Picking up Ashlyn from the Philippines!

November 23, 2025

Picking up Ashlyn from the Philippines!

Even though it stinks that Zac has to travel so much sometimes, the upside is that he gets lots of flight miles that provide some pretty amazing opportunities.

We asked Ashlyn if she would want us to come and pick her up from the Philippines, and she excitedly said, "Yes!"

Zac and I arrived a few days early so that we could adjust to the jet lag and get from Manila to the Baguio Mission home. Our accomodations in Manila were 5 stars!

We hired a driver named, Nel, that stayed with us for the entire week and drove us wherever we wanted to go!

On the way to Ashlyn, we stopped at the newly dedicated Urdaneta Temple. We had to beg them to let us walk around the temple grounds as it is guarded, but they let us in to snap a few pictures.

These motor trikes are everywhere in the big cities and you can pay to have them take you where you need to go.

You could buy Tupig from the roadside about everywhere. It is a disgusting Philippine treat made from sticky rice water.

Sadly, when we got to Ashlyn, her mission President and his wife were away, but because of this, we were able to meet this amazing couple that took such good care of Ashlyn through her whole mission from MTC until when she went home. They were literally her guardian angels.

Because Zac is in the stake presidencey, he was given special permission to release her from missionary service.

She was so excited to stay at the Awesome Hotel, which was gorgeous and for the first time in 19.5 months she was able to swim and step into the ocean.

For the next several days, she took us all over her areas, introducing us to those she taught and befriended. Tay Tay Jun was an absolutely incredible man who joined the church and has such a strong testimony.

The YSA was cooking up some chicken feet when we stopped by the church for an activity they were having.

She taught many families on the beach and when we stopped by to say hi, we sadly found that they had been removed from their homes on their strip of the beach and had to relocate everything down the road.

The children run wild on the beach and love to see Americans and followed us everywhere.

Some of the friends she taught wanted to cook us a special meal, and cooked up some of the crabs that they had caught for their business.

Sister Patrick from Africa was Ashlyn's companion in Baguio.

Baguio was located in the mountains and absolutely breathtaking.

There is a gorgeous part of Baguio where they all paint their homes very colorfully.

The strawberry festival was happening when we arrived and we were able to enjoy the festival and go and pick strawberries.

Ashlyn started to cry when she saw the buffet at the hotel, because she couldn't believe how extravegant it was after seeing so many with so little for the last 19 months.

We got to take Ashlyn to tour some of the historical forts and churches around Manila, which she hadn't done since her mission was about 5 hours north of Manila.

It was so hot and humid there, sweat just dripped down our backs.

Through an absolute miracle, we were able to meet one of Ashlyn's companions in the Manila temple. We were supposed to have been done and out of there, but due to a mix-up, we were moved to a later session and thank goodness, because Ashlyn had a happy reunion with Sister Pelagio and we were so excited to meet her.

While in the Manila, Zac arranged for us to have dinner with a client that he has done business with in the Philippines.

We had fun walking around Temple Square in Salt Lake City to show Ashlyn all of the progress on the Salt Lake Temple.

Because her siblings couldn't be at the airport to greet her, they decorated the house for her. She couldn't believe how tall they had gotten. Bronson got taller than her while she was gone.