Sunday, May 29, 2011

Sisters, Family Home Evening, Food and Baptism

Our first full week in our Manaoag home and lowland assignment was full of wonderful new experiences. We met in  a member home and had a Family Home Evening demonstration for an investigator. We did apartment checks in Dagupan with Pres & Sister Perkins and even spent time in the police station with them reporting an accident - a tricycle ran into them and damaged their car's rear bumper. We went to the market and got more food and our first bunch of little Philippine bananas, had talapia for dinner and the highlight was attending the baptism of a woman performed by her husband.

Sister Lindsay can surround herself with a lot of wonderful new sisters .

 Family Home Evening on the front porch while a thunder storm passed over. Sisters Mamaril, Siruno, Prangan and her daughter

 We had a fun time with the children and their parents.

 After the lesson we played some fun games and got to know each other. After the games we had a wonderful soupas - a thick creamy chicken noodle soup with big chunks of chicken and carrots.... my favorite so far!

 President and Sister Perkins at the pulis (police) station. A little collision with at tricycle ended 12 months of a perfect driving record.


 This tricycle had a great mud flap... Stayin' Alive. It's a jungle out there!

 Fruit looks good and tastes even better.  Mangos, bananas and pineapple.

 Remember that picture of the fish in the store... well her it is in the frying pan. Sister Lindsay cooked it to perfection. We had it with sweet potatoes and mixed vegetables and cookies for dessert.

 Brother and Sister Sibayan. He baptized his wife and they were so happy. She bore a strong testimony at her baptism.

Some of the last to leave the baptism. We have already come to love the saints here.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Getting Settled

There is always a need to read, study, ponder and pray about the work.

Monday, 16 May, morning before the stores opened we went to Mine View to see a beautiful view of Baguio City.

Fish on a stick is a favorite. I guess anything on a stick is fun to eat, just like at the state/county fairs at home.

More food on a stick. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but we'll stay healthy and pass on this one.

Colorful Baguio brooms are sold many places and they really do a great job of sweeping things clean,  Especially on tile floors.

We took a lunch break after shopping and had a hot dog and burger. Next time I'm having a Johnsonville Brat!

Marlene with a few of the things we bought to set up household.

Marlene purchased and hemmed curtains to cover the windows of our new home. It was cheaper to buy them ready made and hem to size than to make them herself.


Monday evening, 16 May, We were honored to be a part of the 50th Anniversary, Jubilee Celebration of the Church in the Philippines. There were talks, cultural music and dances performed by the branches and wards all over the country. We saw the Baguio celebration and had a wonderful time together with the saints.


We had our picture taken by a lot of people and with a lot of people at the Jubilee.



The Baguio Mission Office is next door to the Mission Home.


Tuesday, 17 May, we loaded the mission truck and our car with our things and left the mild climate and comforts of the mission home to set up our home in Manaoag about 2 hours away in the lowlands.


A picture of us at the mission home gate before we left to set up our new home.


We stopped along the way to get fresh fruits and vegetables. They taste wonderful and are safe to eat... after the bleach bath!




A colorful string of dried flowers.




On the way to our new mission adventure.


Sites along the way to the lowlands.


The one leaders, Elders Hale and Haberly, stopped by to see if we needed any help. President Jensen was with us and he stopped at a dairy and bought some cold milk to share. It was a welcome treat to have fresh milk, most of what we drink is shelf-stable boxed milk. It's really not bad and as good as what we had in Egypt and the DR.

We had piles of stuff all over the house, but after a few days we found a home for what we needed and the rest of it will be returned to storage at the mission home.

We have some very cute little fly catchers, on our walls.


Thursday, 19 May, we had dinner out at the neighborhood ChowKing!

A wide variety of tuna at the local 7-11.

Even some delicacies, like shrimp flavor chips.

I go for the chocolate ice cream at the 7-11.

A look at our back yard out our bedroom window. There are usually goats grazing out there.

We have the best landlord, Pablo. He is 71 and plays tennis and golf regularly and is a retired businessman. He said that the trash pickup was not dependable so he had his crew dig a pit in the backyard where we will burn our trash.

Our driveway with our Toyota Corolla parked by our gate.


Friday, 20 May, we had a local attorney notarize our home lease for documentation needed to get the Internet setup.  We entered his open-air office and waited in the heat and humidity for a couple of hours while he worked on his typewriter to notarize our documents. We had some enjoyable conversation with him and others in the office while we waited. 

One of four fighting cocks outside the attorney's office.

A rare sight of only one trike on the street. Usually it is filled with them.

Jeepneys along the roadside. They are the local buses people use.

Dragon fruit at the Hypermarket in Carmen, about 45 minutes away from our town. This is a big supermarket that has all the food we will need.

Talapia in its natural state. You pick your fish and the butcher will fillet it for you.

Thursday Marlene cooked a spaghetti dinner. It was great to feel a little more settled. The place is clean and we are making it more comfortable every day. We invited the two sets of sister missionaries over for dinner next Monday evening. A brave move, but with the challenge comes the growth and the blessing.

All cleaned up after dinner. Notice the water filter, insecticide, bleach... along with all of the usual kitchen equipment. We have a little 4 burned propane stove and Marlene is getting use to it.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

No Pictures, but We Do Have Email

We have a portable flash drive connection to the Internet and it is very slow, so no pictures until we get the wired Internet at the house. We'll write more on P-Day, but just want you to know that we are getting email now.

Today we felt settled in our home here in Manaoag. We met the zone leaders and attended a brief meeting with the district president and his branch presidents... good leaders with a strong spirit of leadership. We visited the two teams of sisters in town and invited them over for dinner Monday evening. Then we took the zone leaders home to Mangaldan. We visited the branch building there as well as a grocery store and then they hopped out and we headed back home on our own. We made it without a problem. the big challenge was the traffic in town, but more about cultural things later.

Bye for now!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Saturday in Baguio

View of Baguio from the top floor viewing area of Baguio SM Mall.

 Here I am just after buying two new cell phones. I have some of the paperwork in my pocket.

 A little thunder cloud was passing over. We really haven't had a lot of rain... yet.