Alive and well in Angeles

Part of Marcia's responsibility here is to be on call for all the mission presidents in the area and respond when emergencies occur. Our first emergency happened last Thursday night. Since Friday morning we have been in the Angeles mission. The mission office and the mission president's residence is located on an old American Air Force base that is called Clark Airforce Base. It is an absolutely gorgeous area.

Life has been exciting here but I'll leave that at that. The exciting thing about this experieince is that I have a road trip beginning tomorrow with a an Elder here. We are heading back to Salt Lake tomorrow. I'm pretty much like my dog Harli when it comes to road trips... open the rear window, let me hang my head out and wag my tongue and I'll be fine...

jsf

Pioneers

When Marcia and I were in the MTC one of the couples that was in our district had previously served two other missions. They were with us during the Preach My Gospel portion of the MTC and then the following week at the Church Office Building in Salt Lake as we received special training as some type of medical missionaries. As most know Marcia is serving as the Philippines Area Mental Health Adviser. Sister Wallace and her husband were called to serve in the Vanuatu mission as the Vanuatu mission nurse. Elder Wallace was called to serve as her assistant.

Sister Akram and Rex (Rex is the tech guy for the medical department)

The first mission that they were called to as a couple was to Pakistan. That was exciting just to hear that they had missionaries in Pakistan. I'm not sure if they were the first missionaries to serve in Pakistan but I would imagine that they were among those who were first to serve. I bring this up because this afternoon I had the opportunity to pick up a sister missionary from one of the local hospitals. From my understanding she had been in the hospital for about two weeks fighting and recovering from pneumonia. Her name is Sister Akram and she is from Pakistan serving a full time mission in the Manila mission.

As we were waiting for her to be discharged she was able to tell me some of her conversion and that of some of her family. She has been a member of the Church for 4 years. Her uncle and 'auntie' were the ones that introduced her to the Church. She called them pioneers. Her uncle's and aunt's names are Malcolm and Nasrene King. From our short conversation she informed me that, if she remembered correctly, that her uncle had been baptized in England. When they returned to Pakistan they taught Sunday school. They did so by translating the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants a chapter at a time. The chapter that they translated would be the one that they taught that week. Truly this is a pioneer family and a pioneer sister missionary. As we continued to talk she told me that she had an older sister that was also a member of the Church and also had served in the Philippines in 2006.

I was very impressed with Sister Akram. Her goal is to have the rest of her family join the Church at some point. She told me that her family is Catholic (a surprise to me as she is from Pakistan) and she would love to  see them all as members of the Church. What a great goal for a worthy Sister missionary...

jsf

Blogs of note- being Senior Missionaries

As some of you may notice on the side of these posts are various items that I have placed on this blog. One of the items that I have placed there are blogs that I have found interesting and feel that others might find them equally interesting.

Being senior missionaries is fun, exciting, challenging, and in some cases, not easy. When you see others out in the field you wonder how they did it? what did they leave behind to serve the Lord? were they still working when they left to serve or were they retired. All types are here. Marcia and I had the chance to visit the San Pablo mission a few weeks ago. We were their on assignment from the legal department and were being escorted by the San Pablo mission president and his wife- President and Sister Petersen. As we spent the day and evening with them we learned that they had been active farmers in Arizona. President Petersen was/is a cotton farmer. Currently his farm is being  watched over by his neighbors. When their mission is complete they will return to farming.

One of the blogs listed is from Elder and Sister Hadlock. They are humanitarian missionaries currently in charge of wheel chair distribution here in the Philippines. They have a number of pictures and stories of interest. The video that had been playing on this blog over the weekend was of Elder Hadlock and some of the recipients of the wheel chairs.

I just added a blog that will be on this site for a short period of time. It is the blog of Elder and Sister Bird. They have been in the Philippines for almost two years now. They are scheduled to leave at the beginning of October. Their assignment has been working in the Public Affairs office. With that assignment has come many opportunities for them to meet some very interesting people. It also has put them in a position to see the church continue to rise out of obscurity here in the Philippines. If you get the chance to view their blog do so and I recommend you look at their older blogs as they have been around the country and have seen many different things...

jsf

Food (Soap box warning!!!)

Goat outside on street next to San Pablo Mission Home

Seafood counter at Robinson's Market

 I suppose at some time it is necessary to eat food. Some of us prefer to eat more often than others. Others have a tough time eating. Anyone who may be reading or watching the media in the United States might get the idea that there is a crisis of 'obesity' occurring. Just as an observational note- although the Philippines is not a wealthy country it does have its share of people who are of a 'stouter' nature.

With all the excess weight that is accumulating does that mean that we are 'weighing' the earth down more? and possibly slowing it down? Although it is not a theory that I advocate I do believe it is one aspect of global warming- if you agree with that theory that has not been addressed. Sure people pick the obvious and say that gas emissions, coal emissions, refrigerants and the like are the cause of old mother earth warming up. Any one can say that- in fact according to the media it's a done deal global warming is not a theory but a fact. I have a tendency not to quite believe what SOME scientists are theorizing and lean towards the facts that the earth is old and there are natural events and cycles that occur. I believe that man shows his arrogant and prideful side when he thinks that by his living his lifestyle the earth will be dramatically changed in a detrimental way. I remember the 1970s when global cooling was the criers voice and the headlines in news magazines.

Squid 

I did warn all readers that I was on a soap box. If you have gotten this far good for you because now comes the interesting and bold new theory that I am proposing. Is it possible that due to the 'obesity' epidemic that is occurring around the world that the earth is actually slowing down because of the excess weight that people have? What happens when people get over weight? They slow down- everyone has seen this occur. What happens when you put overweight people into cars? The cars slow down. It is a natural law (somewhere). Since I have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt regarding my 'global slowing' theory I will need to demonstrate how it dovetails and is the cause for our planets temperature rise. Naturally, naturally, when things slow down, especially when exposed to sun light, they heat up faster. If an ice cube is exposed for 1 second in the sun it doesn't melt much. If you were  to leave that same ice cube out for 5 minutes it will no longer be an ice cube but, instead, it will be a puddle. Because the earth is slowing down because of our 'obesity' epidemic our exposure to the sun is much longer and thus the earth is temporarily heating up. Temporarily? Of course. Once people recognize that overeating is causing overheating they will naturally, naturally, want to lose weight, close McDonalds, banish soft drinks and junk food from schools, ban transfats from New York City, and demonize movie popcorn around the world (wait- don't they already do that?).

Remember I did issue a soap box warning at the top of the post.....

jsf