October Week 38-42

Week 38 - October 1

Monday - Mary Ann gave us a much needed day off after our busy week traveling last week.  We spent the morning on the phone with Scott and his family.  We were so sad to receive news in the middle of the night that Jared Ramsey passed away.  We went for a Waffle Slam at Denny’s and came home and got caught up on e-mails and laundry.  We had our 3rd Book Club Meeting, our book review was  “Marmee and Louisa”.  The untold story about Louisa May Alcott and her mother.  It was a great discussion on what it was like to be a women in the mid 1800’s.  We had Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner which went over really well and a chocolate s’mores cake from the Purple Oven.

Tuesday - 9:00 Devotional, our speaker was the new administrator at the temple.  We drove into Manila with Mary Ann to meet wit the National Center for Mental Health.  We met with 4 Mental Health Professionals and discussed ways LDS Family Services could assist in helping drug addicts.  When our meeting was over Mary Ann let us chose where we wanted to eat.  We chose Burger King because it’s the best hamburger we have had in the Philippines.  We ended up at Mega Mall, it’s a huge mall and very nice.  We got home early to rest and prepare for our upcoming trip back to Iloilo.  We met at Friday’s with 4 other couples for S. Owen’s Birthday.  We came home and watched the BSU vs Wyoming game.  This time we hadn’t heard the outcome so we pretended it was in real time.  I’d love to thank whoever it is that posts these games on You-Tube, its so fun to watch an pretend we are at home for an hour or two.

National Center for Mental Health

The doctors we met with to discuss ways the church
could help in their efforts to get help to those in need.
(Scrambled egg sandwiches and fruit juice)

It's a wrap!

Celebrating S. Marilyn Owen's Birthday at Friday's
Our waiter Nels

Nothing like being around friends for your Birthday
when you are far from home.

Wednesday - We got up very early and drove to the airport where we met Mary Ann.  She is so good to buy us a chocolate croissant and hot chocolate.  We flew into Iloilo but this time we were not picked up at the airport by the Sollesta’s.  S. Sollesta was sick and they were getting ready to fly to Europe for a month.  Mary Ann made us stand back while she went and secured a taxi, she told us the fare would go up if the driver saw us.  She found us a fabulous driver, Roderick. He took us all over Iloilo to different Catholic Churches steeped in history and beautiful architecture.  One of them was named Saint Marie and has only female priestess.   He then drove us to Tatoy’s, a very Filipino restaurant.  We enjoyed a great lunch of scallops, shrimp, chopsuey, and rice.  We went back to our hotel for a rest and then to the mall for some “Halohalo”.  We then went to Jaro for Batch 14 graduation of ARP.  There were 21 participants, and as always it’s so nice to hear them talk of their transformation.  The Sollesta’s made sure there was a nice dinner for them and their family’s, its a real treat for them to get such a nice meal.  Why is it so gratifying to see people enjoy and appreciate a healthy dinner? It makes them so happy.

Chocolate Croissants and Hot Chocolate
with Mary Ann

We visited many Catholic Churches

Very familiar sites all over Iloilo City

Scallops!

We were proud of ourselves eating a very Filipino lunch.
We don't explore much with the food.

Halohalo

Graduation for Batch 14
They do love to sing.

This little boy was loving his dinner.

The Sollesta's arrange for such a nice dinner
It's catered by members of the church.

This little boy was carrying his little sister all over the gym, he was so proud.

