Youth

Last evening I went over to the church to meet a family we had invited for dinner but when I got there there was a young man who was in the midst of some kind of seizure or something and some members were trying to help him but he wasn't responding. He was breathing really hard but wouldn't respond verbally and then he got so he wasn't breathing hardly at all and his pulse in his wrist was very faint and he was cold so we put him in the van and rushed him to the hospital. On the way he started getting really stiff and threw up once; we weren't sure what was going on. Anyway we got him there and they worked on him for awhile and got him stabilized and said he was overheated and was way low on potassium. After awhile he seemed to be ok and wanted to go home but they wouldn't let him go because he couldn't pay the bill. So we had to go looking for his parents but he's the only member of his family and lives with his grandmother and no one knew where she lives. We finally got ahold of the missionaries and they knew but when we got there the grandma had no money so we had to go find his parents. They sent a little boy with us to their house. Pretty messed up family; they didn't really seem to want to do anything but finally the father came with us. When we got there though he had no money either so after talking with the doctor etc. we took him to grandma and hopefully they worked something out to get him out. By now it was 9pm but the family we had invited still wanted to come for dinner so we brought them home and they ate with us and finally left around 11 pm. Another adventure. We sure take for granted all the wonderful blessings we have. A lot of the youth here are really amazing; they have really messed up families but they are very active and faithful. By the way the father of the family we had over for dinner is leaving today to go back to work on a ship. He won't be home again for 2 years. I thought I was in camp for a long time!

Brown Out

Saturday evening we had a real banger of a thunderstorm and were without power most of the night. It made for kind of a unique baptism. MaryLuna Gabuya was baptized. She is a very sweet lady who the missionaries have been teaching; actually they were teaching her son but the son has all kinds of marriage and  other problems and as yet has not gotten baptized but his mother became interested and accepted the gospel. Anyway we went ahead with the baptism in the dark with everyone using their cellphones for light. It was actually kind of neat and there was a wonderful Spirit there and she bore a very sweet testimony. The rest of the night was not very fun though because we had no aircon and no fans so it was extremely hot and muggy all night. When the power came on finally at 3am I was so drenched with sweat I had to get up and change clothes. I'ts funner in the Philippines!

Summer Heat Summer Cold

We have both been sick here for a couple of days, but on the mend . John was sicker than I was which is different because I am usually always sicker than he is. Had bad colds,sore throat,head ache just feeling really lousy . John is still a bit sick. We went to church yesterday then John went Home teaching. While he was gone 3 YSA girls came over and brought ice cream and mangoes  they stayed for three hours and just talked. They are such neat girls wish I could bring them all home with us. We had a High Council man come to the branch yesterday along with his wife. They were talking to us afterwards and asked us where we were from. We told her Canada she said "Oh my, how the Lord has blessed you that you could live in this heat. She said we can hardly bear it so you know the Lord is really blessing you so you can  tolerate this heat. Its suppose to be 98 at the end of the week. so that means it will feel like 120 with the humidity. Think that's why we got sick going back and forth from heat to air con. We are tolerating it but barely !

Another Wedding

We went to MaryGrace Bagangan's wedding today. She is MaryCris' sister who was baptized with her mother a couple of months ago. They were the first people we shared the gospel with here. We tried to share the gospel with her and her boyfriend also but so far he is not too interested but we encouraged them to get married and I guess they took our advice. It was just a simple wedding at the mayor's office but it was nice and they were excited. Hopefully in the future we can teach them also and help them become an eternal family.

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Baby,Transfers and Conference

We are so happy and excited to have another grandson! Glad all is well with Tyanna and Ammon and are so happy for them. He looks like a keeper! Another really busy week.Seems that there is no end to things to do. Elder Stevens got transferred to Palawan from our area and we got Elder Durfee who has only been out for 3 months and just came from Coron which is a small island with only 2 missionaries on it so he was kind of away from everything for awhile. He seems like a really good guy.He's from Aurora,Colorado- real close to Jackie and Brian.This weekend we got to watch conference and really enjoyed the wonderful Spirit  that we felt there and the great messages that were given.We are truly blessed to be led by living prophets. We love being out here riding the crest of the" missionary wave" Elder Nelson talked about and to be able to part of this work. It's pretty exciting to see it expanding and hastening the way it is.We love the Gospel and are so grateful for all the blessings the Lord has poured out upon us. We love all our family and miss them so much and Grandma wishes she could be there to help with the new baby. Glad to be here to serve though and appreciate all the support from family and friends.

FHE

Had a nice FHE with Eric and Barbie this evening. They are really happy to be members of the Church and to learn about family home evening. The Gospel really changes people. We are so lucky to be missionaries and play a small role in helping others to enjoy the blessings of the Gospel. I am including  some random pictures that we've taken.

Ox cart we saw on the road the other day loaded down with homemade baskets and other woven items to sell.

A jeepney full of youth from Punta branch headed for a special meeting with Elder Augustine,of the Seventy, as part of our district conference we had in February.

One of the members of Carissa branch donated one of their trucks from their recycling business to haul people to Naic for district conference.

Good load!

 A few got the front seat. Personally I think that would be way too hot!

Residual Waste..... Not really

Elder Spencer on his birthday. He used to work with us here in Punta but at the time of this picture was serving as a zone leader in Naic.

Elder Spencer was a good missionary. We call him our trainer, he has now gone home to Utah.

There are some big ants here and somehow they fold the leaves of these trees together to form a huge nest. We thought it looked pretty cool.

