Happy Birthday Sister Swift

We had a busy week with a temple trip, a trip to the Mission Home, a visit to a Chinese Cemetery, Father's Day, and a birthday party for Sister Swift.

 On the temple trip we had two members getting their endowments for the first time.  The first was for Jared who is about ready to leave on a mission. The second was for a sister in her 80s, but she forgot her recommend so she couldn't do it that day.  Otherwise it was a good trip.  Twenty-one members came, including some youths who came along just for the ride and to see the temple.

 One day we went to the Mission Home for a farewell dinner with the Jones.  One the way we stopped at a Chinese cemetery in Manila.  The Chinese mausoleums were ornate, better than a lot of the homes people live in.  This one looks like a small house with fancy dragon trim on the roof.

 This is the inside of a mausoleum.  Besides the coffin, you have pictures, table, chairs, benches and a small bathroom.  All for family members who come to visit.

 The is another mausoleum.  We did see smaller ones too.  These people had to be very well off.

This one had a garden outside area.

At the Mission home we had a farewell for the Jones, but they actually don't leave until July 5th.  They were the first ones out here in Baliwag and helped us a lot when we arrived.  We've become good friends and will miss them.  They are from Idaho.

 We had a big turn out at the Birthday Party, for Sister Swift, Sister Gemma, and Sister Aisa.  Sister Gemma made a noodle dish.  Sister Swift made the brownies, which you can see in the picture here, and also we ordered ice cream to put on the brownies.  We had it made at a nearby ice cream business and delivered to the church.

 We also had a game time.  This is team one on reverse charades.

 Team 2 on reverse charades.

Here are the three birthday girls:  Sister Gemma, Sister Aisa, and Sister Swift.

At church they had a Sunday School program for to celebrate fathers.  They had some short talks,  a song by the primary,  a video presentation , and gave cookies to all the fathers. There were about 17 fathers present.  Sister Swift made the cookies. We always have more women and children then men at church..    

National Museum

We found a chicken in the church building one evening.

 We came up the front step to unlock the front door and saw this little chicken inside the church building all by himself.

 He got scared when we came in and ran up the stairs.  Some of the youth with us chased him down and put him outside.

 Three typical Philippine cows, including a young one.  They're very large and look quite different from cows back home.

 We went on a trip with the Jones, who are about finished with their mission and going home soon.  They wanted to make one last visit to the American Women's Bazaar and then to the Philippine National Museum which they had not seen yet.

 Statue at the font.

 An gigantic painting that was magnificant.  Elder Rogers and Jones on the left of the painting.

 Art studio of a famous Philippine painter.

 Another painting that we thought was pretty good.

We talked to this friendly museum guide and she told us she's a Mormon too.  Don't know how she recognized us as fellow Mormons.  Maybe because of our white shirts and ties.  Or maybe it was the nametags.

We had a good visit to the museum. 

San Ildefonso National High School service project

This was transfer week for the young elders and sisters in our mission.  For Senior Missionaries there is no transfer week.   Sister Swift and I will stay in the San Ildefonso Branch our entire mission.

 Elder Tinasas on the left has completed his mission and will be going home.  We didn't get to know him really well since he was only here for one transfer.  He worked hard and did a lot of good.  He's from the Philippines.  Elder Uele on the right is staying.  He's the district leader.  He's from New Zealand and is a big friendly guy.

 Elder Diso on the right is transferring to another zone.  Elder Arcayos on the left is staying in San Ildefonso.  They are both from the Philippines.  We will miss Elder Diso.  He worked hard and was always smiling.

 The Broadheads were in town doing apartment checks.  We all met them at the one of the sizzlin' grills you see alongside the street.  You eat outside right on little tables extending onto the sidewalk.  This one is in Bustos and is a favorite of the Rogers.

 We're been seeing some of these tiny lizards around the house lately.  Must be the time of season for lizard babies.

 Closeup of the baby lizard.

 On Thursday we went on a service project to the San Ildefonso National High School.  It's a big public school here.  They were having a volunteer day and one of the Elder's investigators teaches there, so we went to help out.

 This is the classroom of Sister Vanessa, the investigator.  She teaches science.

