Lots of rain

Somehow you would think this would mean a lot less rain but NO! It has rained almost every afternoon and now it has rained for 2 days straight. 

                                What has been going on?  
Not a lot since our internet went down for over a week. It comes back for about a day and then it's gone again.

To fill some of our hours we had a Girls night out. We went to the movie, “Aladin”. Yes, it is in English.

We had some returning missionaries….This is Elder Morahu and his parents.  They came from New Zealand to go visit his old areas.

He brought goodies for the elders...

These two sisters came from the states to visit their old area. They served here over 4 years ago. The tall dark-haired sister is Clark Reber’s granddaughter. (Clark is Lenord and Daisy’s son). She is attending Dixie College. 

                                      Random pictures.....

Garbage pick up day

While visiting this sister missionary found herself on our “Wall of Fame”.

This is our sweet, sweet sister from Sir Lanka. Her name Malimbada, Arachchcige Imanthi Chathurya Malimbada. Try saying that real fast. Okay just try saying it! 

                                  It's like a complete sentence.

She, like so many of them come into the mission so shy and timid. Now when she comes into the office, she has such a big smile and the best hugs. We are always so happy to see her. 

As for the two in the back, Our Boys are back! Remember Elder Rees and Elder Denkers? They came in for training. It’s wonderful when your kids come home for a visit!These two Elders are so happy to get back out into the field that we can see their hard work by the numbers they send in. They're amazing!

It’s another outing to eat with the elders. 

Then the adults had to make a go of it because we like the food.

President Peterson had a birthday. Sister Peterson ordered food!

Chito, who takes care of our church needs, had a daughter turning 18. 

Here when a girls turn 18, it is a big deal. We were invited to the Birthday Party. I’ll bet this cost Chito a pocket full of money. We don’t even celebrate this much back home when they turn 16.

Birthday Girl coming in singing!

Mother and daughter singing together!

                                         

                                               

Next two pictures are Birthday Girl (Fena)dancing with her dad, "Chito".

Fena is 18 so she gets 18 roses. Each rose is presented to her by a young man who dances with her for a few minutes. The first to present her with her first rose is her brother.

Then followed were 17 other boys to dance with her. 

                                       

Her boyfriend brings the last rose and with it, he has a bouquet of flowers.

Proud parents and Fena (Birthday Girl)

For Father’s Day, the Relief Society had made paper ties for all the fathers. They stuck them on as soon as the fathers walked through the door.

Just like on Mother’s Day, the Relief Society put on a big luncheon for the Fathers. After church, the primary sang to the fathers and they were given a little chocolate treat and then everyone ate.

                          Our Elders sang in church...It's always a treat for us!

We took another trip to Vigan. The Senior Sisters had not been to see the light show. We loaded up the van and took off for a couple of days.

This was a bittersweet trip because we knew it was our last time with the Kartchners. Sister Kartchner went to Manila to the doctor and they told her to go home immediately.

She was told years ago that the cancer in her face would return. We are heartbroken and are praying for her. Elder Kartchner was so good to go around and repair missionaries’ apartments. He will truly be missed. (He did much more than that as well.)

Sister Kartchner had a music program going in the area. She taught kids how to conduct and to play simple pieces on the piano. For her recital, the students would conduct one verse of a church song and then play a simple piece on the piano. 

It was so fun because while the student conducted, we all sang one verse of a familiar hymn.

Then as the student played their simple solo these happy and cheerful people would quietly start singing the song. You couldn’t help but love the atmosphere.

On the way to Vigan the Senior Sisters planned to make house check of the missionaries down in that area. Elder Kartchner took the time to install smoke detectors.

It took us a while to get to Vigan with all the stops but the good news is, you get to see some of the apartments. (They really aren't so bad.)

Sometimes it's cooler to sleep outside than inside.

Yea the Filipinno missionaries prefer no toilet seat. So don't need to fix it.

 Brother Kartchner installing smoke detectors.

These are the washing machines that the mission provides for the missionaries. They are small and the drier just spins the water out and that is all.

These sisters are using their mosquito nets on their beds.

This was the most interesting bathroom. 

First, notice the step up into the bathroom.

Next, notice how tall that step up is! We all voted to go outside for our business.

So we stepped up into the shower.

On the other side, we step back down for the toilet.

The shower water runs down into the toilet area and the floor is slanted the wrong way so there is always a puddle of water.

 Isn't the outside potty looking better and better?

Washing area for some elders.

Back in the streets of Vigan. 

The Senior Sisters haven't seen the light show so of course, we were happy to take them there.

                                          

We are headed home but we are going to stop and have some fun first.

This is a building that we visited. The wall is made out of bricks, eggs, molasses and white sand.

We went sightseeing and hit the beach.

Wow! Her dad caught a baby octopus.

 We're headed to the other side to swim.

This group caught a Puffer Fish that was hurt...

Look at this water! 

The water was lukewarm. Look at the clearness of the water. It was unbelievable. We were all in Heaven. It was great except for the sun burns we got.

                                          

A fun weekend and we made it back home all in one piece. 

District meeting....

It's a time of saying, "Good-bye" to some wonderful friends.

The President took all the Seniors out to eat for a farewell dinner for the Kartchners.  (Sister Snyder stayed home sick)

Elder Ballan left this cycle. Many weeks before his leaving, whenever there was a celebration, he would bring his banners (he had made). Even when the elders had a scheduled dinner with someone he would take his banners. 

We weren’t surprised because he did this as well for his birthday. We celebrated his birthday for three or four weeks.

Mother’s Day was, of course, celebrated with a luncheon after church and the primary sang. There was Elder Ballan big as life!

We lost our dear Elder Corachea. He will forever be in our hearts. He can do no wrong. He is loved so much by all of us. In fact, we are upset with Sister Robinson because when she saw him again after several weeks, she gave him a big hug. She said she hugged him for all of us but we all felt cheated. We do hug the sister extra hard because we can’t hug the elders.


One of our last District Meetings together...…. Saying Good-bye again.

       

We're getting a new lawn put in. After a couple of weeks of them digging up the yard by hand, this is how they lay the grass. These are little plugs of grass that he is laying, yes just laying around.

 This man is pounding the grass plugs with this wooden board. Yes, he goes around just pounding them down.

                                         

A weekend outing with the Senior Sisters.  We went to drop a fan off to some elder and then drove down the road to this beach. 

 She is doing her washing.

You may have seen Elder Powell on our blog. He is one of our Office Elders. His grandfather is John Groberg. I thought you might like to know since his grandfather's new movie just came out. (Fire of Faith, which is about his experience as a Mission President in Tonga.) Fire of Faith was his second book. He has written 5 books all together.

John Groberg had 9 girls and 2 boys. When he was called to be a Mission President in Tonga the youngest boy was very ill and they had to take him back to the states to get well. Brother Groberg is 85 years old now. 

 Please ignore Elder Peck in the background he is a little strange and we love it. His mother also writes books. 

I just couldn't pass this picture up. They got a hold of my phone and had fun taking crazy pictures.

It's the end of the month and all the missionaries are broke. Elder Kartchner was so good to take the missionaries out to eat once in a while. We are trying to fill his shoes a little. We have even picked up a couple more on the way.

It's the least we can do for these Elders that work so hard in the heat at doing the Lord work.

Love you all,

The Sister, Sisters