It Rained Last Night

It was the first really good rain in a couple of weeks or more and it was wonderful. The air cooled down enough that we pulled the top sheet over us. That’s something that doesn’t happen very often.

We had a terrific Zone Family Home Evening on Monday night. We fixed Filipino food for this one and it was pretty dang good. The Elders ate a ton and then played games etc. We were in charge of the closing song so typed up the words to “Horsey, Horsey” and divided the Elders into two groups and taught it to them. What a hoot! We’ve heard various renditions of it at meetings all week. It really sticks in your mind. We fixed Adobo and Beef Steak Tagalog Style. The Adobo was made with pork and the other with.. go ahead, take a wild guess..yep, beef. Will be posting the recipes on the Family Mixing Bowl blog soon.

The next morning the Elders met for a regular Zone meeting and planned the next FHE for September 7^th. They want Mexican food. This is going to be interesting when you can’t find real sour cream here and there are no canned refried beans and on and on. I’ll probably cook a big pot of beans next week and start smashing. Real cheese is quite pricey so will have to ration it out a bit.

Speaking of cheese, on the way home from Church today I had my first really, really serious craving for something American. Fresh Curds! I whined all the way home! Elder Smith promised we’d head to Beaver just as soon as possible once we get home. Somehow that didn’t stop the craving. Oh well!

I wasn’t in top form this past week so we didn’t get out with the Elders as much as we usually do. This week should be better.

Thursday we went to the Mission Home in Makati for a multi-zone meeting. Our Zone Elders Choir sang and it was great. They seem to really enjoy singing. Will be interesting to see how long they want to continue. Our current ZL’s go home on September 22^nd and have no idea who will be replacing them. Elder Bowman is a ZL and our pianist so will be a double loss. Elder Tadeo is the other ZL and a good singer who loves to sing. Elder Barton, one of our DL’s will be leaving also so is going to be a sad transfer week for us.

The Zone had 14 baptisms yesterday. We went to Naic for 7 of them. Gave us nearly 30 total for the month of August. Today in Ternate we were able to see 5 confirmed.It’s so rewarding to see the Church growing. A sweet sister in the Ternate Branch brought me a bag full of fresh leafy lettuce that she had picked yesterday. Lettuce is pretty expensive here and poor quality so this was a treat. Washed it good and disinfected with bleach water then had it with lunch. She had been out of town visiting her husband at his work and was in an area where they grow lettuce so was able to take advantage of it. Was so special for her to share with us. Her mom is Sister Sonia who was baptized a couple of weeks ago.

This afternoon the kid next door came bawling for his mother. Elder Smith went to see what was going on. There was a kid bawling in our front yard. I mean really bawling! Now this wasn't your everyday kid, it was a baby goat. Darrel went outside and eventually found its mother tangled in some bushes next to the apartment. He freed her and then reunited the pair. It sure quieted down in a hurry. So, now we can add goat herder/rescuer to his resume.

Another cemetary shot. They are fascinating!