What a first week it has been. We arrived at the Manila Airport very late Saturday night, September 4. On Sunday, we went to church at the Buendia Chapel in Makati, which was the center of the Church in the Philippines when Lenard was there on his mission from 1971 to 1973. That brought back lots of great memories, such as the time when Thomas S. Monson, as a young apostle spoke there, or when Ezra Taft Benson organized the very first stake in the Philippines. During the week, we attended two major planning meetings, were given training by our supervisor – Jairus Perez – ate out for lunch very single day of the week, went shopping at many stores to stock our apartment, ate dinner with all of the senior missionaries serving in Quezon City, went on a field trip with Jairus that included a visit to the American Cemetery that memorializes the soliders from the United States and the Philippines who died in action in World Wars I and II, and got acquainted with our neighborhood in the Eastwood area of Quezon City. Lenard even learned how to drive to the area offices – which is pretty crazy. All in all, an exciting and exhausting week.

This is our neighborhood. The Eastwood neighborhood in Quezon City.