Week 60 March 4
Monday - We started the week with an 8:30 Committee Planning Meeting. Steve presented the projects he has been working on for the past couple months. Joy Kiddie Center - We will be donating school supplies, first aid kits, computer printers and ink, t-shirts, slippers, and pictures of Christ. Steve also presented our Balanga Learning Hubs Project, we proposed donating 70 computers for 4 learning hubs. Steve got the brilliant idea to contact our IT department and see if we could donate used computers, we will be providing new monitors as well. Both of these projects were approved by our Welfare Group, tomorrow we present to the DTA. Steve also presented the Owen's projects for some equipment for a hospital and some flash cards and laminating machines for some elementary schools. Mary Ann presented her proposal for a Psychiatric Summit. The rest of the day we continued to work on our projects. We had a quiet evening in our apartment.
Tuesday - 9:00 Devotional with the Idos's as our speakers. They are a Filipino Senior Couple that will be returning home to Hawaii the end of March. They are a wonderful couple that works upstairs for the Area Office Presidency, they will be missed. 10:00-12:30 we had our meeting upstairs with the DTA and the Self/Reliance Managers. It was a long meeting but we presented our projects and they were approved. It was a day of meetings, we met with PMHA (Philippine Mental Health Association) at 1:30 to resolve some questions for the items we are donating to their out of school youth. We took off from the Area Office to meet at Greenhill's Chili's for a celebration anniversary dinner for the Singleton's with the Grimshaw's and Owen's.
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Mary Ann, Leaders from PMHA, Steve
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Our evening at Chili's
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Wednesday - Not necessarily the best day of our mission. You win a few you loose a few. One thing after the next kept piling up especially on me but....... I was able to teach Kenneth's wife Angie how to thread our sergers. Word somehow spread throughout the Area Office that the sewing machines were up and going and out of the wood work came some CSM's (Church Service Missionaries) who knew how to sew and they started sewing our infant hats and sewed until 4:00. This is exactly why I wanted to get these sewing machines. I am now hopeful they will be put to good work. We left for home around 1:30 with the Gunnell's and had lunch with them at Outback.
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| Our excited new sewers |
Thursday - We got into the office and had interruptions all morning. We changed out our work area family pictures from skiing to Disneyland. We had comments all day on them, not too many Filipinos have been to Disneyland and they had all kinds of questions about it. We worked until 4:00 came home and had a quiet evening in our apartment.
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Our last office photo galleria
Everyone wants to know about Disney!! |
Friday - We left our apartment at 7:30 and drove to PHMA (Philippine Mental Health Assoc.) to drop off a sample of the hygiene kits we are donating to them. A simple task like that took us 2 hours. When we got to the office at 9:30 Angie Lee and E&S Manarin wanted to take me to Taytay to get fabric for our Kanga Tube tops. This is something I've needed to do for months so I was so happy to have the help, they knew just where to go. The section of Taytay that we went to was the textile part with store after store of bolts of fabric. It was pretty interesting, and hot!!! On the way back to the office we stopped at a store for serger thread, can you imagine a store that only sales serger thread? When I got back to the office the McIver's were there so we had a chance for a quick visit, they told us a bit about what life has been like in Boise since they were released in December. We left the office at 1:00 and went to Eastwood to have lunch at Outback. We then drove to Das Marinas Village in Makati to Esther Liddicoat's house. She is the YW President in Makati 4th Ward and wanted me to teach the girls how to sew. I took both our Humanitarian sewing machines and both our sergers and set them up in her huge living room/dining room. We don't make it into a lot of peoples homes here. The EXPAT's are well taken care of, beautiful neighborhood where we had to try three security gates before they would let us in. The girls did a great job of sewing to my surprise and delight. They made 45 hats to add to our Infant Care Kits.
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When the fabric you choose is on the bottom of the pile
First you yank it, then you climb like a monkey to the top |
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You hoist each bolt of fabric to another section
Until you get to the bottom of the pile |
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Next you remove the entire bolt from the cylinder it is on
and that is how you get those muscles |
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The outside of the store
It was very hot!! |
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| A store full of serger thread, very colorful |
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S. Manarin and S. Lee checking to make sure the thread is the right texture.
