Christmas Zone Conferences

This weeks highlight was the Christmas Zone Conferences held in Cauayan.  The conferences included inspired teaching, a Delicious Holiday Lunch, Showcasing Filippino Culture through Dance, Talent displays by the Missionaries, It's a Wonderful Life, and Christmas Stockings for each Missionary.  Here are some photos.

Celebrating Birthdays with Chocolate Cake

Everybody Loves Bro. Pete's Lunch!

Youth Dancers - Dance of the Fireflies

Dance of the Kling-Kling Bird

A skit by the Santiago North Zone

Everyone gets a Christmas Stocking - Elders got a tie embroidered with the Mission Emblem, the Sisters got an Umbrella with the Mission Emblem and a handle the lights.

Can you spot your Missionary Son or Daughter?

Elder Jimenez brought his own treat for the Senior Missionaries

More Birthdays to Celebrate with Chocolate Cake

Sister Uy's fried Chicken is always delicious!

Find your Missionary.

Back to your Areas Loaded with Christmas Packages from Home.

Villaverde

Today our journey took us south to visit a small branch of the church in the farming community of Villaverde.  They meet in a little rental home that has been transformed into a church by adding a small pulpit in the living area.  Ten minutes before the Sacrament meeting started, the “L” shaped chapel was full, including people sitting on the stairs that led to the second story classroom.  As more people arrived, the front porch was filled with chairs.  The door and window were left wide open so all could hear.

We felt a special joy when the two families we had taught with missionaries the night before, arrived at the meeting.  My heart was filled with love for the little congregation as they sang the opening hymn “The Spirit of God”.  Their voices filled the room and flowed out the opened louvered windows. 

Sunday School

Participating during Sunday School

Some of the happy members of the Villaverde branch

Visiting after church

 After church, we went with the missionaries to visit a family who had not attended.  It was a mother and her four children.  Her husband had been called to a nearby town to help his sister.  We talked with them for a few minutes and then Stephen asked if we could leave a blessing on their home.  After he offered a prayer, the mother’s eyes were filled with tears.  She graciously thanked us for coming and followed us to our car as if she did not want us to leave.

We started our weekend trip with a stop at Magat Dam.  This is the dam where they had to release water after the typhoon and heavy rains last week.  It caused severe flooding in some of the low lying areas in the northern part of our mission.

One of the apartments where four Sisters live is still too muddy for them to move back in.

The missionaries in the Ilagan Zone have been spending a few hours each day helping to shovel mud out of flooded homes.  In this photo, they were helping the Sister missionaries retrieve some of their belongings from their second-story bedrooms.

Elder Allen was our 'Super Hero'!  He carried the Sister thru the mud to get their belongings.

Other Photos from this week:

Rice Fields ready to be planted

 

Rice Field workers

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Beautiful sunset in Villaverde

Saying Goodbye to Elder & Sister Koontz

Typhoon Kammuri

We had no idea that this 'umbrella welcome' to a group of new missionaries was the start of 2 days of steady rain.

Typhoon Kammuri was not a direct hit to our portion of the Philippines (Luzon) so we did not experience damaging wind.  We did, however, have steady rain for about 48 hours.  When some of our missionaries woke up Thursday morning they discovered water in their apartments.  The local authorities had opened Magat Dam with a massive release of water that swept north covering fields and homes with up to 5 feet of water.  Mission vehicles were deployed to retrieve most of or missionaries living in the northern half of the mission.  It led to exciting times trying to get them transportation away from the flooding and back to Cauayan.  Fortunately, all are well, and at this writing, all but a handful are back in their apartments.

Making a raft out of the wooden bed frame

This was this Sisters first night in the Mission Field.  "I didn't know Missionary Work was this much fun!"

Seriously, we told the Missionaries not to be heroes by going into the floodwater, but I guess it couldn't be helped.  Thanks Elders!

This is not approved Missionary attire, but we will give them a pass in this case.

Some of the Missionaries lost clothing and other items to the floodwater, but we salvaged what we could.  Of course the power was off.  One pair of brave sisters carried their refrigerator upstairs to save it from the flood.  WOW!  

Celebrating Thanksgiving in the Philippines

We ate Mexican Burritos on an American Thanksgiving Holiday in the Philippines.  I guess that makes us multi-cultural.  I asked the missionaries if they wanted chicken shish kabobs or Mexican food.  They voted for Mexican food.  We served chips and salsa, all the ingredients to build your own burrito and banana cake with cream cheese frosting.  The missionaries each ate 2-3 burritos, plus they grated more cheese and made nachos in the microwave.   It was fun to watch them enjoy themselves.  They livened up our little apartment.

 “Break the Fast” on the first Sunday of each month has become a tradition for us in Naguilian that we look forward to.  After church, serving tables are set up and chairs are placed in a large circle around the room.   All ages gather to share food, eat and visit.  Steve and I got a kick out of two little boys with their whip cream mustaches!

So Happy that this dear Sister is able to come to church again.  She is very faithful and determined!

"Light the World One by One" is the 2019 Christmas initiative.  It is hoped that this Worldwide initiative will touch hearts and change lives through simple acts of service.  We are encouraged to share our experiences on social media using  #LightTheWorld so we can inspire others to serve and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.  This is the post I shared:

We met Julie at her home last summer, but we hadn’t seen her for several months. The thought came to me that I needed to visit her. I made her some brownies and fruit salad. When we arrived at her home, she told us that her husband of 44 years had died 3 weeks ago. She was very happy to see us. #LightTheWorld

Other Pictures From This Week:

A "50th" Birthday celebration for the cute friend on my left.

Teaching in the rain.  The cute sister on my left went home today. I will miss her!

Teaching a group of young women how to build their own testimonies of the Savior

After Stephen, interviewed this young woman for a temple recommend, we found out that she served a mission in our hometown.