Dear Family and Friends,
Happy Fall to you!!! No Fall here, still the rainy season.
This past weekend we went on an outing with the senior missionaries to what used to be Clark Air Force Base. The Philippines did not renew the lease with the U.S. military in 1992 so the military left and the land returned to the Filipino people. There is a lot of the original military housing but new buildings are being built too. One of the big businesses there is 'Call Centers'. There are 3 major ones there but I can only remember two -
aol.com and T-mobile. There are 2 big hotels Hilton and Marriott being built there and a water park that is huge and looks like it will be tons of fun when it is finished. One of the missionaries in our group had been stationed at Clark during the Vietnam war and he said it looked nothing like when he was there. It was nice to be there and see the place where some of our friends has spent time while they were serving in the military and on missions.
While we were at Clark, we had a traditional Filipino meal. Some of the senior missionaries here have never had Filipino food so they were surprised by the menu. I'm including a picture of our meal. It actually looks pretty good. I'd tell you what everything is except the names of the dishes are all in Tagalog so that wouldn't help. Basically we had rice, talapia, pork stew, vegetables in sauce, mustard leaves, fermented rice and shrimp paste as condiments and for dessert ice cream with taro root and cheese. This was our fist time trying the fish. Mostly they cook them whole here and I have a hard time eating a fish that is looking at me but this one had been cooked with some kind of breading on it so I couldn't see the eyes. Most Filipinos think the head is the best part. It was pretty good once I got past the outside of the fish. :) I'm also sending a picture of the cute native Filipino server that we had at the restaurant with one of the other missionaries. She is a descendant of the Aetas, an indigenous Filipino group in the area.
Our Conference watching schedule is really different here. Our scheduled week to watch is this weekend. We can go to the church but most people have good enough internet connection to be able to watch it at home. We have been listening to talks one at a time but I miss the sweet spirit that seems to increase as the meetings go on so we are going to watch on the internet on Saturday and Sunday and pretend it is happening live. There is something about the full experience with announcements, music, talks, and prayers that enriches the experience that I don't feel when we listen to the talks separately.
I will close with something that touched my heart while I was reading in Moroni 8:3 today. Some of Moroni's parting words to his son are words I believe many parents pray for their own children. "I am mindful of you always in my prayers, continually praying unto God the Father in the name of his Holy Child, Jesus, that he, through his infinite goodness and grace, will keep you through the endurance of faith on his name to the end."
Love,
The Tuckers
I have also included a picture of the latest "activity" at our mall. We were not able to attend so I cannot explain. :)
