It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Even though it's hot outside we decided that it was time to start decorating. Imelda had been trying to do it since early September. But now that it's Thanksgiving, I decided to go ahead. Imelda and Ranie were great help with the tree. We had brought a number of our favorite decorations with us from home including our 9 ft. Christmas tree and our singing snowman.




The stockings were hug by the "stairway" with care!



Every time someone walks past Frosty he comes alive and starts to sing. We really scared Sister De Fiesta, one of our sister missionaries. She bent down to shake his hand and when he started to move she about fainted!



We have always loved Nativity Sets. This is a birthday gift for President Carlos and was carved here in the Philippines. The two-toned wood is especially pretty!

Alicia District Visiting Teaching Conference

Sister Breese and I were invited to speak at the Alicia District VT Conference. When we got there they were just putting up the signs and decorating the room. We were really impressed with the beautiful signage!The meeting started late but once it got underway a large crowd came. Sister Breese spoke about developing relationships of trust with those we Visit Teach. I spoke about becoming a great visiting teacher. Then each branch in the district performed a skit. There was one sister in Alicia 4th branch that should have won an Acadamy Award! She played the part of an offended member and boy was she good. She had us all laughing. It was a fun afternoon!

Transfer Day (our fourth)

Elder Bean with his trainer, Elder Sanders and a few of our other great missionaries.

Elder Jenkins, Ward, Naylor and Pincock connect at the meeting.

Elder Brown and Elder Joslin are new companions serving in Santiago zone.

Elder Lucernas and his new companion Elder Valdez are headed to Nueva Vizcaya.
There's no other more exciting time in a mission than transfer day. It happens every six weeks. Missionaries who are about to receive a new assignment are asked to come into the mission office. We have a formal meeting in the chapel next door and then each new companionship is announced.

Oops, I lied! Actually the most exciting and rewarding time in the mission is when we get to attend a baptism and see the fruits of our missionaries' labors. But transfer day is a close second!

And here they come...

Around 5:00 am we got a phone text message from one of our new elders that their bus was in Santiago. So we hurried to get ready, make breakfast and run to the bus stop to greet our newest batch of missionaries. They arrived about an hour later.

We like to make sure that they feel welcome and so the Cauayan Zone Leaders, Assistants to the President, the Breese and President and I all were there to wave greetings as their bus pulled in.


Breakfast was the traditional President's breakfast rice (this time we had a ham and added that to the recipe) and my cinnamon rolls. We also make sure that we have a bunch of Philippine bananas (the absolute best bananas in the world.)


After breakfast each missionary is interviewed by the President while the rest of the office staff gives them a brief orientation. Then they await the moment during our transfer meeting when they will meet their trainers. It's a very fun, busy day!

Our newest batch! From left to right: Elder Velez, Elder Bean, Elder McGuffin, Elder Medina, Elder Valdez and Elder Rosal. We can already tell they are going to be a powerful force for great things here in the Cauayan Mission!

Time to Go Home

It was time to say goodbye to some very dear missionaries.
They spent the day in the Career Workshop put on by Santiago Stake Employement Center.



We enjoyed a going away banquet and a very special testimony meeting. These were powerful missionaries and we will forever remember their wonderful service here in the Cauayan Mission.


(From top row left to right) Elder Talusig, Elder Natividad, Elder Murphy and Elder Phipps.
(Bottom row left to right) Elder Lopez, Elder Magallanes, Sister Aquino and Sister Resendes. (Note: Sister Resendes was due to leave in December but because of a knee injury she left with this batch.)

It's always so sad to go to the bus stop and watch them wave goodbye! We loved each one of these very special missionaries!

New Mission Pet

Sister Harris (who's husband served as Mission President here over 3 years ago ) must have been fond of pets. We still have her cat, named Little Bit, who lives here in the mission compound. She stays outside but walks around our lawn and parking lot like she owns the joint. One day she was meowing at me, louder than usual. I followed her to her bowl of cat food only to see that it was full of ants. She gave me this look like--"I am not going to eat that!" So I cleaned the bowl and put in fresh food.
The other day I was following the Breeses out of our home and Elder Breese spotted a large turtle right next to the door step. We introduced him to the elders and sisters who immediately fell in love with her. (I'm sure it's a girl turtle.) I decided to name her Harriett. Not sure why, but thought the name felt just right. When our night guard came he tipped a red bucket on top of it's body and we could watch the bucket move all over the yard. Whoever said turtles are slow, doesn't know Harriett. She can move really fast. (There is rumors that this turtle was a pet of Sister Harris and has been seen once in a great while walking around.) For the next few days we spotted her in the bushes. I haven't seen her for a few days. I wonder where she's hiding!