Check out the little boys sitting on the floor
Where better to play than in a store full of thread? |
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The portrait on the wall is of S. Esther Liddicoat
Her daughter painted it |
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| Eating pancit while sewing |
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| They completed 45 hats, pretty impressive |
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| The girls, they are wonderful! |
Saturday - We made arrangements to take our friends to Rustic Mornings in Marikina for a 8:00 Saturday morning breakfast. There was a nice breeze, we sat at a comfortable table outside, our missionary friends loved something new for a change. We didn't want this little jewel to slip through the cracks after we leave. Now that our friends know where it is and what it is I think they will go have a few more breakfast meals there. We came home from that to do some work on our projects and catch up with family. At 1:00 we got in the car and headed for Rosario, Cavite. It was an unpleasant commute. We even had a bus come so close to hitting us he nicked the drivers side mirror and bent it back. We had problems at a toll booth as well. We got to our meeting and the chapel was so hot and stuffy (actually a pretty rare thing) and most of the meeting was in Tagalog. By the time we got home at 7:00 we were ready to be done for the day. Nerves are running thin.
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| A morning like this is good for the soul |
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Mary Ann, most everyone in this picture has their eyes closed
It was hot and stuffy |
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| Evelyn Soletta |
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| Me, check out how tired everyone is |
Sunday - We started the day with plan A but quickly had to move to plan B. We went to church in the Aurora building which typically starts at 8:30 so we could go home and then leave for a meeting with Mary Ann at Makati East Stake. When we got to the Aurora building we quickly noticed it was set up for Stake Conference that would start at 10:00. We didn't want to wait and we figured the whole meeting would be in Tagalog. Most of the time that is fine and of course understandable but we have had a lot of Tagalog lately and it just didn't sound like fun to us. Instead we went back to our apartment and went with church in Makati 4th Ward (our Expat Ward) and skipped the Makati East Family Services meeting at 3:30 with Mary Ann. We needed to gather our resolve and regroup. We enjoyed an evening of Netflix "Saving Mr. Banks". I've seen it before but could not remember much of it. I really loved watching it this time, so interesting in light of the mental health work that we do. Everybody has a story!
Week 61 - March 11
Monday - The day started out in a Monday morning planning meeting from 8:30-11:30. We had 15 people in attendance and discussed our individual schedules for the week, several projects from the Whitmore's and an eye project from Kenneth. Dennis from finance came down to educate us about the new BOA card system, and Tan from purchasing gave us more guidelines on vendors. Steve is working very hard to get the Deeds of Donation written for our two new projects. We had a wonderful FHE with a Taco Bar Theme. The food was so good and fresh, we just don't get enough Mexican food here in the Philippines. The Clarke's presented, the new MTC Presidents. They served in Angeles as Mission President from 2014-2016 and now they are back running the MTC. That is a lot of work and time away from home.
Tuesday - We came into the office early to make some calls home. I finally caught up with our tax accountant and hopefully got everything ready to go there. A small group of us went to the Women's Bazaar at the Mall of Asia. Robin introduced me to Schwarmas, it's like a taco but middle eastern style. It was really good.
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S. Grimshaw, our driver Jerry, S. Singleton
Waiting to go to MOA (Mall of Asia)
for the monthly Women's Bazaar |
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| The vendors at the Bazaar |
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Jerry teaching us how to drive in Manila
Easy, Relax, SMILE |
Wednesday - Steve worked on our projects while I went to Mabuhay. There were only 5 of us who went. I go every Wednesday that I can but anymore it's a rare occasion. We did animal B-I-N-G-O for the game and used mini marshmallows for the markers (most of the marshmallows ended up in the kids mouths). Oh well, they loved it. We went to Chili's with the crew. There was a private party for a 7 year old with about 45 kids. It was loud and a bit unpleasant but we sill love the food there.
