Filipinos Love to Party

Filipinos love to party . . . and what better opportunity than to host a farewell party for the two American couples who have finished their temple missions.  The 10 temple shift coordinators, along with the temple matron and her assistants, planned the party with lots of music, dancing, games, and food.  It was actually very fun even if the games lasted over an hour.

Click on the photos to enlarge and be sure to watch the short videos.  And don't miss the charcoal portraits of LeRon and me near the end.  Can't believe we really look that old already.

The Stirlands and the Andreasens have served for 18 months in the temple here in the Philippines Cebu Mission.  Elder Krey and Sister Wendy Stirland left for home on June 1st and Elder Joe and Sister Beth Andreasen will leave on July 1st.  "Well done, thou good and faithful servants!"

Filipinos like to do "walky" pictures.  It took me a long time to figure out what that meant.  "Wacky" is what they mean, but they say it "walky" and it means that you need to do something silly, or "wacky."  So here are the Stirlands and the Andreasens, with the temple presidency, doing a "walky" photo.  L-R front: President & Sister Preciosa (pronounced pree-show'-sa), 2nd counselor; Elder & Sister Stirland; Sister & Elder Andreasen; Sister & President Gison (pronounced hees-on'), 1st counselor.  In back: Sister & President Ong, temple president and matron.

Ready to start the games.  A volunteer or two from each shift.  LeRon is in the far back of the group on the left.  He's much better at games than I am.

Hit the colors or grab the egg as Sister Navarre (on left) calls out.  Elder Torrie did not grab the egg in time and our team did not win.  Lots of games that day.

Lots of music too.  Seems that almost every Filipino can sing and dance and speak.  Give them a microphone and it's their happy place.  Here's Brother Nunez.  A few seconds of his singing is below.

Brother Redulla (pronounced ri-dool'-ya) and his daughter are next up.

Elder Stirland and Elder Andreasen swore they would not be conned into dancing.  But here is the proof.  And see the short, fun video below.

Here's Sister Almagro serenading the couples.  Seems like every Filipino has musical talent.

More dancing.  LeRon and I weren't sure what they were doing so we did our own thing.  We haven't danced since LeRon had his hip replacement in 2018.  See video below (or not).

Dancing and enjoying the dancing and the music.

Next came the speeches.  Each of the presidency and their wives gave tributes to the Stirlands and the Andreasens.

LeRon gave a tribute also and then accompanied the singing of several hymns, including "God Be with You Till We Meet Again."

Ruby led the singing.  We love Ruby.  She's a classy dresser and a fun girl.  She lived in the US for several years and is now back in Philippines.  She tells me, with a laugh, how the bottom floor of her home always gets flooded when there's a typhoon.  It's life here in the Philippines.

Now speeches from the couples.  Here's Wendy Stirland.  The flood lights are now in a pink mode so everything looks purplish/pink.

Elder Krey Stirland bidding the temple workers goodbye.  Elder Stirland was a missionary in the Philippines in his youth.  On this mission, he has met with several people that he taught and baptized.

Sister Beth Andreasen expressing her love for the temple and for the temple workers.

Brother Joe Andreasen always gives lovely, heart-felt speeches.  You can tell he was once a school teacher and a school administrator.

Here's the three "foreign couple missionaries."  I think we should have dressed up a bit.  It was advertised as a "summer party."  But I noticed that even the temple presidency didn't dress up, so I guess we were okay.  The party wasn't for us anyway.

After the speeches, the karaoke was turned on.  And very loud too.  We thought we were at a high school dance at W.R. Myers High School in Taber in the 1960's!  Every home seems to have a karaoke machine and each person has a cell phone.  Two essential things! 

Here's one of our shift coordinators, Sister Montemayor, singing to a cover of Canadian Ian Tyson's "Four Strong Winds."  We joined her for a while but whoever was singing the cover was taking too many liberties with the song for us.

Here's my sweet Amor (meaning love in Spanish) with her American boyfriend on the cell phone. I'm just checking him out to make sure he's not a 75-yr old white guy!

And here I am with Sister Cutie #1.  That's what I always call her.  She says that I am Sister Cutie #2.  We have fun together.

Here's Brother Ballon (pronounced bal-yown') who works in the temple office.  I call him Brother Balloon to help me remember his name.

I trained Sister Heartly to be a temple worker.  I get very close to these sisters.  Heartly is actually her first name.  She was born in February, as were her siblings, who are named Love, Valentina, and Valentino.  Very creative!

We love these temple workers.

Doesn't Ruby look cool in those glasses?  She's all ready for a summer party.

And here's my Filipino daughter, Sister Gilamon.  She's the same age as my oldest so she always calls me Mom and I call her my Filipino Daughter.

Brother & Sister Sabala.  He is an amazing artist.  He took a picture of us at this celebration and in just a couple of hours, he had sketched charcoal sketches of us.  See picture below.  He's also going to paint a color picture of scenes in the Philippines for us.  Can't wait to see it.

LeRon & I were shocked to see all those wrinkles!  When we look in the mirror, we just see ourselves as 65-year olds, not 73 and 74-year olds.  Shocking.  And by the way, several people have told LeRon he looks like President Nelson (our church president who passed away last year).  He's also been told he looks like President Hinckley (another former president).  It must be the wrinkles, the jowls, and the lack of hair!!!

Can't leave out Sister Chicago.  I work regularly with her in the temple.  She served her mission in Chicago and so we have a connection: our daughter, Heather, lives in Chicago.  Sister Almira (her actual name) never served in Woodridge, where Heather lives, but she knows the area.  She likes it when I call her Sister Chicago.  I have nicknames for so many people.