Week 31--January 24-30, 2016

On Saturday, January 30, a Relief Society/Young Women New Beginnings activity was held. The Primary president handed the Primary girls who will be entering Young Women in 2016 to the Young Women's president who accepted  responsibility for them. The Young Women's president handed the young women who are leaving Young Women's over to the Relief Society president who accepted responsibility for them,

Pictured are Bishop Villalester, the Young Women's president Analyn Conde, 4 young women, and 3 future young women. The Young Women president doesn't have any counselors so she is carrying the full responsibility.

It has been a sad couple of weeks in our mission as four missionaries were sent home. Some of them were very close to completing their mission.

We also had a miracle in our mission. On January 13, one of the missionaries, Elder Tagulao,  fell after attending the Temple and had a deep laceration in his chin and broke his jaw. He was given a priesthood blessing and taken to the hospital where he under went two surgeries. He returned our mission on January 27 just two weeks later. The area medical doctor couldn't believe he was ready to return.

Last Sunday our high council speaker told of a miracle that happened in his life. Several years ago, as he was completing his mission, he prayed to know what direction his life should take. He felt impressed that he should study to become a doctor. He had enough money saved to pay for his first year of medical school. At the end of that year he didn't have the money to continue so he decided to drop out. His mother reminded him that he had chosen that field of study because of an answer to his prayers. She encouraged him to continue. He returned to the university and studied for the next three years without paying his tuition. At the end of each year he expected the school to ask for his tuition money but they never did. As it came time for his final exams the school discovered that he had not paid his tuition, and they told him he could not take the exams. He was heart broken but accepted it. A couple of weeks after being told he couldn't take the exams the school called and told him he could take the exams as scheduled, but he could not get his degree until he had paid.  He didn't know where the money would come from. His family had a small piece of land they decided to sell that would be put toward the tuition that was owed. The land sold for exactly what was needed to pay the school for tuition. He was able to pay the school and today he is a doctor.

Monday morning found us on the road at 6:45 AM to the office. We were asked to attend the Camarin District meeting for transfer announcements. Since Monday is our code day we had to leave early or not arrive at the meeting until after 10 AM. We chose to leave early and planned on leaving the office at 2:45 PM. Tom had to go to the bank and then take the phone load money to Marvin Tarvarez. He didn't arrive back at the office until 2:55 PM. Not enough time to get home so our day was just extended to 7 PM.

On Tuesday, January 26, the smallest batch to leave our mission left--4 sisters, one from Fiji, one from New Zealand, and 2 Filipinos. Exit day is always one of our favorites as we get to hear the missionaries bear testimony of the Atonement and their love of the Savior and the people of the Philippines.

Our incoming batch of nine missionaries arrived on Wednesday, January 27. Three of the batch are VISA waiters. One is a sister who is going to the Hawaii Honolulu Mission where her sister is currently serving. Two others are elders who are cousins and they are gong to Johannesburg South Africa Mission.

On Thursday, January 28, Tom and Elder Broadhead spent the day out looking at apartments. They left home at 8 AM and returning a little after 8 PM. Garnalee spent the day at the office sending out arrival letters and pictures to the parents of the of the new missionaries and sending our departure information for the March batch. She also spent several hours sorting the mail after transfers. That is always a big job because the missionaries move areas and now the mail has to sorted and placed in the correct zones' mail box. Also when transfers close are she doesn't do any mail sorting for several days so it doesn't have to be resorted.

On Friday, Tom got his usual 50 peso haircut. He also spent the day catching up on work that didn't get done on Thursday.

Tom has spent every free minute in the evening or early morning working on the Mission History which is due on February 10.

Week 30--January 17-23, 2016

On Tuesday, January 19, we went to dinner with the Broadheads and the missionaries assigned to the Ward they are in. We went to a place where you select the fresh food you want and then it is prepared for you. Here are the fish ready to be cooked.Tom picked out one that was then grilled for him.

The largest prawns we have ever seen. They are called sulog here.  Garnalee picked our three to have prepared in tempura.

Elder Alcala and Elder Montemor are holding two of the big fresh crabs they ordered prepared.

Garnalee's dinner of prawns, green salad with mango and crab, and a fresh mango sliced ready to be eaten.

Tom enjoying his grilled fish, salted hard boiled eggs, and rice. The fish was stuffed with vegetables before it was grilled.

We all had a wonderful evening of great food and company. Left to right: Elder Vaipulu, Elder Montemor, Sister Harrington, Elder Harrington, Elder Broadhead, Sister Broadhead, Elder Foster, and Elder Alcala.

 Look at the size of the tempura shrimp. Garnalee was glad Tom was willing to eat one.

The last of the Zone Conferences for this transfer were held this week. Montalban Zone came together on a jeepney Thursday. They are all loaded up ready to head back to Montalban. No room for anyone else. As part of Zone Conference the theme for our mission for 2016 was introduced-- "Discipleship is the journey. Exaltation is the goal," from  President Dieter F. Utchdorff. Sister Bertin gave a powerful talk on how prayer leads to revelation.

