A New job, a New life, almost a whole New mission!   

And Elder's new job comes with power tools!  Well, one power tool.  And a big truck, and a small parking space.  

Mine comes with candy for the missionaries, a room with a view, and books to study.  Sister Revillo has asked us (me) to look at and oversee the English Study program for the Filipino missionaries.  I also got 200+ teenagers to look after!  Of course, Sister Revillo is their mother, I am just the dorm mother.  We are supposed to inspect every apartment every transfer, for cleanliness, safety, health issues, etc.  

When I mentioned that it might not be a good sign that we have been reassigned twice in 4 months, our son said, "It looks like they have learned that Dad is pretty handy and Mom falls  down  stairs".  

We also got some new friends this week.  This is the Johnsons, outside their home in Antipolo.  They are replacing the Jensens.  They are wonderful.  We spent most of Wed, Fri, and Sat with them, introducing them and shopping with them and showing them around.  Elder J took to driving here like Mario Andretti on a new race track.  No worries!  He likes it.  She is embracing every new experience, and so ready to go to work.  We showed them where to go to church, helped them with their calendar, and sent them off. They have a busy schedule already.  

MONDAY night FHE with the seniors.  We had a really wonderful presentation from the man who is hired by the church to oversee humanitarian services here in the Philippines.  He has done a slide show of what happened in the Typhoon in November.  He and Elder Ardern of the Area Presidency were down there, finding and evacuating our missionaries, and working with the Mission President.  

One of our new jobs is to be the "junk man" for the PAO.  We pick up the recycle they collect, tons of it, and take it out to Jun to sell or distribute in Maligaya.  Here they are in front of the new tindahan they built and just opened.  

Some weeks ago, I had a picture of Sister Erna, the woman the Jensens found on the side of the road with a wagon, picking garbage to support her children.  She worked there every day from 1:00 to 10:00, finding things to sell.  They promised her a house, and here she is, in her home with two of her children.  There is a teenage son, too.  We went by because it is attached to the new tindahan, the walls are shared.  She had everything neat and clean, there is a couch inside, where they sleep. (This is outside, where they cook and eat.  But covered with a small roof.)  That is a picture of Christ on the door.  She and the two  boys will be baptized on Saturday, and she has asked Elder Schlager to baptize her!  We are so glad to be able to attend that.  The little girl is not yet 8.

On Thursday, Marivic and Jun came to the city with us, to help us move in to our new home.  Remember your last new calling, when you inherited the books and agendas and paraphernalia of the previous leader or teacher(s)?  Well, that is what happens, I guess, when you move into an apt that the senior couples have been using for a while.  Our house was pretty bare bones, except for the furniture the owner left.  But here, the apt was already full of the things the other couples purchased to make them comfortable and then left behind.  

2 minor problems with that:

1.  I purchased a lot of stuff to make US comfortable in the house, and some of it I like.  So, I packed it.

2.  We are REALLY "a place for everything and everything in it's place" people.  We have to be.  We are too absent-minded these days to have things out of place.  We can't find them!  

So, we went in first, and put away what we will not be using, like exercise equipment and heavy dishes and extra bedding and books and such.  We have a trampoline!  It is stored under our bed.  We will not be "trampoling".  

Then Marivic rolled up the blinds and went to work, cleaning windows, wiping out shelves, and washing all the floors.  I think that is a waste of time.  This city is SO laden with smog, there is a fine black greasy grit on everything.  But, she did it.  Then, Elder and Jun moved in OUR things, and we put it all away.  Now, we are back in the "have you seen", or  "do you know what we did with" stage of things.  WE HAVE NEARLY DRIVEN OURSELVES (AND EACH OTHER) MAD  getting all settled again.  We lost stuff, we forgot things, we tried again. 

It must be Saturday, we are off to another baptism.  

The man in the center in yellow was baptized in Sampaloc, Brother Bong.  In the pool, of course.  All of the recent converts up there attended and were happy for him.  Pres Dolleti told them about our transfer, and we also had tears.  We just kept telling them we would be here when they go to the temple.  They have loved us far more than we deserve, but we love them too, less than they deserve!

We got to go back up on Sunday for another Temple Prep class with the Aguilar family, after attending in Malaya.  Had a wonderful day all day.  Got home about 9:00 pm.

There were a couple of jeepneys loading up in 

Sampaloc to come down the mountain.  Can you imagine riding about 20 miles on winding, downhill, narrow mountain roads like this?  They do it all the time!

Our new bedroom and office

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Guest room

New Kitchen

 Living room

We have been lost a lot, AGAIN, and will be for about 6 weeks, while we learn our new job.  But there is so much here to make us happy, we just get up every day and have a few new adventures.  This week, we went to the office and Elder put his phone in his pocket.  Then, when he saw one on the desk, he thought that was his.  Put IT in the holder on his belt.  Pretty soon, we hear a cat meowing all over the office.  We are asking, "Have you got a CAT in here?"  The Elders are snickering, and tell us, "We can't get him out".  They were looking under furniture, etc.  Well, it turns out the "cat" was the AP's phone, safely tucked in Elder Schlager's belt.  Elder Crisanto couldn't find it, so he called it.  Even the missionaries are thinking, "they are pretty nice, but boy ARE THEY DUMB!