Food

There many meat markets on the side of the road.

 It's best to buy the meat early in the morning because it hangs out in the heat all day.

My first experience buying pork with the skin and even some pig hair. So appetizing:)

This is a whole pig in the meat counter at the S & R which is a warehouse store like Costco.

You can get free pork blood with any meat purchase but we've never taken them up on the offer.
 The Filipinos like a dish called Dinuguan--gravy made of pig blood. I looked up how to spell it and found this description.
(Beware you make get sick just reading what this dish is made of.)
 A bowl of dinuguan and a plate of puto. Dinuguan is a Filipino savory stew of pork offal(typically lungs, kidneys, intestines, ears, heart and snout) and/or meat simmered in a rich, spicy dark gravy of pig blood, garlic, chili (most often siling mahaba), and vinegar.

Since we aren't fishermen I'm not used to seeing fish with eyes at the grocery store.
After eating my first with eyes I realized they taste good, it's just awkward to have your food look at you.

My shrimp looking at me as well as other random food. It was good food! 

I can't remember what kind of fruit this is.

Dragon Fruit--it is white or red violet inside with little black dots. It looks and tastes kind of like kiwi.

Black fungus by the cabbages. 

A delicious salad and cheesecake with beautiful presentations at our favorite

Italian restaurant, Arabela, in Lilu.

Umbrellas

     Umbrellas are used as often for shading people from the sun as they are from the rain.

Cute granddaughter with her new Frozen umbrella bought at the palengke.

Welcoming new missionaries. 

Transportation in the Philippines

     Our time in the Philippines is quickly coming to an end and I have folders of photos that I've never posted so I am going to share some of them to give a glimpse into life in the Philippines.

We watched as this man ran and jumped on the truck while it was driving up the road. 

The drivers of the pedicycles have strong legs. 

Traveling up the mountain road from the port we saw this line of tricycles;
it looked like a parade.

You will often see trucks full of pigs, chickens, and some times cattle. 

It's amazing how many people and how many things they can fit on a tricycle.

It's common to see families on motorcycles or scooters.
We've seen as many as five on a scooter and often a toddler in the front of the driver
and a baby in the middle. 

Tricycles and Jeepneys are the transportation for the missionaries and most Filipinos in our mission.

February Good-Byes and Greetings

     Every February we have said good-bye to a large group of wonderful sisters and only received a few new ones. This year we said goodbye to nine sisters and welcomed five new sisters but three of the new ones are visa waiters. We also said good-bye to four great elders. We enjoyed the time with this group and are thankful for the opportunity to serve with them. We had a very sweet testimony meeting with them and are thankful for the things we've learned together. They will be missed.

        The new missionaries arrived excited to serve. We had nine elders, seven from the Philippines, one from the U.S. and one from Sri Lanka. Four of the five sisters are Filipina and one from Tonga. The visa waiters are eventually going to the Salt Lake Temple Square Mission, Australia Sydney Mission, and the Dominican Republic. We are thankful for each of our new missionaries and their great faith.

Christmas Zone Conferences are the best!

December 20, 21, & 22—Christmas Zone Conferences

Tuesday in Lucena for Lopez, Lucena, and Marinduque Zones.

Wednesday in Lipa for Batangas, Lipa, and Mindoro Zones.

Thursday in San Pablo for Cabuyao, San Pablo, and Santa Cruz Zones.

            Christmas Zone Conferences are always a favorite for everyone. Each day we were able to have a wonderful experience as we taught along with the Assistants. There were great comments and participation. We had the missionaries write things they had done to Light the World and put them on our tarpaulin Christmas tree.

            We began with business including the change for Zone Conferences and Zone Interviews every transfer cycle. We had the missionaries leaving in December and February share their testimonies. There were wonderful musical numbers at each conference as well.

            President and I taught about the importance of using the Book of Mormon. We introduced a 90-day challenge to read the Book of Mormon as a mission and focus on Christ by marking His names and references to Him. We will also mark references to the cleansing/redeeming and enabling power of the Atonement. We also taught the importance of teaching the First Vision from the heart. We had a missionary in each conference share the First Vision and then committed the missionaries to memorize it if they hadn’t. They will share with me at the Zone Conference. The Assistants did practice teaching with some of the missionaries to demonstrate how they can teach from the Book of Mormon and address the needs of the investigator using the chapter where they are studying. It is very powerful (even done in Tagalog).

            We talked about the 1-1-1 program which is one active member bringing one convert into the Church in one year. We showed the infomercial done by a few of our missionaries as well as a beautiful song written by two of our sisters to help teach the importance of teaching the one.

            The missionaries always enjoy Christmas lunch which includes a lechon. We also had fun watching the Christmas DVD. The senior couples organized Christmas games by forming the missionaries in three groups and doing a rotation of the games. Afterwards there was a musical performance by some missionaries and the senior couples sang a little song, “All I Want for Christmas is a Baptism”. It wasn’t great but fun for the missionaries to see us. Then the Howards led them in a song with actions. We then had a gift game. The Philippines missions are blessed with a group of parents who send gifts for all of our missionaries. This year each missionary received a pocket set of scriptures donated by the group. It was a wonderful gift and very appreciated. President Mangum and I gave them a pocket size Gratitude Journal so they can follow President Eyring’s counsel to look back at the day and notice the hand of the Lord in their life.

            After the games we returned to the Chapel where I shared a brief Christmas message about lighting the world. President Mangum read the Nativity from both the Book of Mormon and New Testament while showing some pictures. It is always a sweet experience to hear this sacred story. We then knelt as a group and President Mangum offered a closing prayer. It was emotional every day as we thought about it being our last round of Christmas Zone Conferences.