November Birthdays

Note: I apologize for the late breaking news. I have been swamped and have gotten way behind in my blog posts.
The month started out with a bang with the three elders who celebrated their birthdays at the Mission Home. (See earlier post.)

Our two wonderful Assistants to the President (Elder Hale and Elder Katoa) celebrated their birthdays, which were two days apart. President fixed them ribs and all the trimmings. It was a delicious way to help them celebrate and to let them know how much we love and appreciate them.

The birthday boys invited Elder Cledera and Elder Crowley (their zone leaders) and Sister Webre and Sister Certicio to join them for dinner. We had to rush it around their evening appointments. These are very hardworking missionaries.

A chocolate ganache cake from Sweet Nothings. Who would have know you could find such luxurious desserts in Cauayan!

 President's birthday was on November 16 while we were at the Mission President's Seminar in Baguio. We first flew to Manila and stayed overnight there before catching the bus with the Area Presidency and the other Mission Presidents from around the Philippines. It just so happened that we were able to gather a lot of President Carlos' relatives that live around Manila. So we had a wonderful birthday gathering complete with lechon (roasted piglet). His mother is still doing well and we enjoyed every minute we had with his great family. Many of his nieces and nephews he hasn't seen in close to 30 years.

President Carlos' sisters and aunt were busy preparing luscious food for his birthday bash!

Notice the large table is covered with banana leaves. That way noone needed a plate, you could eat right off the leaves. Also notice the centerpiece. This was the head of the piglet that was roasted. Everyone fights for the skin because that is crispy and tasty.

President's sister Rosie, who lives in Australia has built this home for her son and his family. There's a nice apartment attached to it for his mom to live in. This is a large buhay kubo that is up on the roof. It was a beautiful day and not very hot!

Some of the gang

The side is a wall of windows which made it hard to take a picture, but this is the best group shot we got for the day. Lots of nieces and nephews and their families came. It was really a lot of fun!

President with his mom, Virginia Carlos