Baptisms, Visit from Elder and Sister Schmutz, Interviews and Goodbyes

President and Sister Oldroyd are doing fabulous in the Philippines! They have been so busy the last few weeks and so we are extra grateful for the chances we get to talk to them. We love hearing every detail of what they're doing. They are right in the thick of the rainy season in the Philippines. My mom sent us a Marco Polo to show us how wet her hair was after stepping out in the rain. She has a good attitude and says, "This is what my hair will look like now!" She also showed us around the kitchen after her big grocery haul as she was preparing for breakfast/lunch for the new missionaries. It consisted of fruit cocktail, "chocolate drinks" called Chuckies, cookies, chips, orange juice, bread for the French Toast--but unfortunately an important ingredient for the French Toast was missing-- eggs. The only eggs they had at the store were quail eggs! So she ran to another store but they also were out too. So, pancakes it is! No problem.

I was lucky enough to get some commentary from my mom on the pictures below:

"We traveled to Bangued to attend the Bangued District Conference. We were able to arrive in time to attend this baptism for 6 beautiful people. Bangued is north of where our mission home is and about 3 1/2 hours away. The missionaries love being assigned up there. As you can see it is beautiful and the people are so sweet and kind. The baptismal font is outside."

This is what my dad shared to us in an email about the baptisms: "I thought of the scripture in John when Jesus was teaching his followers including His disciples about the sacrament. Many of them were offended by this doctrine and called it a 'hard thing to hear'. Many walked away from Jesus that day. On that day he turned to the 12 and said 'will ye also go away?' Peter answered him, 'to whom shall we go, thou hast the words of eternal life'. I told these 6 newly baptized people that there is nowhere else to go. They had found it. Peter was right, there is nowhere else to go. All that we need is here but that is not all. All that we could ever imagine or hope for is here."

"After the Conference on Sunday a lot of these sweet members wanted to get their picture taken with us."

"We had the pleasure of having a visit from Elder and Sister Schmutz. They traveled from Manila to visit us. We had such a nice afternoon visit with them. They were so kind to answer all of our questions and give us such great advice and counsel."

"For two weeks each transfer cycle we travel around the mission and visit with our missionaries. Each missionary gets personal time to talk with President Oldroyd and I get to visit with their companion. I was able to find all the ingredients to make Texas sheet cake cupcakes. It was so fun to be able to make something for them! I usually visit with them about their families. This time we had time to talk about their apartments and budgeting."

"When we go up north for interviews, we start in Bangued Zone and then stay overnight and go to Candon Zone the next morning. This is a place we have found to stay that is really pretty right on the ocean (The South China Sea)."

"When we go to the Banguio and La Trinidad Zones we stay overnight in Baguio at a place called Camp John Hay. Baguio is high in the mountains and much cooler than in the rest of the Philippines. They even have pine trees there. You can see how beautiful it is!"

https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2019-09-04/church-announces-passing-of-philippines-naga-mission-president-bradley-w-kirk-159221

"It was with great sadness that we learned the passing of President Kirk in the Naga Mission. We attended the MTC with President and Sister Kirk. After we arrived in Manila, we had an opportunity to have dinner with the two of them before we each took off in different directions to our missions. That dinner will always be very special to us. He had served his mission in the Philippines in his youth and was very excited to be here. We think of Sister Kirk and her family often and pray for peace and comfort for them at this difficult time."

"We had a birthday sign up for Elder Gallier and Elder Mitchell's birthdays. We remembered it was also President Nelson's 95th birthday. Here we are wishing him a very happy birthday with some chocolate cupcakes!"

"We had to say goodbye to one of our assistants. He has served a very faithful two years and it is time to return home to his family. We were able to have a nice dinner at Grumpy Joe's. We will miss Elder Briganti! He has been so much help to us since we arrived. We love him."

"Sunday night before Elder Briganti left, our First Counselor in the Mission Presidency, President Andrada and his wife were so kind to invite all of us to dinner. He is third on the left and she is on the very right. It was a very fun evening with them and the missionaries."

"On Monday it was time to say goodbye to 7 of our missionaries. We were able to go to dinner with them and have them at the mission home for a fireside before catching the bus to Manila at 10:30pm. They were each able to share with us some experiences and their testimonies. We will truly miss them and cannot believe we have only known them for two months! We love them and hope and pray for them as they start into this next phase of their life."