February Week 56-59

Week 56 - February 4
Monday - We came into the office early. We received our supplies for hygiene kits for our Street Children Project and some sewing supplies. We left at 9:00 to travel to Intramuros with the Singleton’s to meet with PFP (Physicians for Peace) about our upcoming eye-project. After they fed us lunch we traveled with Kenneth to Robinson’s Place to meet with Dr. Myla who does work with PGH (Philippine General Hospital) in the wheelchair area. We went back to the Area Office and had our Book Club Meeting at 4:30. We had chicken/rice soup, potato soup, chips and salsa, bread, and fruit. We reviewed the book “A Gentleman in Moscow”. We only had 6 people there (the smallest group we have had so far) but we had a great discussion. The Book Club discussions we have in this Book Club are the best discussions I’ve ever been involved in. I always end up pondering the questions and discussions for days afterwards.

Kenneth trying on some of the glasses from the eye screening kit

The doctors from Physicians for Peace

Tuesday - Happy Chinese New Year!! We had the day off so we spent the morning visiting with our kids and then we picked S. Gunnell up and went shopping at Greenhills. The Gunnell’s grandson was involved in an accident that caused a brain bleed. It was a very serious and intense situation for a few days. Many miracles came together which allowed all the right doctors in all the right places to preform a life saving surgery for Will. It is very hard to be so far away from home under normal circumstances, but when there is trauma at home it is even harder. Both sets of Will’s grandparents are serving missions so the rest of the family had to pull together for support. We are happy that things turned out much better than expected.

The Chinese New Year Decor in Eastwood

The Year of the Pig

Wednesday - I went to Mabuhay with the ladies. It was a quiet day in the office. Our car is coded on Wednesday so we rode into the office with the Singleton’s but I had to be home by 4:00 for a hair appointment. It was time to cross something off by bucket list since time is running out so we walked home from the office to Eastwood. It was just plain not fun! I had a huge blister by the time we got to our apartment and we were both drenched (remember it’s winter here). We had to walk single file, it was noisy, uneven pavement, and of course some spots put you out in the traffic and you have to hold your hand out to let cars know they shouldn’t hit you or run over you. Never again, but at least we did it once.

Waiting for our music

Passing out our play dough

Thursday - Quiet day in the office other than the fact that we heard from Jai’s wife that she had taken him to the hospital. We were a bit concerned but in the end I think he probably just needed to slow down. I did have time to thread our brand new serger and make 25 hats for our Infant Care Kits. It made me so happy to be sewing on a serger.

Friday - I spent a bit more time organizing hats and sewing for our Infant Care Kit Project. Kenneth introduced us to Peter Caro and Sharon Leacera from Davao. They are coordinators for Risen Saviour Mission & Feed My Starving Children. It was a great contact and they are going to help provide “MannaPack Rice” ( a nutritional fortified rice) for our project at Kiddie Joy Center.

Peter Caro and Sharon Leacera from
"Risen Saviour Mission"

Saturday - After a serious work out on a slow Saturday morning, and after talking with our kids we headed to the office to get some work done. The first thing we did was head over to the temple to do some Family Initiatory work and then we went back to our desks for a few hours. We met the Stinchfield's at Italianni’s for dinner. The Stinchfields will leave for home on March 1 and they will be missed. They are such wonderful missionaries that we have enjoyed, what a great example of dedicated service.

You never know what will be going on in Eastwood

I think maybe Steve wanted one of these motorcycles
Who wouldn't want to ride a motorcycle in Metro Manila?

Sunday - I got up early and made cupcakes and sugar cookies. We discovered a good resource on You-Tube for the Come Follow Me program so we spent some time listening to that. We went to church at our EXPAT Ward that we have mostly been attending since we got here but have not had a chance to go to for two months. We thought with the new schedule at 12:00 we would have trouble with the traffic but it was not bad and I liked that it broke the day up a bit. Sunday’s can be a challenge couped up in our apartment (10 more Sundays to work through).

Week 57 - February 11
Monday - We attended a MOA signing at 10:30 for UERM (University of Eastern Ramos). They do work with prosthetic and wheelchairs and we don't have much involvement in wheelchairs but we are always happy to be invited to the MOA signings and to support. There were many doctors in attendance, all working to find solutions for mobility. We had a great FHE, Kathy Skinner provided us with very festive Valentine decorations. We all submitted our wedding photos and she printed them and we had to go around and try to guess who everyone was. That is hard, people really change as they age. We also played the newlywed game and that was hilarious. I made arrangements to have an Italian themed dinner and everyone loved that, it was so good.

