Temple Trip and Branch Activities

We have been in the Philippines for two months now and we qre getting use to life here.  For me it's beginning to feel like this is our home for now and we are fitting in.  We are part of our branch and not just an oddity.  We had a busy week as usual with Branch activities and projects.  We survived the typhoon just fine.  All we had was heavy rain and some wind.  The northern part of our branch did have some damage and we will deliver relief packages to about 20 families this upcoming week.

Here is Sister Alma with two of her five children.  The branch had a service project at her home one day putting in a door so she can have some privacy and be safer. (problems not from the typhoon)  They made the opening larger, put in the frame, and added cement around the frame.  We have to wait for another day to put in the door and then work on the roof.

 Here's a cart we saw along the road to San Ildefonso.  It's really loaded down with household items for sale. We see these regularly.  It is pulled by a horse who is grazing just out of the picture

Here is a frog we found in our back kitchen.  You can see how tiny it is by the name-tag.  It is pretty small and we do see larger ones.  See the yellow in it's coloring.

 At the church building the neighborhood kids often come in to play when the gates are open.  They have a string put up between two trees that they were jumping over.

 Birthday for Trinnie, one of the young women in the branch.  She is the one in pink and was turning 16.

 Branch President's son Jethro at a Branch Social.

 Genealogy training at the Mission Home. 

The mission president couple and the senior missionary couples had a temple trip the same day we did genealogy training.  The Manila Temple is actually in Quezon City.  It is about a two hour drive from where we live.

Elder Swift and I are home teachers for 4 families in our branch.  We are assigned to visit them twice per month.  I am his partner in the beginning until the branch learns how to do regular home and visiting teaching.  When a couple is assigned home teaching in a small branch it will count for both home and visiting teaching.  Today I got a visiting teaching companion and we were given the four furthest barangay (neighborhoods).  This is because I have a car to drive and I don't think there is a another sister in the branch with a license to drive a car except me.  I don't think most of the men have car driving licenses either, but many have motorcycle driving licenses.

P.S. We are singing Christmas songs in church now since the Christmas season started Sept. 1st. This was the first Sunday our branch sang them, but I think I heard some other branches may have started earlier.