It's starting to feel like this is home!

I just want to say that my heart goes out to these people and the struggles they endure. 

The Bantay Chapel that sits on a hill and has 81 steps to get to, is quite a challenge. Having NO air conditioning really is awful in the very hot season. There are elderly that have health problems and getting to this chapel is very difficult. There is one lady that has had a stroke, who goes up those stairs every Sunday just to sit in the sweltering heat. She has been a member a little over a year.

There is the problem of the neighborhood not being a safe place anymore. So we talked with the elders of that chapel about possible solutions. One elder mentioned putting a ramp up to the chapel so it would not be quiet so hard to get up there. Since it is the first chapel in Laoag there is a lot of sentimental feeling with this chapel. I wish we could give these faithful saints a better place to attend church.

Today in our ward there's a man who comes in a wheel chair. He leaves home an hour early to make sure he can get a Tri-C to accommodate him and his wheel chair. Sunday he was there before anyone else arrived. The elders are so good to carefully take him up the steep stairs to the chapel and then back down to classes. I think sometimes it scares him that they will tip him out. 

A couple of times Veva and I did some exploring this week. I got another picture of my favorite building. Look at the work that went into this Catholic Church. It is amazing!

While in the MTC it surprised me to see so many people working hard on the Sabbath to feed ALL the missionaries. The front desk is there twenty-four seven. I am sure the security guards are there all the time.

The MTC President and his wife were attending meetings and firesides and speaking at them, sometimes two or three times day. I was amazed at the energy level these people had to have to do their calling.

Now I see our President going all the time. You really want to pray for all these hard working people! Our president left last Friday to do missionary interviews, check out living situations, break up or work through feuds that leaders were having and take care of long over due church business. 

The following Monday the Elders left Veva and I in the office and met the president up there and had Zone Conferences on Monday and Tuesday. 

Wednesday afternoon they all returned home to unpack and prepare for the Zone Conferences here on Thursday and Friday. 

As the president arrived home on Wednesday they had the general doctor and his wife come to stay with them to attend Zone Conference and check out sick missionaries.

By Friday afternoon we had one of our own (that works in the office) get sick. It is no wonder with all the work they have been doing. 

The medical people left to go back to Manila. The president and his wife were home alone finally. They were able to catch up on business they missed while at Zone Conference.

Veva and I had been wanting to see the Open Market that only happens on Wednesday morning so we took a Tri-C into town before work. This is the pictures of their Open Market.

 Treat Tables....

 Nope Not brave enough to try any!

Now we see all the vegetables. Do not mistake the cabbage for lettuce.

There is NO lettuce here.

 Love the looks of those grapes!

Smelly Fish

 Chicken cut, bagged and ready to go.

Oh Yes, more smelly fish coming up. I don't know what I would do with them if I bought them.

Oh sad, sad chickens.

 Yes! even baby chickens for sale.

and the only nuts we find were peanuts.

As I said on Thursday and Friday of this week we had Zone Conference in this area. Friday it was here at the Stake Center and so our President invited Veva and I to go. 

It was so interesting because at one point in the meeting president had the missionaries go to the first lesson in Preach My Gospel (The Message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ) and go to the bottom of the lesson. At the bottom was the Short Lesson Plan (3-5 minutes). A few companionships had to come up and see how fast they could do that lesson. One sister missionary  won by getting it done in one minute and sixteen seconds. 

Then the president gave all the missionaries a few Book of Mormons and told them to spend an hour finding someone to give the lesson to. After the lesson they were to get a referral and then give them the Book of Mormon.

When they got back one companionship had 5 referrals (The most). Another companionship had been rejected but pressed on. As the companionship found someone else to teach they had a man come up to them and tell them he wanted to be baptized. 

The man's wife was a member and he had had the lessons years ago but was not ready to be baptized. He now wanted to be baptized.

Getting our books....

Ready, Set, Go!

They found someone to teach...

More teaching....

Of course there is always the talent show at the Zone Conference.

If you look on the left, the third one in is a Sister Hunt form Gilbert Arizona. She was in the MTC when we were.

 Oh Dear I forgot, there is ALWAYS pictures! This was taken of our Zone. Two of our office missionaries were not in the picture because they were home sick.

Food we tried. Veva liked it and I couldn't handle it.

So our president has bought microwaves for all the missionaries. They were to pick them up at Zone Conference. Oh- now how to get them home while riding cramped bus or Tri-C. We laughed because the missionaries said, "We don't even know what to do with these"? I'm worried about them having the room in their house for them. Sister Peterson will tell them ways to use the microwaves on their next Zone Conference.

I loved his tie tack. He made it himself. It is to represent baptism. 

He used a paper clip to make the tie tack.

Okay I tell him lets try a big paper clip.

Saturday our elders (I say our because they are the office missionaries, Elder Reyes Sr. and Elder Corpuz. We are with them 5 days a week), had a baptism. This is Kraven he is 11 years old. His mother is letting him get baptized because in church he is learning English and how to be good. Veva and I spent a lot of time with her. 

The baptism was to start at 3:00 p.m. Kraven and his mom got here at 3:20. Veva and I entertained them until everyone else started showing up around 4 p.m. and the baptism began at 4:15. Blessed are the flexible!

