Week 4--July 19-25, 2015
One of the mods of transportation is a trike. It is a motorcycle with a side car. Sometimes we have seen one with a bicycle attached to the side car.
Of course, we see motorcycles everywhere. They weave in and out of the traffic completing ignoring traffic rules. However no one seems to obey traffic rules. A two lane road can become four lanes. At an intersection, you have to creep out into the traffic waiting for cars to stop so you can proceed to the other side.
We have a propane stove in our apartment and we have to call and order a delivery when it runs out. Garnalee was fixing dinner on Sunday when the tank ran out. Fortunately she was just putting the finishing touches on dinner.
Zone Conference was held for three more zones on Tuesday, July 21. Sister Cherry, who works at the mission home, prepares the meals for the Zone Conferences. We have had some wonderful Filipano dishes that she has prepared. Tom worked with Elder Biggs on missionary location map so that as referrals are received they can then be assigned to the closest missionary companionship. Garnalee worked with Sister Ence in learning the Imos program and putting letters there for easy distribution to the missionaries.
Wednesday, July 22, Tom and Elder Ence reconciled the maintenance budget which is 50,000 PHP per month or about $1100 USD. They spent the rest of the day exchanging non-working refrigerators for working ones. We visited the local Supermarket to purchase some fruit and vegetables. The vegetables are not the quality they are in the US. A head of cauliflower is the size of a softball.
Thursday was the last of the Zone Conferences. Things have been slow in the office as we are between transfers and departing and arriving missionaries. We discovered a taste of home, Chilis, is in the mall next our apartment complex. Plus there is also a Cold Stone Creamery and TGI Fridays. We had dinner at Chilis with all of the other senior missionaries in our mission. Two of the other couples had come from Baliwag for Zone Conference. After they got on the road to Quezon City they realized it was their code day. They couldn't head back home until 7 pm so a great opportunity to get to know them and have a dinner out. One of the couples, the Jones, are from Idaho Falls. He taught at Eagle Rock Junior High and Skyline High School.
We have a monthly office planning meeting at the mission home. This month it was held on Friday, July 24, Pioneer Day. After the meeting we all indulge in wonderful lunch that has been prepared by Sister Cherry which included lemon poppy seed bundt cake. Poppy seeds can't be purchased in the Philippines because they are illegal. The poppy seeds for the cake were hand delivered by the Bertin's daughter last year.
We had to trade cars with the office elders as both of their cars were coding on Monday. We now code on Monday instead of Friday which will be good for our weekly phone calls.
There is usually sunshine in the morning and then the afternoons cloud up and we get heavy rain. The thunderstorms here are really intense.
We had a fun evening of playing Five Crowns with the Ences on Friday. We have become very close to them in just the two short weeks we have been together.
Saturday is our P-Day so it laundry and cleaning day.
Tom drying dishes in our kitchen.
Our living room and dining area.
Our bedroom which is larger than our bedroom in Hong Kong. We can easily get around our bed.
The extra bedroom which has a double bed. The closest is the rack.
The apartment building surrounds an atrium that is covered with a roof.
Located on the roof of our complex is two rows of covered cages. Each apartment has a cage. Between the cages is an uncovered trench into which the water drains from the washing of clothes. I stretch the drain hose attached to the washer out to the trench. If the clothes are hand washed then the tub is emptied and the water drains to the trench.
Our cage contains our washer and dryer. I feel blessed to have a unit that I can put my clothes in to be washed, and then I can come back later and put the clothes in the dryer.
This is the cage next to ours where the clothes are hanging to dry after being hand washed.
On Sunday, July 19, we attended the San Jose del Monte Ward. Everything seems really loud because there isn't any carpeting, it is all tile floors. We had our first weekly office planning meeting at the mission home. President Bertin foresees the senior missionary couples taking over more of the office duties thus freeing up the young missionaries to be out proselyting. Tom will be responsible for mission fiances which includes negotiating contracts and signing leases. Tagolog will be useful so he will study it more diligently.
At the office meeting we discovered we attended the wrong ward. President Bertin wants us to attend the La Mesa Ward. We will do so next Sunday.
At the office meeting we discovered we attended the wrong ward. President Bertin wants us to attend the La Mesa Ward. We will do so next Sunday.
Tom and Garnalee both contracted horrible colds. We are slowly getting better but it seems really slow.
Monday morning arrived with an early morning drive to Manila to the Fingerprinting Bureau to be fingerprinted for our missionary visa which will last two years. The drive of 25 kilometers (17 miles) took two hours. The road was often a parking lot. It took us five minutes to be fingerprinted, and then another hour and 40 minutes back home.
We have a propane stove in our apartment and we have to call and order a delivery when it runs out. Garnalee was fixing dinner on Sunday when the tank ran out. Fortunately she was just putting the finishing touches on dinner.
Zone Conference was held for three more zones on Tuesday, July 21. Sister Cherry, who works at the mission home, prepares the meals for the Zone Conferences. We have had some wonderful Filipano dishes that she has prepared. Tom worked with Elder Biggs on missionary location map so that as referrals are received they can then be assigned to the closest missionary companionship. Garnalee worked with Sister Ence in learning the Imos program and putting letters there for easy distribution to the missionaries.
Wednesday, July 22, Tom and Elder Ence reconciled the maintenance budget which is 50,000 PHP per month or about $1100 USD. They spent the rest of the day exchanging non-working refrigerators for working ones. We visited the local Supermarket to purchase some fruit and vegetables. The vegetables are not the quality they are in the US. A head of cauliflower is the size of a softball.
Thursday was the last of the Zone Conferences. Things have been slow in the office as we are between transfers and departing and arriving missionaries. We discovered a taste of home, Chilis, is in the mall next our apartment complex. Plus there is also a Cold Stone Creamery and TGI Fridays. We had dinner at Chilis with all of the other senior missionaries in our mission. Two of the other couples had come from Baliwag for Zone Conference. After they got on the road to Quezon City they realized it was their code day. They couldn't head back home until 7 pm so a great opportunity to get to know them and have a dinner out. One of the couples, the Jones, are from Idaho Falls. He taught at Eagle Rock Junior High and Skyline High School.
We have a monthly office planning meeting at the mission home. This month it was held on Friday, July 24, Pioneer Day. After the meeting we all indulge in wonderful lunch that has been prepared by Sister Cherry which included lemon poppy seed bundt cake. Poppy seeds can't be purchased in the Philippines because they are illegal. The poppy seeds for the cake were hand delivered by the Bertin's daughter last year.
We had to trade cars with the office elders as both of their cars were coding on Monday. We now code on Monday instead of Friday which will be good for our weekly phone calls.
There is usually sunshine in the morning and then the afternoons cloud up and we get heavy rain. The thunderstorms here are really intense.
We had a fun evening of playing Five Crowns with the Ences on Friday. We have become very close to them in just the two short weeks we have been together.
Saturday is our P-Day so it laundry and cleaning day.
Our cage contains our washer and dryer. I feel blessed to have a unit that I can put my clothes in to be washed, and then I can come back later and put the clothes in the dryer.
The Filipino will fill tubs like this one with water and then hand scrub the clothes on a flat board with a brush. They sit on the little stool while working. I have seen them work for hours doing their laundry. They will usually have more than one tub filled with water and clothes.
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