Patron Housing

We moved from the Prestigio into patron housing at the temple complex in March so thought we would show you where we are living now.  Patron housing is a three story complex.  The ground floor contains Distribution Services, the Mission Office, the Housing Office, the Family History Center, lobby and a cafeteria.  The second floor is patron rooms for those attending the temple.  Youth baptism groups that travel stay here for several days as the youth participate in baptisms two or three times a day.  Patrons are only here from Monday to Saturday.  There are bunk beds in each room to help maximize the number of patrons that can stay.  The third floor is Temple Missionary Housing and has apartments, a laundry and storage rooms.  You need a security card to allow the elevator to go to the third floor.

There are some definite advantages to being in patron housing.  Here are a few of them.

It is quieter since we are not right next to a main road with a jeepney stop.
The air is cleaner since we are not right next to a main road with all of the exhaust fumes.
We are closer to the temple.  It takes us one minute to walk to the temple now and since it is getting hotter this is a real advantage.
Being close the the stake center we are more aware of what is going on and can be more involved.
We are now close to the other temple missionaries so are able to have more interaction with them.
We only have to go down the hall to do our laundry instead of carrying it down the street several blocks.
We have more room and a place to store things, including access to an additional refrigerator and a freezer.
We have hot water in the sinks.
The internet is filtered.  Along with always being alert for a virus, malware, spyware, and other fun things, there were other internet problems that suddenly disappeared when we moved.

Things we miss from our first apartment at the Prestigio.

We could walk across the street and shop.  We can still walk there but it isn't as convenient.
There were two bathrooms, granted they were small but there were two of them.
The Staff.  This is by far the thing we miss the most.  We had so much fun practicing our Cebuano with them and greeting them each time we would come and go.  Last week LuAnn made some treats and we took them to the Prestigio staff.  They were truly excited to see us again and Sister Sorensen got a hug from each of the women who work there.  They were glad to see Elder Sorensen also.

It is good for us to be in the patron housing.  This is where we will call home for the rest of the time that we serve in the Philippines.

Patron Housing at the temple complex.  Our apartment is on the third floor on the back side of the building.

Patron Housing Office with some of the staff.

The lobby on the ground floor.

Entering our apartment.  Dinning area and living room.

Kitchen area.  Cabinet space a stove and two sinks.  The one sink has filtered water.

Our bedroom.  Not a king size bed but a nice queen.

The view out of our windows.  We are still in the Philippines.  The red Jolly Bee sign towards the top left corner is across the street from where we were staying before moving to patron housing.

Our neighbors drying their clothes.  Despite the conditions Filipinos keep themselves and their clothes clean.

The laundry room just down the hall.  We would carry our clothes here from our other apartment.

Some of the refrigerators and freezers.  We have this treadmill to work out on.

This is the view of the Cebu Stake Center and downtown Cebu looking out the window from the laundry room.