Our New Missionaries July, 2011

These are our six new missionaries.  I have to say...this was really

 fun to have these new missionaries fresh out of the MTC.  

They are so excited and on fire with the spirit.  We picked them 

up at the airport in Manila, and drove to the Manila MTC to 

drop of an elder from our area who George had set apart to

 go to the the Philippines Cauayan mission.  So we got home kind

 of late in the afternoon and George started in on their 1st interview

 with their Mission President.  Ruby had made us a dinner of

 Chicken Adobo, rice, and some nice steamed vegetables and

 a Mango cake.  Yummy!  Masarap!!  We have Elder Guyer, 

Elder Jessee, Elder Smith, Elder Garnica, Elder Knight and 

Elder Bandiola.  They will be good missionaries!

Travel Home From Marinduque

Not sure what this was on this tiny island.  It's a nice bit of white

 sand beach with this building that could be a home, sanctuary

 or church???  The rest of the island was just green.

Not sure what their cargo is...probably coconuts.  I thought this 

made a fun picture.  It is probably a family business of some kind.

At the dock getting ready for the ferry boat ride home!  

I love the green!

Missionaries Going Home

 This is our first batch of missionaries going home. This was the 

only group shot we got before they left.  We had them for dinner

 Sunday night, breakfast the next morning and spent the rest of the

 day at the Employment Resource Center for some training for the

 real life at home.  We had a dinner Monday night with a family

 home evening of bearing testimonies.  George had to fit in "final"

 interviews with all of them before they left, so it was a busy time 

for him!  The next morning, we had breakfast, walked them 

down the street, hugged them good-bye, and put them on the

 bus to Manila!  They got to attend the temple all day and left

 for their homes the following day!  Great bunch!  It was hard to 

see them go!  We did get individual pictures of them, put them

 in an album and had them write their addresses next to their 

pictures so we can keep in touch!  They are...

Elder Lotma, Elder Saunders, Elder Bernard, Elder Centeno, 

Elder Perry, Elder Maducdoc, Elder Hamilton, 

Sister Parohinog, Elder Lopez, Elder Darang, Elder Movilla, 

Elder Call, Elder LeBlanc, Elder Fernandez. 

Elder Johnson is not pictured.  His family picked him up!

Marinduque Zone Interviews July, 2011

Our smallest zone, but hard working missionaries!  The sister on 

the end has finished her mission already!  She just went home this 

week with 15 elders!  I just learned to say her name...Sister 

Parohinog!  Sweet Elder Hurst is squatting down in front so he

 wouldn't cover those behind him!  He is a lot taller

 than he looks there! 

Finally, a nice restaurant for lunch!  No fast food! 

Masarap (delicious)!

Marinduque Island

This is the place we stayed in Marinduque.  It was a beautiful 

setting on the beach but I should have taken a picture of the 

room...not too great.  To top it off, they were having a 

"Brown Out".  That is where they will cut off the supply of 

electricity for a number of ours.  So...it got shut off just before

 I was going to curl my hair!  What a test!!  We have had a few

 zone interviews that had brown outs and so we had no lights, air 

conditioning, or fans!  It could get a little hot and muggy.

  Oh well...we make do!

Lopez Zone Interviews July, 2011

Oh boy!  Jolly Bee's again!  Barbeque chicken and rice...

always rice!

It's kind of fun to see how anxious they are to meet their new

 mission president and get a picture taken with him!  It is hard to

 put into words the feelings I have for these missionaries!  

George is doing a wonderful job!

We are sure enjoying getting to know all the missionaries!  Only

 two Sisters in Lopez! The one to the left of me (my right) was 

just getting well from what is called Denge Fever.  It comes from

 a mesquito bite and can really make you very ill.  This poor girl

 was so afraid because she had never been so sick and she felt

 like she was dying!  That was a very difficult thing for me to

 have to deal with, too.  I don't want any more missionaries 

getting that on my watch so I am trying to educate them on bug

 repellent, etc.  I need to also!!

Boat to Marinduque

Sea air is great for the hair!  Oh well, it was a beautiful boat ride.

  We saw the dolphins swimming and jumping but I wasn't quick

 enough to get a picture of them!!

