16 October 1999

Boy, what an unusual couple of days these have been.  Elder Werner and I went to Tacloban Wednesday afternoon.  We were thinking that I had to be at a trainers meeting at 6:00.  We got to the office, and written on the white board was "Elder MacKenzie's and Elder Hale's greenies won't get here until Thursday morning."  So Elder Hale and I hung out together.  We slept at the Real Street apartment that night.  It was a terrible sleep, as always.  We hung out in the office the next (Thursday) morning.  While we were there, we found out from the APs that our trainees were still in Manila, and they weren't coming until Friday morning.  That meant that I wouldn't make it to my appointments on Friday night.  After lunch, I took Elder Hale and went to Dulag.  I rescheduled my two appointments, then went back to Tacloban for zone conference at 4:00.  It was a good conference.  Elder Hackett and Elder Zapanta are good APs, and President Dela Vega is a great mission president.  I found out some changes.  They've added Tolosa to Abuyog Zone (and Dulag District) and renamed it "Tolosa Zone."  I'm not sure why, but it's nothing to complain about..  I slept in the "annex" Thursday night.  It's air conditioned.  Very nice.

Elder Hale and Elder MacKenzie waiting for their greenies

Friday morning started with the second half of zone conference.  It was good, too.  My zone (and Elder Hale) went to the mission home afterwards to be interviews by President.  The two new missionaries were there.  They are Elder Millington from Idaho and Elder Applonie from Utah.  They left on the mission tour shortly after we arrived.  We hung out with each other and Sister Dela Vega while we waited for interviews.  This was the first time I've ever really talked to her.  She's really cool.  The rest of my zone is really cool, too.  So is Elder Hale.

6:30 brought me back to the mission home for the trainers meeting.  It was cool.  Elder Hackett spoke to us about responsibilities of trainers, Elder Zapanta spoke about certification, and then we ate dinner.  It was delicious.  Then we had the second half of the meeting.  President Dela Vega spoke about friendship and love.  Then he announced the companionships.  My son is Elder Millington.  He's a cool guy.  Smart, too, and not at all shy.  I'm really excited about training.

Elder Millington and Elder MacKenzie before they knew each other well enough to hate each other

I was looking pretty rough this morning.  I had gone three days without shaving or changing my clothes.

I went to the doctor this morning about my stupid ingrown toenail.  He operated on it.  He drugged me up like last time, but it hurt anyway.  It wasn't that bad, though.  My toe has a big bandage on it now.  Quite a bit of it has turned red from my blood.  It hurts to walk, but it's bearable pain.

I taught the third discussion to Rody this afternoon.  I got Elder Millington to read every other paragraph, but I had to explain it all over again.  He'll learn.  I'll help him.  The discussion went well, but after it was done, I found out that he and his wife aren't married.  They're getting married in November, so it's no big problem.  We'll just delay his baptism.

Sister Taylor (now Robertson), my MTC morning teacher, is pregnant!  She taught Elder Millington, and he told me earlier this evening.