So while we're waiting for everyone to show up for the baptism we get invited into another wards Relief Society activity. They are making Pickled Bamboo Shoots! I said, "What? isn't Bamboo a tree? They said it is the baby bamboos that they pickle. Still a tree!

The Bamboos...

Here is the recipe if any of you want to make Pickled Bamboo Shoots! 

Good luck finding the baby bamboos   :) 

After the baptism there were kids out playing ball.

Look we have neighbors once again. It is such a rare occasion for us to get neighbors. It is usually the elders just spending a night. This is the Nelson's Happy Day! They moved out of their apartment and will fly home on Wednesday. Our Sad Day!

Oh look, the Nelsons are giving us their leftovers. This is our Holiday shelf. We will make these on Thanksgiving or Christmas. What a treat! No they did not find this food here. A few months ago the Nelsons flew home to be there for their first grandchild's birth. They took empty suit cases over and brought them back full of food.

Even the Petersons came prepared. President Peterson brought some of his favorite foods that he knew they would not have here.

Rats- we could have left our curlers home (the ones that burned up the first day) and brought food instead. Jello packets, Ranch dressing packets, cilantro seasoning, taco seasoning, even dental floss are just a few we don't see here.

Okay if you want something fun do this, this is it. 

Brian, Veva's son, called last night and said we have a Typhoon headed our way. He told us two websites to go to so we can monitor it.

This is the first one and I like it the best. My Grandson Kurt better check this out before the Typhoon is gone. 

So the site is.....                                windy.com

at the bottom of this page you can slide the slider to another day to see what is projected for that day.  Slide it to Friday and that is when we really feel it. We are checking it everyday because it could change. 

This one is ….metoc.navy.mel/jtwc

once at the website go to the top right and click on the second one down..

TC warning Graphic

Okay that's all I know about this one. It looks cool but if anyone out there knows how to read it please let us know.

If you see Kadena up there in the upper right that is Okinawa where Veva's kids are. They are watching to see how close this typhoon comes to them.

It will be a crazy couple of weeks coming up. While Sister Nelson is here for a couple of days we will be putting her to work. She will help Veva and I bake cookies and food for the 30 missionaries coming and going this next little while. This will help Sister Peterson out a lot. 

Today we found out that five happy missionaries just got their visas cleared. They have been serving in the States until now. They will come this Friday (in three days). Oh what to do? What to do?

I guess they will be paired with missionaries around here (three-some) and then we will get them all straightened out next Wednesday when all the new missionaries arrive. Oh why couldn't someone have made it easier and sent all of them at the same time?

Ramdom picture..

I don't know what he is serving early this morning but some people stop and get a drink from his pails.

We have ten missionaries leaving Tuesday. Tuesday we will be going through all the process of checking them out, interviews, luggage, paper work, making sure they are fed and have a place to sleep.

Wednesday we get fifteen new missionaries coming in and we begin again. Let me tell you a little secret. (I think the idea came from Veva from someone that tried this somewhere else). When the missionaries come in there is a lot of training and interviewing and things to do. Bless their hearts as they come in, the President says, they are ready to go to work and they think they have it all together. 

They have been told about all they can know. They seem to know it all and really don't listen to a thing being said. So this time they may be sent straight out into the field (after interviews) and then in a couple of weeks when they are humbled we will bring them back for the whole training. By then they should have questions and have had their eyes opened to what they are up against. 

Now the reason we went to these drastic measures is that the President has friends coming on that very same day. Now the friends are church leaders. It is Sister Bonnie Corden the Young Woman's President of the church. 

At the same time the elders arrive we have leaders of the church (Young Woman's President Bonnie Corden) who will be staying with the President and these leaders have firesides and assignments to do. It will be a stressful time for the President taking care of missionaries and church leaders. (See why were getting some of the baking done now).

(Just a break from all that reading). Our Elders are teaching themselves to play the piano through, "You Tube". They do quiet well. That, "You Tube" is something else.

Below is our Elder Reyes Sr. He is the one that got quite sick. At one point his hands curled up and contracted and stayed like that. It scared him. The doctor said that will happen when you hyperventilate. Yes he was hyperventilating! 

It's time to go. We have a lot to do and hopefully a lot to tell you about in our next blog.  Oh yes...Veva wasn't asked to lead the music but we volunteered to teach the 4 to 6 year olds. The bishop called us in before class and asked us to take this calling. I told him, "Yes" but I may look him up after primary and tell him, "No". 

So I only tackled one little boy that tried to leave to go to the restroom. Hey! I told them before class that this classroom door does NOT open and close during class. We are trying to teach them to not get up and leave the room whenever. 

President Peterson even did that with a couple of missionaries that tried to leave during Zone Conference (pretending to need to go to the restroom). He kindly said, "Just ten more minuets Elders (it was more like twenty) can you wait? and they did. They are learning. 

Ramdon picture again....

Primary was fun and the kids were good. Only one child could not speak English. 

Thanks for your kind words and comments.

You encourage us to keep it up...….WE LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL....

                                         The Sister Sisters