Random Pictures . . . . .

Today we did apartment inspections. We do these every six weeks to make sure that the missionaries are keeping their apartments clean and neat. Each time we go out, we see something new that we haven't seen before. Today was no exception. I always have my camera ready and most of my pictures are taken out of the car windows.

Elder Jewkes with Elders Pangan and Leedom. These two Elders were without drinking water due to a pipe breaking in the part of the barangay where they live. They asked us to take them to get some drinking water a few streets away.
The missionaries all have water filters in their apartments like this one. (This is ours.)This is where the Elders bought drinking eater.
The get the purified water from these tanks. This is the back of the shop with their TV. Not much furniture, but a television set.While the Elders were getting their water, this little boy crawled into our trunk. He was so cute, but he didn't want to get out of the trunk. I think he would have let us close the trunk and staye right there. His mom finally came and got him out.All the kids love to have their pictures taken. This lady is a member of the church. These are her kids and some of the neighbor kids.These two little boys were carrying buckets of water so that the laundry could be done at their house behind them.
Here is a mama Caribou and her baby. This man was just walking down the street with them. He stopped so I could take this picture.As we have driven through the country side of our mission, I have seen people selling these pop bottles with red stuff in them. I thought is was red punch or at least something to drink.

I found out that it is gasoline. Since these people live out away from the gas stations, these little stand are where they purchase the gasoline for their trikes and motorcycles.

The last thing I wanted to show you is how they carry some of their wares to sell. I love seeing someone peddling a bike piled high with baskets.Just another day in the Philippines! We love it here!!

Termites . . . YIKES!!

We have a man who comes in and cleans the mission office each week. Last week he went into the storage room and found that the coat rack where we store the missionaries suit coats had fallen from the wall.

In examining a little closer we found that we had termites! We called the facilities management manger and she sent some men to get rid of the termites. This is after they had sprayed poison to kill them.
We will be having the storage cabinets rebuilt soon.
Hope they don't find their way into our apartment!!

A New Couple in the Mission

We were so excited when Elder and Sister McCary arrived on August 11th. They are from Waycross Georgia and have a wonderful southern accent . . . they get along great with President and Sister Martino who are from Denton Texas.
We welcome them to the mission . . .

Gathering at the River Again . . .

On Saturday August 13th, Elder Jewkes had a meeting to go to with the President. So Sister Martino and I decided to go a baptism in Burgos. This is where they do the baptisms in the river. We had such a good time together. We met the Bowcutts in Tarlac and rode to Burgos with them. Just after wr got in the car, Sister martini looked out the window and a lizard was looking at her. She decided to roll the window down to get it off, but instead it came into the car and quickly crawled to the drivers window. Elder Bowcutt rolled it down quickly and the lizard went back out side. He told Sister Martino she couldn't sit behind him in the car again . . . we all had a good laugh! Too bad I didn't have my camera out to record that one . . .

Sister Bowcutt and Sister Martino

Sister Bowcutt and Sister Kemker

We got to Burgos and I found out that the person getting baptized was the sister of a young man who had been baptized the last time we went to the river.

This is her little boy . . . such a cute little guy!

He did a fabulous job. He even conducted the meeting and you would have thought he had been a member for years!

Brother and Sister

When we got down to the river, it was laundry day. It is amazing to me to see these women squatting down and
scrubbing their clothes on a board in a tub of water. Or pounding the clothes with a club.

The baptism was nice. We talked about how this is how the early members of the church were baptized - in the river. And there were times when they had to cut a hole in the ice to be able to be baptized. What a great experience we had that day . . .

Rainy Days and Sunday . . . . .

On July 31st, we were sitting in Sacrament meeting and Elder Jewkes pointed out the window to a little boy who was sitting on a trike in the rain. It was so cute, so I snuck (is that a word?) out of the meeting and took the following pictures. Once he saw me, he hurried and ducked down into the seat of the trike.

As we were going to class, we walked out of the chapel and found all of the umbrellas that everyone had brought in the rain were drying out side the doors . . . Never seen this at home before.

Cold Showers . . . Burrrrr!!