Lucena Zone Interviews July, 2011

Here we are at Kentucky Fried Chicken with the Lucena Zone.  

One thing you can always be sure of...even though you are in an

 Restaurant from the states, you can always count on a side of rice.

  Rice comes with everything...even a big mac or a whopper!

Are those Sisters cute or what?

Cabuyao Zone Interviews July, 2011

Eating at Burger King with the Cabuyao missionaries...I think 

I have had more fast food in these last two weeks than I ever

 have before!  We won't be doing this next time we have 

interviews!  I will be packing our lunch!

Another area to visit...The Cabuyao Zone.  We felt a great spirit 

there.  Our AP's get better and better with their workshop 

presentation.  I love to watch them teach.  There was an elder

 from Mesa, Arizona... Elder Hansen.  He seems like a good 

humble young man.  He will be heading home in September, I 

think.There were two other elders from the states and one sister.  

There was one elder from Australia.  The rest are from some other 

areas in the Philippines.  I am trying to get better at understanding

 them when they speak English! I wish I had learned some tagalog!

Sad Day

This was a sad time for us yesterday.  The Philippine sister next to 

President Peterson is going home.  So much stress was causing 

pain and illness that she finally decided to go home.  She

 wasn't out very long, but we didn't want her to suffer anymore.  

Hopefully she will come back out sometime.

Resort Views

View from our balcony!

The pool was huge!

Does this look like Hawaii?  This is not something we see 

a lot here.  It was very nice.

My Birthday Cake!!

The Balayan District President's wife fed us all and called it my 

birthday dinner, since it was my birthday the day of the 

conference!This is a rice cake...My birthday cake! It's texture

 is much like an angel food cake.  Don't you love the color?! I  

 believe the color comes from a root vegetable called ube.  

It was so nice of her!

The Balayan District Conference

This is a picture outside the Stake Building where we participated in the Balayan District Conference.  The couple in the middle is Elder Remegio Evangelista Meim, Jr. and his wife Julita Basug Dela Cruz Meim.  He is an Area Seventy here in the Phillipines.  We traveled about three hours, had our Batangas Zone Interviews and then drove to the nice resort in Nasugbu on Friday, July 15th.  We spent the night, got up and prepared to go to the conference.  They fed us lunch at 11:00 a.m. at the Stake Center.  George met with Elder Meim and the District Presidency for about an 1 1/2 hrs. Afterwards, he then went to priesthood and had to speak there.  I went to Auxilary training and taught about Spiritual Preparation for about 30 to 40 min.  Sister Campbell was asked to bear her testimony and Sister Meim took the rest of the time talking about "Who Am I?"... and not sure what else because she spoke mostly in Tagalog. At the adult session I gave the same talk I gave in our Stake Conference before we left.  "Miracles"  George does so well when he speaks...He talked about the The Family Proclamation.   The next morning at 8:30 a.m. they had a Youth/Young Adult session for an hour where George talked about Helaman 5... I talked about Agency and accountability.  At 10:00 a.m. they had the general session where we both got to speak again!   I spoke about likening the scriptures to our lives and used Alma 48...If we could all be like Moroni.  Brother & Sister Campbell both bore their testimonies...two speakers from District Presidency, & Elder & Sister Mein.

Resort in Nasugbu

Here is the place we stayed over the week-end for the 

District Conference!

Children's Greetings

We get greeted quite often by these beautiful children 

outside our gate!

Batangas Zone Interviews July, 2011

Lunch time with the Batangas Zone missionaries after interviews 

& workshop.

We do have great missionaries!  If you look closely, you will see 

that President Peterson & I have on a necklace made of wrapped 

candies and gum in clear plastic, tied together with lavender yarn.  

The sister next to me made them and placed them on us as they

 welcomed us to the interviews.  The sisters are so sweet and 

loving. The one second to the left of me, Sister Guzman, gives 

big hugs constantly! 

Traveling to Zones...

Typical narrow road between areas...very green...very narrow.  

It's a good thing we are not claustrophobic!

