TO HIT THE highlights .........

Whew, the past three weeks have been wonderful and frantic. I had no time to blog and we were almost never at home to eat.  

I gained three pounds!   

  Of course I did!

New Friends. Elder and Sister Sheffer arrived from Panguitch UT, and we had the privilege of meeting them and Helping them get settled. So, lots of driving around, and another trip to the LTO for driver's licenses. They are still in the hotel. They will be serving two stakes here in the city, so they need an apartment.After they saw several, they chose one , but it is not ready yet. They are being very patient. He is a former teacher, she raised their 8 children.  

MISSION TOUR:

Elder and Sister Echo Hawk, the second counselor in the Area Presidency, came to tour the mission and so we had a second zone conference this transfer. They are here, having dinner with us, in the Outback Restaurant.  We sat across from them and he and Elder Schlager got on like old friends. They were at BYU when we there, and he played football.  

Have you ever had a General Authority buy your dinner? It felt really odd. But they are so warm and we truly loved them.  

Morong House Project

So the sisters in Morong REALLY needed a new house. They finally found one they liked. But it was cheap and needed a lot of work. We did a service project. AFTER the missionaries came and 8 seniors and ripped up the floor, cleaned like crazy, it looked like this:

Concrete bare floors. No real CR. Good kitchen and lots of room and a big secure patio for laundry.  

The downstairs walls were white.   Upstairs the walls were lime green. The walls on the upper stairway just unpainted concrete. We repaired the floors, and painted them

No flushing toilet, as it has

 no water piped to it. (Pretty common, here.) THE SISTERS WERE OKAY WITH THAT!?

So, we put a shower head in for them and

a toilet seat on the toilet. They use the faucet to fill the bucket, the bucket to flush the toilet.  

 We hired Brother Jhun  to come and install screens for all the windows. He did a Cadillac Job. The sisters are moved in, happy, and safe. Big job.  

Here is the design team. My Sisters Sheffer and Jardine, and that haggard woman standing in the back is a total stranger to me! WE  hope the owners do not come by and think the rent should be higher now!       

Relief Society Birthday

SO we were all invited to the RS Birthday Celebration in the Morong District. Saturday 3-5. We were there. They started one hour late. The "Singing Sisters" did a wonderful musical number. Credit to Sister Johnson, who was teaching it to them an hour before and enlisted the Young Sister Missionaries to fill in the blanks.  

Then, They had a "Career Workshop", led by a woman who actually has a career. They loved it and had a lot of fun, but most of them are thinking, "I do not work. I do not want to work. " 


We all finally excused ourselves to drive home, and they came running out with food to take with us. It was a funny day.

ANOTHER EXIT DAY  

THEN TRANSFER DAY

The next week, we had 6 missionaries go home, and we had 13 new ones come in. Lots of shifting of apartments, lots of training, lots of fun. We work hard, but we really enjoy this. They are here at the Memorial, excited, exhausted, and ready to go to work.

Two of them spent two nights here and then flew to Mindoro. One from England, three Sisters (and friends) from Samoa. We have two elders and two sisters from Utah and a Sister from California. The dark Elder center front is from Sri Lanka.  His family were virtually the only members they knew!  They joined 3 years ago.  The rest are Filipino. Some of these are the trainers.  

This is not a new missionary. This is my investigator. We bonded while I was shopping in the mall for my Primary Children. I do not speak his language, either!

FHE and birthday party

I do not know if you remember Yanni, Vanessa and Dexter's little girl. She had a birthday, on 

Sunday, so her parents had a FHE instead of a birthday party. Here are some pictures of their house, built last year when Elder Jensen was here. She is a master homemaker, everything clean and orderly and he has built (from scraps given by the people working over at the PAO for recycling) some storage cupboards and even a small extra room. This is the outdoor cooking area, where she prepares meals. Like a camp kitchen! 

Indoor kitchen and bathing area, and really the living space.  

Here is the living room, with the table ready for dinner. See the birthday cake? It was Elder Johnson's birthday, too, so he brought the cake and candles.

Family Bedroom.

Birthday girl!

Here is my touching story for this week: Dexter and Vanessa built a small extra room in their home, which they do not use. She told me that it is for anyone who has no home and needs to come and stay with them. She said, "Because we have been in that situation."  

So, in the U.S. it would be Yanni's room. Here she sleeps with Mom and Dad, and they keep it for guests.

   

Here is your funny story:

We have been so busy! Eating on the run. One day, as we are running to and fro, Elder S was hungry. He said, "Are there any Peanut Butter crackers back there"? Well, I thought I had some in the door behind me, and reached back to find one for him.  

Got my arm caught between the seat and the side of the car behind me. No crackers. But, I could not get my arm back out.  

I had to ask him to pull over, stop, and extricate me from my seat!

A rose by any other name? Still a rose.   

Yes, I am the same girl, only my name has changed!

IT'S MORE FUN IN THE PHILIPPINES!