Kenneth introducing our guests from UERM

Signing the MOA

Guess Who??

The Newlywed Game

I can check off one of my bucket list items,
I taught Veronica de Almeida how to knit
She was valiant and completed her first washcloth.

Tuesday - We started the morning at 7:30 in two vans and traveled to the Mall of Asia for the Women’s Bazaar. It was time to buy a few tokens from the Philippines to take home. I remember going there a year ago for the first time and thinking “I can’t buy some of these things until it’s get closer to our departure time”. Just like that the time has arrived, we are starting to work on some things we will be doing for the last time. We ate lunch in the office with the crew and had plenty of leftovers from FHE. Lunches are challenging so it’s always nice to have some good food. We went home a bit early and I got started on our March Book Club Book “Lilac Girls”. I didn’t sleep well but I guess that is in anticipation for the Jensen’s arriving in 24 hours!!!!

Wednesday - Our new friend Peter Caro from General Santos, Mindanao flew in and met us in the Area Office. We drove to Intramuros to meet with Thomas and JohnT. Go Hoc to talk about our project with them. Peter Caro has the most interesting rags to riches story. It’s so fascinating how some people find their way out of such difficult situations to find prosperity, service, purpose, and ultimately happiness in their lives. He will be helping at the Joy Kiddie Center to provide MannaPack Rice (a nutritionally fortified rice) to these students who have so little. When we finished we drove him to Makati and then we headed home but it was a very slow commute. We arrived home around 5:00 and prepared to pick the Jensen’s up from the airport. Their flight came in at 11:00 p.m. to terminal 1 a terminal we had never been to, and it’s not particularly user friendly. We knew the Jensens’ plane had arrived but long story short it took close to 2 hours for them to process into the Philippines. It was so good to see them though and of course they were so tired. We arrived back at our apartment at 2:00.p.m.

Walking through the streets of Intramuros to go to Barbara's Restaurant
with John T Go Hoc and Thomas

The students at Joy Kiddie Center

Singing "I am a friend of God, He calls me Friend"

The students memorize a scripture each day as a password
to get into the school

The MannaPack Rice we hope to provide the children of this school

Thursday - Valentine’s Day!! We got up and got ready for the day and headed to Lander’s to buy pizza and pop with the Jensen’s. We then went to Beehive. Judith showed the Jensen’s around this amazing facility that makes our temple garments. Henry who is the boss let all our 21 Pathway students from last semester come spend a half hour break with us. We served them pizza, pop, and cupcakes. They were so warm and friendly with the Jensen’s. After that we took them to KILUS, a women’s organization that employs women by recycling juice boxes. They make beautiful jewelry, bags, and purses from the recycled material. Two years ago there was a terrible fire in the middle of the night at their humble facility and they lost all their sewing machines. LDS Charities was able to partner with them replacing all their sewing machines. We were so pleased to tour their brand new building which was very nice, we are so happy for them. We then took the Jensen’s to the Area Office to show them where we work and introduced them to all our co-workers. We planned to spend some time in the temple doing baptism work but they were too tired. We came back to our apartment and gave them a rest and then met most of our crew at Outback for dinner.

Our family with Judith, Henry, and Tessie
from Beehive Clothing Center

Lews and Rosemary telling the girls about their jobs

The silk screening method

Our whole Pathways group
Easily one of the highlights of this experience

Eating pizza, pop and cupcakes
Happy Valentine Day to some of our most favorite people

KILUS where they make beautiful bags and jewelry from
recycled juice box containers

Weaving the material into a bag

This new facility is a huge improvement from where they were
two years ago, beautiful walls, flooring and doors

The Jensen's in front of the Manila Temple

Valentine dinner at Outback with the gang

Walking around Eastwood

Friday - The Jensen’s got a little bit caught up on their sleep. We started the day at Denny’s for breakfast and then we hopped in our van and headed up north to Alaminos, Pangasinan to 100 islands. When we got to our hotel our rooms were not quite ready. Since our church was right near our hotel we walked over to see if anything was going on over there. We were able to meet the Branch President and he hooked us up with a guide for the 100 island tour. We also met and spoke with the missionaries. One of the missionaries was from California and one month from going home. His shoes were worn almost completely through, he was determined to make them last one more month (I don’t know about that they were in pretty rough shape)

