Dear Ones,

We hope your Christmas was filled with love for family and that you felt the Spirit of Christ and His love for you and that you have come to know him just a little better this past year.

The year end is fast approaching and we have not written because we have had little time and lots to do.  We are afraid this letter may seem more business than past letters but it is the best we can do as we look at the past month.  December was full of meetings, projects, Christmas lights, gatherings, lights, meetings, choir music, Christmas parties, meetings, and lights, trips to the airport and newborn kits and new missionaries arriving.
 

Somehow during all our other activities Sister Webb and MaeAnne put together 300 newborn kits.  These were made possible with the help of donations of blankets from Willow Creek 7^th and the Eagle project of our grandson Josh. 

Area Office Christmas Party.  They Area Presidency having their pictures taken with the choir

Filipinos love a good party.  This is the finance group skit.

We had a Partners Dinner and Temple Lighting on December second.  Each year we take the opportunity to thank our partners for their help in making the year and our projects successful.  At the end of the evening we all head for the temple complex where we sing a Christmas Carol and at the appointed time the Temple Christmas lights are turned on.  Our partners and friends seem to enjoy the evening with its yummy food and music even though it takes them up to 2 hours or more to reach our location and then another 2 hours to get home.  This evening the traffic was particularly dreadful and many of our guests were struck for hours eventually turning their cars around and heading home. 

We had our Church employee’s party with skits, music and food.  We filled the Aurora Chapel for a devotional and then retired to the cultural hall for department skits and entertainment.  Our Area Office Choir is always a big part of our activities.  Sister Webb enjoys singing with the choir.

The first whole week of December blew in with the air of new adventure.   We went to the Christmas Bazaar, Purple Centers, and then to the School in Silang that needed more nuts and bolts for the chairs we delivered last month. 

Week 2 we picked up our Neo Natal specialists from SLC (Heidi McSweeney and Lis Anjuwierden) on Monday Dec 12.  We arranged meetings Dr. Calibo the head of Newborn care with the Department of Health on the 13th.  The DOH office of neo-natal affairs has been closed to working with LDS Charities since 2011.  Some offense was taken and an on-going project was closed down. Our overture to Dr. Calibo was a big deal.  The meeting went well. 

On the 14^th Elder Webb picked up our replacements, Elder and Sister Stroud.  Sister Webb stuck with Heidi and Lisa for Neo Natal meetings and shopping. The Strouds and Heidi and Lisa became our new constant companions for the remainder of the week.  Elder Webb drove a van through the streets of Manila.  He deserves an award for that.

Singing Christmas Carols

Blankets and newborn kits were given to Fabella as well as the gift of song.

We were told there were 278 babies with 10 women prepped for delivery. From some reason there were more women than  the number we were given.  

This is the Kangaroo Unit.  It seemed like every other mother had twins.
This mother received to newborn kits from LDS Charities.

On the 15^th Sister Webb and 8 other women (including Heidi and Lisa; Sister Stroud and Sister Ott, both new Welfare missionaries; our friend, Sister Crockett; and Sisters Bowen, Haynie and Schmutz, wives of the Area Presidency) went to Fabella Hospital to hand out the newborn kits.  We sang Christmas Carols in the 7 different wards of the maternity hospital. Sister Webb had asked Sister Crockett, a former member of the Tabernacle Choir to lead the group of women in Carols.  The only other request Sister Webb made was to include Away in a Manager and I am a Child of God.  Sister Crockett played her Ukulele except when we sang “I Am a Child of God” which we sang acapella. There was a reverence about this activity that everyone felt.  People came from different rooms of the hospital to listen as we sang in 4 sometime 5 part harmony.  We were told it did sound like the angels were singing.  It was an unusual group, our voices blending in a heavenly chorus as if we had sung together before; another time another place.  It will be hard to duplicate that experience.  One young mother came to us afterwards and asked us to pray for her baby who was sick in the NICU.  Sister Bowen offered a prayer.

Sister Webb Saying good bye to Terry at Mabuhay House

Mabuhay House is a recovery center where children and their families stay after repair work has been done.  There are many birthday defect corrected at this center as well a vision problems.

Jona Mae arrived in April with an
advanced cancer in her left eye.  She has survived
the surgery removing her eye and the treatment which
followed.  She is a bright spot in the day.  A positive
little things who loves life and the people in it.

The 16^th we had a meeting with the New Secretary of Health.  We fought our way down town to the office of the Secretary only to be told her flight from Cebu had been cancelled.  Heidi and Lisa were hoping to get her support in our dealings with the Department of Health. Saturday we put Lisa and Heidi back on the plane for Utah. Sunday we sang in the Choir at church.

