Life Goes On!

Disclaimer: This is inside the Tricycle. No one calls them Tricycles, they just say Tri-C for short. I was never sure how to spell it but now that I see the sign I will go with Tri-C.  

It is time for church. We have cleaned up and fixed our hair and then we get in the Tri-C and get blown to pieces. We also get wet if the Tri-C doesn't have a door flap. Today on our way to church there was no plastic cover or flap to keep us dry so you get to see pictures of our drive. 

Let me just say Sister Synder and I feel like ladies of the night. You know? We just stand out along side the road until someone takes pity on us and picks us up. Sunday is a slow day to catch a Tri-C. 

The ride to town is like 20 or 30 cents in US dollars.

Enjoy the view as we (I) get wet (I'm by the door). 

Monday August 20th was one of the low points of the mission, for me that is. Of course Sister Nielson had warned us about this. She had said that it would take a while for us to find our place here and keep busy.

On this day the Nelsons were busy, President Peterson and his wife were out of town and the Elders were on a P-Day. Sister Snyder and I sat in the office all day with nothing to do (we haven't learned how to do our jobs yet). 

We took one phone call and saw the mail man twice. By the end of the day we were pretty bored. We eventually cleaned out the store room and moved everything around so NO one could find what they were looking for.
                           
We also made a list of packages that needed to go out and where they were going to. I was concerned because the President had taken a trip to Domingos, which is far away and we had a package for a missionary serving there. Also the Nelsons had spent the weekend in Vigan and we had 4 packages to go there. I was sure we needed a list to be able to refer to.

After our slow or boring day we came home to...well not a TV, not a car to go riding around, even if we dared to drive in this place. Even our ipads were limited in what they could do with the church filter that comes with living on the church grounds.

I have to say the rest of the week went much, much better. Tuesday when the President walked into the office that morning he said, "You are still here? I am so glad"! It was all in fun but he knows sometimes this place can make you want to run away.

The President and his wife spent the weekend driving a great distance, in the rain for meeting with missionaries and church leaders in an other area. He also tried to take care of 30 people who had completed their process of repentance and years later had not been given all their rights back. They were all faithful members doing what they should but no one had helped them get fully reinstated in the church.

He then spent a good amount of time with a sister missionary who wanted to go home after 4 months here. He tried to get her to try a little longer. The President and his wife got home Monday about 1:00 p.m. By five in the afternoon the sister missionary, who wanted to go home, was here in the office with her companion. They had caught a bus and the sister was ready to go home. Tuesday morning the President and his wife drove them back to their apartment and her parents picked her up. It was a couple of unproductive days for a busy President and his wife. We were happy to tell the president that we weren't giving up so easy and Yes we are here to stay through it all.

                                Anyone want to tell me what this is?  
It was next to the Dragon Fruit which is in the picture below. Does anyone know if the Dragon Fruit is good and how you eat it?

We went to a Young Woman Activity where they were making candy to sell so they can earn enough money to go to the Manila Temple and do baptisms. Their leaders were helping them.

The candy is made with powdered milk and eagle brand, then they roll it into little balls. They wrap the ball in colored cellophaned paper.

When we went out tonight we found a restaurant selling the same candy. 

The candy is called Pastillas.

Because of cost, the Relief Society have their activities the same time as the Young Woman. It saves money to have them all come at the same time.

Our ward boundaries are way out in the country. Most Philippinos make about four dollars a day. A Tri-C ride to the chapel can cost three dollars.

The Relief Society are making empanadas. They are a pie crust turn over filled with corn beef and potatoes and the other one was tuna and potatoes. They were very good!

And here is our Sister Nelson doing her wonderful selfie!

This is our chapel on Sunday morning. Yes just park anywhere you'd like!

Remember be flexible when its time to go home. You may have to wait for the other guy to move before you can go anywhere.

With all the added drama this past weekend president got back Tuesday afternoon and there were missionaries lined up for their interviews. By this time I was finding things that I needed, and could do, so I put these young missionaries to work. It was a great afternoon as missionaries came in and enjoyed themselves as they waited for their turn with the president. And Yes we even shared the presidents crackers with them!

Okay Elder Reyes is NOT working and goofing off like always. See if you can find him as you go. I am sure it will be apparent soon. He wants to be in all the pictures and he's staging his shot! So look back and see who is staging his shot.

