At 7 am on Monday we checked in for our flight to Manila. The chairs in the boarding area were a lot more comfortable than they were where we were waiting after our arrival, the air conditioning was also much better, in fact after awhile it felt a little cold. Our flight boarded at about 9:30 am. KL is really quite a nice modern airport, but unfortunately their food and water is also priced as if it is a nice modern airport. Once in Manila, we were picked up by a driver to transport us to the Temple Patron Housing. We went out to get us some dinner at a fast food restaurant, and then unpacked and had a quiet evening resting in the Temple patron housing we arranged to use. We thought it would be nice to stay at the same location as Yosep, Loisa & Hinckley. Basically ours was a small room with 4 sets of bunk beds, an AC unit & three standing lockers. But for $3 a night we got way more than what we paid for. There is also an outdoor cooking area and canteen to buy breakfast and lunch if you want. I was still not feeling good with a fever and headache so I prayed to be well for the session and sealing since I was supposed to be Loisa's escort.
At the airport heading to Manila
On Tuesday, I woke up feeling good. Prayers are definately answered. We ate breakfast at the canteen, and then walked over to the temple so Yosep and family could do their records verification. This was usually done in the Annex building but they had just started having it remodeled, so they were doing the record verification in the temple, it took about an hour, after which the temple president came down stairs and explained to Elder that they verified Yosep and Loisa's records for their sealing but they had run into a problem having Hinckley sealed to them. So with this explanation I was wondering what we hadn't brought so he could be sealed. But then he continued, that there was no one to watch Hinckley while his parents were in the endowment session. So then Elder was okay and he suggested that since Yosep was already endowed, he could stay with Hinckley in their Youth Center, and I could be the escort for Loisa. All worked out well. It took us a little while to figure out where to pay for our clothing rental, again because the Annex was closed they were using a security building for that. Come to find out Hinckley's parents had only tried to leave him with someone on one other occasion and it did not work out well. So his dad and I took him to the youth center and got him started playing with toys, and shortly after that his dad quietly left, and Hinckley had absolutely no problem with it. So for the next hour and a half he played nicely, there was one other little girl about his age there with her grandmother. A temple worker came in about a half hour early and wanted to get him dressed and ready to join his parents, but as soon as he was changed he was ready to go out the door and find his mom, and he sure didn't like having to have shoes and socks on his feet. Well we went up early and he was able to be in the sealing room while his parents were sealed to each other and then he was sealed to them. Afterward we spent some time taking photos, and went back to the patron housing to get something to eat, in the evening I watched Hinckley and the others went to do some baptisms & initiatory work. I was starting to not feel good again.
On the way to the temple
Pres. and family. A forever family
After the temple
After the temple
I still wasn't feeling well so I stayed in our room and rested most of the day. Elder watched Hinckley in the am & pm so his parents could attend a couple of endowment sessions. We checked out how much money we had exchanged and decided that the information we were given for buying meals was off some, we were told (or at least understood) that it would be Rp30,000 per person per day, when in reality it was more like Rp30,000 per meal per person. So to not have to go find another location do exchange additional funds, we decided we would do our cooking in the outdoor facilities and Elder then went and shopped for our evening dinners. That evening Yosep & Loisa did laundry because so they could take clean clothing home, as they do not have a washing machine and do everything by hand, and here they had access to a machine to wash their clothing.
The first real ham sandwich since leaving the US. Wish I had felt better.
Thursday, While I still don't feel well I watched Hinckley, and the rest them spent the day doing several endowments. Elder prepared dinner. We didn't expect it but all of the sessions We attended were in English. It was quite refreshing, to drive on the right side of the road, and the driver on the left side of the car, not an excessive amount of traffic on the road, all the signage in English, and everyone you meet can speak fairly well to good English.
Friday morning Loisa thought she should stay home and rest, as she is 5 months pregnant, so she stayed with Hinckley, Yosep went to do a session this morning, and Elder thought he would not go this morning but go in the afternoon only. Well since I have not been feeling well for a while we thought we might take advantage of the opportunity to see if I could get to see one of the MTC doctors. So we walked over to the MTC, just happened to be the day new missionaries arrived, so we got to meet with a number of Senior and Young missionaries as we were directed back to where the Drs. office was, they were in a meeting so we sat outside the office and visited with a couple of their wives who were there. They have 4 Drs. serving there one of them is the Philippine Area Medical Advisor. I saw a Dr. Morrison from Provo, and he thought I should go have some blood work done, and called to see if they would have it completed quickly as we were leaving in about 16 hours. Then he even arranged for a car and driver to take us to the lab, he thought it would run us about P600 to 800, but only cost us P200 about $4.50. We went back to the patron housing, and I stayed there to rest, and Yosep and Elder went back over to the Temple for the afternoon. I got the report back confirming that I has some undefined infection. So the Dr gave me a series of antibiotics to take. Cooked a varity of things we had left for dinner, gave the rest away then called it a night
Our driver picked us up at 3:30 am Saturday to go to the airport in Manila. It didn't take long to get there since there was no traffic. But once in the line for check-in (could not check-in electronically because of Loisa expecting) there was a long line and it was extremely slow. With me still not feeling well it made standing in line that much less fun. I was all clammy and wanting to faint. At least the fever was gone by then. I was just all red on the neck and arms. Took about an hour and a half to get through check-in, and maybe 3 minutes in immigration. Had a nice clear day and they asked us to move, so Elder gave up his aisle seat for a window seat. We had about a 6 hour layover in Kuala Lumpur before catching the plane to Medan. Once there we gathered our things and headed for immigration, The line was longer than our check-in line in Manila, but this went in like 10 minutes. While waiting I texted Bro. Manalu to see if he as at the airport as asked. A little later he called, and said no, he was at home, he had forgotten that he needed to pick us up. So we caught a cab and headed for home, and a good night's rest. I talked with Elder Williams who is serving here, and is acting as the Asia Medical Advisor, and he suggested she stay on the antibiotics, and stay home and rest for the next few days. I had the rash pretty much over all of my body. It was hard to tell much in Manila as I could hardly make it through the shower and it was a communal bathroom. I also let Sister Donald know I was sick since she has to keep tract of sicknesses for all missionaries. She also mentioned that she had gotten our official flight plans. We don't know what they are yet though.I stayed home from church and rested and Elder Tucker went to church. They had 2 baptisms after church and Elder Tucker performed one of them.
Before the baptism
The rash on my arm. It is hard to see but I looked like I was sunburned all over.
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