Finished in September

Well, for the longest time I kept thinking that September 21 was our final day as full time missionaries, but I actually think it was September 22. Either way, our last day serving in the temple was Saturday, September 20. So, yes, we have finished our Manila Philippines Temple Mission.

I am writing this post as I am sitting in my den in Ridgefield, Washington, USA. It is October now.

The final days of our mission in Manila, Philippines were quite different than the final days of our mission in Montreal, Canada. We didn't really get to see any of our friends when we left Montreal because of being quickly "thrown out" in March 2020 because of Covid-19. We were not sure what to expect in finishing a mission as a missionary couple, and we had some emotional times as we neared the end.

Since this is my last blog post regarding our Manila Philippines Temple Mission, I am going to spend a little extra time sharing some pictures and events of our wrapping up and coming home.

Temple Friends and Food

As we were planning on leaving, we were able to eat some great food with many of our temple friends. Since food is a central figure in the Randall family, I am going to share a few pictures of sharing food with friends.

President and Sister Javier, Sister Randall and Elder Randall at Mac's Diner

Friday Night Fourth Shift celebrating our leaving - so kind.

The Kapitolyo Ward had a nice Family Home Evening event after Church on Sunday, September 14th.  It was a farewell send off to the Randall's including a nice Potluck. We were a bit embarrassed that they would go to such lengths to get us out of their Ward :). We have had some wonderful experiences in this Ward that have impacted our lives to be so much better. Here are a few pictures from that event.

Kapitolyo Ward FHE Potluck. Sister Gwenn Balane created the artwork.

The Alinganan family - recently baptized, very sweet family

LtoR: Sunday School class members; Adrian, Gordon, & Jam - bearing gifts - as a joke

Kapitolyo Ward Goodbye Picture September 14, 2025

Some additional pictural moments of friends as we leave the Philippines:

Randall's and Elisan's at the Alabang Temple

Wednesday Shift Bala, Marantal, Ruiver - gifting us "barong" shirts.

Our dearly beloved Temple Laundry Employees - Maya, Meia, Dennis, and Rodney

One of our "sealer" friends - The Parana's

Fellow Recording Office "mate", Sister Eunice Cangas

Our friend, Brother Gaviola and his son, Lyte Gaviola - the temple recorder.

I have hundreds more of dear friends that I cannot include. One main reason is that you normally don't have your camera with you when you are in the temple, and you should not be taking pictures in the temple. I have taken a couple (the lunch room, and inside the recording office) and I hope I took them with a little discretion...

Trip To Japan - the location of my first full time mission as a young man

I always wanted to go back to Japan where I served a full time mission for two years from Dec 1976 to Dec 1978. I had not been back in 48 years, and we were so close being in the Philippines, so Laurie and I went to Japan for 8 days from September 22 through September 30th to visit after our mission but before we came home. (For those who are curious, we didn't want to drag a boatful of luggage all over the place, so we decided to do a round trip visit to Japan and return back to the Philippines before we ventured back to the US. It really was the perfect way to do it.)

Our son Matt, and his wife Angelique, met us in Japan, and I had some very special times of "remembering" for me, and many new experiences for all of us. Matt and Angelique went to Tokyo first for a couple of days and then met us in Kyoto. We flew directly to Kyoto and eventually made our way to Fukuoka (I was a missionary in the Fukuoka Mission) and on to Okinawa (Naha, Okinawa, was my last area to proselyte in.)

Here are a few pictures of that memorable trip to Japan.

Kyoto Train Station arrival - meeting Angelique and Matt Randall

Eating Mango Kori -Ice Shavings - something I fondly remembered.

Special Connection in Japan
In 1988, Laurie and I had a Japanese exchange student named Junko who came to stay with us while we were living in Portland, Oregon. We had such a fun time with Junko. Junko decided to come back to stay with us again in 1992 for a visit after we had moved to Brush Prairie, Washington. After that we kept in contact as she married and then had two children. Subsequently, we kind of lost track of her in the last 10-20 years. 

Junko somehow reached out to our daughter Lacey on Facebook almost a year ago. Lacey thought it was spam but happened to keep the message anyway. A month before we were to go to Japan, Lacey stumbled upon the message again and realized it was Junko. It was a miracle that we were able to be in contact with her again.

In a few short weeks, we arranged for Junko to meet us at the Shinkanzen (aka - bullet train) area of the Fukuoka Train Station. Junko lives in Hiroshima - and she decided to take the Shinkanzen from Hiroshima to Fukuoka to meet us there. When we saw each other, Junko let out a squeal of joy. It was infectious. We had a glorious reunion right there in the train station. 

Junko stayed with us in Fukuoka for the rest of the day and acted as tour guide, translator, and wonderful friend. She brought with her some pictures and letters of our previous contacts 30 plus years ago. Here are a few pictures of us with Junko in Fukuoka.

The Fukuoka Gang - Junko on the right.

Bruce, Laurie, Junko, Angelique, Matt

Swan ride paddle boat on a lake in downtown Fukuoka.

It was hard saying goodbye to Junko, but we have a better way to keep in touch now and we look forward to doing a zoom call soon. We love Junko.

Fukuoka Temple - The location of the Fukuoka Temple is the same location as the Fukuoka Mission Home and Mission Office when I was there. I served in this location for 4 months in a position we called the "commissarian". (I think it was more like a commissariat - providing supplies and logistic management for all the missionaries in the Fukuoka Mission..) I met some wonderful missionaries there that influenced me for good and helped change my direction while on my mission, and in life also.