So did you find the Crazy One, our Elder Reyes? Remember he tries to get in every picture.

When we got to our apartment Sister Peterson and Sister Nelson had a basket of goodies made up for us. The pudding cups is something we never eat but we tried it with theses wonderful bananas and it was so good. These bananas have such a good flavor. Together it was like eating a banana cream pie.

So did any of you guess right? This is our crazy Elder Reyes.

We have been here over 2 weeks and it has rained everyday. It rains off and on but a couple of nights I think it rained all night. I keep asking where the water is going?

Puddles all around us. Even as close as we live to the office, we sometimes have wet feet by the time we arrive to work.

Just across the street is where we get our bottles of drinking water. We walk out past the gate and stand there with our bottle and they come across the street and take it from us. We pay 20 paseos. That is like twenty cents in US money. They will bring the full bottle back to us.

On Saturday we went in the rain to the two groceries stores to see what they had. The first store was Hyper Market. It has one aisle that has some American food on it. We like to check it out to see what they have each time. Saturday we found Stove Top Stuffing!. The Nelsons said they found it only once and they bought all four boxes. I told Veva only two boxes, one for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas.

  

Hyper Market is in the center of Laoag. These are a few pictures of the center of the city.

This is the capital of Laoag.

I really like the look of this building because of all the plants coming out the side. I think this is a poor picture because it was a rainy day. I will try to get a good picture when the sun comes out.

As I said before we are having an usual amount of rain this year. There was a mud slide, not far from here that one of the Elders Quorum counselor, was caught in and killed. He was from another ward. 

This past week the lower grades did not have school due to the rain.

Now the rain did not stop Veva from wanting to walk down to Wilcom Deportment store.

The neatest thing is that there is a security guard outside. He will walk you to your car if you do not have your umbrella. Even if you do he will walk so you can hold onto your packages.

They are so good to pack everything up and protect it if they know you are walking in the rain.

I have not seen one fat dog, cat, goat or cow here. Everyone of them look so thin. In the store, there is a lot of milk to pick from off the shelf. We choose one out of the cooler. We got it last week and it says it is good until December. I am not sure if this old cow gave us that milk but you must admit that is some darn good milk to last that long.

On Saturday after going to Hyper Market the President's wife called and said they were taking the elders out to try out a new restaurant and wanted to know if we wanted to join them. We never say NO to eating out.

On the way, we learned that the President had turned down the wrong way on a one way street. He got a ticket. It will cost him 300 hundred pesos.

That is $3.00 in American money. The draw back is that he has to go to two different places and stand in line to take care of his ticket. Another wasted day for the President.

This first picture caught my attention because of how long your stay in this place.

The Restaurant 

They have American Food

And Philippino Food

This was such delicious food.

Just like at home they had snacks to sale.

These are watermelon seeds!

Believe it or not their carrot cake is to die for.

Anyone see Elder Reyes?

After an amazing lunch with the Petersons and Elders, Veva and I caught a Tri-C back across the river to Laoag.

The river has much more water than most people here have seen.

And there are more skinny cows.

Let's see what food is available to us.

 Yes we are glad we are full.

Coming into any store there is a guard who checks you out.

Items that look like what we have at home.

Who buys this stuff? We see so much poverty. We wonder where these people are coming from.

 Massage anyone?

Lots of workers. Not many customers.

Ah yes, Every mall must have a dental office.

And every mall has good entertainment!

Veva, as you know is the medical, "Go to person". She has three patients at this time. One with the flu, one with a broken toe and the last one has a rash, which we think is a prickly heat rash.

This sister came in for an interview with the President today. She told Veva that they have to cross a river now with all the rain. Her rubber shoes rub against her toes and has made sores. Here is Dr. Snyder fixing her up. The sister said she has boots that go up to her knees but the river is now up past her knees. They have an investigator who is ready to be baptized but he can't get across the river. 

Sister Snyder is getting a lot of texts from with missionaries with problems. We are seeing quite a few rashes. Some rashes may be from the heat, others we are not sure of.

I sure hope this wasn't way too much info. 

It's time to sign off or was it time a few pictures ago:)

Goodnight to you all (well, good morning to you I guess). 

Until next time, 

Love, The Sister Sisters