December Week 47-50

Week 47 December 3

Monday - We stayed home from work because of my chest cold and we had a borrowed car that was coded (that means we can’t drive it on Mondays).  We had breakfast at Denny’s, did computer work and watched Christmas movies.

Tuesday - Mary Ann took us to lunch  at the Creperie with one of our new group leaders E. Encarnacion and Jesson.  Mary Ann is working with them to get their resumes prepared for job hunting.  

Our lunch at the Creperie 

This is a salted caramel crepe cake
It has 20 layers of crepes with caramel and cream in between

Wednesday - Happy Birthday to Candace.  We found out that our replacements have been called.  They are E. and S. Roberts from Alberta Canada.  They will enter the MTC on March 25 (great birthday gift for me). We have started corresponding with them to make their preparations easy and understandable.

Thursday - We started the day off in a 9:00 Committee Meeting.  Two projects were presented, one for rice for Gentle Hands and one for a Taytay Stake Literacy project. It’s always so nice to call home and check in with the kids.  Adrienne played a lovely song for us on her violin, it made me happy.  We went to the Mega Mall to pick up Steve’s phone with the Singleton’s so of course we had to eat at Chili’s.  In the afternoon we met with the IT Dept to discuss the possibility of getting access to 80 retired computers for the Learning Hub  Project up north in Balanga City.

Friday - Mary Ann was out of the office with her boys on a field trip.  It was Alvin's (our intern, the one who had his reception at McDonald’s in October) last day.  He will be missed by S. Grimshaw and Kenneth. We didn’t want the barbecue pancit so we snuck off to Burger King with Singleton’s for lunch.  I made a couple batches of sugar cookies for S. Duncan and S. Stone for our  “Cookie Exchange”.  They don’t have ovens so they were  happy to have help.  We all met at Outback for dinner with 8 other missionaries and then S. Duncan and S. Stone came to our apartment to frost the sugar cookies, listen to Christmas music, and sit on the couch and visit.

Saturday - I went for a morning walk around Eastwood with S. Gunnell.  It’s nice to have a walking companion but our route around Eastwood is challenging.  It’s all we have so we make the best of it.  I came home and made chocolate chip M&M cookies for RS on Sunday and sugar cookies for the office on Monday.  We went to “The Grinch” for some afternoon entertainment, it was funny.  I love The Grinch.

Sunday - Church at Makati 4th Ward.  I led the discussion in RS on Sister Cordon's conference talk “Becoming Shepherds”.  After church I made  peanut blossom cookies for our “Cookie Exchange” and a chicken and rice casserole.  We went to Gunnell’s for dinner and they helped us put together a video for Brooklyn’s Sweet 16 Birthday.

Week 48 - December 10

Monday - We started the day in an 8:30 planning meeting.  After that we sat in on a conference talk with Mary Ann and the Gunnell’s with an organization that helps autistic children.  A possible project there for the Gunnell’s.  We went to the Bowman's at 5:00 for our “Cookie Exchange”.  Leigh Ann Bowman’s husband is the controller at the office, they have a lovely home near the Area Office.  She had it decorated so beautifully for Christmas.  Everyone brought appetizers and we sat around and shared Christmas traditions. It was a real boost for everyone and a very enjoyable evening.

These Santa Cookies went like wildfire

Instead of reading a book for Book Club
we shared favorite family holiday traditions

Our appetizers

The beautiful cookies

Lots of variety

Tuesday - We had our employee and missionary Christmas Devotional and Reception at the MTC.  The area choir sang beautiful Christmas music and the Area Presidency read the account of Christ’s birth from the Bible.  We had a really nice catered lunch from 3rd Floor and then everyone went home early for the day.  We watched Polar Express and worked on some projects.

President Schmutz delivering his Christmas address

The Area Office Choir

Our lunch after the devotional

Wednesday - Today the new couple that will be serving in Cebu arrived.  They came from Utah and their names are James and Linda Whitmore.  Small world as they are friends of Julie and Ralph Powell.  We went to Lander’s for pizza with the Service Missionaries for one of the McIver’s farewell luncheons.  We spent time viewing the new Mental Health Council that the church is working on.  Starting in January in the states and April in the Philippines all missionaries will go through a mental health evaluation to determine what type of mission they will serve and where they will be placed.  From everything we are seeing this is a needed program.

