Change of plans..

Last week we announced our 2 months to go mark.  Then, Thursday that all changed.  We will be extending until December 9^th.  There will be a new Senior Couple coming into the Mission from AZ, on December 6^th so we will be here to welcome them and show them our wonderful Naic Zone.  We’re looking forward to meeting the Petersons.  We received our itinerary from the Church Travel Office via email on Friday.  We would have left Manila at 12:45 p.m. on November 12^th and then landed in Las Vegas on November 12^th at 7:09 p.m.  Hopefully the next itinerary will be as favorable.  We’re looking forward to getting the day we lost coming over back again.  So until then here's Home Sweet Home:Yes, the Zone got pizza again this month!  We’re so proud of our missionaries.  They work hard and deserve the recognition. There are so many variables in missionary work and stats go up and down but the hard work never stops.  We are fighting with numerous allergies, staff infections, LBM’s, boils, rashes and general crud right now but everyone keeps working.  We try telling everyone to keep their “bugs” to themselves.  Charity and sharing are great but sometimes it’s alright to be selfish.

               

Thursday evening we were blessed to be at the “setting apart” of Elder Pipit from the Naic Branch. 

We’ve been to several others and it is always so special to see the missionaries preparing to serve the Lord.  We thought about our nephew Ethan, and his journey to the MTC this next Wednesday.  We are so inspired by the faith, diligence and determination of the missionaries. 

Friday evening we hosted a Naic Branch missionary training FHE.  There were 22 here for dinner (prepared by Sister Jeane) and training and games and visiting. 

We are busy preparing for a huge FHE on September 27^th.  There will be 70 or more here including 3 Zones and the office Elders, Senior Couples, Pres. and Sis. Howard and the guest of honor..Ta da! A 35+ kilo lechon baboy!  Yep, we will be roasting a whole pig in the front yard.  We will get lots of pictures for the next blog entry.

While driving around the city we find sighting of things that remind us of home.  Here's what was on the bus we were following one day:

Just around the corner, we were greeted by more basketball on a tryke.  Basketball is huge over here!

Whoa! 2 months to go..

We just realized that our possible going-home date is two months from today. We still have lots to do so have to get busy. Even if the date changes a bit it is still rapidly approaching.

Family Home Evening last week was terrific as always.We had 32 here this week. It was crowded and hot but everyone was still smiling and happy. We had sopas for dinner with fresh rolls from Sister Cristy’s bakery down the street.It was really yummy. The AP’s, TA’s and the Morgan’s came which added even more fun to our little group.

We went to Makati for Zone Conference during the week. We stayed at the Mission Home on Wednesday evening and had conference on Thursday. Wednesday evening we went to Chili’s (Elder Smith’s favorite) for dinner with the Morgan’s, Howard’s and Swenson’s. It was a great evening. Zone

Conference was very informative with training in the new 8 lesson plans of Preach My Gospel.

 Trece had a baptism on Saturday and there are several scheduled for the next two Saturday’s throughout the Zone. Next month is looking good for baptisms also.

Yes, we do think about our kids once in awhile!  This delivery cycle passed us in Makati and we discussed Amber's cooking skills at the Palo Verde Ward Cook Off.

here are ice cream vendors all over the place.  This is a fairly fancy one.  They don't play obnoxious music like at home but the bell on the handlebar dings constantly.  Selecta is our favorite brand of "made in the Philippines" ice cream.  The Zone is hooked on the Double Dutch flavor.

Temple Tour

Well, it is officially into the “ber” months now in the Philippines. They are supposed to be the coolest months of the year! We’ve already noticed some new Christmas lights and 1 Christmas tree up in a business in the Naic bayan. We heard Christmas music being played in a tryke the other day as it was passing us so we know the holiday season is beginning.

The Morgan’s from Roy, Utah, joined our little group last Wednesday.

They are a very special couple and are going to be a wonderful addition to the mission. They are living and working with the SanGabriel District and Zone about 45 minutes away. We didn’t realize that the couple missionaries would get better with every addition but they are just like our Sisters and Elders and seem to be sharper with every change.