Two weeks ago, we got up to take a shower and the water was "freezing". Not freezing like back home, but it was cold for what we are used to here. Wade got in first and told me it wasn't too bad. I got in and let the water run in the tub, soaped up and then hurried to rinse off under the shower. Then I went and crawled back into bed to get warm. Wade wanted to take a picture but I declined!! He thought I was pretty funny . . . and it was funny but I was cold!!

We called Ronnie, the guy who fixes everything here at the mission home/office. He put a new part on the water heater. Tuesday we had a nice hot shower. Then Wednesday it was back to cold. Ronnie came out again on Thursday and we had hot water until Sunday night. Monday morning another cold shower! This is just part of the Philippines. Most of the missionaries have bucket showers, where they get a bucket of water (usually pretty cool) and then dip water over them to shower. (We try to make sure that the senior couples have a shower in their apartment.) Sister Martino told me to come up to the mission home to take a hot shower. But after getting on the treadmill, the cooler shower actually felt somewhat nice. It was still colder than I like.

Well, this is week two and we have had 4 out of 5 cold showers. Today it was warm. Ronnie found that there is a reset button that keeps shutting off. We have asked the security guard to reset the hot water about 5am so we can get a hot shower. ( He works from 6p - 6a). Ronnie is still trying to figure out how to keep this switch from going off on a daily basis. In the mean time, we have at least learned how to get hot water again . . . Yeah!!

Five Months Have Past!

We were talking to some friends at church yesterday and out of the blue Wade said, "It was 5 months ago today that we started our mission." Yes, it was March 7th when we entered the MTC. Sometimes the time seems to be flying by and others is seems to be a snails pace. But I immediately added to his comment, "we only have 13 months left!!' I am sure when those 13 months end, that it will be really hard to leave this country and the people that we have learned to love here.

We are love what we are doing. Working in the office has given us time to spend together. To laugh at each other. To take care of the administrative part of the mission. It has given us a wonderful opportunity to get to know our mission president and his wife! And I must say that Wade is learning patience! It is taking patience on my part to watch him learn patience!! Some days that is not easy for either one of us!

But, we know we are where we are supposed to be at this time in our lives. What a blessing to serve our Heavenly Father! What a blessing to learn and understand the gospel better. Our Heavenly Father has a plan for each one of us. We just need to be available to listen and to learn what that plan is for each of us!

Visitors . . . .

It is official . . . Ryan, Andrea and the kids are coming to visit us!!!! They will arrive in Manila on Sunday November 20 at 10:50am. We are so excited to have them come and see where we are living. The kids are excited. We are not sure if it is to see us or see their cousins who live in Indonesia. (They will travel there after our visit.) Or if it because they are staying in a hotel with a swimming pool!

Patti is also coming for a visit ~ the first part of November. It will be fun to have her here. I am looking forward to a few shopping trips . . . Wade doesn't like to go shopping with me. And I mostly see the inside of a grocery store or the store where we buy office supplies!

So, the count down is on to November . . . 3 months until they all come for a visit! :)

Miracles . . .

We have a new senior couple arriving in our mission this week. We have been looking for the past month in the area where they will be serving, for an apartment so that we can have a place ready, for them when they arrive. We have had the Zone Leaders and other missionaries checking the few apartments that are for rent in this area.

The mission president asked us to pray that we would be able to find an apartment for this couple. The President and his wife drove to the area where this couple will be living on Friday on their way to a District Conference. They searched all day and came up empty handed. We continued to pray night and day for a miracle. We only have a few days left.

On Sunday, we fasted to find an apartment. At church Wade talked to one of the zone leaders in our area. He had lived in the are we were looking for the apartment. He told Wade where a nice apartment was. Wade asked him to call the president and let him know about the apartment.

We got an email late Sunday evening from the President that they had found an apartment! It wasn't the one the zone leader called to tell them about. There is a family living in the apartment and will be moving out so that our new senior couple can move into on Friday. This family does not belong to our church, but they are willing to move so that this couple will have a place to live.

We had decided to fast on Sunday for an apartment for this new couple. We had been searching for a month with no results. Heavenly Father has told us to do all we can do. When we do all that we can do, our Heavenly Father will provide a way. And he did. Fasting and prays do get answered . . . in His due time!