There were several nests in this tree.

If you look close you can see an ant on the upper left end of the nest

These people live across the street from us and butchered a pig and then cut some of it up in little pieces and cooked it in oil. Not sure exactly what they were making but they had a big party that night

Once in awhile you see these little chicks that they dye different colors and sell them, especially around Easter

 This is Sister Akram, one of a few Pakistani sisters serving here. Sisters are not allowed to serve in Pakistan so they come here as well as other countries. The church is pretty new in their country but they are wonderful spiritual sisters.

An example of the what the traffic can get like especially when we also throw in a parade of people following a statue of their patron saint during fiesta

Sunset over Manila Bay

Some fishing" banca's" tied up along the shore of Manila Bay

"Our " missionaries.

Baptized!

Early this morning we got a call from the missionaries that Eric and Barbie needed a ride to church because there was a problem with his tricycle. When we got there Eric was in tears and said, " Elder, something bad has happened ". I was sick because I was afraid maybe his friends had got him to drink with them last night because they had gathered at his house after the reception. But what happened was he had gone over to his dad's to get his tricycle and his dad was all in a rage and wouldn't let him have it. Apparently his parents don't like Barbie and are mad that he married her and are also mad that he is getting baptized. He said his dad was shouting at him and calling Barbie bad names and even threatened to punch him out. I guess it was really a bad scene and all the neighbours were around and saw it all happen too. Really put a dark cloud on a really beautiful day. But they came to church and after church we had a beautiful baptism. The Spirit was really strong and lots of members stayed for it. It was a unique experience baptizing someone who can't stand but Elder Stevens helped me and he piggybacked him down into the font and then helped me hold him and basically we both baptized him. It was great! They both bore beautiful testimonies afterwards and especially Barbie said how grateful she was to have found the true church and to be married and now baptized.

Happy Day! Love this Family!

Eric, Barbie, Saira Mae, Bea, and the missionaries. They have a little 2 year-old boy also but he likes to stay with his grandma.

Carissa Branch Members.

Wedding Plans

In between our busy schedule with setting up apartments in Manila, Pasay, Mandaluyong and Muntinlupa we have been helping Eric and Barbie with their wedding plans and also helped him get materials together so his dad could help him build a side car for his motorcycle. They have it finished now and it works really well. Anyway we took Eric to get his marriage license and boy what a hassle! It's no wonder no one in this country gets married - it's too much trouble! As I mentioned before we took him to Trece to get a certificate that stated neither Barbie or him were married; that wasn't to bad but then we had to go to Tanza to get the marriage license. So we go to the city hall and go to the information desk to find out where we go. They send us to something called the LCR office. Well we work him in there  with his wheelchair and they say:" oh, you have to go to the LCR extension office (could have told us that at the info desk,right?!) So we go there and they ask him a few questions and they say:" you have to go to the DAR office ( whatever that means) and it's outside down the street turn right then the next right  past the new building and it's on your left". So I wheel him down there and there is a sign on there door says " the DAR office has been transferred to Trece" - you're kidding me?! No one knew that!? So we go back to the LCR and they say:" what you really want is the Popcom office and it is there"Great!!! So back we go and get in there and more questions and then they say you have to come with your fiance and take a marriage seminar on Wed. morning at 7:30. So we go back Wed. morning ( luckily Barbie has day off because it's Holy week- Easter) and when we get there the place is locked and no one around so back we go to the LCR and ask what's up. Well while we were there a guy steps up and says:( when he sees Barbie and the kids) "oh,if you've lived together for more than 5 years you don't need a marriage license, you need an affidavit from a lawyer certifying that you have lived together for more than 5 years and you don't need the seminar". Right! That bit of information might have been helpful awhile ago! It's like nobody has ever dealt with this before! So we go to a lawyer's office and of course the lawyer won't be in for an hour. In the meantime Eric has to go to the bathroom but none of these offices have a wheelchair accessible bathroom so we find him a cup and then leave him to take  care of things. Long story short we finally get his paper work and get him back home. The next hitch is that over a month ago Pres Balderama applied for a license to perform weddings but still doesn't have it so we start looking for someone who can perform the ceremony. We even decide that if we can't find a bishop who is licensed we'll just have the wedding at the mayor's office and then a reception at the church. But then we find out that there is a process for that too and besides it's election time and the mayor is too busy to do it anyway.Gotta love this country! I thought Canada was bad! So with 2 days left before their wedding date with Pres Stucki's help and lot's of prayer we finally find a bishop in Makati who can do it. Hooray! But they still need a marriage certificate... Turns out that wasn't too bad and on Saturday, April6 at 3:00 pm we had a simple but lovely little wedding and Eric and Barbie were married! They are so thrilled and happy and we are happy for them. If you need something ask the missionaries- they can help! There was another wedding reception going on at the chapel where they were married for a couple who were married in the temple so about 15 or twenty of their guests come to our couple's wedding and were very kind and welcoming to them and congratulated them. So that was kind of neat.

A New Family, The Nudos 

Eric and Barbie and Saira Mae. Saira Mae is Barbie's daughter from a former relationship. She's a beautiful little 8 year-old and is also getting baptized.

Elder Stephens, Elder Acosta, Saira Mae,Eric, Barbie and Barbie's friend and  supervisor at work who  wanted to come to the wedding and be a witness.

More Pictures

Reception at the Church. Eric and Barbie with their baby Bea.

Sister Gwilliam made a simple wedding cake and some other refreshments. She's amazing.

Cutting the cake.