We rarely eat outside at Denny's because it's too hot
This was pleasant treat

Lunch at Shakey's complete with the girls first Mango Shake

These Elders have been working hard
Check out these worn shoes

Just about any time you walk outside a church in the Philippines
you will see a group gathered to play basketball

The Elder's came to help us communicate with the drivers to
take a tricycle ride down to the water

The girls loved it

Morgan was a bit unsure at first but she quickly warmed up to the idea

Morgan

McKenna

Our tricycle drivers, we love to pay them well
for taking good car of us
It puts huge smiles on their faces

Saturday - We got up early put on our swim and sun gear, met with Eric our guide in our hotel lobby and headed for Lucap. After paying all the environmental and boat fees we got on our boat and started experiencing the islands. We went first to Pilgrimage Island and took a pretty good hike to see the “Jesus the Savior” Statue. After that we went snorkeling and then to Lopez Island for lunch and some time on the beach. We finished up at Governor’s Island by Ziplining over the water. After buying a few souvenirs we headed for home. We arrived back in Eastwood around 10:30. The Jensen’s loved their adventure in the Philippines.

Heading to the Islands

McKenna taking in the beauty and the cool breeze

Morgan was a trouper and beat us all up most of the trails

This island was filled with statues depicting the life of Christ

Bougainvillea is all over in the Philippines

It's more beautiful in the Philippines!

It took a minute but the girls soon caught on and did
a great job snorkeling for the first time

We stopped at Lopez Island to eat lunch and play
on the beach for a couple hours.
Kimberlee and McKenna and their masterpiece

Morgan and McKenna

Catch of the day. Blue Crab.

Group Photo at Governor's Island where we zip lined

The girls were a bit anxious to zip line but they did it
It's so fun to see them conquer their fears. Go ahead Morgan. Sign your life away.

This was the view from our zip line

Steve Jensen finishing up

Sunday - I got up and made the Jensen’s their favorite cherry coffee cake. It was so nice to have family to bake for. We took them to the beautiful Manila/American Cemetery. After church we took them to Intramuros and toured the Joy Kiddie Center to see where we have one of our projects. We took them home by way of Smokey Mountain or Tondo (the dump site). It was pretty eye opening for them. We came home and ate chicken Parmesan and then the Jensen's had to get ready for an early morning flight to Thailand.

Morgan found the seal of Idaho at the Manila/American Cemetery

The Jensen's and a beautiful morning

We took them into the heart of Manila to see the
"Walled City of Intramuros"
While we were there we stopped in on our friends from
Joy Kiddie Center

They took the Jensen's on a spur of the moment tour

Week 58 - February 18
Monday - We drove the Jensen’s to the airport at 3:30 a.m., came home for a quick rest and then had to get ready to be at the office for another “Manic Monday”. Spent the morning in a purchasing meeting, and I worked on our personal taxes.

Tuesday - We came into the office early to make some phone calls to the U.S. for some appointments for when we get home but....it was Presidents Holiday so not much luck with that. We had our Tuesday Devotional and our DTA Daniel de Almeida spoke on all the changes come to the Area Office. There is a lot of tension and uncertainty among the employees, it’s really hard on them. The people that we met up in Baler the end of January surprised Mary Ann with an unexpected visit. They brought with them a signed MOA to start ARP up in their area and they also brought Service Missionaries who want to be group leaders with them. Steve and I took off to go to Lander’s to buy pizza and chicken for them. We fed about 12 of them and as always they were so happy and grateful for the food. We will be returning to Baler the first part of March. The District President told me he would make arrangements for a surfing lesson for me. I’d love that, we will see.

Signing the MOA on our end
Elder Javelo, Elder Sanatiago, Mary Ann, Presdident Go, Sister Pedrozo

Wednesday - We had a big meeting with our new Welfare/Self Reliance Manager Carl Revillio. So many changes, I must confess I’m glad we will be home by the time all this chaos takes place. All of us in the Welfare Department met at Italiani's to celebrate Kenneth's birthday.

Meeting with the Self Reliance Managers from all over the Philippines

My new sewing cabinet that we ordered in September.
Good thing I know a good handy man

Kenneth's birthday celebration at Italiani's

The waiters sing "Happy Birthday" in about 5 languages
They have such a good time singing

Thursday - Regular working day at the office. Steve and I took off at 3:00 at went to Lander’s to get pizza and chicken. We made arrangements to have a Karaoke Night with the Welfare Department and our co-workers, Filipinos love Karaoke. Thankfully our pizza and chicken multiplied likes the fish and loaves of bread because employees kept walking by and wanting to join both for the food and for the singing. It was a great night to build relationships with our fellow workers especially right now when they all have so much uncertainty about their jobs. A good time was had by all.