Thursday - We got up and took a morning walk down by the river near our hotel.  When we were walking a taxi drove past us, stopped his car, rolled down the window, smiled, waved, and yelled “Hi” to us.  It was our Roderick and he was so happy he knew us.  We ate a nice breakfast in the hotel and then headed out for Miagao to pay the mayor that we met last week a courtesy call.  It was about an hour and a half drive from Iloilo.  When we got to the Municipal Hall the mayor invited us into his office for a photo.  He had noticed my bag the week before and this time he wanted to take a picture of it.  He was intrigued that it was made from recycled product.  He then send us across the street to see the program he has developed to train women to sew and then put them to work. We enjoyed meeting these woman but man was it hot in their work environment.  The mayor recommended a delightful Japanese restaurant for lunch.  We started off dipping our feet in a free fish spa and then while we were waiting for our lunch the owner came and got us to give us a tour of his restaurant.  He had a back room where he had workers creating a few dioramas of the history of Miagao.  We were then joined for lunch by the mayor, he ordered the (best crispy fried) sushi I’ve ever had.  After that we drove to Garin Farms in San Joaquin and rode a golf cart up to the “Stairway to Heaven”, key scenes from the life of Jesus Christ are depicted in various spots along the way.  When you reach to top you go through a dark tunnel and then emerge into heaven.  It was so white it was blinding (seriously take your sunglasses when you go to heaven), the Hallelujah Chorus was playing, and we got to image what heaven would be like.  We then headed back to the airport in Iloilo and flew home.  We were back at Eastwood by 9:00.

Miagao is very proud of their history

Historical Catholic Church

Of course the flowers are beautiful everywhere we go

These statues are all over the outside of the churches

The mayor has a program to teach women to sew bags from
recycled juice boxes and other materials

The training in free, once they learn to sew
they can make and sell whatever they want to

This chair is made from water bottles

It was hot in there, they are amazing people who work hard

A diarama of Miagao
It's the vision of the Japanese restaurant owner

The cathedral

A whole wall on how salt is made

The Japanese restaurant was inspired by this bridge,
the owner build everything around it. 
It has been in the making for 5 years

The mayor of Miagao

The best crispy fried sushi ever

My stomach was a bit tender from the Filipino food the day before
The mayor ordered me blue tea for a remedy, it was good

Next stop, Garin Farms

The herbs in the garden were separated by a border of
recycled water bottles

This is "The Stairway to Heaven"

Better pictures of the stairs

Noah's Ark

The Ten Commandments

Christ's Birth

The camels, the wisemen, and Steve

John the Baptist and Jesus at his Baptism

Christ riding in on his donkey

The Last Supper

The Garden

The Crucifiction

The view from the top of the stairs

We went through  a very dark tunnel and then.....

Heaven!!

From inside the Iloilo airport
Everyone was staring at their devices I looked up and this is what I saw

Friday- It was a quiet day at the office especially when you consider the eventful two weeks we just experienced.  We got caught up on work and I went to a 1:00 temple session.  We were invited to eat with friends at a Hawaiian Place in Eastwood but my stomach was a bit tender from all our Filipino food in Iloilo so we opted for a baked potato from Outback.  We did stop in a visit with our friends at the Hawaiian Restaurant on our walk home to check out the food.  I think we will try it next time.

Saturday - 11 of us left Eastwood at 7:30 in the morning and headed south to Tanay to the Masungi Georeserve.  The Masungi Georeserve is the first conservation project in the Philippines situated in the Southern Sierra Madre range in Baras, Rizal, 47 kilometres east of Manila. It centers on the geological formations of Masungi Rock, at an elevation of 640 metres.  We enjoyed a 3.5 hour hike with our delightful guide Macmac.  The pictures should speak for themselves, fabulous activity.  We had dinner at Friday’s with 3 other couples.

Meet our guide MacMac

MacMac demonstratin a safe way to climb

Some of the views from the top

Karen Carpenter said it best
"I'm on the top of the world looking down on creation"

He was very protective of us and kept us safe

Gary McIver, Kent Tucker, Robin Gunnell

Some of the landscape

This was so fun

Would you try this?

This is what Senior Missionaries do on a Saturday afternoon

The wild flowers

Sunday - Woke up in the middle of the night to news that the Church is going to a 2 hour block schedule. I personally am very happy about this decision.  The times they are a changing.  Quiet afternoon in our apartment.  I made chocolate and peanut butter M&M cookies for the office on Monday.


