Our Tuko

We decided that we needed to feature our pet this week since we don’t know how we can take him home with us.  The Peterson’s (new Senior Couple) had better take good care of him!   

 

He lives in the back washroom of our apartment.   He has grown so much in the past 17 months.  He eats bugs so we like him lots!  He talks to us frequently and has a cute little growling sound like he is clearing his throat and then says “tuko, tuko, tuko” over and over.  The most we’ve heard is 9 tuko repeats at one visiting session.  He is a type of gecko and many of the natives are frightened of him.  There are tales of them ripping off your skin and biting and never letting go.  We’ve Googled him and that isn’t exactly true.  He is about 15 inches long now and has got quite chubby.  We call him “VW” because when we first heard him it sounded a bit like a VW car turning over the engine when he clears his throat.

We were in Makati at the Mission Home from Sunday evening until Thursday evening.  It was Zone Conference week and we checked Area Books (for the last time).  It was a super fun week and we got lots done.  We even went to the PBO Medical Office and got chest x-rays so we’ll be ready to leave the country.  Chest/TB x-rays are required 1 to 2 months before departure.   

Our Zone sang on Thursday and did great as usual.  We did “Angels We Have Heard on High” in English and Tagalog.  No!  It is not too soon to sing Christmas carols!  We are in the Philippines and have been listening to Christmas music in the malls since the first of September.

The Super Typhoon that hit the northeastern part of Luzon was a monster.  Our area was on alert but we just had lots of rain and a bit of wind.  There are 36 confirmed dead up north and about 20,000 or so housed in shelters for the time being.  In Manila when a typhoon is coming one of the things they do is roll up all the billboard signs.  There are tons of huge advertizing billboards everywhere.  They are made of a tarp type fabric and when needed, they get rolled up so they won’t rip etc.  We much prefer to see the ads.  The frames look quite forlorn with the rolls of tarp.  We snapped a few pictures in Manila/Makati.

We also had 7 baptisms in the Zone this weekend!