Here I am in February 1978 at my desk in the mission office

Elder Bruce Randall - Fukuoka Mission Commissarian February 6, 1978 - 20 years old

Here I am at 67 years old (68 this month of October) standing in front of a temple that was built were I was sitting. What wonderful miraculous events these are. The Fukuoka Temple was dedicated in the year 2000.

Fukuoka Temple - Bruce and Laurie Randall

Okinawa

The Okinawa Temple was dedicated in the year 2023. I wanted to go to that dedication also, but it was not to be. This visit to the Okinawa Temple was very special to me also. Naha, was the place where I learned to really test out the type of individual I wanted to become, a better disciple of Jesus Christ. That worthwhile goal has continued since those early days of change.

Bruce and Laurie at the Okinawa Temple

At the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. Beautiful, Hot, and Humid. (much like Manila)

This next picture has a lot of meaning to me. I brought home with me several mementos showing the Shuri Castle and the entrance (which we are standing in front of). This was a place I enjoyed, I loved to visit here to think and to ponder.

At the Shuri Castle entrance with my eternal missionary companion

Wrapping up our visit to Okinawa.

We were able to go to Church in the Naha First Ward and enjoy our time worshipping. It was a most memorable visit. One never to be forgotten. I felt so blessed to be able to go there, especially with Laurie, Matt, and Angelique. 

Called to Serve

I am going to include in this final blog post something that may seem a little "different" and some may think poorly of this activity (as did I when I first got involved). I changed my mind about this path I took after I got deeper involved with what Laurie and I decided to do.

As a full-time missionary, you are devoted to serving God for the time period you commit to. We committed to 18 months of a full focus on serving the Lord in His way. The Lord chose for us to serve a temple mission in Manila, Philippines. This type of mission, and its specific location was not of our choosing but it proved to be perfect for us. It was also the planting ground for additional relationships to be created and then to extend beyond a typical mission experience. In the midst of serving in the temple full time, it became apparent that we also needed to help many people's lives in a much different way than just spiritually.

I still have a small business that I am pretty involved in. Before I left, I thought I had provided enough resources, planning, and people to have the business increase. That wasn't the case and we ended up letting quite a few people go. This happened in the first half our 18 month mission. I ended up spending some of my "non-temple service" time working on business-related issues. Then something happened that was not related to the business, but ended up being the catalyst for some significant changes in how we are currently doing much of our business. We met some humble people in the Philippines that needed to live a better life. We also needed to look at our business differently. Subsequently, little by little, we evolved over the last months and we now have 7 Philippine contractors working for us online.

On October 1, 2025, just after we got back to Manila from Japan, we gathered up the 7 contractors and got together before Laurie and I left the Philippines. The Temple Presidency let us gather in the gazebo (in back of our apartments) and enjoy time together before we left. Here is a picture of those 7 people we now work with. I spent some time in my "off hours" focused on helping the Philippine people in a way we never planned on. There is so much more to this story, but this will not be shared here now.

L to R: Ja, Laurie, Me, Leomer, Zoren, Mathoni, Patrich, Jam, Deither

This "much different than expected" service experience has truly tested my character, and both my mental and emotional capacity. It has also increased my love for the Philippine people and for my Savior Jesus Christ. Laurie kept assuring me that we were on God's errand and that we should fill our time serving in "all" ways. These 7 have been great to work with. I look forward to figuring out how to improve all of our lives now that I am back home. We have more work to do and we are called to serve in so many ways.

Coming Home

Well, I will share a few more pictures about coming home.

Here is a picture of us in the Manila Airport, Friday morning, October 3 taking the 8:40 a.m. plane to San Francisco. It is a 13 hour flight on the way back. We then took a small plane back up to Portland and arrived a little late at 10:45 a.m. on Friday, just a couple hours later than when we left :).

Manila Airport, October 3, 2025 - going home

Here are the family members that were able to welcome us home at the Portland, Oregon airport. What a sight for sore (and wet) eyes.

Portland Airport - Family Welcoming Party - Oct 3, 2025

Final Note

After thinking about this mission the last couple of weeks upon being home, I can't think of any big thing I would have done differently. I would have done a few small things differently (like not packed a suit at all, which they told me not to - but I thought - you gotta be kidding me., and I would have taken all of my prescriptions for the whole 18 months with me instead of being afraid of what I was told customs would do if they saw "too much" in the way of prescriptions. - see how small those things are? Neither really mattered in the end.)

Laurie and I did what we felt we were directed to do and when you follow that feeling (which I call the Holy Ghost)  you don't have to ever look back on your decisions and second-guess them. Trusting in a loving Heavenly Father, and in His Son Jesus Christ is what directs my life - at least to the extent I let it do so.

I can't say that I will miss posting to this blog anymore. We will both get a rest.

Will we serve another mission? That is yet to be determined but we are not discussing it for quite a while. We have much to do with family, friends, all kinds of service, and most assuredly - work. Time will tell, along with another prompting from the Holy Ghost.

The scripture I will leave you with this last time is this:

Proverbs 3:5-7

5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.

Thank you so much for your time in reading this blog about our 18 months in the Manila Philippines Temple Mission. It was a life-changing experience for us. I hope to see and/or talk to each of you a little later in life to see how you are doing. Until then, "Ingat Po" (take care!)