I arranged this Karaoke night for the office
(mostly so we could hear Willy and Robin Gunnell)
They both love to sing and have great voices

The food was a draw to get a lot of employees to come join us

"YMCA"

Mary Ann surprised us and sang for us
She has a pretty voice

Robin Gunnell on the left and Mary Lou who works
right by us from finance

Friday - We started the morning making plane reservations with Lauren for our trip to Coron when she and Andy come visit us on March 23. We went into the office a little bit late because we stayed home to make a phone call with Sister Carol Roberts. She and her husband will be carrying on for us when we leave. They live in Canada and had some questions we wanted to answer to hopefully make their packing easier. We look forward to meeting them. We went to Burger King for our weekly lunch with the Singleton's and S. Grimshaw. We had to make arrangements at travel for our trip to Baler on March 1 and we had to firm up with fleet the 3 vans we reserved for our February Senior Outing. We finished off the day with our Friday night ritual of dinner at Outback with the crew.

Saturday - The Gunnell's have been really busy with their work in the malnutrition program so we stepped in to help with the Senior Outing. We met at the Area Office with 24 missionaries and 2 hired driver's and headed out at 7:00 in the morning for the Chinese Cemetery. When we arrived a gentleman came up to us and wanted to be our guide. He was wonderful and it made touring the cemetery so much more enjoyable as he explained it all to us. It was so nice that the skies were overcast so it was cool enough to enjoy. We then went to two different locations in China Town. The China Town in the Philippines is the second oldest China Town in the world. Steve and I were not able to see much of it because we were driving the third van and had to go park the vans. It was fine with us though and everyone seemed to enjoy the experience. We took our van to Mega Mall to dine at Chili's afterward. I had made reservations at a Chinese Restaurant to stick with the theme for the day but was outvoted. We always enjoy our meals at Chili's. It had been two month s since we had been there and the managers all came to our table to welcome us back. We met S. Duncan and S. Stone at Nail Tropics for our monthly mani-pedi It was the perfect ending to our day.

Our guide Jun

The men are buried in the middle
concubines on the left wives on the right

A typical Chinese tomb

When the lease is up they remove the body and take
it to the bone yard

Our wonderful missionary friends
Our driver Jerry on the left

The White House
It even has air conditioning

Our meal at Chili's I shall forever be grateful for
Chili's in the Philippines
Though we may never eat there again when we get home

Sunday -We met the Gunnell's in our lobby at 8:00 and then went and picked the Mellor's up for church. The Mellor's are Water Specialists from SLC and we met them last year in January. It was nice to see them again and catch up about our year. They do such good work. Steve and I left for Das Marinas (2 hours south) for a Youth Fireside. We talked about mental health and bullying. Sister Cruz is a Mental Health Professional and did a great job explaining to the youth about things to watch for. The second half of the meeting was Q&A with lots and lots of questions coming from the youth. We could not get to them all. We drove to the airport at midnight the pick the Jensen's up from their trip to Cambodia.

Sister Cinderella Cruz

Elder Jake Cruz

The youth who were the MC's

The Stake Leaders of Das Marinas

The youth filled this chapel

The youth who were the MC's, they did a great job

Climbing into a Jeepney for their ride home

Week 59 - February 25
Monday - We were up early and out the door by 7:00 to travel 2 hours south to Tagaytay to meet our friend Greg to take the Jensen's on a tour of Ta'al Volcano. We boarded our outrigger and took the 25 minute boat ride to the volcano. There were got on our horses and rode to the top of the volcano. We toured around the top of the volcano for a while and then back down the trail on the horses. The girls loved it. I got to cross off another thing off my bucket list on the way back to Quezon City. Tayagtay is corn country so we stopped at a road side stand and got hot fresh corn on the cob. The corn was so good no salt or butter is necessary. We drove to Lander's and got some lunch and pizza for FHE. We drove to the Area Office and enjoyed FHE farewell to the Stinchfield's and Idos's. The Grimshaw's also were a part of the evening, Randy showed us a video on freedom of religion that was pretty interesting and eye opening. The Idos's had us play a karaoke game and I was so surprised that Morgan and McKenna got up and danced several times while we were guessing the songs. Who knew?

