A Few Random Meeting Shots

Each week we visit at least one district meeting and once a month we visit at least one zone meeting. We love to see what training idea our leaders come up with--they are all so very clever. The spirit is always strong when humble missionaries gather together to learn more and to improve their teaching skills.

This was a really fun role play where half of the group were missionaries and those seated across from them on the pretend Jeepney were people. The missionaries practiced sharing a gospel message on the jeepneys! Elder Needs was the jeepney driver.

In Ilagan working with the missionaries during their district meeting.

This was after district meeting in Tuguegarao where President Carlos and the Assistants played a trick on Sister Fort and Sister Martinez. They announced that Sister Fort was being transferred. Then they said it was a mistake and the sisters smiled and relaxed until they said that it was Sister Martinez being transferred. Later after the sisters shed some tears they admitted that neither was being transferred. We love these great sisters and couldn't help but tease them a bit!

Elder Tangi spread candy all over the Cultural Hall floor and the missionaries were blindfolded and got to keep whatever pieces they could find. It was fun to watch them feel around for the candy. I wasn't there to hear the gospel application, but I'm sure it was great!

Elder Nay is trying to find the candy using many body parts!

Elder Needs was the perfect jeepney driver!

For this activity the missionaries were asked to answer questions, if they answered right they got a certain number of marshmallows  and toothpicks. Then they were told to go and build a temple with the items they earned from answering the questions correctly. They are really did a great job!

Awesome temple!

A peek at a Filipino Home

There are many kinds of  homes here in the Philippines from the grand and luxurious to the thin bamboo pole homes with dirt floors. The other day I was visiting one of our missionaries apartments and went out on their balcony where I got a good view of one very typical filipino home--wooden and built up on stilts. There are several reasons they do this including to protect from flooding and also because it gives circulation under the house and keeps it cooler than if it was positioned on the ground.

The laundry area is on the back porch. The tin roof is very common here. It gets really noisy when it rains. Notice the absence of glass windows, instead they just have open windows.  

With the Bad Comes the Good

 We sent home that great batch of beloved missionaries (that's the bad) and during the night their bus passed a bus of wonderful new incoming missionaries (that's the good). They arrived in the wee hours of the morning.

There's Elder Hale in the white shirt greeting Elder Nielson and Elder Proctor  who had been traveling for at least 40 hours.

Eleven new missionaries! What more could we want for Christmas?



Four of our beautiful sister mssionaries. Sister Velasquez, Sister Galang, Sister Lorico and Sister Monsalud

After the arrival and orientation comes the transfer meeting. These missionaries were excited about their new companions.

This new batch consists of Elders Oyard, Magalong, Makiling, Ballentos and Rapsing from various parts of the Philippines. Elders James, Allen, Nielsen, and Proctor from the US and two sister missionares from the Philippines, Sister Cajigal and Sister Llorito. Welcome to the Philippines Cauayan Mission!


The First of Two Departures in December

We said goodbye to a group of wonderful elders in early December. Later in the month we sent home our January departures so that they could be home for Christmas. It's bad enough to have one departure every six weeks, but having two in December just about did me in!

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<>Goofing off with friends in the mission!

The departing fireside gives our missionaries a time to reconnect with past companions and friends in the mission.

 This batch consisted of Elder Poloai from Australia, Elder Arabia and Elder Estanislao from the Philippines and Elder Nielsen from Oregon and Elder Farley from California (Actually E. Farley came with the January departing batch but because of his school schedule he needed a few extra weeks to prepare before heading to Hawaii for his schooling). Every one of these elders had served in leadership roles in our mission. They were loved and revered by all of us and will be sorely missed!


From left to right Elder Arabia, Elder Farley, Elder Poloai, Elder Nielsen and Elder Estanislao



We held our departure fireside and this group of members traveled all the way from Burgos. Much of this group of elders had served there in Burgos and loved the members there. It was wonderful that they would come to hear these elders final testimonies!

There was lots of wonderful musical numbers organized by our departing missionaries. Here Elder Poloai played the guitar while Elder Ziegler and Elder Valdez sang along.