Last Saturday was a Temple Tour for our mission. What a treat it was to be there! Each Zone brought their investigators to learn about the Temple. We had over 300 investigators attending! They met in a pavilion behind the ancillary building on the Temple grounds and then left in groups to visit 7 stations that were set up around the Temple. They were taught about the meaning of the Temple, Temple work, the restoration, family history and so on. Many of those attending from the Provinces (like Naic) had to leave at 4:00 a.m. to arrive on time in Manila. We had 50+ from our Zone. It was such a treat to see so many there. One brother who was attending the last tour noticed the no smoking signs on the Temple grounds, he had just had the first lesson and so the Word of Wisdom hadn’t been mentioned yet. He was so touched by the Spirit that he quit smoking on the spot. He had been a 2 pack a day smoker for 30 years. He was miserable for awhile but now has a baptism date set and is very excited about the gospel. The “Temple” feeling is so sacred. The tours will be going on regularly for the mission and we’re sure there will be some wonderful success stories to unfold. This month has a fruit that is a doozer! It is stinky as the dickens! In Tagalog it is most definitely mabaho (smells bad)! Just bringing one home from the store made our car stink for days. Durian is brutally spiky with big seeds and such an odor! One of our Elders described the taste as a cross between an avocado and an onion. (Personally we think he was being kind in his assessment.) Our sweet Filipino missionaries liked it! We’ve decided it is an acquired taste but it is a totally cool, awesome looking fruit.

A new Sanders business in Rosario, Ph (yes, those are power lines hanging in the foreground)

Wedding Week

Busy week!  We had three weddings to attend and help with.  Monday we were in Trece for  a big event.  

The wedding cake was from Goldilocks (big bakery chain here).  It was about $14 US and was quite tasty.

The groom is a member and the bride has been taking the lessons.  She was baptized on Saturday (yesterday) so the wedding needed to take place before that. 

We were able to get the cake and made spaghetti (bride’s choice) for 50.  Fortunately there was plenty as the guests ended up numbering closer to 70. 

Friday was another two weddings here in Naic.  Both couples were planning to be baptized on Saturday also and the weddings took place the day before.  There is no divorce in the Philippines so many (most) couples live together.  The commitment for baptism marks a big change in their lives.  We were able to help with the flowers and luncheon for these weddings. 

Wedding luncheon at People's Restaurant

One of Friday's wedding bouquets.  They were about $5 each US!  Amazing as they had roses and everything in them.

They were married in the town municipal hall by one of the mayor’s staff.  It was a double wedding and was actually very nice.  Both couples are young and so excited about the gospel.

 

Tuesday was Temple Day and going home activities for the missionaries.  It is always a treat to attend the Temple and this was no exception.  We said goodbye to 4 of our Naic Alumni. 

Two of them were former ZL’s here.   Wednesday was transfer day.  We had quite a few changes in the Zone.  We have a new ZL and Sister in the compound.  Elder Dymock and Sister Betts were transferred and are now TA’s.  We also are thrilled to have the Province TA’s living in the ZL’s apartment next door.  That makes 8 of us in our little apartment complex!  How things have changed and grown is amazing.  The Naic District Primary had roadshows yesterday afternoon.  They were very entertaining and enjoyable.  Each Branch was assigned a topic and then created a performance.

 

Naic Zone had 9 baptisms yesterday.  It will be fun to see if we get pizza again at the next District Meeting with Pres. Howard. 

There are already quite a few baptismal dates for September.  Sister Swenson called from the office yesterday to make sure we were heading to Las Vegas when we leave here.  So, it looks like our travel plans are underway. 

*Girl's Night!  The Sisters baked cookies and then decorated them with ants (thanks Ginger for the idea).  So much fun!

Still Raining

Gotta love the Philippines during the rainy season. For one thing, it’s cooler! It is still in the high 80’s to low 90’s everyday but somehow the rain makes it feel less intense. It is always humid anyway so that never changes. It actually cools down into the mid 70’s at night sometimes which is a true blessing.

We enjoyed having the DasMarinias Zone over for FHE on Monday. There were 20 of them including 5 Naic Alumni! They have asked to come for FHE at least once each transfer. They have to rent a Jeepney and it is an hour ride to get here. They also have to have permission to travel outside of their Zone boundary. Since the AP’s love to come to FHE out here and one is formerly from Naic it wasn’t hard to get the permission granted.

Elder Smith had a nice birthday this year. The Zone Leaders and Sister Missionaries had a beautiful blue barong (native shirt) made for him. We had cake and ice cream and then had his favorite spaghetti dinner for Sunday. Sister Jeane fixed ChiliConCarne Filipino syle for Elder Smith's birthday. Yummy
Thanks for the wishes from all of you at home!

