Once we arrived in Angeles City, Edward drove us to Brad’s apartment. It was about 7:30 a.m. He said:
“Watch this. I’m going to trick him.” Edward knocked on the door of Brad’s apartment and said:
“Elder Royal. I waited and waited, but they never showed. I didn’t have my phone and don’t know what to do!” Brad’s response:
“Yeah, right.” He didn’t bite at all. We then got out of the car and I watched as Brad and Maralea embraced. That was pretty cool. We all hugged, at which time Brad compared himself with me and said:
“Dang. I guess I didn’t get taller on my mission.” Maralea said to me privately:
“I don’t want to hurt his feelings, but I actually think Brad got shorter.” (Yeah, that’s better left unsaid. We are far better off putting these things in writing and posting them online.) Brad then introduced us to his companion, Elder Green, and gave us a tour of his apartment. It was pretty bad as missionary apartments go. Brad and Elder Green seemed quite comfortable with it all, however. They had a weight bench with metal poles connected to concrete chunks. Impressive. After our brief tour, with Brad’s assurance that the bugs here are worse than we could imagine, and that the roaches are the size of an index finger, they fly and they bite, we left to get settled in to our hotel room while the elders went about their work. Brad told me my hair is grayer and thinner. I told him he looks . . . larger (without the height). So, once we got through those unhealthy jabs (oh, and after I commented that his right sideburn was about a half inch longer than the other side - which led to a swift strike in the ribs by Maralea), we were off for the day. We had plans to meet up with them later in the evening for a special FHE, but first stopped at a local market to get a couple things. The second we got out of the car we were mobbed by young children tugging at us with their hands out. We gave them some pesos, which lured a larger number of children, and then adults. It was kind of freaky - even scary - as they would not leave us alone. There were armed guards at the entrance of the store where we went to buy some things, and the people stood outside waiting for us to exit. They persisted upon us as we walked to our car. It was very sad, and frankly left me wondering about how much shopping I really want to do while we are here. It was a real comfort to have Edward with us through all that, though. Maralea and I were both shaken up. Edward said
: “I will help you. I’m your guide. Don’t worry.”
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| Brad proudly shows off his apartment in Angeles City |
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| His mommy is very proud of him |
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| Brad and his Angele City Nanay J-Lo-Angeles |
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| Brad's awesome weight room |
We got checked in to the Holiday Inn at Clark early, which was nice. I found a place to send off an e-mail to let the kids know we made it okay, then Maralea just picked up the phone and made a call. We talked with David and Jordan, but missed talking with Kelli, because she was attending a fireside. Maralea and I tried to catch up on some sleep, but not too much, because we wanted to be on a decent schedule here. So, Maralea got the big idea that we would get massages at the hotel. That was awesome! I haven’t had a massage in so long. We got our massages together, which was a new experience. I fell asleep during the massage - felt great afterwards.
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| Elder Royal and Elder Green |
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