Maligayang Pagdating sa Pilipinas!

Letter from Ashley;      Feb. 27,2013
Dearest Pamlya ko,
    I AM SAFE! I'm writing you from the mission home in Manila.  It is huge! And so nice. I took my last hot shower this morning and it was glorious. By the time you get this, you will probably already have received at least one e-mail from me. So, about the 'ppines, one other sister and I got "sky priority" which means we got to board the plane first and get our luggage first. So after we got our luggage, we left the airport and a small Philipino man yelled, "Sisters, wait here." So we did. (He looked official, he had a sign that said "Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints")  Anyway, the rest of the missionaries finally came (at least 30 of us) and we walked to the curb where a stranger yelled "WELCOME TO THE PHILIPPINES, MORMONS!"  It was great!! We met our mission president and his wife there. About 15 of us were staying in Manilla and the rest were off to Quezon, Baguio o Angeles. The 6 sisters going to Manilla came to the mission home to sleep, and everyone else went to the Manila MTC for the night (we got the better deal.) Anyway, we drove here in the middle of the night and traffic is still CRAZY everywhere. No one really follows any discernible traffic laws- even the mission president!  Well, I'm sure that by the time you get this, I will have taken a million bucket showers, met my new companion, ate a lot of weird things. etc. But for now, I slept in a home that's nicer than ours, took a hot shower, and ate pancakes for breakfast... I LOVE YOU! I'm really so grateful for everything you have done for me.  You are angels and I wouldn't be here without you!
              Love,   your tallest daughter, Sister Mecham