Week 39 - October 8
Monday - Started the day with a 8:30 planning meeting. Spent time on the phone with family and friends and computer work in the morning.  I walked over to Rustan’s and bought some treats to put together 4 Care Packages for missionaries staying at our MTC.  3 of them we met a couple weeks ago and they told us they would be at our MTC for 6 weeks.  One of them was for Zach Moss, a former swim student who leaves for Baguio on Tuesday.  He’s been at our MTC for two weeks and was hoping to run into him but we’ve been gone for most of it so Tuesday is my only hope.

Tuesday- Started off the day with Devotional and the beautiful choir.  Jairus spoke on stress and hope.  He started telling an awesome story but often when Filipinos talk they slip into Tagalog because it is so much easier for them.  They say it makes their nose bleed when they talk too much English.  I could tell it was a good story and everyone was laughing but the poor Senior Missionaries had no clue...and still don’t.  We met in the conference room with Jairus, Mary Ann, and the McIvers to go over plans for our retreat in Baguio next month.  We had an Office Lunch that turned out to be our best so far.  Our group has growth to about 17 people.  S. Grimshaw and I brought in a chicken and rice casserole in crock pots and everyone went crazy over it.  Especially our Filipino office employees.  It’s like they had never heard of chicken and rice (which trust me is a staple over here) and they asked over and over how we made it.  It was a Pinterest hit!  Mary Ann made her awesome fruit cocktail/cucumber salad and we had pumpkin and chocolate cake.  As we were leaving the Area Office I looked one more time at the MTC and there were some missionaries coming out for a walk.  Steve pulled over and I asked them if they knew Zach Moss.  Of course they were his roommates.  They went back in a got him to come out and visit with us.  He was so nice to us and we had a great visit and were able to catch up on some of their activities so I could report to his mom and put her mind at rest.  After an evening walk around Eastwood we lit a candle, turned out the lights and watched the BSUvsSan DiegoState Game.  We looooove doing that, it’s a slice of home! (Even though the game is 3 days old)

Me with Zach Moss ( I taught him to swim)
with his room mates

Wednesday- I rode over to Mabuhay with the ladies.  There is a baby there named Bless who got her artificial eye.  She looks so much better.  After that Reggie and Gilda took us to a 4 story thrift complex.  S. Skinner needed to get a 70’s costume for a party.  I couldn’t help but think that Michele Mecham would be in heaven at this place but I was not.  I don’t do second hand anything unfortunately, especially with no air-con.  S. Skinner did end up with some great choices for her party though.  I do admire that.

Thursday- 9:00-10:30 committee meeting.  The Singleton’s from Cebu and the Robinson’s from Baguio had some projects to present.  We all think they have a harder job than we do, but they are great missionaries trying to help struggling people in the outer provinces.  Teri McIver and I took off to do some shopping at Greenhill’s.  It’s fun to shop with Teri because she knows how to shop for peals, I’d like to be on her Christmas list.  

Friday - We spent the morning doing computer work and getting reservations and plane tickets for a trip to Tacloban in November because we have a few days off.  We had a medical equipment turnover ceremony at 12:00 and then a MOA signing at 2:30 with partners who help with wheelchair distribution.  At 3:00 we went over to the temple to participate in sealing work.  S. Elliott, S. Duncan, and S. Stinchfield are valiant in searching their family trees and doing genealogy.  We had a fun dinner at Outback with 5 other missionaries.

Saturday - Started the morning with a 4 mile run around Eastwood and then we picked up the Grimshaw’s and S. Duncan to go shopping at S&R and Landers.  We are in a desperate search for pumpkin and green beans.  It’s so frustrating that we can’t find that.  I was hoping to treat the office to some holiday Chex mix but of course you can only find Chex cereal in the Philippines in June.  With a busy couple days ahead of us we spent the day in our apartment reading and watching Netflix.  

Sunday - We were able to remote in and see Adrienne’s Baptism. We are the ICC (in country coordinators) for Major Vision projects that are developed by Dr’s in Salt Lake.  Steve has been working with Dr. Jon Gunther for months preparing for his visit to the Philippines to develop and 2018-2019 Eye Project.  Jon and Lisa Gunther serve as eye specialists for LDS Charities and travel around the world helping develop eye projects to those in need.  We met them at their hotel in Eastwood and spent the day getting to know them.  We took them to the Manila/American Cemetery and then to Jollibee’s.  You can’t come to the Philippines and not have a Jollibee’s experience (we have only been brave enough to eat the peach mango pie, which we do love).  We then met for dinner in Eastwood withKenneth and his wife and  Dr. Domalanta  and his wife who traveled from the northern part of the island to meet with us.