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Our Server (this one is for you Candace)
Her name is Merry |
Thursday - We picked the Singleton's up in our lobby and drove to Beehive. I needed to drop off the stretch spandex fabric that we bought in Taytay last week for the Kanga Tube Tops. Owie said he would cut it out for us, that is a huge service to us. We had an office lunch, I brought in a chicken rice casserole and S. Owen made a coconut cream pie to honor Pi day. We had a 4:00 conference call with Kenneth and two Stake Presidents from Bocolod to discuss our project with NESI (Negroes Eye Specialist Inc.) We are working hard to complete our projects or be ready to turn them over to our replacements. This is one project we will not be able to see to completion. They wanted Steve and I to fly to Bocolod but our calendar is full until we leave. Time flies....
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Our beautiful tour guide
Sarah |
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The Crew
Elder Arabia, S. Gunnell, Owens, S. Duncan, Singletons,
S. Stone, Brownes, Grimshaws |
Sunday - We took one for the team yesterday. Steve and I both got some kind of stomach bug, we toughed in through yesterday because we wanted to and needed to go on our outing but we needed to rest in off on Sunday. It's always good for some weight loss though so it's all good. 5 Sundays left.
Week 62 - March 18
Monday - We started our day with our Monday morning planning meeting from 8:30-9:30. The Owen's presented two potential projects. One was for beds for a hospital where multiple patients have to share hospital beds. What a worthwhile project this will be so women can have their own beds after giving birth. The second project was an idea about getting a few pages put into The Friend magazine here in the Philippines that will feature beginner reading pages. There are so many literature concerns for young children all throughout the Philippines both members of our church and non-members. LDS Charities had provided reading cards in many of the areas and schools but this will get learning into the homes of our young primary children. I really thought this was a brilliant idea. It will take some work to get this idea to go through so we are crossing our fingers. At 4:30 we headed over to the MRC for my last Book Club Meeting. I started this Book Club back in July, we held 7 meeting and reviewed 5 books. I loved the discussions we had and the insight from all who joined us, I will miss these ladies.
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S. Owen, Me, S. Grimshaw
S. Duncan, S. Kaneen, Ghilda, S. Stone |
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| I had to add this picture because Anna is in it |
Tuesday - Steve woke up to a wonderful message and some pictures from Thomas our contact from Joy Kiddie Center. The Manna Rice arrived to provide rice that has been nutritionally fortified for the students of this school. 9:00 Devotional, we heard from two visitors from the Technology department in SLC. They shared some fascinating insight to how our lives benefit from technology. The message was this. Technology is changing in a way to support the work of the Lord. He also asked the question Do we obey God because we love and trust him? Something to ask yourself. We gathered together for lunch with our PB&J sandwiches, cup of noodles, pop and lots of chocolate. It looked like were we having lunch with a 7th grade menu. What can I say, you have to cope however you do. Don't judge!!
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| Joy Kiddie Center accepting the Manna Rice Pacs |
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I have to brag on Steve
It is because of his hard work that the children at this school
will have this rice for lunch that is nutritionally fortified.
Such a blessing to them. |
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Our nutritionally fortified lunch consisting of
PB&J Sand, Cup of Noodles, Pop, and Chocolate
Lead by Example!! |
Wednesday - We have a new Vendor Setup process so Steve had me work on that. I must admit all the legal stuff in our work is hard for me to understand. Steve got word yesterday that Joy Kiddie Center does not have current tax exempt status. He's been working for two days to get that straightened out. The fun never ends around here. We can always bring our mood up with food. We took off with Gunnell's and S. Grimshaw for lunch at Burger King. We walked in and S. Grimshaw gets this big grin on her face "It smells so American in here". When we got back to the office my desk was decorated with birthday balloons and cards then everyone came in with a beautiful lemon pie from Mary Grace to wish me an early Happy Birthday. To our surprise someone from travel came down to have us sign some papers for our visa's, we are being processed out of the country. It's hard to believe. We had a quiet night in our apartment.