The boat ride over to the volcano

The beautiful scenery

Walking up the trail to get on our horses

The ride up the trail
Morgan's guide kept asking her
"You OK baby"?
It made her laugh

The view from the top of the volcano
There is a lake all around the crater

More of the lake

Steve Jensen on the red rock trail

Kimberlee, McKenna and Morgan

I Love Ta'al

More of the view

McKenna and her guide

Morgan and her guide

Kimberlee and her guide
He kept saying "I work so hard"
He wanted a big tip

Steve and his guide

Family Home Evening

Kimberlee and Steve deep in conversation with
Steve Gunnell

Tuesday - We were out the door by 7:15 to take the Jensen's to a quaint restaurant in Marikina called "Rustic Mornings". The girls each got a churo waffle, Kimberlee got grilled peaches and french toast that was super good. We wanted them to have a nice breakfast before their 24 hour flight home. We dropped them off at the airport at 11:00, it was so nice to have family and share with them some of our experiences. We needed to get to the office and get caught up on our work. It's always a little bit challenging after family leaves so when we got back to our apartment after work I spent a couple hours washing and ironing sheets and cleaning the apartment to keep myself busy. I miss cleaning a house, it felt good.

Charming Rustic Mornings

Farewell breakfast for the Jensens

Wednesday - Routine day at the office. Steve did get the serger's I ordered adjusted and ready for us to use to sew hats and Kanga Tubes. We are now ready to get the sewing center all set up so we went to All Home to get plastic storage bins for our new cabinet. We also walked over to the fabric store across from Eastwood to buy thread, bobbins, measuring tapes, and other sewing paraphernalia. We had dinner at Outback for a farewell to the Skinner's, Stinchfield's, and Idos's. We will miss them all but are so happy they get to return to their families.

I love to watch Steve fix things
My job is to encourage
"Just think like a sewing machine repair man"

40 missionaries at Outback for our dinner
The help is always so good to us

Thursday - I spent the most of the day getting our new sewing center all organized, we assembled 50 Infant Care Kits, and I even got to teach Kenneth's wife Angie how to sew on the serger. Everyone is so intrigued with our sergers, I hope to teach more people how to use it. We went to lunch a day early at Burger King with the Singelton's since we will be out of town on Friday.

Friday - We were out the door by 7:30 to pick up Mary Ann and her son Dirk for another trek up to Baler to train Group Leasers for ARP. We arrived in Baler around 4:00 and ate our lunch at Playa Azul. That is the motel we stayed at the end on January when we went to Baler but it was full for this weekend so we stayed at Endless Summer Hotel instead. We took a nice walk along the beach in the evening. It's so amazing to me how comfortable we are walking in the dark in the streets of the Philippines with stray dogs, tricycles and motorcycles zooming all around us. It's fun and different. The ocean and its sounds are so wonderful.

Saturday - We woke up and took another walk on the beach and then headed to our ARP class. We have three wonderful Church Service Missionaries eager to help. The government sent us 18 PWUD's (people who use drugs) that are looking for recovery. Our new missionaries did a wonderful job of conducting their first meeting and we had 4 representatives from the Barangay to help support. They offered great words of encouragement (not that we could understand a word) but that is what we were told. We ate lunch at Bayler at Baler with a beautiful ocean view. After an after noon rest we headed for the beach and a surfing lesson. We took and evening walk with Mary and and Dirk for a Thai dinner at Kimbob. Way to authentic for me, good thing we were still full from lunch.

Negotiating a deal for South Sea Pearls from Palawan

Suman, sticky rice wrapped in coconut leaves
with Elders Javelo and Santiago

Our first ARP meeting in Baler

Bayler at Baler, our lunch view

Me and Dirk

Ready Position

Determined,

Here we go!!

Dirk wanted in on the action, he had a blast playing in the ocean

I think we wore him out by the time we got to Kimbob

Sunday - We went to church at 9:00 and then at 10:00 the Branch President took us for a walk through his Barangay to show us some projects he'd like some help with. This is an amazing Branch President that gets things done. I wish we would have met him a year ago. We went back to the church and held a meeting with members of the branch to introduce them to LDS Family Services and all the resources we have. I'm very hopeful for the people in this area, they are eager to learn and help. We had quite a grueling commute home, Waze was not cooperating. I'm always amazed at Steve's stamina behind the wheel, we could not do what we do without his driving ability.

We see the missionaries all the time walking the streets
of the Philippines as we are out driving around.
I always make Steve pull over so we can make sure
they have enough food and water.