Sunday, November 25, 2012

Thanksgiving day found us attending a Naga/Goa Zone Conference.  We spent five hours of training and instruction followed by a totally untraditonal Thanksgiving lunch.  Above is a picture of all of the Sisters from the Naga/Goa Zone with the Assistants to the President in the background.  Can you find Carol?    She's the "tall" one (not to mention the white hair) standing in back of the Sisters.  She loves being with these sweet Sisters.

Following this Zone Conference, Carol and I had our own "non-traditional" Thanksgiving dinner.  We went to Shakey's Pizza and had a Mediterranean Pizza and Caesar salad, topped off with a piece of fresh pineapple pie.  How much more "non-traditional" can you get.  But, without access to a turkey, dressing, fresh baked homemade hot rolls, sweet potatoes and of course pumpkin pie, this meal was absolutely delicious and satisfying. 

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SUPPLY MANAGER

We visited another of the Elders apartments that we had not been to before. It is in Pasacao and is close to the ocean and was an amazing experience.  We had to park our van right on the ocean edge and then walk several meters to their apartment.  Below is a picture of the harbor, taken while standing in front of our van (if you look closely, you can see the front grill of our van).  Then a picture of where the missionaries live - down a narrow alleyway and up some steep stairs.

 

From the street, we had to open a tiny metal gate that you had to bend down and turn sideways to get through, and then walk down a long distance through an alley between two buildings.  This is a wide alley compared to others we've seen.We were at their apartment to repair one of the beds.  As you can see, Elder Vogelsberg is carrying a drill and Elder Bartleson has a few tools in hand to help Elder Campbell accomplish his task. 

 

 

After fixing the bed for Elder Vogelsberg, they accompanied us to the apartment of a couple of Sisters in Libmanan, whose water system was not working properly.  Below is a picture or two of the walk we had to take to get to their apartment that is out in the center of some rice fields.

 

 

 



It is fun to see people who love life as much as the Filipinos.  This Padyak is the common mode of transportation here in Libmanan.  None of the paths are wide enough for vehicles such as our van, so this is the most convenient way to travel in this small community.  Notice the rice field that the path is built through.  We had to walk about a half mile through areas like this to get to the Sisters apartment.  Elder Bartleson is carrying the new water filtration system that Elder Campbell will be installing in the apartment.

 

 

 

Mission accomplished - filtered water at last!

 

 

Mission complete - time to go back to Naga!

One of the Sisters asked Carol if she would work with her to learn to speak English properly.  She comes over to the apartment once a week and they work on language skills (reading, pronunciations, using words and phrases in sentences, etc.)  It's fun to have her and her companion who is from Sri Lanka visit us and share their sweet Spirits with us.

Here's a picture of how they mow the lawns in the Philippines.  Weed whackers are used for lawns as well as keeping all of the foliage cut short along all of the roadways.

And one last picture.  This was taken in the Pure Gold Market where we do a lot of our shopping for food.  As we were standing at the register, waiting to get checked out, Christmas music began and all of these fun-loving employees at the market joined together in doing some sort of line-dancing.  It was so much fun to watch, it was hard to get our groceries and leave for home.  Christmas is such a BIG event here, especially since they start celebrating and preparing for it from September 1st.  It was so interesting to see the Christmas trees, decorations and music playing in all of the stores at that time.  Then, around the first of October, they put out all of their Halloween decorations and candy - right next to the Christmas trees and Christmas decorations.

I said that this was the last picture, but I just HAVE to show you a bridge that is used to cross over a canal.   We visited the apartment of the Buhi Elders. As we stepped out on the deck of the top floor of their apartment, we could see a bamboo bridge.

It is hard to believe that another month has gone by and we're still discovering new areas of our mission.  It is such a wonderful blessing to have been called to serve a mission for our Heavenly Father in the Philippines.   Since we've been here, we've had the opportunity to meet Quinton L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Tad R. Callister of the Presidency of the Seventy, Elder Ardern who is a councilor to Elder Tei who is the Area Preisident of the Seventies, Elder Tei, Elder Meim, another Area Seventy.  Each of them have presided in Zone Meetings where they and their wives shared inspirational stories and their testimonies of the Gospel. 

We appreciate all of our family and friends who give us such wonderful support and encouragement.  Even though we don't proselyte, our callings are very important to the functioning of our mission area, and we look forward each day to being able to help in some way to make life easier and more comfortable for those we are here to help.  Carol's calling as a Recorded is a very vital part of helping those who have been baptized become members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Without their baptism and confirmation information being recorded and sent to Salt Lake City, via the Internet, those who have been baptized are not members, and thus cannot advance in the Priesthood, go to the temple to be sealed as families for time and all eternity, etc.  So, her role is a vital part of the work.

Until next time, Salamat for everything.