We are at a training seminar for all of the mission leaders in the Philippines. It is our pleasure and blessing to be staying at a nice hotel. Amidst the hours of formal training, we were given a "free" afternoon today. What a treat it was to sit on this beautiful deck, look out at the ocean, and take time for personal study. There was actually a bit of a breeze which made the heat bearable. I read these words written by John Greenleaf Whittier, and I loved them:

Yet, in the maddening maze of things,

And tossed by storm and flood,

To one fixed trust my spirit clings.

I know that God is good!

Yes, He is good! The pace of life sometimes feels like a maddening maze, and I am tossed about by earthquakes, displaced missionaries, and a flood of responsibilities. Yet, I have a fixed trust in God, and my spirit clings to the testimony I have of His goodness, His strength, His mercy, and the power He bestows on each of us as we strive to keep our covenants.

For he [God] has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being. Blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land (Alma 26: 35, 36).

 

Another city, another restaurant, another mango shake.

It is difficult to find places that are safe to eat, until we ask someone who we trust who lives in the city, and then they point us towards a hidden restaurant, and the food is good, and we don't get sick, and the restaurant serves mango shakes. For a minute we forget about the issues and concerns of the mission, and we enjoy the cool and delicious treat. Cebu Island has the best mangoes in the world!

 

Sometimes mission miracles are large and sometimes they are small, but I appreciate them all. There are many elders in our mission who barely have enough clothing to get by. We have been working on quietly (and individually) supplying them with white shirts and ties, but they are left to find pants on their own. Pants are easier to come by. The missionaries can sometimes find pants at thrift stores, but fresh white shirts are hard to find. At a recent mission conference, a sister told me that an elder sitting across from her had a hole in his pants. This elder was only in the city that day, and would be going back to his assigned area later. I knew that someone (I don't remember who) had given me two new pairs of pants and told me to give them to an elder. I went to my mission supply cupboard and put the two pairs of pants in a bag. When an opportunity arose, I spoke with the elder and asked him if he would like to try on a couple pairs of pants. He was delighted to try them on. I told him that the size may not be right, and to our great surprise the size on the pants was exactly what he needed. How can that be? How can I not remember from what source I received the pants? Whoever gave them to me was directed! They were exactly the size that the elder needed, and he was happy to receive them! I am amazed at the goodness of God.

 

 

I am blessed to have lived on the earth when President Russell Nelson was the prophet. I will miss him! The breadth of the direction he gave was immense! He challenged me spiritually, and I accepted several of his invitations which stretched my testimony and learning. One such was his invitation to "Learn about God and how He works." I am sure I never would have delved into the scriptures with the intent to learn about God the Father in detail, were it not for President Nelson's invitation. As the prophet of God on the earth, he offered many promises to us, and blessed us, along with inviting us to do certain things. He lifted us as individuals, as a church, and in my opinion, he lifted the world with his light. He is a man of unmatched intelligence and dedication, a man who adored his family and showed his devotion to them, and a man who taught the world to love one another and live as the Savior did. Thank you President Nelson!

 

I received word this week that a dear friend passed away. How I love her! I now have another friend in heaven and I look forward to the day I see her again.

Here is what I learned from Sally:

Sally remained upbeat and cheerful, even humorous, though her health and mobility declined. She was attentive to others and interested in conversation. 

Her love of the Book of Mormon was evident. I often walked into her room and saw her with the Book of Mormon on her lap, reading from it. She told me it was her favorite book and that she loved it. 

Sally adored her family! She loved showing me pictures of them and telling me about each member of her family. She knew about their lives, their concerns, and their joys. She prayed with faith for them, and she looked forward to phone calls from family. Surely the best treat of all was when one of her children picked her up, and it was not for the purpose of driving her to another doctor's appointment, but it was to take her to one of their homes for a family dinner or event. She lived for those special occasions! 

She faced adversity with patience and perspective. She lovingly served her special-needs daughter until she could no longer physically do so. And, Sally loved music! She begged for me to play the piano for her, and her knowledge of classical composers impressed me. She would name the composer as soon as I began a classical piece. She loved classical music best of all, but she also loved church music and songs from musicals. 

I am truly grateful to have known her. Her life and example strengthened me.

