Youth Activities

The youth here amaze us with their willingness and excitement to participate in activities. On May 25 they had a cultural activity where each branch did a skit from the stories of the Book of Mormon. They were wonderfully done with such simple costumes and scenery. The cultural hall was jam packed and I think every one of them participated.

After their Book of Mormon skits each branch did a talent performance as well. Unfortunately we took all video and this is the only still picture I have. But there was some really good performances

On May 28 about 175 kids from our district loaded on buses for their youth conference.

It was held at a resort about an hours drive from here. It was a really nice place

The kids are so respectful and well mannered

Of course it started off with games!

Each team had to dress a bride and groom with newspapers

They had to see which team could stack all the shoes from their team in a pile that wouldn't collapse

The resort served plenty of good food and of course like teenagers every where they loved it!

There was a dance scheduled for that night but we had to go home. These girls are at Dad's window begging him to stay.

Birbira Temple Trip

We got to go to the temple with the Birbira Branch. At 2am we loaded onto a bus like a school bus

After a 3 plus hour ride we arrived at the beautiful Manila Temple

There we were able to witness the sealing of this family

And this family

And also this couple. Sadly they had three children with them to be sealed to them and then found out their was a problem with paper work and the children were not able to be sealed! It was very sad. We talked to Brother and Sister Simon today and they are hoping to be able to go back next month and complete this sealing.

We had a large group that went but we were split into two groups for the sealings and I never did get a group picture of everyone before they had changed back into their street clothes.

Some of the sisters and President Pascual, he was the branch president for eleven years.

Day at the beach

Camiling 1st branch had a branch activity at the beach and ask us to come along. It was fun, our first time to see the ocean since coming here. It's not far but it is out of our mission area

President Fabros with his mother and some of the branch ladies

This sweet girl is a widow whose husband was only 25 and a bishop and died suddenly of a heart attack or something. She is amazing, all the things she does.

Just to prove we really were there!

We rode on these boats out to a small island that had an underwater cave

They cooked fish and oysters

This is not what I thought oysters looked like

Chopping at the shell to find the several oysters in each one

Fun members of the branch

Zone Lunch

It's been awhile since we had all the zone missionaries for dinner but we did it again a couple of weeks ago.

After the meal we made homemade ice cream in baggies.
 

Some of them really got into the shaking part!

Of course there can be no get together without some games

These guys seem to enjoy them

Birthday/ farewell cake

All too soon several of these will be transfered

Family Home Evenings

We were invited along with some of our missionaries to a family home evening at a members home. We drove way back into the country and the road got narrower and finally ended. We left the car and walked down this path that lead us through peoples yards.



Then we walked through rice fields

Finally when we reached their home the elders helped them hang a light bulb in a tree so we could see

This is the Tatay (father) and his wife who invited us to their home

This the Nanay (mother) of the family

These cute little guys are their nephews that live by them

And this is the youngest son. He was the first to join the church followed by the father. The mother has not joined yet

The home of the nephews

This week we went to another FHE with the missionaries. This was at the home of a single man about 60 years old. He was so shy I didn't try to take his picture but he was very proud of his antique house that his grandfather built in 1908. He was happy for me to take pictures of it.

If I understood right, the grandfather was Chinese and the house definately has an oriental design

It is such an honor for us to go to these different homes and be accepted as their friends. They are such kind and gracious people.

Missionaries from India

I don't know if I have ever mentioned that we have a bit of an unusual situation here in the Philippins missions.
American missionaries who are serving in India have to leave the country after one year and get a renewed visa. This takes two or three months. The church used to send them back to the states for that time but decided recently to send them to the Philippines because it is so much closer and cheaper to do so. Consequently we get one of these elders in our area every few months. The first one was Elder Tracy from the mid west (standing behind Dads left shoulder), he came just before Christmas and it was pretty hard on him at first. Missionaries to India do not have to learn a language so to come here with no language training at all and to have to leave right before Christmas I think he felt pretty alone. But it didn't take too long until he fit right in and was loving life but he still was super excited when his visa came through and he was able to go back to India.

Next came Elder Morrell from Logan. He said Elder Moser reminded him of his dad the way he talked so they got along great. He started out with a bang but was only here a couple of months. We just saw him off Tuesday. We really enjoyed him and look forward to seeing him again at home.
Yesterday we met the new one from India, Elder Cooper from Linden Utah. I don't have a picture of him yet but he seems like a fine young man.

Those we are missing

Transfer week was especially hard on us as they took so many of our special missionaries that we have become so attached to. Elder Garcia, Elder Dorosan and Sister Sharp all went home

Sister Sharp is from Brigham so we expect to see her again and often!

Elder Park is another of those we have adopted. He has promised to come and see us when he gets back to Tooele.

Sister Evangelista and Sister Gaor have lived next door to us since we got here. For the first month they were our trainers as they taught us how to get around and find things ect.

Elder Dela Cruz is such a nice guy and will finish his mission as a ZL. Elder Villazar is the life of the party.

They ordered zone T shirts with the theme Come to Zion and everyones favorite cartoon character. Many of them came too small and they couldn't even get them on.
 

I think that look says Elder Parks is too small too!
Oh we are missing all of them!!