Long Car Trips

We get to know our assistants really good while spending countless hours in road trips with them. We enjoy strategizing with the President about new training methods and ideas. Sometimes we share funny stories from our past, munch on snacks and other times we look for fun ways to pass the time.

On a long trip from Nueva Vizcaya, Elder Cajumban, one of our dear assistants decided to liven things up a bit. We were all sharing a box of runts and I kept giving him the banana runts since those are my least favorite. We looked over at him and this is what we saw! Needless to say we all got a bunch of laughs.

An Unlikely Visitor

We had an unexpected guest in the mission home. It was a small bird. I walked into the kitchen and saw it hanging next to our light switch. Then it dropped down onto the counter. I assumed that it was injured and couldn't fly and then is took flight. Of course, I screamed as I watched it circling over the dining room table. Finally it landed in one of my white William's Sonoma bowls. It stayed there for hours. I think it thought it my beautiful bowl was his new next. When Elder Jackson, our assistant, came to the mission office I asked for his help. He took my bowl outside and set it free!

 Nobody knew what kind of bird it was--but it was sure a cute little thing!

 Here he is hiding behind a tape dispenser.

We've had lots of wonderful visitors come to the mission home but this is the first one with feathers.

Recent Baptisms

Every Saturday there are baptisms in our mission. Whenever we can, we attend some of them. As you can imagine that is always the highlight of the week for us. We love to meet the precious new members. We love to see our missionaries radiate with joy as they fulfill their purpose--to bring others to come unto Christ. Here are a few photos taken from recent baptisms.

A special baptism in Tumauini

 Elder Cruz and Elder Bautista worked with these wonderful folks.

 Welcome to Cauayan Branch!

 Elder Acu and Elder Caamic taught these two young men.

 Sister Adino and Sister Velaquez work in Rizal, Santiago Stake

Elder Murillo and Elder Wellman in Echaugue.

 Elder Velez and Elder Griffin with our newest member in Roxas.

Only in the Philippines

There are so many sights and sounds here in the Philippines that you just don't see anywhere else in the world. Here are a few I've seen in recent days...

Only in the Philippines do you see the strangest loads going down the streets. This was a little bamboo wagon filled to the brim with native grasses. One top were a few hitch hikers catching a ride.

Only in the Philippines do you see a big variety of rice being sold on every street corner. 28/kg translates to a little more than 60 cents for 2.2 pounds. (or around 30 cents a pound).

Only in the Philippines do roosters rule. Sister Shaner calls roosters the Filipino Alarm Clock because every morning we all awake to the sound of roosters. It's very common to see them walking through the market. This big guy was actually on a leash.

Only in the Philippines is palay everywhere. (Palay is the word they use for rice that hasn't been milled yet.) It's a common site to see palay drying on streets and basketball courts. It's also a very common site to see huge rice trucks packed to the brim with bags of palay heading to a palay station where they store it until they need to mill it. The Philippines grows lots and lots of rice but not enough to feed their own people. Rice is one of the things they export in order to fill their needs.

 Only in the Philippines do you see huge turkeys roaming around, but no one has ever tasted turkey. I'm not sure what they do with them! We have been able to get a few at the grocery store--Butterballs imported from the US. We have to pay around $20.00 for a small turkey.

Youth Conferences

The Area Presidency asked that every district and stake in the Philippines conduct a 3-day youth conference during the month of April or May (summer here). President Carlos has received requests from every unit in our mission (5 stakes and 6 districts) for devotional and workshop speakers. President has spread those assignments out throughout our force of senior couples. It's been a very busy month so far with various speakers booked every single week.
We were fortunate to be able to fit Roxas YSA Conference into our schedule and enjoyed being the devotional speakers. Their conference was held up in Nueva Vizcaya at Eco Park. Most of the young people had never been to the mountains and were so excited to be there.

 The devotional was held in a pavilion. It was heartwarming to see these "campers" come dressed in their Sunday best.

 It was fun to see President Carlos really connect with these young people.

Michael demonstrated the fact that you can't have your feet firmly planted on two sides. Either you serve God or you don't. You can't do both. It was a very effective visual aide.