Elder Heaton holding the Montalban sign.

Elder Broadhead thought he would go along but the only spot left was to hang on to the back end. Sister Broadhead vetoed that idea.

Tom's cucumber is ready to pick. Imagine harvesting a cucumber on Januray 24th!
















Tom has spent some time each evening working on writing and organizing the Mission History for 2015.

Changes are being made Church wide on missionary exchanges. In the past the Assistants to the President have gone to the Zone Leaders of each zone to work with them. Now the Zone Leaders will come to the APs where the APS will demonstrate to the Zone Leaders how they do planning in the evening for the next day. They will then hold their personal study, companionship study, and language study the next morning before the APs take the zone leaders along to their appointments and tracting. It boils down to the APS will be in the office a lot less so the running of the office is left more to Tom and Garnalee which is what we were called to do.

Week 29--January 10-16, 2016

Two of the many beautiful roosters we see here. They are breed and trained for cock fighting.

Their feathers are ruffled and ready to attack.










On Sunday, January 11, there was an area wide broadcast from the Area Presidency. The Area Goals of Obey, Covenant, and Establish were introduced. There is a demonstration of a functioning family council. Though given in Tagalog there were enough English words to understand that they were conferring about keeping the Sabbath Day holy and what activities were permissible. Every family member had input and this was an example of an ideal family council. Obey was we will show our love to God by obeying his commandments. Covenant was to live worthily, receive the blessings of the temple, and be true to our covenants. Establish was to build strong, self-reliant, multi-generational Filipino families and share the joy of the gospel with others.

Monday we were busy preparing for Zone Conferences that will happen Tuesday, Thursday, and then next week.

Zone Conferences are always busy days. We go pick up the lunch from the mission home and then return the dishes after lunch is over which usually takes an hour each time. Missionaries want reimbursements for approved expenses and to pick up needed supplies.

Tom has cucumbers on his newest batch of plants. Maybe next week or so we will have fresh cucumbers again from our garden.

Week 28--January 3-9, 2016

A picture of the entrance area of the Fairview Terraces mall that is next to our apartment complex. Instead of wrapping the lights around the trees they dangle the lights from the branches.

We went to Meycauayan on Saturday, January 9, to take rent to a landlord. We had not seen a bicycle trike in our travels before. They were all over in the area where we. As we were driving along we also saw a small heard of goats being driven down the street.









We celebrated another anniversary in the mission field on January 3. Tom tried to find a card but it was impossible, He ended up buying a Valentine's Day card and writing Happy Anniversary on it. It is the thought that counts. We have found that gift cards are not very prevalent here.

Every Tuesday we are asked to attend the meetings in one of the various zones of the mission. We attended Valenzuela Zone this week which is about 50 minutes from our apartment. While our mission is geographically not very large it takes a long time to get from area to another because of the traffic.

We sometimes feel like we are gerbils on a wheel. Tom does support and phone load for the missionaries. He turns around and it is time to do it again. He is still working on getting some of the signed receipts and BIRs (Bureau of Internal Revenue) back from the 1st quarter of 2016. He will have to start on the rent information for the 2nd quarter soon. Garnalee sends one batch of missionaries home and gets a new batch and the process starts all over again.

Week 27--December 27, 2015-January 2, 2016

On Monday, Dec 28, we had our senior couple activity. We went to the city of San Fernando. On the drive to San Fernando we passed several areas of flooded fields from the rain we had on December 20.

 When we leave the city we get to see a few mountains.

 San Fernando is known for its Giant Lantern Festival that is done the week of Christmas and the week following. The lanterns are giant wheels 20 feet in diameter sponsored by the local cities or communities. There were 10 lanterns in timed competition. The display was set to music, and the rapid fire design was controlled by large cylinders with the choreography imprinted on the outside that is read by optic sensors.

 The dazzling display of ever changing designs was something we had never seen before. The 10 minute show from each lantern was impressive to say the least. The lanterns were like a giant kaleidoscope and better than a fireworks display because they were continuous.

At the conclusion of Mission Leadership Council there was a nice meal prepared by Sister Cherry.
Because we have been in the mission for nearly six months, we know many of these outstanding missionaries.






One thing we have noticed this week and last week is that the traffic is worse. It moves slower and is more congested. Our trips from the office to home has taken us two to three times the normal of 20 minutes.

We decided to go out for dinner on New Year's Eve. When we arrived at the mall at 5:45 pm we were told that Chilis was closing at 6 pm. Undaunted we went to TGI Fridays where we were able to get a great dinner. New Year's Eve closing time was much different than Christmas Eve where the businesses didn't close until 8 pm. Fireworks are on sale everyone, and everyone likes to celebrate the New Year. Fireworks were going off most of the night and even the next day.

Garnalee started off the week feeling over whelmed by the amount of work that needed to be done. By the end of the week she was able to get all the jobs completed. It helps to make a list and check off the jobs as they are done.

Tom is working on keeping the finances in order, and Friday was a good day for him to accomplish a lot as he only had a few interruptions.