Monday of week 4 we were training the Strouds.  Tuesday we took the Strouds to Gentle Hands Orphanage introduced them and delivered Christmas boxes of oranges and apples.  Wednesday evening we had dinner with Elder and Sister Bowen (our Area President and wife).  We shared stories and games and sang Christmas Carols during the evening.  Their home is lovely and filled with the Christmas Spirit.

Thursday, we left for Baguio for a Christmas Break.  Friday we bought clothes for Elder Webb who left all his in the closet at home. We had lunch and dinner with our friends, Dayti and Ray Salvosa.  We actually shared our testimonies of the Book of Mormon.  Ray said he had one in his home but that he had never read it; he said he would read it now.   Saturday Elder Webb played golf with Ray, President of the University of the Cordilleras.  The played on the Camp John Hay Golf course.  Elder Webb had a legitimate “Tin Cup” moment that Ray will remember forever!  He and Dayti have become good friends and are gracious hosts.

Elder Webb and Ray Salvosa at the entry to Camp John Hay Golf Club dinning room

Baguio Golf Course

Christmas Eve we had dinner at the Manor, an historic hotel in Baguio.  We invited Elder and Sister McClure to join us. Every night in December the Manor has a lovely garden program.  About five o’clock a choir begins to sing and one can enjoy Christmas music for about an hour.  At six the nativity story is told complete with actors in period costumes, then a light show from the Christmas lights in the garden.  Then fireworks.  

Elder Webb saying goodbye to Tess our hostess Christmas Day

We love the fact that Christ is the big part of Christmas in the Philippines.  Everywhere one looks one will find a manger scene reminding those who pass by that Christ is the King.  We see one when we leave our apartment building; there is one in every apartment building, one across the street on the lawn at the Catholic Church, in office buildings and in malls.  Gifts are just a small part of Christmas here, and they are very modest gifts at that.

We never made it to church on Christmas Day.  We were struck in a traffic jam during the entire meeting.  We managed to move from the far right hand lane past two lanes to our left in order to make a U turn and head back to the hotel.  We also got word that we were to head back to Manila in case we were needed in the typhoon relief effort.  A bit of an awkward situation since we had agreed to go to a Christmas Day dinner with the Salvosas.  We gave our apologies, but Ray insisted that we go for a couple of hours since our host had gone to so much trouble for the Americans.  We did join in, but had to leave early.  It was the same group we joined last year.  Tess, our hostess remembered us and our first names.  Pretty impressive since there were about 70 of us there.  She is a lovely lady.

Christmas Day Dinner at Tess' home.  Here we are with the McClures and the Salvosas and their children

Charity Graff the director/owner of
Gentle Hands orphanage

We left for Manila heading down the Baguio Mountains while it was still light and spent Christmas Night in our own apartment.  The storm took a turn to the south and missed Manila entirely.  The relief effort in the south is well underway but we have received no assignment to help with this one.  

Before Christmas at gentle hand orphanage with Elder and Sister Stroud.  We delivered boxes of Oranges and Apples for the children.  They were having a Christmas Party of their own.

Yesterday we visited Mabuhay House  again introducing the Strouds to our partner.   Carol spent time talking with Terry who runs the recovery house.  So it’s training the new missionaries and finishing up loose ends.  The missionaries are the only people in the office.  The employees are taking a few personal days off.  Today is a holiday starting at noon, tomorrow is Rizal Day a national holiday, then Saturday. As in the states Monday will be a holiday because New Year’s Day is on Sunday.  So the week between Christmas and New Year’s is not very productive.  Why is it so hard to relax and just enjoy the time? 

Children at Gentle Hands Orphanage. The older children help the younger children feel a part of things.  It is like a big
family.  Charity was able to place 25 children in families before the end of the year.  Siblings are placed together.  It is a
wonderful organization.

As the New Year greets us we have mixed emotions.  We are anxious to return home to our loved ones, there is no doubt about that.  But, we have spent nearly eighteen months anxiously engaged in serving the Lord's children. We have worked most days with a purpose and meaning that give us joy.  We have met many good people who have given us a new appreciation for the life of God’s children here in the Philippines.  He loves them, and we have grown to care about many with great affection and deep respect.  We will miss them, and our purpose for being here.

We are looking forward to seeing you very soon.  

We love you.

Mom and Dad

Elder and Sister Webb

Gma and Gpa

Norriss and Carol