Dinner at Italiani's
Kenneth and Angie

Dr.Domalanta is in between the Gunthers and Kenneth
He showed us a Power Point of his Charity Work
He wears many hats

Jon and Lisa Gunther trying to listen to the doctor
It was so loud and hard to hear

Week 40 - October 15

Monday - We got up at 2:30 to pick the Gunthers up at 3:30 to head for the airport.  Our first flight out of terminal 4.....interesting!!  We met Kenneth at the airport and flew to Naga.  We were picked up by our driver JoJofrom Bicol Sanitarium and then drove an hour to Bicol to meet with Dr. Sarmiento and his staff.  We were treated to a very Filipino breakfast and then spent a few hours of discussing equipment needs ands training possibilities.  Lunch was then served and then the Dr. offered his driver to us so we could go to Legaspi and see Mayon Volcano.  It was a three hour drive of nail biting twists and turns on a two lane highway.  Poor DR. Gunther was pretty car sick when we arrived and since Steve was riding in the front seat his nerves were frayed.  Crazy, crazy, crazy!!  We had perfect skies when we arrived so we were able to view the cone.  Kennth told us that was super rare, we were thrilled to be able to have this opportunity.  After a two hour drive back to Naga City where our hotel was, we went to Shakey’s for pizza and called it a day.

Arriving in Naga

On Cebu Airline
Jon and Lisa Gunther

An idea of what lunch looks like, yum yum

Touring Bicol Sanitarium

Getting my eyes checked by Dr. Gunther
with the OTC machine
I passed with flying colors

Lunch

Shrimp in the Philippines you get the whole thing
Eyeballs and all, yum yum...

Mayon Valcano, this is the volcano that was active in February

Tuesday - We had a 10:00 flight back to Manila and that was appreciated so we could have a bit more sleep.  When we arrived in Manila we drove with the Gunthers to Caloocan to met with Dr. Chavez and his staff.  We toured to hospital to get a better idea of what their need are.  Next stop was a 2 hour drive up north to Clark.  We were so happy to find a Chili’s for dinner, and walk through a huge mall and back to our hotel for the evening.

Meeting with Dr. Chavez , Gunthers and Madelyn
at Caloocan Medical Center

You can run but you can't hide from a Yum Burger from Jollibee's
Yum, Yum!!

Madelyn took us to to OB ward
These twins are one day old
There mother is 17 and she looked really sad

We saw many in this room where two mothers and
two babies shared the same bed
It was really hot

Discussing other needs they may have
like maybe our Infant Care Kits

Wednesday - We drove 1/2 hour to Concepcion to meet with Dr. Suarez.   All of these ophthalmologists have a heart for serving a certain amount of their time to providing care for those who can’t afford it.  After touring his facility we were invited upstairs for a snack.   In all our rush to get to all these clinics and meet with the doctors both Steve and I forgot we needed to stop by the Area Office when we flew into Manila on Tuesday and get a different car since our car is coded on Wednesdays.  I remembered in the middle of the night and woke Steve up to remind him.  At first we got up and got dressed to drive back into Quezon City (2 hours each way) to switch cars but in the end we decided to take our chances.  It was a nerve racking commute back into Manila dodging the Pulis but we were lucky and did not get caught.  We had lunch with the Gunthers and Kenneth and assessed all the doctors and clinics we visited to determine which direction to get help to.  We had one more adventure before we took the Gunther’s to the airport.  We took them to Beehive to introduce them to our friends out there and let them see how our garments are made.  One hour to the airport but not so easy coming home.  We enjoyed our time with the Gunthers and feel they enjoyed their time in the Philippines as well.  It’s more fun in the Philippines!!

