Our adventure continues. . .

 

 

We decided to visit the Filipino marketplace with Dola, Sis. Engels, Sis. Monahan, and me.

Here we are stuffed in a tricycle.  Dola rode on the other side behind the driver.  Scary!

 

This was our bounty.  Pretty good cache, I'd say!

 

                We went to a really nice restaurant, and a beautiful orchid greeted us as we entered.

The restaurant grounds were like a paradise.

This guy was at least in a cage and not roaming around the tables.

 

We ate in our own nipa hut.  Pretty cool!  Dinner for the two of us was about $22 including tip.  We had blue marlin, roast chicken, chop suey, rice, mango and strawberry shakes, and mushroom soup.

Dola brought me a pummello (grapefruit kind-of) from the tree at their house.  It is as big as a small watermelon or the toaster!  The individual sections are probably 9" long.

This is how we buy milk, cream, and condensed milk--in cartons that stay on the shelf until you're ready to use them.  The milk is 1 liter, which is about 1 quart, and costs just less than a dollar.  Once opened, it needs to be refrigerated.  It is imported from New Zealand.  Filipinos don't drink a lot of milk.  The local grocery store doesn't even carry this--just formula, Ensure and powdered milk.

San Jacinto Branch supporting Annabelle at her baptism.

Sister Annabelle's baptism.

Nagpappasalamat. . .We are Indeed Grateful. . .

 

 

 

 

We have so much to be grateful for.  These are some of the things we experienced this week that have made us so grateful for our many blessings.

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to visit all the branch buildings in our area.  One happened to be near the beach.  These Filipinos were enjoying the Linguyen Bay of the South China Sea, and so was I.

 

These morning glories grew abundantly in the sand.

 

I wanted to eat at a seaside restaurant.  The only seafood offered were shrimp, squid, and calamari.  I ordered fried shrimp.  Imagine my shock when these full-bodied, headed,  with -shell shrimp were served.  I tried to take off head, legs, tail, and shell and was left with a piece of meat about 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch.  I gave up and ate some of the shells, but refused to eat the heads.  Brad's pork dish was much better.

 

 Two of our sweet sister missionaries in Manaoag in front of a member's nipa hut.

 

 

Same house.  The walls are bamboo, the roof is part corregated tin and part is thatched banana leaves.   Our homes in America are mansions compared to their humble homes.

 

 

Different sister missionaries and a dedicated, sweet ward sister doing missionary work.

Elder Dinkel getting ready to do missionary work.

 

 

This is the path to where two missionaries live in their primitive apartment--tin roof, bare wires, cement floor.  They really have it rough.

 

 

Hauling plywood--Filipino style!

 

 

Hauling stalks of some kind on his bicycle.

 

 

Keyboard (piano) lesson.

 

Rice fields near us.

 

 

Banana tree in our back yard.

Close-up of the bananas.

 

This greeted us when we came home from church today.  We have at least two more that live in our house, but they eat bugs so we appreciate them--kind of.

 

 

This is our Thanksgiving turkey in comparison to Brad's wallet.  It cost $39, so his wallet is much smaller than it was before we bought the turkey, but at least we have one for Thanksgiving!  It weighs about 12 pounds.  We will miss our family at Thanksgiving, but we have invited the  missionaries in our area to join us.  We have so much to be thankful for.

 

 

 The following are Grandpa's posts.

This is a typical day of traffic in our area. There are no rules. Whoever gets there first has the right-of-way  

 

 

We were going to the next town for piano lessons when we came upon a funeral procession.

They walk down the main highway in town at a slow speed. We were obviously late.

 

 

 

 

These are typical homes in our area. They have no windows or screens, just shutters.

We are so blessed to have windows, screens and air-conditoning in some of our rooms.

Nobody has hot water but we have it in our shower.

We live in Manaoag (Ma-NOW-og) with a population of 60,000 and we are the only white people.  The locals are a nice brown color ( no need for tanning salons here) and are very nice people.

 

 

 

Okay grandkids this post is from Grandpa.

Above you see a picture of a cow in the Phiippines. They are everywhere, Tied to stakes.

Sometimes we see them pulling stuff.

The other is a pictures of a goat herd. If they have a lot of goats there is a shepherd. If there is just a few they tie them to a stake. We also have a lot dogs with puppies and chickens with chicks. If they get too many of either they eat them. They also eat rats. they say the are like rabbit only tastier. I wanted one for Thanksgiving but Grandma insisted on Turkey.

 

   

On the Road. . .

 

This is one of the many rice fields between us and the mission home.  It is rice harvesting time, and people are working hard in the hot sun in the rice fields.

 

 

Jeepneys are one of the main forms of transportation here.

 

 

Another is a tricycle--scooter with a side car for carrying passengers or cargo.

 

 

Motorcycles and anything with wheels are common here also.

 

 

How would you like to be the guy on top?!

 

 

Or taking a ride on this one along with the vegetables and fruits and whatever else!  Driving here is like dodge-cars at Lagoon.  You hurry up and pass one and hope another isn't coming head-on.  Brad's loving it!

 

 

 

 

 

Our Home in Manaoag

This is our front entry.  It's rather a charming little bungalow, especially for the Philippines.

 

Our front door--Welcome!

 

 

Our back yard. . .not quite like Genola!

 

View from the front

of the house looking towards it.

 

 

Our living room and dining room. . .

 

and kitchen. . .

 

 

 

 

Notice the propane stove.  We about blew up the house the first time I baked anything in the oven.  The flame went out but the gas was on full blast, but thankfully we figured things out before we lit a match the second time.  Good thing!

 

 

We are so lucky!  We have a washer!  No dryer, but. . .

 

 

Upstairs to the bedrooms.

 

 

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Our luxurious bathroom--lots of storage, !?

 

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The spacious bedroom. . .

 

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And the quality chest of drawers.

 

 

 

The landlord brought these to share from the tree in the back yard.  They are amazingly sweet and yummy.  Now who can beat that??