Happy Birthday Sister Laker

Elder and Sister Laker arrived in February and have been an important part of our team ever since. When it was Sister Laker's birthday we knew we wanted to do something special for her. So President made his yummy chicken cacciatore and the other sisters added side dishes. Sister Shaner made delicious bread sticks. We had a wonderful feast followed by a beautiful bouquet of flowers cake. Sister Laker is a gardener and loves flowers. She can spot a flower a mile away and always wants to go and look at any flowering bush or tree that she sees. So we had our friend at Sweet Nothings bake her a special poppyseed cake. It was beautiful and yummy!

We hope Sister Laker wasn't too homesick on her special day and that she could feel our love and appreciation for her.

 This was the Breeses last Sunday Dinner before they left later that week. We had fun until the end!

 Elder and Sister Laker are now running the mission office. We appreciate their great work.

 Yummy food!

Sister Laker with her special cake.

Welcome The Mills and The Gottfredsons

We love our senior couples. We have such a great team and so we all anticipated the arrival of two more couples. On Friday we were all at the airport jumping up and down when their plane landed.

These folks are full of great ideas and enthusiasm for the gospel and for the opportunity to work here in the Philippines Cauayan Mission. We are so lucky to have them join us.

 Through the airport doors into the 105 F. temperatures were the Gottfredsons

 The Mills were still smiling after over 30+ hours of traveling!

 The Mills come from Brighton, UT. their years of experience serving in a small branch will surely bless this mission!

 The Gottfredsons from Salt Lake City! They served in Washington DC North (He was the Mission President) in Moscow and doing humanitarian aide in a bunch of the "stan" countries from the former Soviet Block. Talk about having experience! We are so honored to have them serve here.

 Their first trip to the palenke. It was somewhat overwhelming.

 Sister Laker and Sister Mills at the palenke.

 Our first Sunday night meeting. We end with a different game each week that can be shared with families that we all teach. This night we did a take off of Jenga with a bottle and matchsticks. It was a lot of fun!

 Everyone has such great ideas.

Sharing our experiences is so much fun!

The Breeses Set Sail

When we got our call to serve in the Philippines Cauayan Mission we started communicating with the Starley's who were serving as the mision's office couple. When we heard that they were leaving 5 weeks after we arrived and there were no replacements in place we decided to recruit a couple. President immediately thought of Sid and Gloria Breese, friends from Omaha, NE. We went and visited them one afternoon and Sid immediately said, "we're in!" Sister Breese needed a little more time to think it over but within a few days they were submitting their papers requesting to serve in this mission. Luckily the missionary department and the Brethren agreed and they arrived 6 weeks after we did.

For the first 6 months it was just the Breeses and us that kept everything going. We ran most every day and there is no way we could have done all the meals, meetings, visits without their tremendous support. They ran the office and helped in every possible way.

Then other couples started joining us which gave the Breeses more time to work in the office and help out the precious little branch called Angadanan in Alicia District. Over the 22 months they served there they stole the hearts of the people. They spoke at funerals, conducted family home evenings, taught classes, danced at their proms and special events, helped to train the teachers and leaders. It was fun to watch them fall in love with those people and come home from every visit 10 feet off the ground and so full of excitement.

May 2, was a sad day for us. We said goodbye to two amazing people who turned out to be amazing missionaries. We hope the Breeses can feel the appreciation that we have for them. Our friendship will continue forever and we know that they are having tons of fun with their family. Take good care--til we meet again!

 Our last Sunday night meeting with the Breeses. They were reporting on their last Sunday in Angadanan.

 Sister Breese purchased darling purses for all of us and she insisted on us having a "Very Merry UnBirthday" Party for everyone. So we went to Hotel Andrea (the one nice restaurant in town) for a girl's only birthday luncheon. It was lovely and we were able to open our purses and share some gifts for her birthday. (Her birthday is in December) but we wanted to send her off with a few new things to remember us by.

 Sister Shaner and Sister Russell were enjoying a few minutes to visit before our lunch was served.

Not sure how Sister Breese was going to get all those belongings home but know that in the end she did it!