Lunch at Lander's with the CSM's

Pizza with Fried Chicken is their favorite

Thursday -  Brooklyn’s 16th Birthday - I started the day with a nice visit on the phone with Heather.  She is getting ready for Brooklyn’s birthday.  We had a big committee meeting in the Mezzanine Conference Room to discuss the proper structure of Welfare Projects.  Then we had a good-bye meeting and lunch for the McIver’s.  That is not all, 37 people met at Outback for a goodbye dinner.  It is always a little bit difficult when missionaries leave but with the McIver’s leaving it is especially difficult for those of us who work in the Welfare Department with them.  They run the wheelchair program. They have been called as Technical Specialist from Salt Lake to stay on with the wheelchair initiatives in the Philippines.  They will work from home and return to the Philippines several times a year.  This is a unique calling for them as they will now be working in the same program but mostly from home.  We will miss them but feel so lucky they live in Eagle and we will still be able to see them from time to time.

"You've turned into the prettiest girl I've ever seen
Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen"

Big meeting on Welfare Department Structure

The Welfare Department Crew

The CSM's singing goodbye to the McIver's

There were 37 people that showed up at Outback
Everyone loves the McIver's

They will be missed

Friday - We started the morning off with some exercise around Eastwood and we got to visit with Brooklyn to wish her a Happy Birthday.  We went to the Mega Mall with the Gunnell’s to make the deposit from the Giving Machines and of course a lunch at Chili’s. We headed back to the Area Office to load in vans and go to La Isla  for our Christmas Dinner with the Area Presidency.  It was a lovely evening, the room was decorated all in Christmas, Andy Williams music in the background and a lovely catered Christmas Dinner. We played some Christmas trivia and had a gift exchange, there were around 50 Senior Missionaries.  The Area Presidency let us know over and over their appreciation for us and the sacrifice to be away from our families at Christmas.

Elder Wakolo expressing his thanks to all the Senior Missionaries

So many choices

Our feast!

Playing games to determine who gets what for the gift exchange

Saturday - A bit of a somber morning as the McIver’s flew home to Boise today.   For our Senior Outing  for December Steve and I made arrangements for a buffet lunch at Viking at SM City Marikina Mall.  There were 21 of us, it was a bit of work to make reservations and down payment with several trips to the mall to get everything right but it was well worth it.  Our friends who join us are so kind and appreciative of us.  It’s a pleasure when you see how everyone enjoys it.  We had a relaxing afternoon and met a few friends at HoBing in the evening for some strawberries on shaved ice and a visit.

Sunday - We went to church in Makati for our last 3 hour church block.  That sounds good to us. We learned of the new age guidelines in the church.  That means a lot of changes for the Jensen girls.  I made cookies and a lite dinner and we watched Hallmark Christmas movies.  What else is there to do??

Week 49 - December 17

Monday - 8:00 Monday morning planning meeting.  We had our FHE Christmas Dinner.  I made arrangements for something different this time.  We had a planned dinner menu of Ritz cracker chicken, mashed potatoes, beautiful green beans (such a challenge in the Philippines), festive green salad, and beautiful pies and cakes.  It was perfect!

We can always count on Kathy Skinner for decorations

I am responsible for organizing the food

The Program

Tuesday - 9:00 Devotional with Deo Yumul as our speaker.  He is one of my favorite employees and he has been really helpful to us in getting ARP going in the church.  We spent the rest of the day assembling our Infant Care Kits.  There were 5 of us using an assembly line method but everyone who walked into the office wanted to know what was going on and was so excited about this project.  Steve and I and S. Grimshaw had to go to Lander’s and pick up some pizza for an appreciation lunch for our maintenance workers to say thanks for all they do for us.  Filipinos love food and a bonus lunch is a pretty big deal to them.  We had to go into a meeting but I could see the workers piling their plates sky high with pizza and chicken and walking out of our office with a huge smile.  I love it.!!

Kathy Skinner assembling Infant Care Kits

The items we put in the kits

Completed kits (300)

Wednesday -  We went to Denny’s for breakfast because we knew food would be a challenge for the day.
We had a 5:30 flight to Bacolod.  We were picked up at the airport by a driver from the clinic that we donate eye equipment to.  We were in Bacolod in March, the sugar cane fields are beautiful and interesting.  We met with 8 members of Negroes (pronounced Nagros) Eye Clinic to see how we can better help them preform surgery on indigent seniors, many who die blind because of cataracts.  As we were visiting with them Steve and I came up with the same idea about the same time about how we can move this project forward and get help to these people.  It was such a good and productive meeting and the Dr’s were happy with our plan.  We will see how it goes in the next couple months. We flew into Manila at 6:30, it took us 1.5 hours to get out of the airport (maybe 1 mile).  Christmas travelers are here.  I had a movie downloaded on my I-Pad and we watched the whole thing waiting in traffic.  Crazy!!