Solano District Conference

Our last district conference of the year was held in Solano. We love the people there. They are such wonderful hosts. They always have amazing floral decorations and corsages for us. The Shaners assisted in the Auxilary Training and it was a great meeting.

These were orchids from one of the sisters gardens. They were absolutely exquisite!

Elder and Sister Shaner were greeted with orchids. They helped with our auxilary training and Sister Shaner was asked to play the piano at several of the meetings.

A Daisy Garland for the President

The Bayombang Branch President loads up his vehicle and heads back  their area.

After the meeting we enjoyed visiting with the missionaries. Here we are with two very precious sister missionaries: Sister Montayo and Sister George (who is from Pakistan. She is a fashion designer and designed her beautiful dress!)

December Zone Leader's Council

This month we welcomed a number of new zone leaders to the council. During our time together the zone leaders discussed and decided upon a Standard of Leadership that will be used with all leaders.

Here is what they developed.
Standards of Leadership


Philippines Cauayan Mission

Our Leaders are…

 Obedient, therefore they are worthy to have the Holy Spirit as their guide.

 Hardworking and diligent, therefore they are faithful missionaries.

 Loving and caring, therefore they are approachable and make all fellow missionaries feel valued.

 Humble and teachable, therefore they are always trying to improve their skills.


These standards were created by our Zone Leaders on December 7, 2011.

We always have a snack for them when they arrive. Many have to get up really early to catch the bus in order to get here for the meeting. They are usually hungry when they arrive. This month I made pumpkin bread. It was the first time most of the filipinos had tasted pumpkin.

Elder Katoa (our Assistant), Elder Lien serving in Nueva Vizcaya and Elder Rausa serving in Roxas relax during a break.

Elder Magsonac (ZL from Nueva Vizcaya) and his former companion Elder Brown (Now ZL in Tuguegarao)

During the meeting we had missionaries get in Teams to do a problem solving activity. This was Team Katoa in action.

We have the best leaders. I am so proud of every one of these young men.

More Only in the Philippines...

Only in the Philippines do they...

Plant rice under umbrellas. These umbrellas provide the only shade in the rice paddies. Notice the bundled rice, those will be separated and planted in neat rows.

People often stand on the side of the highway with their arms outstretched holding something they want to sell. We often see people holding ears of corn, or bottles of goat's milk. This lady was holding live eels. We stopped, took a picture, but didn't buy them. I think she was really disappointed!

Everywhere you look you see a carabao (prounounced care-a-bow.  Like bowing to the King) completing a variety of tasks. They are in the fields, they are on the highways, hauling people and goods. This one was hauling seed out into the fields. Notice the bamboo poles that serve as the cart's long handles?

This carabao is tilling up the soil just prior to planting. You notice that they flood the paddies before planting.

You find the funniest signs. People here usually use English in their signs, but it's not always correct English. Here's just one example I saw at the grocery store meat counter. It should have read, "For Customer Use Only." Also I laughed wondering why they needed the sign in the first place. Who else would be tempted to use the water inside the store?

There are bicycles with sidecars selling icecream. The two popular brands here are Nestles and Selecta. Each has its own jingle that they play as they pedal down the streets. You can hear if your favorite brand is in the area. We all like Selecta best as it's creamier and tastes more like what we are used to eating in the US. There are also the dirty icecream sellers who make their own icecream each morning and sell it during the day. This guy was selling Nestles and President Carlos treated the little kids in the area. When he asked them what kind they wanted they all shouted, "Penguins!" I gues one of the selections looked like little penguins.

Happy Birthday Elder Shaner

Elder Shaner loves cookies. And so for his birthday celebration Sister Shaner had the very talented baker from Sweet Nothings make him a Cookie Monster cake. There were cookie crumbs dropping from his mouth, it was really darling. The best part about it was that it was totally moist and delicious. We always enjoy celebrating our seniors birthdays together!
Elder Shaner is currently serving as a counselor in the Roxas District Presidency. He is also our Mission Newsletter editor and computer specialist among a ton of other things. He's always willing to run errands and fix whatever needs fixing. Most of all he loves teaching and being in the homes of our investigators and members sharing his testimony and love for the gospel with others. Sister Shaner calls him Mr. Incredible and we agree with her! We're so glad that he is serving here in the Philippines Cauayan Mission!

