Not the best week so far..

We went to dinner last Monday evening with the Fershtuts. We went to a restaurant in Terce Martires called Tempura Sam’s. The Fershtuts and I ordered Japanese food but Elder Smith was in the mood for a steak and ordered one. By Tuesday morning he was a very ill missionary. He spent the next four days resting, hurling and running to the CR. He was really miserable so we stayed home until he could go out into public again.

Appetizer from the Japanese restaurant:


Finally on Friday we were able to go to a zone meeting and practice with our choir of Elders. We’ll be performing on July 16th at a combined zone meeting in Manila! After the choir rehearsal we took two of the Elders to their apartment in a neighboring town and then came back to Naic and picked up two different Elders. They are serving in Carissa Branch. We took them to their apartment and then went tracting with them. We visited with a family of 5 who are scheduled for baptism on July 18th. What a treat. They are super excited and so are we.

Yesterday was the first day of our District conference. We had leadership meetings all afternoon and then the adult session from 5 until 7. Was a great day and it is so fun to know that the Church is the same everywhere. I went to the Primary section of the meeting. It was all done in Tagalog so I really didn’t understand a word. But, it wasn’t hard to figure out that their teachers don’t always show up, it’s hard to keep the children reverent and they have a tough time getting the Branch Pres. to make callings. They asked for my comments at the end of the session and I reassured them that their problems are the same world wide. The sister in charge was surprised and said, “Sister Smith, you may not understand our language but you know more than you might think!” I reassured her that some things are universal and if they remember to pray and study and be patient it will all work out.


Last night after the final session we went to dinner with the Fershtuts, Hussys and Pres. and Sister Howard. Tried Chinese this time and it was great. After we had finished dinner and we were visiting the loudspeaker started playing “Happy Birthday”. Like an idiot I was looking around to see who was having a birthday. Duh, it was me. Was a very nice surprise and treat. They brought out a platter with fresh pineapple, watermelon, mango, apples and oranges all cut up fancy and arranged beautifully. So, we had a lovely dessert with the meal.



Today, (my for real 29th birthday) we went to District Conference. Was a great meeting and the Naic chapel has aircon so I really enjoyed it! About wore hands out with all the shaking. Such wonderfully friendly people.


Picture of a super small gecko next to Elder Smith's CTR Ring:


Love, Elder and Sister Smith