 

You can get to this pretty mall in less than ten minutes from our house.  I really like the outdoor terrace section of the mall. There is a large array of stores and restaurants in the mall. Two things happened this week at the mall that made me feel like I was losing my mind. One day Matthew and I parked in the underground parking garage. We took a different elevator to the parking garage than we had when we came up from the garage.  I did not think this would be a problem because we remembered we were parked in the J8 section, and we could just find the letters/numbers to find our section and spot. We were carrying heavy grocery bags because we did some grocery shopping while at the mall, and we had purchased a couple of reams of paper from the paper store. When we exited the elevator into the parking garage we noticed we were in the D section and it felt like it was 110 degrees. We walked from D to E, then F and G and then a parking garage exit appeared. But wait, where was section J? We knew we were on the correct parking garage floor, and that we had parked in J8. We went back to the elevator lugging our heavy sacks and asked a security attendant where section J was. He said simply, "J is by A." Oh, well! We didn't know! How would we know that J would be by A!?

Another day, a senior missionary and I went to the mall to purchase supplies for missionary apartments, and we ended up with a large cart of items. We entered an elevator and told the elevator attendant that we needed parking garage level B1. I noticed as the elevator stopped on each floor that the red-numbered signage in the elevator did not match the signage on the wall of the floor just outside of the elevator. Sure enough, when the elevator stopped, the red numbers in the elevator read B2, and we reminded the attendant that we needed floor B1, and she said, "B1 is B2." 

I am so confused and I feel like I am really dumb. I am learning to smile, nod, and just go with it.

This was such a great BYU devotional when the head football coach, Kalani Sitake shared experiences from his life and encouragement to every listener. Here is a glimpse.

 

Perhaps the most shocking revelation I have had since moving to a different country, is that having clean water throughout my life was a blessing I totally took for granted. For 61 years I drank water freely from the tap, I washed my clothes and bathed myself in it. I rinsed food, washed babies, washed my hands and poured cup after cup of it for satisfying consumption. I never realized what a blessing it was to have clean water! Now I am see the effects of water that is not clean. Missionaries have skin issues. They tell me they itch after showering. They have sores that won't heal and get infected, and I realize that I see only what is what is happening on the outside of their bodies. Yet, the missionaries are blessed and they are careful, and they continue to serve.

I asked a missionary about his apartment this week and he showed me around via video. We went over the supplies he should have in his apartment and after talking with him, I know he and his companion need: a toilet seat for the toilet, a new can opener, a small frying pan, two dish towels, and a vegetable peeler.  At the end of our interview I asked, "Elder K., are there any issues in your apartment that we did not talk about?" 

He paused and thought, then replied, "There are little red worms in our water." 

"What?"

He and his companion laughed. "There are. We can see them."

"I had no idea! I am so sorry! We need to find you a new apartment!"

"It's okay Sister Clarke. We are kind of used to them now. Whatever you think is best for the work."

I can't get Elder K. and his companion out of my mind. I thought about driving to his area this week and searching for a new apartment, and then I wondered if the situation would be the same in the new apartment. I can't fix everything here, though I want to. I can't solve every problem and make things all better. There are basic things like clean water that I would really love to provide for every missionary! We provide blue jugs of drinking water, but what they wash their clothes in and bathe in is a different story.

I love Elder K.'s humility. He is willing to stay in that apartment if it is best for the work. Wow.

 

We are having a family discussion tonight about a talk given by Richard Scott titled, "Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer." What marvelous insight Elder Scott provides!

"Think of it: the absolute Supreme Being, the most all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful personage, encourages you and me, as insignificant as we are, to converse with Him as our Father. we need to appointment. our supplication can be brief or can occupy all the time needed. It can be an extended expression of love and gratitude or an urgent plea for help. He has created numberless cosmos and populated them with worlds, yet you and I can talk with Him personally, and He will ever answer. Don't worry about your clumsily expressed feelings, just talk to your compassionate, understanding Father."

"I wonder if we can ever really fathom the immense power of prayer until we encounter an overpowering, urgent problem and realize that we are powerless to resolve it. Then we will turn to our Father in humble recognition of our total dependence on Him."

"Seldom will you receive a complete response all at once.  It will come a piece at a time, in packets, so that you will grow in capacity." 

"Be thankful that sometimes God lets you struggle for a long time before an answer comes. Your character will grow; your faith will increase."

"When you are living righteously and are acting with trust, God will not let you proceed too far without a warning impression if you have made the wrong decision."

These two missionaries have taught me about love this week. They just met three weeks ago and became companions. One sister became ill and needed to be hospitalized, and the other has been there for her companion day after day. Today we asked each sister, independent of the other, if she needed a break from her companion and the answer was an adamant "No!" We offered to take the companion that is not ill to an area where she could be with other sister missionaries, but she declined saying she felt like she needed to stay with her companion to help and support her. 

I think they will remember this time forever because it has not been an easy time, yet they are doing personal and companionship study every day in the hospital room, and they are making the best of a tough situation. They are showing love for one another in an amazing way.

Charity suffereth long and is kind... (Moroni 7:45)