Happy Birthday President Carlos!

Last week President Carlos turned 61! A few years ago we would have never guessed that we would now be serving the Lord full-time for a three year stint in the Philippines. We had never even heard of Cauayan Mission. But we couldn't be happier. This is a choice opportunity and while there are many days when we don't think we have the energy to keep on going, we love it.
On his birthday we got up at the crack of dawn and drove to Nueva Vizcaya (3 hours away) to attend their district meetings. The Breeses accompanied us and Sister Breese and I spent the morning with a young member who needed some tests in the local hospital. The missionaries at the district meeting heard it was President's birthday and sang to him.
On the way home we stopped to dine at McDonald's in Santiago and there we ran into a bunch of elders who broke out into beautiful harmony singing Happy Birthday. The entire restuarant turned to see what was going on.


That night President was having meetings in his office when we told him that he had an important phone call in the Mission Home. When he returned a bunch of new friends from here in Cauayan and some of our missionaries serving nearby, jumped out and surprised him. We had a dinner of Vilma's BBQ, rice, stir fried veggies and I ordered a cake from Sweet Nothings. (This lady was trained in European baking and really does a fantastic job!) I asked if she could make something for a missionary and this is what she came up with--a missionary cake complete with a name tag that said, "President Carlos."




After the guests left, we pulled out gifts that our dear friends from Omaha had sent, and President opened their gifts as well as a gift from the Breeses, the APs and me.
It was really a busy day and he enjoyed every minute of it!

Elder Paco is Back in the Saddle Again!

Note: Elder Paco is the elder on the far right of each of these photos.
Elder Paco has been an Assistant to the President for a long time. (Something like 9 months!) He will be heading home in Februaray and President felt he should get back to work on the front lines. So the office staff and Elder Paco knew that he would be heading back to a regular area in our next transfer cycle. We wanted to honor him with a special dinner and so I asked him what he would like to eat. I assumed that he, being a filipino, would say adobo or panciet or some other local delicacy. Instead he said, "TACOS!" So we made tacos and Spanish Rice and a bean and cheese dip. We can find all the ingredients for this type of meal, but it isn't easy. We all had to be on the lookout and plan for several weeks so that when we were in one area of our mission with cheese, or tortillas we stopped and bought them.
He has been a good and faithful assistant and we will miss interacting with him on a daily basis. But he is excited to head to Santiago for the last couple of months left in his mission.

Ilagan Stake Conference

We recently attended Ilagan's Stake Conference. Rudy did some training for the Priesthood Holders and I was able to meet and train the auxillary presidents. Later on Saturday afternoon we each spoke in the adult session and then we spoke again on Sunday morning. Between our training and the adult session the stake president's wife and the wives of his counselors made us a delightful lunch. They had all kinds of delicious foods. They also had bottles of water for us up on the stand in case we needed a drink before we spoke. After Sunday the stake president's wife presented us with the most delicious sandwiches to eat on the way home. They were great hosts, we felt so special!



I was really excited to see a family of new converts there at the conference. In fact, they were the first people to arrive on Sunday morning. I had gone with Sister Rivera to teach them several months ago and heard that they were baptized. It was such a treat to see them and connect with them. They are such a dear, humble family.

Pink Eye

We have at least a dozen cases of Pink Eye. It seems like there are missionaries in every corner of our mission with it. Luckily it's pretty easy to clear up with drop as long as the missionaries use them as prescribed.

The weekend before our last batch left, we attended a Missionary Fireside put on by two dear elders (Murphy and Daquiaog) and sisters (Dalisay and Avancena) in Roxas zone. When we got there we were greeted with both elders having pink eye. Elder Murphy's was out of control. Both eyes were bright red. (His companion had been taking the drops but he thought he's use visine instead--which only made it worse!) Anyway, this was a huge concern because he was flying home later that week. (Supposedely here in the Philippines they won't let you fly with Pink Eye.) We contacted our AMA (Area Medical Authority) who suggested he use steroid based eye drops. Luckily by the time he left here on Wednesday night his eyes were dramatically better.

