Sunday, October 25, 2009

Another Bridge to Cross

Crazy week! Busy, with pleasant weather for a change. No typhoons, strong winds or super hot weather. It’s always hot but there is a noticeable difference from a couple of months ago. Somehow it is not as intense.

We went with the Elders a couple of days this week. Always love to do that. Tuesday was choir practice and then lunch with two of the Elders who won the award (in our Zone) for the highest obedience points for the past two weeks. Elder Sangual and Hernaez are doing great. They had 24 investigators at Church today! Elder Richwine and Riparip let us go with them on Thursday. Whoa, that was an adventure. They wanted to know if we were up to crossing the river on the wooden swinging bridge. We’re as brave as the next missionary so we said, “Sure”. Let me tell you, Indiana Jones has nothing on us.

Our wooden swinging bridge in Maragondon (Notice that Sister Smith is not hanging on!)

The bridge is about 3 or 4 miles across. Well, it seemed like it anyway.

The area on the other side was beautiful and very jungle-ish. We were able to visit and share the first lesson with a new contact.


Spent time this week getting the house decorated for the FHE on Monday. The Zone Leaders have been helping and having fun learning to make spider webs. Will post pictures next week of the Halloween fun!

We went to the temple on Wednesday. I HATE MANILA TRAFFIC! Sister Hussey had a bunch of names that her daughter had sent to her so we did initiatory for them.


Friday was an interesting day. We went to the Elders (4 of them) apartment in Trece Martires. It was a disaster. There have been Elders living there for at least 5 years now and I’m quite certain it had never been really cleaned. It was a 6 hour project and the difference is amazing. The Elders are so proud (rightfully so) and excited. I was the boss and issued orders and the “boys” worked like mad.

Elder Lacanienta and Elder Whetman near the end of a very long, hard day.

Elder Smith was amazing. He cleaned, organized and fixed an aluminum back splash for the stove area that makes such a big difference. He was wielding his Leatherman like a machete.

Elder Smith with his favorite toy! His Leatherman!Even with all the work and mess it was a great day.


Saturday we went to the San Gabriel District conference. The senior couples meet there and then went out to dinner after the last session. It was a lovely evening with lots of visiting and planning. President Howard is a bit behind in his New Testament reading assignment. The Mission challenge was to read it between September and November. So, there we are at the restaurant, taking turns reading from John so he can catch up. Was only one chapter so went quickly. Elder Smith and I have finished it already but we still had to participate. Oops, I mean, we still “got” to participate.

We’re making eyeballs this afternoon for the FHE tomorrow night. Took us forever to find some powdered sugar but we prevailed! Eyeballs are a family necessity for Halloween. We were able to find some real Rice Krispies so will be making marshmallow treats for tomorrow also. Just wish we could have found some candy corn to go in them. That’s another family tradition that’s being introduced to the Philippines.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Darn, I didn't even think of sending Candy Corn. That would have made my care package complete! I knew it wouldn't be long until Dad made good use of his Leatherman. I can't believe he didn't take it in the first place

Naomi said...

Oh, you sure make living in the jungle look like fun! Your spirit of adventure is quite inspiring. Way to go, helping those Elders clean up! Also, I cannot believe that 24 investigators came to church. That is a huge number.

Natalie said...

That bridge looks like it was fun to cross. Beautiful country out there.

Keep up the good work!