'small' end.  We then vie for the champion egg!!  It is a fun, silly tradition that brings our thoughts back to our childhood and our wonderful, loving family.

These are some of our favorite things!!  Life is good.  

I love serving.  I love that I have my sister with me in the Philippines.  We work in the Mission Office and get to be out with the missionaries and the people.  There is nothing better than that!

time flies ...

time flies when you ignore posting on your blog!  a week or two turns into two months surprisingly quickly!  the best possible thing happened to me while serving my mission here in the philippines ... five of my most favorite people in the whole world traveled halfway around the world to visit!  i started to post about the few precious days we had and was so overwhelmed with the amount of photos to go through that i gave up.  sister epperson wasn't keen on the idea of posting when it wasn't 'her turn' so the blog sat dormant for too long.  we experience so many interesting things here and there is much to catch up on but today ... it's all about my little family!  get ready for photo overload!

who's the happiest person in the photo? hint ... she's in the middle!
 christian, stella, madeleine, lauren and cameron land in my world ... photo cred: sister epperson

from the airport straight to the beach to release the sea turtle hatchlings.  it is at the tail end of the hatching season so i was thrilled i got to share this experience with my granddaughters.  madeleine was studying life cycles in school so she was very interested in it.  everyone released several hatchlings and just enjoyed seeing the south sea for the first time.

it was diane's birthday and we had a great day at ocean adventure.  we HAD to experience the fish spa.  i LOVE the faces of fish pedicure virgins ... some were cooler than others and some were so animated i had to show them twice!  stella abstained but loved looking at the fish.  

crocs, tigers, dolphins and my favorite monkeys!   madeleine and cameron had a dolphin training encounter.  they were masterful!  then lunch on the beach complete with buko juice (coconut water) ... stella really wants mommy to share (don't worry ... she did!)

everyone had their first-ever jeepney ride to the palengke (open-air market) and then a quick trike ride home. trikes are big enough to hold a family of five (or more!) and all their purchases ... also cozy enough for a companionship of two!  we ended the day with dinner on the beach.  when in the philippines, you should have as many meals as possible on the beach!

this last set is a hodgepodge ... 

~ it's always fun to bury your sister in the sand.

~ stella gets her fashion sense from her uncle cameron.

~ a banca boat ride to the beautiful island of bohol.

~ bedtime stories with poppi.

~ handmade lei and the reason i'm here.

it was a glorious few days and i will never forget the joy of sharing this land i've come to love with the people i love most.  i am so grateful every day that i have the privilege of serving a mission for the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints in such an amazing part of the world with such amazing people.  it is an experience i will hold in my heart forever.  i highly recommend it if you ever get the opportunity!  'come what may, and love it'!