This week really was spent with church employees. We started out by going up to Tanay to the FSY Camp for our annual planning conference with all the Welfare and Self Reliance managers, their managers, education workers and of course, humanitarian missionaries. It was our first time to be at the Tanay Camp- it was massive! They have at least 9 buildings up there. They are making good use of this place, though. They also hold My Plan conferences/meetings for newly returned missionaries. This is the only country where the missionaries go away to really learn and focus on what they want to do with their lives post-mission. Anyway, we did our annual planning and priority setting, as well as practice our routine for our big performance at the Christmas Party on Thursday! That ended up being a big deal. We had to redeem ourselves from our last year’s performance when we just sang Christmas songs (boring). It ended up being very fun just to be crazy and see what they came up with. We even had a live band. I tell you, Filipinos really know how to PARTY! I have even noticed from Facebook posts, that their ward Christmas parties are quite the big deal as well.

We also had the chance to participate in the Area office choir for the Christmas Devotional/party. Elder Huff played the piano and I sang in the choir. We love being a part of music, especially during this time of year. To top off our week, on Sunday, we found out last minute about a multi-stake musical fireside that far exceeded our expectations. They had a missionary choir complete with guitars and violin accompaniment. Each of four stakes had a choir or musical group that performed. At the end, there was a Catholic madrigal choir that performed. We came home and watched last year’s Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. Great way to get in the true spirit of Christmas!

After the big employee party, we brought the Heslops back to Eastwood and a few of us “caroled” at the neighborhood shopping area. We kind of got kicked out after just a few minutes because the missionary who got permission only had 2 signatures, not the required 3! Sounds like the Philippines! We didn’t give up though. We went back to the lobby of our building and sang there (great acoustics) to the receptionist and the guard, who actually really appreciated it. Then we went to the nearby convenience store to get ice cream. The machine hadn’t quite finished making it, so we sang there until they brought us our figgy- I mean our ice cream! We then took the Heslops back to the Temple where they had parked their truck and enjoyed walking around the grounds to see the lights. A very full, and yes, tiring day!