Mindoro Zone Interviews July, 2011

This Zone is on the beautiful island of Mindoro!  We had a 

wonderful time.  However, it was pretty sad, because they had 

to wait so long for us.  Wonderful missionaries!  The missionary 

on the far left is Sister Kathryn Watkins... and her birthday is 

just 2 days before mine.  We connected!  Actually I felt 

connected to all of them!  The brother next to me on the right is 

the Counselor in the District Presidency there.

Boat Ride

Here I am with Sister Rosalie Campbell.  She and her husband are 

the new senior couple that arrived this past Wed. July 13.

  They were great sports as we have dragged them all around

 with us this week!  We are so happy to have another couple. 

This makes two so far!  They add so much to the mission.

Boat Ride

Here we are on our way to the Island of Mindoro for zone

 interviews.  We missed the fast boat because it was full and

 this boat took 2 1/2 to 3 hrs. as apposed to 1 hr.  We had to

 start our interviews much later and didn't get to take the 

missionaries to lunch as we have been doing.

Zone Leaders Council July, 2011

This is ZLC Breakfast in our dinning/living room.  We have a large 

dining table to fit ten and then they bring in a couple more table 

the fit eight a piece.  With 20 Zone leaders, the 2 AP Elders, 

2 office Elders and George & I we add up to 26...just enough 

to fit us all!   We have two bedrooms upstairs for the missionaries 

to stay...4 bunks in one and 3 in the other.  We also have another 

extra bedroom with a king-size bed for visiting General Authorities. 

 It's referred to as the GA room.  Each room has it's own 

bathroom.  It is really a nice home.  We are enjoying it!

Zone Leaders Council

This is the morning after Zone Leaders Council.  It was taken in 

front of the mission office next to our home!  These are the best 

of the best!  We have some really fine young men serving 

here in our mission.  I love them all! 

Zone Leaders Council

Our first Zone Leaders Council was a great success and a fun time to get to know some of the missionaries.  We have 144 missionaries and 40 women (Sisters) the rest are men (Elders).  We have ten Zones with two Zone leaders in each...so, we had 20 Elders come for a monthly Zone Leaders Council at our home.  This is a picture of some of the Elders helping with dishes after dinner that we served last Thursday evening after a council workshop.  They all came in about noon for lunch, had the council/workshop where they planned zone training for the month, had a great Philippine dinner of Chicken Adobo, stir-fry vegetables (with bean-sprouts) home-made rolls, rice (of course) and a wonderful mango cake with ice cream.  The Elders helped with clean-up and went to change clothes and play some basketball at the full outdoor court next door in the church parking lot.  Then, came in a set up for a movie...The Lion King.  They spent the night that night, got up for a testimony meeting at 7: a.m., had a big breakfast of ham-fried rice, scramble eggs with pepper jack cheese, french toast, and juice, and were off to their zones.  Good times!

Two of our Sister Missionaries

We visited these sisters who were both having health problems 

at the time.  They still look happy amid their not feeling so well.  

The one on the left is a native of the Philippines and the other 

sister is from the states!  I just love them all already!

Our Senior Couple

This is our only senior couple.  We went to visit them and see

how they were doing.  They are excited to be working in the 

wards with less actives and part-member families.  They also 

help us keep the missionaries' apartments in shape.  We have 

another couple coming this week.  We can really use a lot more

 couples...so if you are wanting to serve in the Philippines, 

let us know and we will request you!! :-)

The Tricycle Ride

I did it'!  What a ride!

Siniloan & Santa Cruz Zone Interviews July, 2011

This is the Siniloan Zone.  The air conditioning was out today!

  It was very hot an muggy.  I was so glad I had brought my hand

 fan that day.  This was our third Zone Interviews and workshop.  

Again, we are sure enjoying getting to know our missionaries.  

The are so happy to be serving!  It make us happy too!

This is the Santa Cruz Zone.  I love these missionaries, too! 

Ramzies

Mango shakes at Ramzie's are the best!

                                                      Missionaries love to eat good food!

President trying to see what he is eating.