The Gunhters with Dr. Suarez and his nurse

We sent him a text that we ate breakfast at the hotel
and not to plan to us

They so want to contribute
There was a ton of food and Dr. Suarez said "No diets"

Bu divine design I walked out of the Area Office
and ran into Sister Howard, my cousins daughter
She is headed to Tacloban

Thursday - No one was in the office so after a short committee meeting with Kenneth we took off for SM Marikina to look for a new phone for Steve.  Shakey’s for lunch.For some reason the traffic was really light so it was fairly enjoyable to be out and about.  It was haircut night for both of us and then we treated ourselves to at Dilly Bar at DQ.

Friday - We went to Denny’s for breakfast and then headed for a 5 hour drive up north to San Fernando.  It it such a pleasant drive on the NLEX and the McArthur Highway rocking out to 70”s.  We drove to San Fernando-LaUnion.  Steve found a nice hotel for us to stay at but of course all the food around was very Filipino.  We drove to find our third Shakey’s Pizza Parlor in three days.  When all else fails choose pizza.  We went for a walk on the East China Sea and watched a beautiful thunderstorm.

Saturday - We started the morning as invited speakers for a CCM (Coordinating Counsel Meeting) orienting the leaders in the area about ARP and resources the church has for mental health issues.  We drove 6 hours back to Manila, as always enjoying a beautiful drive.  We welcome anytime spent in the outlying provinces.  Grimshaw’s text us to tell us they we taking bets on whether we died or went home, we’ve been gone most of the month.  We met them at Outback for dinner.  We were treated to watching a very large roaming cockroach all over our dining area, OIP (Only in the Philippines), it was funny.  When I got the waiter’s attention he moved at lightning speed to get rid of the pest.  Steve tried to get his baked potato for free by telling our waitress there was another one in his baked potato, but of course that didn’t fly with her.

The pool at our hotel
The Villas at Bueno Vista

I was the only girl in this meeting
so course they asked me to lead the music
I don't love that

Sunday - I have been asked to lead 4 Sunday’s worth of lessons to help discuss ARP and resources for mental health issues.  I baked chocolate chip cookies for Monday at the office but I’m getting a bit concerned I’m losing my touch.  Baking here is so difficult, the sugars, the oven, and the humidity are challenging. We traveled to Cabuyoa with Mary Ann and her son Jarl for a Sunday evening meeting with Stake Leaders trying to get some ARP classed going in that area.  It was a good meeting but too far away and too late for me on a Sunday evening.  Thank heaven that doesn’t affect Steve and he can drive while the rest of us sleep.

Week 41 - October 22

Monday - 8:30 planning meeting. Spent the morning working on putting together ideas for a conference on Thursday with 300 YSL’s (young single adults) from 3 stakes that we’ve been invited to speak at.  It’s weird being back in the office, we have really enjoyed our time out and about.

Tuesday - 9:00 Devotional, Dara from Public Affairs spoke on Humility and Pride. At 11:00 we headed up to the DTA’s (Director of Temporal Affairs) to present two of Kenneth’s projects.  One is a project to deliver 2,500 lanterns to 6 communities that don’t have light.  Two in the Visayas, two in Luzon, and two in Mindanoa.  This is part of our “Light the World” Campaign for the holidays.  Steve really likes this project, the lanterns are solar powered and put off a lot of light, kids will be able to use this light to do homework.  We also presented a project to get reading glasses to children to help them see and improve their school work.  Thy both were approved.  I took off and went to our office to set up our Office Lunch.  Refried beans and rice, a lot of people were out of our office but we had 10 people show up and they were happy with the food.  We came home and enjoyed our Tuesday evening ritual of watching the BSU game.  We made it the last two weeks without knowing who won, that makes it fun for us,

Wednesday - We have an Intern our office who has been working with our team for the past couple weeks.  His name is Alvin and he is a great young man and from the day we met him he let us know that he was getting married on October 24, and you could tell he was super excited.  We got invited to go to his reception at McDonald's, yes McDonald’s.  It was his wife Lyza’s dream her entire life to have her wedding reception at McDonald’s so that is what they did.  They both looked so happy and beautiful.  It was of course very different but really sweet.  We were happy to be a part of their special day.  Steve and I have a hard time getting a lot of work done most days because people come to our area and talk to us all day long (I love that), and now things are about to get more interesting.  We had two (and maybe  one more) employees move into our office from finance while their office is being renovated.  Should be interesting.

