Easter

This past week we remember the resurrection and atonement of Jesus Christ.

 Jesus Christ atoned for the sins of all people.  Thanks to his sacrifice we too will be resurrected and thanks to his atonement we can also be forgiven of our sins and return to heaven to live with our Heavenly Father and Christ.

We are thankful to be on a mission for Jesus Christ and to have a role, however small, in helping build and strengthen Christ's church here in the Philippines.

 One day last week we went with our Branch on a temple trip to the Manila temple.  The sister in the very front and the sister in the red shirt were getting their endowments and going to the temple for the first time.  It was a special occassion for them.

 We did have some problems on the trip.  This is the inside of the jeepney we rode in.  It was 2 hours late getting to the temple because they couldn't find one of the members who was supposed to be going, who is blind.  Since we were late most of us didn't get to do a temple session, only the two getting their endowments and their escorts.

It was okay, I did not hear one complaint and no one got upset.  The Filipino people are a very patient and happy people.  They seemed content just being there and we all waited patiently for the ones that got to go in.

 On Saturday we had an Easter Egg hunt.  They put together a nice program with songs and talks and some film strips for the kids.  Afterwards they had a spaghetti meal for everyone.  We had it at the Christmas social too.  Only instead of meatballs it has chopped up hot dogs.

 Here are some of the children taking off to hunt for Easter Eggs.  The children had great fun.

 The night before Sister Swift and some YW and YM decorated Easter Eggs.  The next morning they hid the eggs around the outside of the building.

 On Friday we went to the big Easter Procession in Baliwag.  We were told it is the biggest one in all the Philippines.  Here you can see the crowd and one of the floats coming down the street.

 They had over 100 floats depicting different scenes from the life and ministry and Christ.

 All of the floats had life size manikins.

 The procession is sponsored by the Catholic church in Baliwag, which is the biggest religion out here.

 On Monday I went on a service project to help one of the members in the Branch.  Here is the nice house this family is having built.  It's way out in the country and not at all crowded like the homes in town.

 We were chopping down weeds and brush.  It was very pretty out there.  Those are banana trees next to the two missionaries.

 At Zone conference Sister Swift got a cup cake for her birthday.  They recognize every one who has a birthday in the up-coming quarter.

Yesterday we were invited to the graduation of one of the children in our Branch, James Andrew, who is 12 and was graduating from Elementary School.

Here is the whole family.  His father is the Branch President.