Revolving Seniors

All of a sudden, the Senior missionaries we've come to count on are bailing on us and heading home and we're feeling sad. 

Home base for us is the Area Office in Quezon City.  We've mentioned before all the different types of senior missions being served in this building.  Well, in the last 2 months, the Burninghams, the Security couple have left, never to be replaced.  The job is now filled by an expat.  The ERC sisters - Sister McKnight and Sister J, have gone home and their new replacements aren't here yet.  The MRC couple, Elder and Sister Jones, are home working in the garden and fixing up their house to sell.  Their replacements, the Flemmings, have just arrived.  Sister Clark's job of mapping the stake boundaries throughout the entire Philippines is over and she's gone home, and her companion, Sister Burwell has moved to the newly created Quezon City North mission to work in the mission office.  And now, the hardest working missionaries in the Philippines have headed home.  Elder and Sister Smith, the Humanitarian couple who would be on the road for weeks on end, only to pop-in in the dead of night and hit the road again at daybreak have VERY RELUCTANTLY gone home to Washington State.  The Hardicks spent the last two weeks with them and, so far, the grueling schedule hasn't sent them packing.  Which, actually, wouldn't be hard to do because they haven't, yet, had time to unpack!

Our soft-hearted Jib was so sad to see the Smith’s leave that he organized an impromptu “farewell choir” on their last day.   I tried to upload it here for your viewing pleasure but, alas, apparently Blogspot is more discriminating than we give them credit for.  It won't allow me to post our singing.  Probably for the best.  Look at Sister Smith's reaction to our song!  I didn't think we were that bad. 

Elder Smith agrees with me.  He was enjoying himself!

Here’s what Jib had to say to us on this day that was so hard on him:  “Bells – don’t go!  But if you have to go home, the week before you leave, pick a fight with me.  Be very rude to me so that I will be glad you’re leaving.”  The guy keeps us laughing all day long. 

So … many of our friends have gone home, but there are still plenty of us here.  And we keep on doing what we do.  The Seniors are pretty organized.   Every other Monday night, we have a Family Home Evening.  The activities run from deeply spiritual talks to crazy free-for-all games.  Only Seniors who’ve been in the business of creativity for years could come up with a game to teach the Resurrection to old people! 

The last Friday of each month, we celebrate any Senior birthdays during that month.  That activity has also been peppered with games and craziness and fun being together.   

We've passed our 8 month mark and are starting to feel like the old-timers here.  When we think of major accompishments, the fact that we haven't crashed the car in several months comes to mind.  We've spent time with the President's Assistants and the Office Elders visiting their contacts and pretending we're on a real mission and attending their baptisms.  We've processed a gazillion loan applications and talked to as many new PEF participants.  We've survived the transition to the new PEF process and met a lot of wonderful Seminaries and Institutes Coordinators.  We've been teaching a temple prep class in our assigned Branch of Tanay and attending the baptisms that the new on-fire missionaries there have been conducting practically weekly.    We've conducted lots of "Cluster Meeting" training sessions of priesthood leaders, getting them onboard with PEF.  We've learned alot, testified alot, and loved a lot of people.  It's easy to love a Filipino.  No one enjoys life as much, laughs as much, or is more fun to be around than a Filipino.  They are deeply spiritual by nature and some of Heavenly Father's favorite people.  The saddest thing to know is that, no matter how long we stay and love the people, no matter how hard we try, we will never be Filipino.  We'll go home and just be plain old Americans.  Dang.