More Pictures

Haulin' cows. Actually they are caribaos

How about a load of chickens?!

Brother and Sister Concepcion who were reactivated while we were in Carissa. We love that family!

Some members of Punta branch.Left to right: Bro Ocado,Sis Madlang-awa( front), not sure who's behind her,Sis Barrios and new baby, Sis Ocado and son,Sis Ramos,Sis Malabanan, Sis DeGuzman, Bro & Sis Tamio, us, Luis Madlang-awa, Bro Soriano, Elder Isip and 3 little girls that I can't remember their names.

MyAnn Armonia- Future Missionary

Sister Salvatos

Paul Balderama

Members of Carissa Branch

President Contado's Family. He is Carissa Elder's Quruom President. Jessa, on right, has her mission call to Hong Kong

Samonte Family

Two cuties.

More cuties.

Base Family. He was 1st councilor and I was 2nd. He was then called as Branch President.

We love this family a lot. Forever friends

The Tamios. Also close Friends

Manangan Family

Myann Armonia

Balderama Family. Hewas Carissa Branch President and then called as Naic District President. A great man with a lovely family.

Gretchen Cabungan. Also planning on a mission soon.

Gretchen and Elders Sanchez and Isip

Kevin Villarante and three young ladies(sisters) who came to our open house and have since been baptized.

It's nice to know

...and missed. We will miss these wonderful people too!

Going Home Missionaries July 2, 2013 and couples and some parents

Going Home!

Elder Griffin with Dietrichs, Paddocks and us.

Elder Grob.

Elder Griffin

Typical Philippine family transportation.

And here we are at the Puerto Princessa airport on Palawan ready to start the next leg of our mission and another new adventure! We're excited!

Wedding Pictures and More

Ina and Jobert's Wedding. Ina was YW President in Punta Branch

Newly Weds

Together Forever

Some of Jobert's Priesthood leaders

Us, Sister Orcas,Sister Madlang-Awa, TheNew Couple, President Balderama

The Chapel in Punta decorated for the reception.

The Wedding Cake

The Malabanan Family at Riaza's baptism. I was their home teacher.

Brother Jovi's Delos Reyes baptism. We did not know them well but he asked that I baptize him.

Also in the picture: Elder Acosta, Elder Durfee, Sister Delos Reyes, and President Geraga.

Marlon, Maureen, Jarrod and new little Janae.The Cielos Family hold a special place in our hearts.

Us at the Temple

The Borja family and the wedding party while waiting for the new couple to come out of the temple.

And here they come! The newly weds- Jun and Manilynn

The Borja Family together on a special day.  They are members of the Carissa Branch

Jun and Manilynn. Wonderful Day.

Sister Stucki, The Newlyweds, and Us

Jun and Manilynn at the reception in Carissa Chapel

Anna Lou Gamazon and Myann Armonia. Myann has received a mission call to the Cagayen De Oro Mission

The DeGuzman Family. He is a fairly recent convert and they were in our temple preparation class.Really a special family and have now gone to the temple since we left for Palawan.

The Tamio Family. He is the branch clerk and she is a recent convert also in our temple preparation class and are preparing to go. Another wonderful couple.

Us with Sister Borja and MariCris. Sister Borja is the Relief Society president in Carissa Branch. She is a wonderful faithful sister who also teaches seminary.

The Geraga Family. He is the Carissa Branch President. He's Great! Always happy!

Wow! Long Time No Talk To.

Can't believe it's been so long since we posted any thing on here.Our last couple months have just been a whirlwind. With the splitting of the mission into the Cavite mission and the Manila Mission we have had to make a concerted effort to prepare for the expected expansion of both missions as the complement of missionaries will expand to about 200 in each mission where now there is just 200 total. July 2 for example the Manila mission received 31 new missionaries and only 18 went home. Cavite was spared for President Tye's first transfer but both missions will get a bunch more next transfer. As apartment coordinators Sis Gwilliam and I had to help find, approve, contract and furnish 8 new apartments.Finding is the biggest challenge because it's hard to find apartments that are big enough and meet the minimum standards required for the missionaries. Then oftentimes the owners are not willing to accept our contract conditions. So we often have to find 4or 5 to actually get one. We really concentrated our our efforts in the Manila Mission because there were no apartments that could hold 4 missionaries that didn't have 4,whereas out it Cavite there are quite a few that only had 2 that could accomodate 4. Also once the split happened andwe went to Palawan the is no senior couple left in Manila to look after the apartments.We really are praying for one to be assigned here but realize there is a huge need for senior couples all over the world. WE SURE NEED ALL YOU SENIOR COUPLES TO COME AND SERVE!!!!! This has truly been a wonderful experience and we see the Lord's hand everyday in this work even in helping find missionary apartments.We have really witnessed some miracles happen! Elder and Sister West moved into our place from Palawan on June 24t to help and we moved into the mission home for a few weeks.We enjoyed the chance to get to know Pres.and Sis. Stucki better although we were all so busy we didn't get to spend a lot of time with them. They are wonderful faithful people and we are so blessed to have them leading our mission. We really miss  the Paddocks, Pugsleys and Wests. They are now all in the Cavite mission so we won't see them much any more. We will also miss all the missionaries that are now in the Cavite mission. Mostly though  we miss all the wonderful people in the Punta and Carissa branches. We truly made some wonderful, eternal friends there and so appreciate all the kindness and love they showed us. Congratulations to MyAnn Armonia and Jessa Contada who received their mission calls just before we left; Cagayen de Oro and Hong Kong! We love all of you so much! We also congratulate Jobert and Ina and Jun and Manilynn on their temple weddings that we were blessed to be able to attend before we came to Palawan! We wish all of you the very best and hope to see you again someday.                                                                                                  On July 15 we finally arrived here in Palawan. We finished up everything we needed to do in Manila the week before so flew over here Monday morning. The Burt's met us at the airport, toured around Puerto Princessa, took us grocery shopping and then brought us down to Narra. We are grateful for all their help and look forward to serving here with them. They are a lot of fun. Who ever thought I would meet a cousin in the Philippines! Narra is a town of about twenty thousand with about 400 church members of whom about 125 are active. We've already visited some and  a couple of YSA girls we invited to come back to church came on Sunday. Narra is a beautiful place. Lots's of mountains and trees and beautiful farmland with lots of gravel and muddy roads so it feels more like home except for the heat. Because of all the the irrigated rice fields and other vegetation it is really humid here. The people are very friendly and I'm sure we'll learn to love them just like we love the people in Cavite.