Week 15 - 

Things have been slow this week as I have been nursing a pulled shoulder muscle and have stayed down.  The doctor feels confident with some physical therapy it will get better soon.

So an update with "The Toe"

Day 4

Day 5

Day 8

It seems to be healing, but is a slow process.  I am sure the pain is yet to come when the nail actually starts to lift.

I hope everyone had a happy Mother's Day.  It is sad for some Moms to not hear from their kids on this day.  My own mother had a great influence on my life and the way I raised my kids.  Thanks mom!  Sure do miss you.

I received this cute card!
Thanks Zac, Cadie, Jake & Carli.
Grandma loves you too!

Mancala Game - We played and Edward won one, I won one,
and the last was a draw.  I had to watch him, because he
kept changing the rules!

Mother's Day Dessert

 Not much else going on - so I'll say ba-bye (Tagalog)!  We love and miss everyone tons!

Week 14 - 

Here we go, some of this and that:

Highway department employees
who sweep the streets.

I am so intrigued by the billboards.  Not only what
they advertise, but their size.  We are told during a
big storm, they are rolled from each side, and when
the storm is passed, they are rolled back.  Guess with
all the numerous storms, they have learned what works!

A very innovative idea!  In a parking garage,
lights above each parking space which are
green until a car parks in the space.  It then
turns red.  This also keeps a count of the
available slots which is displayed as you enter
the garage.  No more driving around and
around looking for a space.  You just
look for a level with open spots and look for
a green light!  I think we will market
these when we get home, if someone else
doesn't beat us to it hah!

Oh, no!  He stubbed his toe!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

I am afraid this is my fault (not rule #2) as I was headed up some stairs and Edward wasn't planning on my change of direction.  He had two armed guards rush to help him, but was more embarrassed than hurt, until we walked home and he took off his sandal.  Oh, my.  I felt sooo bad!  At least he has a pair of soft Crocs that he was able to wear to church.  Hopefully, by tomorrow, he can get his white temple shoes on or else he will be spending the day in the apartment. 

More fun shopping:

Pineapple season has arrived!  So good

Soup in a box that is delicious.  Almost like homemade!

Banana chips instead of potato chips

Potato "marbles" delicious boiled - they are yellow inside

Chips come 4 in a big bag.  The smaller bags are just about right for a serving, thus they don't get soggy.

New shoes.  Interesting that the box top becomes the bag with a handle.  Hmm...new marketing idea for the states?

KFC - almost like the states.  It is hard to find white meat here as all they use, for some reason, is the dark meat.  This is my chicken bowl with -don't you know it- rice instead of mashed potatoes!

I have been baking a little, and needed some vanilla.  We asked in the supermarket for some, and this is the only size they carry.  I remember going to Mexico and buying a really large bottle of pure vanilla and carrying it home to Panguitch.  I will probably be able to make two cakes with this small bottle.

As you can tell from this entry, we have had a slow week.  Things seem to be the same each day, with many spiritual experiences which we will tell y'all about when we get home.  A great quote from April Conference:  "The way you feel in the temple is a pattern for how you want to feel in your life." Neil L. Anderson  

Have a great week.  We love you!  Remember who you are and KoKo!  

Preparation Day - Monday, 28 April 2014

Okay, so on Monday, some of the sister missionaries decided to take a short trip to downtown Manila to buy beads.  Sister Wong and her daughter and son-in-law (who was our driver) went along for two reasons: 1. to get us where we needed to go and 2. so merchants wouldn't take advantage of us.  This was to be a 30 minute ride with shopping about an hour and 30 minutes back home, so 2-3 hours tops!  Wouldn't you know it.  Guess who was in town?  Yikes!  You know how I told of Manila roads with four lanes painted and six or seven lanes of cars?  Well, because of Obama (we can really blame this on him!) they had closed off the roads in both directions and for miles, the 7 lanes of traffic were forced to one lane and a detour through the barrios.  We saw things we never would have seen otherwise, which was interesting.  As we got closer to the Church where we needed to turn, the foot traffic was immense.  We were right in the middle of the protesters rally.  It took us 2 1/2 hrs to get to the bead market!  We would have turned around and gone home but in Manila you can't just turn around and go back.  There are one way streets that are a mess.  Anyway, we decided to go on and did eventually arrive at our destination.  We shopped and thought things would have thinned out, but the rally was still going full guns.  Our driver, knew another way around the mess but it took us way out of our way.  We told him, let's do it.  Well, we had good traffic but it still took us 2 1/2 hours to get back home.  Don't know what the news in the states said about his trip, but not everyone here is excited for it.  Here is what some of our trip looked like:

Hundreds of people were at the bus depot

This is the sign on the bldg in the next picture

I would hate to see what the old
rooms look like!

Instead of cross walks, they have walk-overs

Hmm...

Just about every other bldg was a church

If not a church, a dentist office.  This
dentist was even out on the street
rounding up business!

A well ignored sign as there was
parking on both sides of the street.  One
car had a fabric cover on it that looked
to be 20 years old.

This old man had the most interesting
face, but he didn't want his picture taken.  Sucks!

This is the Church of the Black Nazarene.
It is truly amazing.  I would like to go
back here sometime.

Under this arch is where
we went to buy beads.

Aye yi yie!  So many people, so many
smells.  This is also a wet market which
has fish and veggies and everything else
imaginable!  I felt like I needed a hosing off! 

More people going places!!!

These are some of the pictures I pulled of the internet about the protest.  There were actually four of the burning in effigy, but they were pretty spooky.  Kind of like a horror film where the devil gets burned up.  Oops! Maybe I shouldn't have said that.  Anyway, I know there are little kids who read this blog and I didn't want them to think grandma was in an unsafe place, so I only put the first one in.

It was good to get back home, safe and sound!  What 

will the next adventure be?  Remember from UP, "Adventure

is out there."  Check back to see.