Week Fifty-seven

We started out the week by visiting Urdaneta to have a Thanksgiving Dinner with the Senior Couples from our old mission.  We stopped at a mall before the dinner and had to share the Christmas decorations that are so beautiful.

                    Some of the Senior Couples, plus the Filipino Counselor in the Mission Presidency.

                                          District Meeting on Tuesday.

                                           District picture at their meeting.

                                   Elders making deliveries on Thursday.  Boy are they beat!

Some of the Sisters we visited on Saturday to invite them to Branch Conference Sunday.

                    The area we visited was a fishing village on the South China Sea.

                                      Dozens of fishing boats were out in the sea.

                                                        Some of their catch.

                           Fish drying in the sun.  They dry for two days, then they're ready to sell.

One of our branch members was preparing their breakfast on their little outdoor stove which is a can.

                           These are the sweet sisters who took us to the various homes we visited.

One of the Sisters owns this sari-sari store where she sells goods to help support her family.

                                Another Sister was busy washing their clothes.

This girl was enjoying herself for a moment.  I don't know if she helped hang the wash or not, but. . .looks fun!

After Branch Conference, the people treated us to a great dinner.  The green dish is cooked taro leaves and some kind of meat, then the other dish is ground pork, carrots, and potatoes.  It was delicious!

                                    Some of the people of the branch.

This lady is from Damortis, and she is their Primary President, but is also a counselor in the District Primary.  I was glad to see her again because we had a special bond from my time in their branch, and I had failed to get her name and number so we could keep touch.  She gave me a special handbag last time I was at her branch.  Anyway I was glad to see her.

This is our week in pictures.  Glad you could share it with us.  We'll take a lot of pictures of our Thanksgiving next week, so look for your missionary then.  Take care, and God bless.

Week Fifty-Six

Monday night we had Sisters from San Juan over for dinner, and they were able to use the mission's sewing machine for some much-needed mending.  We really enjoyed having them.

                                  Here they are again!  Such great young women!!!

 Every Christmas each missionary is supposed to make a photo of 3 words that have meaning to them.  This is our "My Three Word" poster.  Some of them are so cute!  The mission makes a cd and gives to each missionary at Christmas.  Can't wait to see it!

                           We attended District Meeting Tuesday with these great missionaries.

 We were at a grocery store and watched these two young men sweep the parking lot with big palm leaves.  They did a good job, and their brooms were very efficient.

                           We had lunch with the office staff  and some others on Wednesday.

 These two sisters were in Baguio.  They are grandchildren of this hotel owner who is a member.  So cute!

                           Lunch in Baguio with two companions of Zone Leader Elders.

 Notice this retaining wall in Baguio.  They built this out of rock to keep the mountain from sliding down.  It didn't work!  It collapsed and buried the crane at the bottom.  Whoops!

                               This is the Agoo Chapel where we will be attending church.

 We had APs (Assistants to the President) and STL (Sister Trainer Leaders) over for a farewell dinner for Elder Olsen (right) who will be leaving Dec. 3 and returning to his home in Canada.  What a great group of missionaries!  Notice how Elder Dinkel spoiled the picture!!!!  Oh Well.

This is our week in pictures.  Hope you have a great week.  We are looking forward to this next week as we will try to finish getting our apartments ready for the next wave of missionaries Dec. 3.  Take care, and God bless!

Week Fifty-five

This week was a typical one for us, but for many parts of the Philippines it was tragic.  I can't believe the devastation that the typhoon caused.  We only had a little sprinkle and no wind at all.  But others were not so fortunate.  Twenty of our missionaries have families who lived in the typhoon's path.  We are still waiting to see how they fared.  Our prayers and hearts go out to those thousands who have losses.  We hope Heavenly Father will comfort them at this terrible time in their lives.

We will share the happenings of our week with you now.

                          San Fernando Zone at District Meeting.  Such great missionaries!

 On our way to check out an apartment in one of the new areas.  Notice the rice terraces in the background, and the harvested rice in the foreground.

 Zone leaders of the Bacnotan zone.  We are worried about the Elder on the left's grandparents who raised him.  They were directly in the path of the storm, and he said their house was really poorly built.  We haven't heard how they fared.

             This is the house we might have missionaries in.  It's a nice house, so we are excited.

 These sisters were having so much fun make food with their little dishes.  The Filipinos are so excited for any little gift or toy.

 Before I did my bread demo, a sister was showing how to make vegetable and fruit decorations.  They are so cool!  She was an artist!

        One of our missionaries got to stir the cookies.  We only had one burner that worked, and it barely worked, so it took quite a while to do all the cooking of tortillas and scones.

Taco picture.  Yum!

 This was after branch conference in Damortis.  They had potluck dinner and served adobos, rice, vegetables, dried fish, and many different desserts--most made of rice.  Everything was yummy, but the dried fish.  Damortis (da-more-fish) is known for its dried fish.  Kind of a smelly place, but you get used to it.  Anyway, it was a fun time.

Adobo, rice, green beans with a sour vegetable, lumpia shanghai, pluto (cakes), rice cakes, and sponge cake.  You can barely see the little dried fish by the lumpia (brown rolls).

                                       An Elder enjoying his food.