Missionary Christmas Parties

Because our mission is large and spread out we have to divide into two groups for the Christmas party. Last year we only went to the one where we live but because we are so short on couples right now we went to both parties and it was fun to see many missionaries that used to be in our zone and are now on the "other side". It was fun to see these two "brothers" back together. Elders Blackham and Park were here when we first got here and they were the first of our "adopted family"!

They are both great guys, Elder Blackham is now an AP and Elder Park is a zone leader. We are so proud of them.

 The two sisters at the end of the table, Sister Tauiliili in red, and Sister Naldoza in the grey sweater used to live next door to us and have left us now, so good to see them again.

This large group are just half our missionaries. In this they are holding up a gift that some parent sent for every missionary.

A nice dinner was served and they love good food! Elder Heinrich ( in the red tie) is another of our favorite sons. We have sooo many "Favorites"!!

Two more, Elders Morgan and Salvania  great missionaries

Sister Martino orders "snow" from the US and everyone gets a cup full and they throw it in the air for a "white Christmas". The missionaries have a ball throwing it until it all melts

It's even slick like snow.

Each zone makes decorations for the tree.

Sister Biteriti ( in blue) is from Christmas Island. She is the sister of the family that lived right by us there and Elder Moser baptized her brother-in-law and two children. The other sister is Sister Latimer.

Sister Rose is from the same ward in Utah as my niece Rhonda.

The second group holding up their ties and necklaces sent by the same parent 

Lastly we had our zone Christmas party at our house. Elder Conrow was really happy to get a burrito and REAL cheese!

They drew names and had a gift exchange

I read the condensed book The Mansion

And of course we had a zone picture. We have lots of fun but they also work hard. They reached what seemed like an impossible goal for the year. We love these Elders and Sisters.

Special Events

This is the last time this group will be together. President and Sister Martino held an early Thanksgiving dinner to welcome Elder and Sister Woodruff, (far right) and to say goodby to the Lutz (next to us), the Fortes next to Lutz, and the McCords next to the Martinos. It will only be two more months until the Teischners go home too.

Enjoying good company

Sister Tieschner, so sweet to everyone

Elder Tieschner is carving the turkey but he has a cold so is trying not to spread germs

Lilly Beth, one of our prospective missionaries who painted with us to earn the money, was ask to serve a short term mission while she waits for her call. She was excited as we picked her up but the bags you can see was all she had.

Her mother is not a member and I think she was pretty sad to see her daughter leave. She speaks no English so we were not able to communicate with her.

Wilbur, another of our painters, received his call. He is the first from his family to serve and he was so excited.

The president holds an annual appreciation dinner for all the Stake and District Presidents and their wives. He had a missionary choir come and do a musical Christmas program. It was so pretty and the house was decorated beautifully, sure gave us the Christmas spirit.

Elders choir

All of the choir with Pres and Sister Martino

This was not a special event but these sisters are eating balok, the boiled eggs when the chick is mostly formed. They love it, I can't stand to even look at it!

Sister Merwal getting a kick out of our expression!

The Long Awaited Week

We have been waiting and looking forward for so long to this week when family would come to the Philippines to see us. Finally they got here, Robin, Nicky, Todd and Lisa came.

We crammed as much as possible into those few short days. We started off with a horse drawn cart tour of the old Spanish fort in Manila

We visited the Bataan Death march camp at Capas

While at Capas there was a school there on a field trip with hundreds of students. They were more interested in us than they were in the memorial. They all wanted pictures with the Americans.

We also went to Nayon Philippino, a heritage park where they put on a show. Lucky Todd was chosen to learn the dance

Todd and Lisa brought nacho cheese and chili and we had a FHE with all the missionaries and served them nachos and chili dogs. That was a big hit.

We have a big house with plenty of room but not plenty of chairs but they don't care where they have to sit.

Our New Zealand Elders doing the hauka

It was a fun afternoon for all of us

The elders sharing a ride home!

Of course we had to experience a trike ride

We drove about 9 hours to see the famous terraced rice field in Baneau. It was a beautiful drive up a terrible winding road.

Nicky, Robin, Todd, and Lisa at a look out point along the way

President and Sister Javier agreed to accompany us as our driver and tour guides. It sure made for a more relaxing trip to have them with us. Such wonderful people.

The mountains were covered with terraced farming of all kinds

Just as we were reaching our destination the clouds moved in and covered our view of the rice terraces!

To add insult to injury we cut a tire in a rock and had to change it in the rain.

We spent the night at a hotel in Baguio and had a wonderful free breakfast there.
The next day we shopped and enjoyed Baguio. 

The last day we went to 100 islands park where we rented a boat and went out among the islands

And they swan and snorkeled

We had lunch on our own little private beach

It was a great week but went by all too fast and now we are alone again!