Saturday was a full and busy day with a Mini MTC for the youth in our District. There was training in the morning and then lunch. The early afternoon was spent tracting with the fulltime Missionaries. At 5:00 we met back at the Naic Chapel for a closing program. Our Zone sang hymn #335 and then Sister Smith taught the Mission song to everyone.

Here’s an additional fruit of the month. This is a guyabano. It is sort of an ugly critter and the pokey outy parts are pretty sharp. Inside it is white with lots of large black seeds. The fleshy part around the seeds is the sweetest. One that we cut was a bit over ripe and had a bit of a fermented flavor to it. Hmmm…

Beans and Egg Plant at the Palanke Bundles of green beans. they are 18" to 36" long

Exploding Watermelon

We realize that there are lots of watermelons in the U.S. but none quite like the one we bought the other day. Thursday afternoon we were picking up groceries and decided a watermelon would be good sliced up for brunch on Friday. The 6th was Sister Frost’s birthday and her companions wanted to have a surprise brunch (French toast) for her. So, we took a lovely seedless melon home and set it on the counter that evening. During the night Sister Smith heard some noise downstairs but decided it wasn’t worth investigating since it probably involved something with more than two legs. At about 3:30 a.m. the need for a trip to the CR prevailed. What a sight to behold!
The watermelon had exploded! There was foam oozing out and the innards had sprayed across the counter top, across the floor and reached our little center island.  
This was a true “wake up Elder Smith moment”. He was a good sport and helped with the cleanup and carcass disposal. The insides were like mush and the rind was corroded and nearly gone. When we moved the melon to clean, it collapsed.  
We rinse all of our food and canned goods in a bleach/water solution. We’re not sure but suppose somehow there was a small hole and a chemical reaction? So, watermelon gets to be the featured fruit this month. Actually we do have some others that are more exotic and will post them later in the month.

Yes, Naic Zone did get pizza again this month. We really do have the best group of missionaries in the whole world.
Monday was FHE and great fun as always.  
Sister Smith had a cold/flu so hid out upstairs while the party raged. The yucky stuff lasted through Wednesday so we really didn’t get out or do much. Our refrigerator decided to go nuts and started freezing everything inside. We finally gave up and went into town on Thursday to purchase a new one. It was delivered on Saturday and the old one has gone to a repair shop in GMA. It will be recycled to another apartment.  

Friday evening we went to King Bee in General Trias for dinner. The Thomas’s where here from Palawan and the remaining Senior Couples where there to say goodbye to the Hussey’s. We are certainly going to miss them.
They fly back to Great Britain on Friday, the 13th. Elder Smith decided to follow in Sister’s footsteps and started in with the cold/flu crud on Saturday. So, there will be another few days of R&R then back to the business of being busy.

Birthday Brunch for Sister Frost (Sister Martinez, new in Zone)

Where to go in Carissa to get a dog bite (and whatever)

Out of Sync

We’ve really had a nice “couple” of weeks but Sister Smith has been lazy so the letters home have suffered a bit. We have been having lots of rain all month. We both really enjoy it but the poor missionaries certainly have a ton of shoe cleaning to do. The rainy season is typically in June, July and August. The Natives tell us that this has been an extra wet one so far.

We had a great FHE on the 19th of July. We used the same menu from the day before when the Howards were here. It was fun to have no big preparations of food to do. We had already done most of it on the Saturday previously.This past week we were in Makati at the Mission Home. It was Zone Conference week and we were able to review and check about 60 Area Books. They are really looking good and the missionaries are getting things in proper order. It was a fun week as we were in excellent air conditioning and went to all sorts of fun places with great people to eat.
At Chili's with the Swensens, Howards, TA's, AP's and office EldersIt doesn’t get much better than that.

On August 5th we will be having a mini-transfer in the Mission. The Manila MTC has 7 new missionaries who need homes and we are lucky enough to get them. Two of them will be coming to Naic Zone so we will be doubly blessed. Regular transfer isn’t until the 25th of August so this will be an in-between transfer. It looks like it might be another pizza month and the projections for August baptisms are great so will wait and see. One of our companionships is working hard to set a Mission record for the most OYM’s in a week. We’ll let you know how they do.

The TA's were visiting and had breakfast with us before heading on to other ZonesBuilding a bahay kubo in Maragondon Branch. Elder Smith and Elder Hussey were there helpingThis will be the new home of a husband, wife and baby in the branch