Grady and Karen's Philippines Cebu East Mission Experience: New Year

Elder and Sister Shamrell

Ready to catch the ferry to Bohol

On Friday we met a new senior missionary couple. They are Elder and Sister Shamrell from Gresham, Oregon. This is actually their second mission as a couple to the Philippines having already served in the Urdaneta Mission on Luzon. After a year and a half off they are back out again. They will be working with Elder and Sister Bell on Bohol helping support the missionaries and members there. They bring a wealth of church and mission experience and we feel fortunate to have them in our mission.

As it turned out, our mission had just received a new van that needed to be transported for use on Bohol, so the Shamrells took it over on the ferry for us. As they are not familar with Cebu and how to get to the ferry terminal, we drove them to the port, helped buy ferry tickets and made sure they were good to go. Bells were prepared to meet them on the other side and get them settled in their new home there.

The ferry was scheduled to leave at 7:30 AM and we needed to be there to buy tickets two hours ahead so we picked them up from the mission home at 4:45 AM. We didn't mind the early hour as traffic was light and the terminal not crowded - we almost felt as if we had it to ourselves. The ferry they took is a new one for vehicles and passengers that docks right next to the passenger terminal which will make it much more convenient for transporting vehicles to and from Bohol when necessary.

Sister Osumo, Sister Cook, Pop Tarts

This week also brought Sister Osumo and Sister Cook to the office. They are both serving as Sister Training Leaders (STL's) and came with all the other STL's and Zone Leaders (ZL's) to Mission Leadership Council (MLC). This is where all of the STL's and ZL's receive instruction from the Assistants to the President (AP's) and President Maughan (President Maughan) and Sister Maughan (Sister Maughan).

Sitting next to Sisters Osumo and Cook at lunch brought back memories of our second day in the MTC in Provo when we sat next to them at dinner and asked where they were assigned only to find out it was here! At that time we also met Elder Crapo, Elder O'Rullian, Elder Lockhart and Elder Gervacio - all coming to the Cebu East Mission. It was certainly a nice 'coincidence' that out of 2000+ missionaries we sat next to them that day.

There are some interesting cloud formations here but these were the most unusual we've seen. These pictures were taken from the mission office.