Our lunch with Negroes Eye Specialists
in a Nipa Hut

They wanted to make sure we had Mangoes
 some of the best in the Philippines

Thursday - ** We were at the Area Office by 7:00 loading a van with 100 of our Infant Kits.  7 of us headed to Caloocan Medical Center to deliver these kits.  The staff at the hospital greeted us eagerly and took us to the maternity ward where we were able to pass out 100 kits and carol to the new mothers.  We were then treated to a Meryanda (snack) of some very interesting food.  The ladies we was with were a little uncertain of the food but I am a pro by now and showed them how it’s done.  We then went back to the Area Office and loaded 200 more kits and drove to Quirino Hospital to distribute.  The communication was a bit challenging at first.  We were taken to a ward and started passing out the kits and when the patients realized we were passing out free kits suddenly many of them had twins of course and needed one more.  Interesting! We then went to several other floors to continue passing out kits.  Steve and I had to go back to the van three times to reload, the hospital was not very helpful to get us a cart so back and forth we went.  It was hot as usual but we were energized by the looks on these mothers faces.  It’s amazing how happy they are with so little. There are two mothers to most beds and when they run out of beds the mothers sit in a hot hallway and are lucky to have a chair.  S. Owen noticed one mother who was very sad, she bent down to ask her what was wrong and learned this mother had lost her baby.  She had to be in this room of many mothers and babies for her recovery.  S. Owen immediately reached around her neck and removed her necklace and put it around this grieving mothers neck and sat down with her for a bit.  Next time we do this we will have something for the mothers who lose their babies.  We went back to the office to turn in the van and jump in our car with the Gunnell’s and Mary Ann.  We swung into Burger King (by far the best and only burger we can eat here) and headed to Makati to meet with Virlanie Foundation (a foundation to help abused children) to see if there was any way we could help them.  We met with two gentlemen who commit their lives to help children from infants to 18 years.  It was a good meeting and Mary Ann came up with a great plan to help.  Stayed tuned for  March and see what we have up our sleeve.

This picture was taken right when we got to Caloocan Medical Center

Making plans to pass them out

Each of us grabbed a handful

We went into the maternity ward and started passing them out

Kathy Skinner watching out for any mothers who may have lost their baby

Look how beautiful they are

This dad is so proud!

They were so proud to share their Meryanda with us
Yum! Yum!

At first we kept running back and forth for more boxes
Finally they brought us a cart.

The frenzy begins

These mothers were very happy with their gifts

These mothers are in the hallway
They are not lucky enough to have a bed
This hallway is hot and stuffy

Proud new mama

We went through the Pediatric Ward to sing carols

These workers from Virlanie were so happy with the
Krispy Kreme donuts we brought them

Discussing ways we may be able to help

When we were finished with our meeting and we walked back to our car
these children were  playing in the streets and wanted to show off for us!
They are so cute, it just never gets old

Friday - I can only walk/run in the mornings because with Christmas it’s too crowded in the evenings.  I took advantage and went for a walk, then we met with Gunnell’s and drove to Mega Mall to deposit the money from the Giving Machines and of course lunch at Chili’s.  We did some shopping and bought a projector and microwave for our office. We went to dinner with the Ferney’s who we met at the MTC last November. We introduced them to Catsu Sora, a Japanese restaurant and they liked it.

Saturday - Early morning walk/run and then Steve and I headed to Mega Mall to deposit the money from the Giving Machines.  The Gunnell’s have family in town for Christmas so we will have this job all next week. The manager at Chili’s has noticed us and we now know many of the waiters, they are so nice to us.  It’s just so good to eat somewhere besides our top 4 in Eastwood.

It was wonderful to be a part of this program

Some of the choices when people donate
1 week college allowance, college books and supplies,
food for a month, the gift of hearing, and many others

Sunday - We went to church in Cubao with the Gunnell’s and their daugahter, son-in-law and three grandchildren visiting from Missouri.  After dinner we went to Mabuhay to sing to the patients and their families.  The Gunnell’s daughter Lindsay, her husband and their children planned songs, activities, and made bracelets to pass out. It was good to be a part of entertaining the kids for Christmas.  They seem to love it and appreciate it so much but I am always amazed at how much the adults love it.  We had a quiet afternoon and I made some snow ball cookies.  

