Grady and Karen's Philippines Cebu East Mission Experience: Sacrifice?

When we receive back more than we give, is it still a sacrifice?

There were opportunities this week for us to stop and reflect on the past 18 months. On Thursday all five Cebu East senior couples rendezvoused with President and Sister Maughan at the Marriott Hotel in Cebu for a short get-away. Thursday afternoon was spent relaxing and shopping at Ayala Mall near the hotel. We met Thursday evening for dinner at the Brique (pronounced brick).

The food was very good and we had a wonderful time visiting on a wide range of subjects including food, family, fishing and four wheeling.

Dinner at the Brique

After checking out of the hotel Friday morning we drove the short distance to the Cebu Temple and attended a session there. Allowing for traffic, which is always a big unknown, put us there early so we had quite a bit of time to reflect waiting for the session to begin. A lot has happened during our time here, we have many new friends and much to be grateful for.

After the temple we traveled to the Mission Home for dinner and an evening swapping stories of our many adventures here in the Philippines. It is really hard to say what a mission for a senior couple will be like because, although there are many shared experiences, each couple has their own set of experiences unique to them, their talents, interests and abilities.

After finding an issue with the little bridge between our home and the mission office some months ago it was closed to vehicle traffic, but then, over time, gradually re-opened until it was back to two lanes of vehicles. It looks like it will be closed again for repairs on the 15th of March. This will mean that the 10 minute commute to the office will be 30-40 minutes - at least 'temporarily'.

It seems that every day we see things that are 'camera worthy'. Most of the time we are not 'camera ready' so we miss a lot of pictures we would love to take. Here are a few that were caught on camera.