 Sister Vanessa on the left and me painting tires bright yellow.

 Sister Swift and Micalyn working on the tires.  It looked good and we were glad to help.

 Micalyn, Gilbert, Trinnie, Rodaline, and Camille painting.  It turned out Gilbert had Sister Vanessa for a teacher many years ago when he was a small boy.

 The next big task was to repair desks.  They were old and in bad shape and broken up.

Trinie and Gilbert nailing chairs back together the best we could.  They had been repaired before, many times.

 We got 30 desks back into semi working condition.  They're still in terrible shape though, but it's the best they have.

 Erica, one of the Primary children in our branch with a baby bird she found that fell out of its nest in a tree in her yard.

 She was walking around with it on her head.

We saw this one trike near our house that had a cage-like side car.  Typically we see pigs or goats in these type of side cars, but this one man had his little son in it.  As they commonly say out here, "Only in the Philippines".

Temple and RS Women's Day

We went on a temple trip with the Branch on Friday. Two sisters were going for their first time. Here is a picture of Gina, Sister Swift, and Gemma (it was Gemma's first time).

The next three pictures show the type of traffic you can see around Manila. I don't know how that  little motorcycle engine can pull so much.

 This trike is really loaded down.

 When the jeepneys are full, people just hang on the back, even going down busy city roads (and in America we think it unsafe if you don't put your seat belt on).

 Here's a tall version of the typical trikes that we normally see a lot of.  We saw this one in Metro Manila.

On Saturday the Baliwag District held it's Relief Society Women's Day.  Here is a picture of the sisters from the San Ildefonso Branch that attended.

 They held contests, including some that occurred outside.  This is the Baliwag District Center parking lot, which doubles as a basketball court.

 Sister Joyce from our Branch in a race for the finish line.

 They had a makeover contest.  Our Young Women choose  to do the makeover on Sister Swift.

 

 This is our make-over artist, Sister Camille, with her finished product.

          Before                                             After

      

Skype with YW in Manorwood

The San Ildefonso branch YW held a joint activity with the YW in the Manorwood ward in America via Skype.  They enjoyed sharing information about the different cultures.  They liked just talking and finding out about each other.  Some are now following each other on Instagram.

 After the Skype session, we decided to make some delicious food.  Together we made lemon bars, chicken and pork adobo with rice, and a green mango crunch,  We all had a fun time.  I love working with the YW here.  They are the best!

 Below we are cutting up the green mango.  I don't really think they are a favorite fruit here, but they reminded me of sour green apples, so I decided we would try to make a mango crunch.  It was very tasty.

 The picture below is prepared 'jack fruit'.  It was cooked in a sugar sauce and was very sweet and a lot of work just separating the edible part of the fruit from the rest.

 Here we are enjoying the reward for our hard work.

 Elder Swift and I stopped in to watch a little of our District YM friendly basketball tournament.  The Bustos Branch team was the overall winner.

 On February 21st the Senior missionaries had an outing to the Sarao Dyipny (Jeepney) factory and the church with the Bamboo Organ of Las Pinas City.

The jeepney is built mostly by hand in this open air factory. They import used engines from Japan.  The jeepney is one of the major methods of transportation used here in the Philippines.

 The Jeep idea came from the American jeeps used during and left here after WWII.  The decoration ideas come from the old rickshaw type carriages of the Philippines.  Some are very elaborately decorated on the outside.  The insides are crowded and not very comfortable.

 Below is a picture of Elder and Sister Rogers next to a model of the Jeepney.

 Next we visited St Joseph Parish Church in Las Pinas City that is home to this very old bamboo organ.  It took 8 years to build from 1816-1824.  It was built by Fr. Diego Cera, a very gifted man, who also built the church.  A typhoon in 1880 damaged the bamboo organ so it wasn't playable until it was restored in Germany from 1973-1975 and then returned back to the Philippines.   The organ is a Philippine National Treasure.

 The inside of the church is much the same as 200 years ago.

 This is typical street market; you can see how close the market is to our car as as we are driving down the street.

For lunch we stopped at the Outback in Makati, a very modern part of the Philippines (so different than the area where we live and go to church.)  What a enjoyable day for a break from our work.