August 29, 2010

Yesterday the 28th, we drove to Angeles north of here to inspect an apartment that was broken into two weeks ago. The apartment was nice but not in a very secure location. Two sisters occupied the apartment when it was broken into. Money and cameras were stolen and there was an attempted assault. The sisters are OK but were removed from the Apartment. The American Sister was too traumatized and she went back to the United States. She will probably finish her mission in the United States as she was having some asthma problems here with the humidity anyway. She had only been on her mission for about five months. They only had been in the apartment for 10 days before the break-in occurred. Rather sad. It could have been a better outcome if a few items were noticed first.

Today we went to our newly assigned branch in Morong. It is about an hour away and not as stressful a drive as Sapang Palay. We met in a very nice building with air conditioning and pews. It is nice there. The members are always friendly and faithful.

I found that the spirit there is the same as anywhere else. Very strong. The organization of the branch and district with leadership is very strong and it is touching to see how the church takes hold here. The talks given were well prepared and thought out and those that talked did so with dignity and with grace. Even though half of what is spoken is in another language we understood the concepts. It is a great experience to see the church in another country operates the same way.

Sunday school was the same way. Even though the class is spoken in mostly Tagalog with some English we understood the lesson. It was lesson 34 from Hosea. We could contribute when called upon.

Since it is the fifth Sunday, the third hour is with Relief Society and Priesthood combination with the branch President giving the branch the message. It was about time. Time to attend the meetings and about time management. It was a great presentation and well received.

After the meeting we asked the Sister Missionaries if we could inspect their apartment for security reasons. The apartment never had an issue with intruders. There is a large concrete area that is gated in front of their apartment and locked and their apartment had good locks on it also. The bathroom leaves something to be desired as the toilet looks like a child could use it. The American Sister is about 6 foot and I think the comode must be a challenge for her. There is no enclosed shower so I was looking at with some concern. It could be a little better constructed and I am going to ask the Mission President what can be done about this. Otherwise the street where they live seems to be ok. All of our findings will be reported.

Tomorrow is a non-working holiday and we don't know what we will see. We look forward to a little time off to see some historical sights around here.