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| A few days early |
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| Surprise |
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Lemon Pie from Mary Grace
It's soooo good |
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| The Crew |
Thursday - We got word from Beehive that our Kanga Tube Tops are all cut out. I made arrangements for someone else to pick them up. A simple task like that saved us around 2 hours. I also made arrangements with Sister Solon to help us deliver Infant Care Kits on Saturday when Lauren and Andy are here. Poor Steve spent the day trying to put out fires, we have a lot to do to finish up. We are still trying to figure out how we can get these school supplies handed over to Joy Kiddie Center. Mani-Pedi night, we are going to miss these when we go home. We walked over to Outback for a salad, the help there always seems so happy to see us.
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Nick and his wife Amelda
(her father loved Amelda Marcos) |
Friday - We got our fabric for our Kanga Tube tops back from Beehive. Sister Proctor from the temple came over to start working on them. Elder Arabia and Jane from Balanga came to our office to pick up the computers we are donating to their Learning Hubs. We are so excited for them that they will be able to get them up and running for the children in their Barangay. We were invited to a first ever Zone Conference for Senior Missionaries in the Mezzanine Conference Room. President Schmutz gave us some counsel on being missionaries and then we had a catered 3rd Floor Lunch. We took the Singleton's in our car at 4:00 to go to Uptown Center and eat dinner at Mama Lou's for Elder Owen's Birthday. There were 19 of us, that is a big crowd for and restaurant in the Philippines to serve. Elder Owen surprised us at the end with chocolate cake for all. We picked Lauren and Andy up from Terminal 1 at 11:00 p.m.
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Loading 70 computers and monitors
for the Learning Hubs in Balanga |
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Elder Arabia and Jane from Balanga
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| Wendy Kaneen |
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| President Schmutz |
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40 Senior Missionaries
19 for Dinner at Mama Lou's
Wonderful Italian Food
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Week 62 - March 25
Happy Birthday to Me!!!
Monday - We woke up at
2:30 to get ready for our 3:30am commute to the airport. We
left out of Terminal 4 which is always a cultural experience and flew to Coron.
After we checked into “The Funny Lion” we took a tricycle into Coron
City. We went to the market, (Lauren and Sidnee were hilarious, such
tourists) we shopped the streets and introduced them all to the lovely smells and
heat. We were able to find a delightful deli and get some good pizza
(thankfully, no McDonald’s or Jollibees at this remote location). We came to our hotel rooms for a cool nap and were able to order a good dinner
from the hotel restaurant. It is fun to watch Stephen visit with the locals as
his Tagalog came back better with each conversation. Everyone told him he had good Tagalog and wanted to know how he learned it. Such a
great conversation starter. We took advantage of the foot massage service. When
in the Philippines...
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| Arriving at the Funny Lion |
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| The meat market. Pork anyone? |
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| Lauren was in disbelief |
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| Pineapple might be a better choice |
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Our version of Abby Road
We look like such tourists walking down the streets of Coron |
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Our tricycle driver Melvin
The Cashew Factory, this woman was so nice to us |
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The tricycle ride to the hot springs was a bit shocking to Lauren
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| Ever the Lifeguard |
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| A Cashew Tree |
Our Tricycle drivers pulled over and showed
us how cashews grow
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The fruit is edible and one cashew per fruit
No wonder they are so expensive
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My Birthday surprise
I loved it but could not get anyone to confess they ordered it
Andy??? |
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Tuesday - We got up
early and had ate the continental breakfast they provided which was pretty
good. We hired Melvin our tricycle driver from yesterday to pick us up
and take us to Timothy Tours to hook us up with our tour guide for the day. The
first thing our guide did was drive us to the market to pick out meat, veggies, and
fruit for our lunch. Lauren and Sidnee were dying, I had to tell them to
calm down and pick out some things they liked and after everything was cooked it
would be alright. We got on our boat the “Jovy Ann” with our guide Ariel
and the boat drivers (and lunch cooks) Richard and Jun. First they took us
to Twin Lagoon where we swam. We started singing a Primary Song and
these people next to us perked up and wanted to know where we were from. They
were from Boise and know the Robinsons, Humanitarian Missionaries who serve in
Baguio (small world again). After that we rode to another island to
snorkel and view a sunken ship. We went to our third location and ate our
lunch. It was very delicious, wonderful BBQ chicken served with rice,
cooked veggies and potatoes, and the best fresh pineapple I've ever had. For
our last destination we went to Kayangan Lake where we climbed 240 steps into a fresh
water lake swam and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. The tour offered
two more stops but we were all done and just wanted to go back to The Funny
Lion and chill. We ended the day eating at the hotel and a late night
foot massage.
