Our Time in Philippines is drawing to a close . . .

Looks like we will be leaving the Philippines a little sooner than we expected.  Originally, we were only planning on a 6-month mission and then we decided that we could do a year.  (Our first two missions were both 18-month missions).  But on the advice of my Filipino doctor, and our mission president, we will be arriving home on October 15 (our son Craig's 48th birthday), just a few weeks earlier than we had planned.

We feel that we have done what we were called to do, working daily in the temple and helping the patrons to have good experiences.  We have hopefully been a good support to the wonderful Filipino temple workers and we have expanded the great training program the couples before us set up.  The Filipinos will definitely be able to carry on without us!  

We have absolutely loved these people with whom we work, and the gorgeous Cebu City Temple.  But, as my doctor here says, my body does not like the climate!  He doesn't want to see me getting pneumonia again.  It's been a continuing battle. 

And the air in Cebu has been getting increasingly bad, with fires in neighboring countries blowing smoke into Cebu and making the air "acutely unhealthy" according to the office of the environment.

I have been expecting to see a lot of Christmas decorations, as Filipinos celebrate Christmas in all the "ber" months, beginning in September.  But no, there's not much.  Just a few decorations in stores.  Even though I love much about the Christmas season, I would go crazy if I had Christmas decorations up in my home for 4 or 5 months.

On one side of the aisle are Halloween candies . . . 

And on the other side are Christmas candies.

A few Christmas decorations but not what I expected.  We sing Christmas carols at our Thursday evening get-togethers, but other than that, it's been business as usual.

Thinking back to Christmases on our first two missions . . . on our first mission, to Kenya 2016-2017, on December 1st, I greeted our guard with a cheery "Merry Christmas."  He was so surprised.  He said that Christmas wasn't until December 25th.  I learned quickly that in Kenya, Christmas is a day, not a season.  Very different from the West and very different from the Philippines.

Sweden (2020-2021) was also different.  In the winter there's so much darkness that Swedes leave outdoor Christmas lights up for much of November, December, and January.  I loved their white/off-white Christmas lights.  No colored lights for them.  They looked like stars shining in the dark night.  And there were bridge candles in almost every window.

We too have bridge candles in almost every window of our home back in Canada.  Reminds us of happy days in Sweden.

Another happy memory from Sweden . . . our friend, Per Rydberg sculpted this huge snowy owl rabbit -- an owl that turned out to be a rabbit with long ears.  It's big enough to climb on.  And in the back is another example of Christmas lights -- lights cascading from a pole in the shape of a Christmas tree.  We saw so many of these Christmas pole lights.
You can learn more about our Swedish friend and his snowy sculptures by going to my blogpost of March 17 called "More of Manila and Snow Sculptures in Sweden."

But sadly, we won't be experiencing much of Christmas in Philippines like we had planned to.  But we are still having many happy experiences.

Lovely evening with our mission president and his wife, Sister Clarke.  President Clarke served his young mission in Japan, as did LeRon.  LeRon served from 1972-1974, with President Clarke serving about eight years later.  We had an enjoyable evening at a Japanese buffet at the Ayala Mall, sharing memories of Japan and our recent trip there.

We found out that President Clarke knows and worked with our sister-in-law, Susan (Schramm) Torrie's, brother, Reed Schramm.  Reed grew up near Grassy Lake and worked for us in his teenage years on our farm.  Reed also served a mission to Japan and later married a lovely Japanese girl.  Some of you may know Reed & Chia Schramm.
And . . . the Clarke's daughter is a good friend of the wife of our nephew, Darren Torrie.
And . . . LeRon and I remember President Clarke's father, Elder J. Richard Clarke, who served as a General Authority of the church in the First Quorum of the Seventy and in the Presiding Bishopric.

Such a small world with so many connections.

This may perhaps be my last post, at least until after we return home.  So much to do to get ready to go.  Only two and a half weeks of working in this beautiful temple.  So many good people to say goodbye to.

We will let you know when/if we report our mission in church.  We also hope to have an open house sometime after we're back and we'll let you know when that will happen.