More mission assignments

We are getting more information as time goes on. I received a packet and letter from the General Music Committee asking me to find places in our mission area where I can teach conducting and keyboard. They sent me the conducting and keyboard course material to take with me. They also said there is a grant program to get keyboards for students. It will be great to be able to teach music while we are in the Philippines.

We also found out that we will receive some special medical training at church headquarters so our departure date to the Philippines has been pushed back about 5 days. We still go to Provo on Aug 17th but won't leave from there until the end of Aug.

We hadn't heard from our Mission Pres. yet so I was getting a little worried. I found an email address for the Pres.'s wife on the mission alumni page and have been communicating with her. She said they hadn't gotten our names from Salt Lake yet. Our information may have gone to the MTC Pres. At least now we have a contact so we can ask our questions...

Filipino language

Well we've learned our first Filipino phrase: "Bahala-na - which means what will be will be - their version of acuna matata (from Lion King - don't know how to spell it). That will probablly be our mandra - bahala-na!!!

Manilla Temple

This is the Manilla Philippines Temple. It is located in Quezon City and is right across from the Philippines MTC where we will be. Hopefully, we'll be able to go often while we are on our mission.

Finally - We Have Our Mission Call!!

We received our mission call today (Thursday, June 11th). We will be serving in the Philippines, Quezon City Mission at the Philippines Missionary Training Center. Not sure exactly what that means but we will receive more information in the next few days. We report to the Provo MTC on Aug 17th.

Quezon City is the "old" capital of the Philippines. Manilla (or as Katalina says "Vanilla?!?")became the capital in 1976. Quezon City is part of the Metro Manilla area. All I have to show so far is a map of the area. I'll have pix of the temple, etc. soon.

We are very excited about our call and are looking forward to serving in the Philippines. We did say we'd like to go to Southeast Asia...

We'll post more as we get more information.

Can't find Anything!!!!!

We moved Alisha into our house this week. She will be watching the house while we are gone (still don't know - no letter on Thurs. or Fri. maybe next week...) It will be fun integating two houses - 2 washers/dryers, 2 extra beds, bookshelves, TVs, tables, chairs, etc, etc and so forth!!..... It will take a while to sort everythng out. We are also trying to pack up things we don't need and get them out of Alisha's way - but we can't pack everything yet - we could be around for 2-4 months waiting for a visa if we need one - depending on our mission assignment and what country.

In the meantime - there are boxes and stuff everywhere!

THE WAIT CONTINUES!!!

WE HAVE NOT RECEIVED OUR MISSION CALL YET - BUT - WE HAVE BEEN IN CONTACT WITH THE MISSIONARY DEPARTMENT AND A COUPLE OF THE COMMITTEES. THEY HAVE CALLED TO DISCUSS POSSIBLE ASSIGNMENTS AND TO CLARIFY SOME INFORMATION ON OUR RECOMMEND. THEY SAID WE SHOULD HAVE OUR CALL IN TWO MORE WEEKS (HOPEFULLY THE FIRST WEEK OF JUNE) - OF COURSE THAT IS WHEN I WILL BE AT GIRLS STATE IN PORTALLES ALL WEEK. IF IT COMES ALAN WILL HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL I GET HOME...

It's Official!!! Alan is Re-Tired!!!! as of 4PM this afternoon. (Note the smile on Alan's face!!) There was a nice dinner last Saturday (at Cindy Nuttal's house) and a reception and presentation today (Friday) at the hospital. Now the fun starts as we get things ready for our mission (still no word yet...). Alisha will move in this month so we are getting things put away so she'll have more room when we are gone.