This is Alvin our Intern
He is so delightful and so proud of his new wife

Lyza's beautiful bun

Lyza had her dream come true, a wedding reception at McDonald's
If you are going to dream. dream big!

The Wedding Party

Alvin and Lyza

Thursday - We went to Denny’s for breakfast from 8-9 while our apartment and most places in Eastwood had an earthquake drill.  It was so quiet in Eastwood but as usual everyone in Denny’s is so nice to use and welcomed us to stay until we could get back into our apartment.  We came home and finished up our Power Point on Stress Management and at 11:30 headed up to Tanay for the conference we were invited to speak at.  It was a beautiful drive up in the mountains and in one and a half hours we arrived at the Sierra Madre Mountain Resort were 300 YSL’s were eating lunch and getting ready to attend the classes.  We spoke for 45 minutes on Stress Management 3 times, it was a bit stressful as we were outside where it was hot and we had to yell because of the venue.  We had some good responses from the kids and of course enjoyed meeting many of them and spending time with them.  We loved this assignment and hope to improve our class and share it with more stakes.  We got to have our Merianda (snack) of sandwiches and a visit with President Coster the Manila Mission President.  He is an incredible man and it was so good get to visit with him.

There were 300 Young Singles Adults at this conference

The girl in the pink shirt with her leg crossed over he knee
is Charlene, she is Kenneth's daughter

3rd Floor Catering

Sierra Madre Mountain Resort

A view of Tanay

Beautiful drive up to this resort

It was stressful talking about "Stress Management"
Mostly because it was hot and we had to yell to be heard

This is the venue
No microphones and 4 classes all going on under the same roof
It was fun though, nothing like being around young people

Friday - Simple day at the office.  We met with Mary Ann to go over ways to improve our Stress Management Power Point.  There is a huge concern in the Philippines right now about suicide.  There is a young returned missionary who took his life 3 weeks ago and now another member from the same area also took his life this week.  Mary Ann has been invited to go see what she can do to help the people in this area who are struggling to cope with this situation.  Steve worked on getting things ready for our Senior Outing tomorrow and I went to the temple.  We had dinner at Outback with 8 other friends and we topped the evening off with a mani-pedi, our favorite Friday night activity.

Saturday - We left the Area Office at 9:00 with 7 other missionaries to go to LaMesa Ecopark for our Senior Outing.  It was a small number but we enjoyed a “Saturday in the Park” and had a nice picnic lunch.  The Skinner’s rode their bikes and met us there.  My heroes, driving in Manila traffic is a feat in and of itself, I could never imagine riding my bike in it.  They are troupers but it’s really enjoyable for them.  Poor Steve he was so sick but he is the only one in our group that can drive and he didn’t want to disappoint anyone so away we went.  I went and picked up the Singleton’s and Gunnell’s to meet McIver’s, S. Grimshaw and S. Duncan to got see  “First Man”.  We saw the Stinchfield’s, Connell’s, and the Coster’s there as well.  I did not like this movie at all.  Way too much shaking and I nearly froze to death.  By the time I got home I realized I was getting sick with the same thing Steve and Gary McIver have been fighting this week.

Saturday in the Park
Walking to find a picnic table

This table was not user friendly
It was huge and the benched were so high

I bet this was the first picnic we've had in over a year
It was good

We took a walk around the park

Feeling my zen

The Gang
Grimshaws, Skinnners, Duncan, Brownes, Kaneens, & Singletons

The Skinner's rode their bikes up to meet us
(Who does that?)

There are statues everywhere in the Philippines

The fun never ends.

Sunday - Whatever Steve had I guess he gave it to me.  We were both sick so we stayed home from church.  I made some Halloween Sugar Cookies but got too sick to frost them.  Spent the day in bed and watched "The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society"