Chapter 39 Birthday Party Philippine Style

Richard and Myra - Richard was baptized not too long after we got here.  They live up the road from us and are great neighbors...

1/12/13 – We were invited to a traditional Philippine birthday celebration for Myra.  She combined her birthday with the grand opening of her new spa, and she asked Dennis give the blessing on the food and to bless her business at the same time.  It was in such a beautiful place, and even though it was raining the party went on as planned.  We had traditional food including rice, ham, chicken, and a rice dessert that is really good.  They cooked a pig in the Umo (oven) and we watched them carve it, and put the meat on a platter.  Then they put the head in the middle of the platter, with his beady little eyes looking up at us.  There was one dish that was new to us.  It looked almost like dressing.  When we tasted, it neither of us were quite sure about the taste.  We had each taken a couple of bites when they shared with us what we were eating…   It was all the insides of the pig, including the stomach, intestines, and bowels sautéed in the blood.  Needless to say, we were through with our taste testing! We had planned leave the party and go to a nice place by the ocean for shrimp dinner – to celebrate my birthday – but decided if we were to get sick from what we had just eaten, we didn’t to spend money on a nice meal that we might loose in the middle of the night…  We woke up the next morning and were still alive so we survived!  So much for celebrating my birthday…  We had planned to go to the same restaurant on our anniversary, and when we got there, they were closed to the public due to a private party.  Maybe sometime this week we will try to find a night to celebrate both our anniversary and my birthday… (at least we are saving money).

January 17, 2013 – Today we met Elder and Sister Rotz at the airport.  They are the newest senior couple to arrive in our mission – they are from Orem.  Their calling is with Public Affairs.  We had the opportunity to introduce them to our island and share some of the beauty that surrounds us. We helped them with some shopping and even accompanied them to their interview with the local TV station.  It was so fun to get to know them.

January 18 & 19, 2013 –We just experienced another quarterly zone conference.  It was an amazing two days.  We received some great council and advice.  The president approved a trip to the National Park on the north west side of the island.  We stopped at an overlook to view the Cocks Comb.  There are many birds that nest on these two islands.  It is so beautiful.  We never get tired of the scenery here…  We had dinner at a restaurant called the Fia Fia where we had the best Beef and Broccoli I have ever tasted.

LANGUAGE - We are slowly learning some of the language.  Our institute students as well as the missionaries are so good to help us.  We are not only learning Samoan, but Tongan as well.  Today we attended a Tongan Branch.  They spoke mostly in Tongan, but there was some English and Samoan spoken as well. I was quite proud of myself, although I didn’t understand most of what was said, I could sing the songs and realized that the closing prayer was in Samoan, not Tongan…

Chapter 38 Language

LANGUAGE - We are slowly learning some of the language.  Our institute students as well as the missionaries are so good to help us.  We are not only learning Samoan, but Tongan as well.  Today we attended a Tongan Branch.  They spoke mostly in Tongan, but there was some English and Samoan spoken as well. I was quite proud of myself, although I didn’t understand most of what was said, I could sing the songs and realized that the closing prayer was in Samoan, not Tongan…

Chapter 37 - Happy New Year

1/1/13 – HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Between Christmas and New Year’s we made three trips to the emergency room – an experience in and of itself.  Friday the 28^th we took Elder Hansen (our eye doctor’s nephew) to be treated for a fungal infection on his neck.  Because of the humidity, if the elders don’t use after-shave, sometimes the skin becomes irritated from perspiration and a fungus develops.  It looks like hives or Chicken Pox before they fester, and if it gets really bad the only way to get rid of it is with an antibiotic.  We got to the hospital in late afternoon, got his medical number and waited to see the doctor.  By the time we got through the pharmacy (remember there is only one on the island that can dispense prescriptions) was closed, so we had to go back the next day to get his prescription..  Then on New Year’s Eve we went back with another elder who had a boil on his inner thigh.  It had come to a head and popped, but he needed an antibiotic to treat the infection. That little trip took most of the day.   We spent a quiet evening at home doing paper work and just relaxing.  We usually got to bed around midnight, but we were in bed by 10:30 – so we didn’t even ring in the New Year!  Go figure… 

New Year’s Day started out with another trip to the emergency room with an elder who had strep throat.  We got all the way over to the hospital (about 40 minutes away) and I realized that I had neglected to get his passport – which he needed because he had misplaced his medical number (you have to have a medical number before you can be seen by a doctor or get medication), so we had to go all the way back home to get it.  By the time we got back to the hospital, get his new card, saw the doctor and picked up his prescription it was late in the afternoon. 

However, we ended the day doing something so fun.  There was a young adult dance all the way over on the East end of the island.  Some of our institute students told us about it a couple of days before, and they said they really wanted to go, but had no way to get there.  The buses don’t run after 6:00 and none of them had cars.  So of course my awesome companion offered to take them. We were planning on going over there the next day anyway to hang the new curtains I had made for one of the missionary houses for that area, so we decided to kill two chickens with one stone (you would have to be here to understand  chickens are everywhere) and hang the curtains during the dance. We enjoyed ourselves so much.  Watching them dance brought back memories of chaperoning youth dances.  We felt right at home.  We even danced a few dances ourselves.  Everyone stopped to watch when we danced a fast dance – Dennis still has the moves he had when we first met…  We stayed until the dance ended, and by the time we drove back and dropped everyone off, it was 1:30 AM.  So even though we didn’t stay up to welcome in the New Year, we made up for it the next night!

The first couple of weeks of January kept us busy with transfers.  We had 5 missionaries transferred to other areas off island, and 3 go home.  We had only 2 come – the others that are being transferred to our island are waiting for their visas and they won’t be here for 2 weeks.  So needless to say, our missionaries are doing double duty.  We are in the RAINY season so that adds to the challenge, but the elders (and 2 sisters) don’t let it stop them.  The just “put their shoulder to the wheel and push along”.  They are such a great example to us!  Only three of the eleven companionships have vans, and two of them are in for repairs, so we are spending lots of time in our van shuttling them where they need to go when the busses are not available, or don’t go to areas they need to be to.  Sometimes I don’t know if we are coming or going, but we always seem to find our way home.  We did find time to take down the Christmas tree and the outside lights in the middle of all the chaos.  

Friday the mission president is coming over for Zone Leaders Conference.  We look forward to those meetings every month.  It is such a blessing to be able to attend.

We missed being home for Jessica’s, McKenna’s and Rhythm’s birthday, but were able to talk to them either by email or phone, so we felt like we were a part of their special day!

1/8/13 - We attended a baptism today for the nephew of Elder Jessop, the Area Seventy for the Pacific Islands.  What a wonderful experience baptisms are.  We never cease to get a thrill out of seeing someone baptized.  After the baptism we were invited to join the family for refreshments.  What a blessing to us to be in such close contact with one of the Lord’s chosen servants.  His granddaughter, Lauren, has been attending our institute class, but we never thought we would have the privilege of meeting her grandfather – another great blessing for us….