Wednesday - We all got up at 6:00 and hiked some 700 plus steps
to the C O R O N sign (it’s like the Hollywood sign but with a much better
view). We spent the morning enjoying the pool at the Funny Lion and Steve worked on our Joy Kiddie School MOA. After the scare that we might not be able to make this work it is now coming together. We went for a full body massage at 1:00 and then at 3:00 we all boarded a tricycle and went to Poco Deli for another Margarita Pizza. Lauren and Sidnee even found a nice shop with pastries and Gelato. At 6:00 we boarded a shuttle for the pier and went on a dinner cruise and then out to see the fireflies and luminescent plankton.
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| The reward after climbing some 700 plus stairs |
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| An overall view of Coron |
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Sidnee and Stephen
Lauren and Andy
They were so thoughtful they all called
their moms to include them |
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| Tree Pose |
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| Add caption |
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When we hiked down we saw these boys playing basketball
They had fun including Stephen and Andy
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Poco Deli Saved us
in the Philippines in Italian Restaurants
water is served in wine bottles
it's true |
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| Our Dinner Cruise |
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The Plankton and Fireflies were so beautiful
too bad you can't see them in this picture. |
Thursday - Steve and I left on the shuttle for the airport at 6:00 in the morning. Our flight left at 8:00 and arrived in Manila and 9:10 and we hit the ground running. We came home, changed, got some laundry going, stopped by Outback for some lunch then headed into the office. We got hit by all kinds of surprises. The Area Office Changes that we have been hearing about since November were released on Thursday morning. Willy took a retirement and we walked into his going away party and speech. We learned that Nick our favorite employee and custodian was let go after 28 years of employee, lots of sadness there. Everyone kept coming back to our cubicle with all kinds of questions for us so we didn't get near the work done we had hoped to. On top of that, Maricar (our house help) text us to tell us the Air-Con was dripping. We so hoped to escape the Philippines without a maintenance bill, but lets remember nothing is more valuable than Air-Con.
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The airports we fly in and out of are pretty small
This is a typical scene while we wait
Can you find me in there knitting
(hint coral shirt second row) |
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| Cebu Pacific |
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| A view of Coron from the sky |
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| Willy will be missed but he is happy for the next phase of his life |
Friday - We planned to go into the office to catch up on our work but it took maintenance 6 hours to repair our Air-Con. We did get a lot of work done at home though and that felt good. We were so grateful to have it fixed. The maintenance men work so hard and are just beaming when we tip them. We went to dinner at Italianni's for lunch/dinner and honestly our waiter was so nice to us, I will really miss that service when we get home. Quiet evening in our apartment, just happy to have it cool again.
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| 6 Hours to fix this??? OIP (only in the Philippines) |
Saturday - We got up and went to the office. We went over to the temple to do some initiatory work but would never do that again. Saturday is a very busy day at the temple. When we finished we went back to do some work but S. Duncan and S. Stone text us to see if we would take them to the Mega Mall and while there we could eat lunch at Chili's. After a week on a remote island we did want some food from Chili's and were happy to help them with transportation. S. Duncan had fallen and broke her Apple Watch and wanted to get a new one. We left at 2:30 to go pick Mary Ann up and head to Antipolo for a Young Men/Young Women Mental Health Forum. It went from 5:00 to 7:30. We were served pancit and really good chocolate crinkle cookies. Steve says we have been in the Philippines too long, we are starting to like the food. We arrived back home after 8:30.
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| Mary Ann teaching |
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| That's me teaching a breathing technique |
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The Youth Choir, it was lovely as you can imagine
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Sunday - We went to church at the Quirino Ward in Aurora and spent a quiet afternoon in our apartment. I think it's the calm before the storm. 26 days and counting.
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