Lindsay admiring this young man's art work
He has many challenges and has had many surgeries
His art work in unbelievable!

Some of the kids

Look at their smiles

This young boy likely has club feet
The surgery he receives at Mabuhay will be life changing

The whole crew

This game was called
Myself, My Neighbor

Five little monkeys swinging in a tree

Passing out bracelets

Week 50 -  Christmas Eve 

Monday - The rain has returned, we have two more weeks and then we are out of the rainy season. I went for a walk in Eastwood and had the place to myself, I loved it.  No people to dodge!  We met the Grimshaw’s and Singleton’s at Denny’s for breakfast and had a quiet afternoon in our apartment.  I made chicken rice soup and brownies for our Christmas Eve gathering.  We went to Tucker’s with Singleton’s and Ferney's  for soup, bread, veggies, fruit, and brownies.  We had a fun gift exchange and Steve and I ended up with the two gifts we took.  Good thing we bought stuff we liked.  We were excited when we found Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and bought a snicker, caramel apple.  It tasted just like the ones at home.

Tuesday - Christmas Day- The malls and everything else is open on Christmas Day in the Philippines.  We took the Grimshaw’s to Mega Mall with us to deposit the money from the Giving Machines (and of course Chili’s for lunch).  The bank however was not open so we had to take the money to David Bowman’s house.  He is the controller and has a safe.  We then picked up the Singleton’s and went to Gentle Hands (an orphanage in Cubao) to play with the kids for a few hours.  We were on the fourth floor outside with around 75 kids.  They all needed someone to play with and there were only about 12 adults.  Steve worked with the boys playing Lego’s and I helped glue the kids pictures to cards that they then took to another station for stickers and Pom poms.  We were lucky that the sun kept going behind a cloud and we had a slight breeze. We were all drenched though by the end of two hours from the heat and humidity.  In the evening we went to the Owen’s for Christmas dinner.  It was a nice pot luck with 14 of us to share Christmas with. We woke up at 11:00 to watch the Jensen kids open up their Christmas presents.

I sat here for two hours and glued the kids pictures
on card stock.  Oh my aching back

Steve working diligently to help this boy build his truck

Playing with their Christmas Gifts
Barbies and markers

Deb loved holding this little baby, Theo

Puzzles for the girls

Legos for the boys

After I glued the pictures on the card stock
they went to the next station to glue stickers and pom poms on
The Singleton's had a hard job

This little girl Karis was something else!
She kept coming and climbing on my lap
When I asked her to pose for a picture she looked at me
shook her head no and said
"I'm not suppose to climb on your lap" 

Our Christmas dinner at the Owen's
A reward for a hard days work.

Wednesday - We started the day by going back to Bowman’s to pick up the money we left there the day before.  Then we went to Mega Mall to deposit the money from the Giving Machines and make two days worth of deposits.  The Giving Machines did not do near as well in the Philippines as in the states but it definitely picked up and the deposits doubled the week of Christmas so that was nice.  Kenneth who is one of our managers invited the whole Welfare Department to his apartment complex for a potluck dinner.  His wife Angie made a ton of Filipino favorites, it was a very enjoyable evening.

Dinner at Kenneth's with the Welfare Department

Thursday - Pretty much a repeat of Wednesday. We did break from our routine at Chili’s and chose a Jamba Juice instead.  We went to Italiani’s to celebrate for Wendy Kaneen’s Birthday.

They sang Happy Birthday in about 4 different languages

Friday - Ground Hogs Day again.  We took the Singleton’s to Chili’s after depositing the money from the Giving Machines.  We went to the office to work a bit on our January calendar. May Ann went to Cebu for the holidays, we had a conference call with here to plan all our trips next month.  It will be a busy month.  We met some of the crew at Outback for dinner.

Saturday - We have been getting rain most of the week from a tropical storm somewhere in the Philippines.  There was a nice breeze for my run in Eastwood.  It was awesome, a bit reminiscent of Twindy Falls.  We went to Mega Mall to deposit the money from the Giving Machines.  We took Tucker’s with us and Gunnell’s met us there for brunch at Chili’s. We went for our monthly mani-pedi for an enjoyable afternoon activity then a quiet evening in our apartment.

Sunday - Day 400 We spoke in sacrament meeting at the MTC.  We had a very quiet day in our apartment.  We have almost two weeks off of work and we heard all year that the week of Christmas and the week after were very quiet and slow.  I will be happy to return on Thursday January 3.

Our M&M jar, 115 days