Day 4 and 5 of the Mission Presidents Seminar

We ended our stay in Tagaytay with a bus ride to Manila. Our first stop was to do a session in the beautiful Manila Temple. It is patterned after the Boise, Idaho temple. Small but so lovely!


Later we checked into the Shangrila and ran to the mall next door to meet up with Rudy's relatives. His Aunt Baby and Uncle Rudy, their daughters Teng and her family and Kay and her husband. We have a wonderful, quick, visit with them. It was way too short but we found time to shop a minute or two, eat delicious Japanese dinner and grab yummy Haagan Daz icecream.




The next morning we headed to the airport at 6:30 am to catch our flight back to Cauayan. (There are three flights a week into Cauayan. Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.) When we arrived we found the president's office decorated with a welcome banner and sign. It was great to be back home and back to work! (The banner was Canadian and so we believe that Elder Goobie must have had something to do with it!)

Mission President's Seminar (Part 2)

On Thursday we road in jeepneys down to the lake and boarded a boat. The trip out to the volcano island took about 20 minutes. There on the island we met lots of elementary school children where had a break about the time we arrived. Sister Bliesner (Naga Mission) and I taught them to say, "See you later alligator!"


Many of the couples road on horseback to the top of the volcano where the view was spectacular.


The inhabitants of the island have no electricity. They have to cross the lake to get their produce and meat and students who go on to high school also make that trek each day to school. I met a woman who carries a large pan on her head. It had a big block of ice in it and about 20 glass bottles of soda pop. I can't imagine how much that would have weighed.

Mission President's Seminar

Twice a year the Area Presidency gathers the mission presidents from all corners of the Philippines (there are 16)for specialized training. This was our first opportunity to attend. We felt like we were back in the MTC. For several days we were taught by Elder Evans of the Seventy (Assoc. Executive Director of the Missionary Department) as well as Elder Edwards, Elder Ko and Elder Teh our Area Presidency. We learned so much!

The meeting was held in Tagaytay overlooking Taal Volcano. The view was spectacular. Our accomodations were very nice. Everytime we left our rooms and returned there was a small gift waiting for us. Our last day we returned to find President Monson's new Biography! We were so excited to read it.





It was fun to meet all the other Mission Presidents and their wives from all over the Philippines. And to see our "batch" mates, those other five couples who were at the MTC last summer with us. We all had a lot of catching up to do.


On Wednesday night we went to a famous restaurant where a group of primary children sang and danced for us. It was lovely.

What a Wonderful Day!

We thoroughly loved being with our sisters. They are some of our most talented and faithful missionaries. We gathered for a group shot before the sisters said fond goodbyes and headed back to their various areas.

Sister's Training (CONT.)

After our opening session we split the sisters into two groups. (There are 31 sisters in the group.) Group A enjoyed a cooking class where we made one recipe for No-Bake Cookies. Group B went with Sister Breese to make darling "flower" pins out of buttons. Then we switched.


Later we had four mini-classes taught by the four sisters (Sister Aquino, Sister Resendes; Sister Jose and Sister Vacalares) who will be completing their missions in November and December. These classes covered topics such as: Working with Fellowshippers; Charity Never Faileth; Creating Divine Companionship and Working with Priesthood Leaders.




At the end we served a quick snack lunch and we ate the delicious cookies that were made in our cooking classes.

Bloom Where You are Planted

The theme for our training was Bloom Where You are Planted.

The ten sisters who spent the night helped with a service project before the others arrived. They looked through all kinds of old church magazines to find and cut out pictures of Christ. We will use those pictures in our Christmas Zone Conferences.


As soon as everyone arrived and hugged and chatted with their friends we served breakfast and then got down to serious business.

President Carlos opened the session with a talk and then I presented the theme. During my presentation we watched Stephanie Nielson's new video produced by the church called "My New Life." It's about a young mother who survived a plane crash. 85% of her body was burned. It was very inspirational and we talked about how some people flourish despited any setbacks or trials. And others fail to "bloom" when just little problems arise. We related that to missionary work. Then Sister Breese did a beautiful presentation on 12 Tips for Blooming Where You are Planted.