Only in the Philippines....

We continue to marvel at some of the things we see here in the Philippines such as...

Poinsettas covering a hillside. These blossoms were larger than a dinner plate!

There are wood carvers sprinkled throughout our mission especially in Nueva Vizcaya. This man was carving a huge relief. It was amazing to watch him work with very simple tools to create a truly inspiring piece of artwork.

Only in the Philippines do trycies carry everything including the wood carvings. This one was loaded down with wooden trays carved to look like banana leafs.

There are open markets on almost every street corner selling the most random things. This one had hot dogs, fresh (maybe not so fresh) fish and packaged squid balls. Notice the red fabric, that was to keep the flies off the fresh (maybe not so fresh) meat.

Late Thanksgiving Post

The feast!

The men all helped to get the tree up.

It seems like sense Thanksgiving our lives have just instensified and we've been busier than ever before. December has been a mass of activities and joyous occassions. I just realized I never posted anything about our Thanksgiving celebration. No one here in the Philippines celebrates Christmas except for a handful of Americans here and there. We were able to snag a few Butterball turkeys from the store and so we invited all the couples and the APs to come and join us. (Our sister missionaries serving in Cauayan and the local zone leaders were able to stop by between their appointments that day--both companionships are super busy.)

Here's our menu:

• A huge relish tray with Ranch Dressing Dip (That's a real treat since you can't find good Ranch dressing here.)
• Creamed Corn
• Turkey
• Mashed Potatoes
• Gravy
• Homemade Rolls
• Fruit Salad
• Broccoli Salad
• Apple Pie
• Pumpkin Pie
• Pecan Pie
• Icecream

Before we ate dinner each missionary shared something they were especially thankful this year. As you can imagine most of the comments were about our Savior and his wonderful plan of happiness and thoughts of loved ones back home. We pigged out and then we pulled out all the Christmas decorations and decorated the mission home. Later we found time for a few fun games. It was a great day!

Elder Katoa and Elder Hale were in charge of the Thanksgiving Beverage. They made a sparkling cranberry drink.

Sister Shaner was checking her delicious homemade rolls

We gathered around the table in anticipation of the FEAST!

Sister Webre and Sister Certicio stopped by for dinner. We could tell Sister C. didn't really like the turkey, but she did like the pumpkin pie!

Elder Crowley and Elder Cledera seemed to like everything!

We Can't Get Enough of Banaue

Banue is the home of 4,000 year old rice terraces, considered to a wonder of the world. They are an engineering fete since they are still in use all these years later and are naturally irrigated from the rain forests above. While in Nueva Vizcaya we decided to take a day and show the area to the Shaners, since they hadn't seen it before.

We arrived on late Sunday afternoon and it was raining and cloudy. The next morning we woke to hard rain and so much fog you couldn't see 10 feet ahead of you. What a bummer! But with some prayers and a blessing from on high the clouds parted and the sun shone. This was our third trip to Banue and it was truly the most glorious. We took a jeepney ride up to the lookout posts and saw the most glorious sights. The rain water was glistening off the scenery below, looking almost like sparkling diamonds. The air was refreshing and the sun was warm. It was truly one of the most beautful days we've had here in the Philippines. Since this is considered the "off" season many of the shops were closed but there was still lots of opportunities to do some shopping around our sightseeing! We loved sharing this day with our dear friends and fellow missionaries--Elder and Sister Shaner.

On the drive up the clouds started rolling in.

The rain stopped, the fog lifted during breakfast and we were ready to go and explore!

We hired a jeepney to drive us up the mountain to the shops and lookout posts.

The Shaners first jeepney ride.

President Carlos is not a tall man but compared to this Ifugao native he's a giant!

Elder and Sister Shaner in a little Nipa Hut bench.

Most of the terraces had just been harvested and so that's why you see so much water. A few had just been planted and so those ones are the ones with light green showing.

This is a sign that designates the historical significance fo the area. They are truly a site to behold! I'm so grateful they are in our mission boundaries and so glad that President Carlos believes our missionaries should get a chance to view them while serving here.