San Pablo & Lipa Zone Interviews July, 2011

This was the first of ten Zones that we come to have interviews with...the San Pablo Zone.  We had three Zones this week, three Zones next week and four the next.  The is a wonderful opportunity to get out and meet all the Elders and Sisters individually.  We first meet together with their whole Zone.  The Zone leader takes charge of the meeting, welcoming all, opening hymn, prayer and turns some time over to President Peterson (George) for some remarks.  He talked about our call and how it came about...and about how thankful he was for the past President and his wife and the good they did.  He encourage them to write a thank-you letter to them.  He explained how important it was to have faith in the office and the keys that were given him instead of the person holding the office.  Many good things have been happening in this mission and he told them that we hope to keep it going to a higher level.  There was  a sweet spirit there as he spoke.  He then left the room with one of the missionaries to start the interviews.  I was given some time to give some "words of wisdom."  I talked about qualifying for the spirit through principles of righteousness.  The emphasis was on the scripture D&C 121:34-46.  That we should not seek for the honors of men or to satisfy our own vain ambitions...to put our faith in Christ instead of in our own skills & knowledge.  After a quick break the AP's then gave a workshop on seeking for the attributes of Christ...diligence, temperance, patience, humility & pure love.  They showed a short video of President Monson..."Never let the problem to be solved be more important than those you love."  They ended with the thought that they should strive to understand those they teach, so they can love them.  Words won't be powerful unless they feel our love.  When we finished, and George finished the interviews we all went to lunch (about 20 of us) for $30 at a place called Ramzies.  The best mango shakes you could imagine!

This was our second area we went for interviews...Lipa Zone.  

We are having a wonderful time meeting all of the missionaries!

They are all so kind and welcoming to us!

With the AP's (Assistants to President)

  There has rarely been a day go by without some rain!!

Here is President with his assistant's, Elder Fonbuena and 

Elder Jerusalem, buying the famous Buko Pie at Collette's.  

It is a delicious coconut pie made from layers of fresh, young 

coconut.  It is so good served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice 

cream.  Yum...Masarap (delicious)!

                                   

Our first Baptism to attend in the Philippines!

Aren't these children beautiful?  We became fast friends!

Our first baptism to attend in the Philippines was a sweet, humbling
experience.  As you can see, there are three that got that got
baptized that day. (Saturday, July 2, 2011) The girl next to me 
is 21 years old.  I don't know if you can see, but she has a very 
severe cleft palette condition.  The worst I have ever seen.  
However, she was so happy and stood up to the pulpit and bore 
a sweet testimony about how much finding the church has 
changed her life.  She said she was involved with many bad 
things, treated her family poorly and was extremely unhappy.  
That has all changed since she has converted to the gospel...new 
friends, happy at home, etc.  It was so impressive to me.  The 
other two girls took the lessons from these two missionaries, 
also.  Their parents were not active, but happy to have their 
girls baptized.  Hopefully that will help them to come back.  
Yes, Elder Butler is one very tall missionary...6' 7"!  His 
companion, Elder Libatique is standing next to him...very small 
compared to him.  He is a native and speaks very good English
...very bright young man.  Don't you love the children gathered 
over by President Peterson and me? 

We finally got here!  This is a picture in front of our beautiful home with this great sign that was made for our welcoming!  Pictured with us is President and Sister Anderson, the former San Pablo Mission President and his wife.  They picked us up at the hotel in Manila after our training there and drove us to San Pablo (the mission home is actually in Alaminos).  They showed us around the home and the mission office next door, gave a little more training, fed us a nice philippine lunch made by Ruby, the house help, and they got on their way back to Manila to head back to their home in Utah the next day.  We love Ruby already.  She is a sweetheart and her good husband is our night guard for the home.  He is also the Bishop of the Alaminos Ward at the church next door to us.  We got to visit with the two AP's and the two office Elders last night...wonderful missionaries!  They took us to the supermarket today to get a few things.  Ruby fixed us some of George's favorite Philippine dishes...Chicken Adobo, rice, pansit, and lots of stir-fried vegetables!  Oh...and cut up mango for desert.  Good Stuff!  We will try to get our skipe set up tomorrow so we can visit with family this Sunday!  Love you all!

Our last bit of training with Area Authorities!  Great times!  

Again this is the group of Philippines Mission Presidents and their 

wives.  We all did what we could to love and encourage each 

other.  We are all forever great friends!