Hello Conson!

On Tuesday, July 13th we went to the Temple and a going-home fireside and dinner for this month’s missionaries.

Elder Cudiamat

Elder Matheson

It was a lovely day and we were thrilled to see the growth of our seasoned missionaries. Elder and Sister Hussey (end from right) will be leaving soon so they were included in the group.

It started raining during dinner and progressed throughout the evening. We knew there was a Tropical Storm coming but we were in for a surprise. By midnight the storm had become a Category III Typhoon. Oh my goodness what a storm! We arrived home in Naic at about 12:15 a.m. Wednesday and within 5 minutes of arriving, the electricity was out. Then the winds hit with a vengeance. Needless to say it was a very long, dark night. There were 6 Elders in the ZL apartment as Wednesday was transfer day and they were going to ride together to Makati to pick up our new Zone members. They finally called the AP’s at 4 a.m. to let them know that the buses weren’t running and it was impossible to get there. We ended up with flooding in 3 of the 6 apartments in our Zone but not serious. The Philippine news says that there have been 68 deaths attributed to Conson so far. This is our second Typhoon season and the power of the storms still amazes us. There is at least another 1 ½ months to go so have extra water and candles ready. We were without power for 2 days and without water for 2 days. Thank goodness for candles and our bumba (water pump to a well) in our front yard. The water is a funny shade of brownish yellow but it can be boiled and used.

The majority of the week was spent in clean up and trying to stay dry efforts. There has already been another tropical storm that has blown through. The weather forecast is for rain, thunderstorms and temps in the high 80’s and low 90’s for the next week at least.

Sunday lunch was a treat! Pres. and Sis. Howard’s daughter and family are here visiting from Virginia. They were seeing the countryside and attending church (where Pres. had meetings/interviews) and came to Naic for lunch. The Tylers are a beautiful family and very nice. It was a real thrill to meet Shelley (Sis. Tyler) as she practically knows us from following the blog. We will see them again later in the week in Makati and are looking forward to it. They walked down to the beach after lunch and we had Cassava cake for dessert. We were shocked when Pres. Howard said he had never tried it before! We thought he was practically a native. Thanks to the Howard’s for sharing their special family with us.