Week 46 - 
With Christmas in full swing, we attended a Temple Ordinance Workers Celebration.  It was so fun, with catered food, singing and dancing and a great time for us all.

Some of my special friends:

 Sister Royo

 Sister Surio

Sister Reyes

 Brother Jun Martinez, the Temple Recorder and his wive

After dinner, we had a program:

 Sister Flor was the MC

Jingle Bell Rock

 Buoboy - beats David Archeluta hands down!

President Amistad

We very rarely are out at night with a camera, so

these are some scenes on our way to the apartment:

 Rush hour Jeepneys are loaded.  Filipinos don't worry about

how many seats there are, they just keep squeezing in.  When

the front is full, they hop on back.  We have even seen

them on the top!

 Waiting for a break in the traffic so they can "scoot" across the lanes of traffic.

 Bicycles and motorcycles rarely have lights.  Scary!!!!

 The Temple grounds

 Temple Drive, the street where we live.  It is only a two lane

road, but of course there are sometime three-five lanes

of traffic.

We enjoyed our night of good (kind of) food, good company! We

just love these people!!!!!

Parting thought:

"The spirit of Christmas … puts in our hearts a desire to give joy to other people. We feel a spirit of giving and gratitude for what we have been given. The celebration of Christmas helps us keep our promise to always remember Him and His gifts to us. And that remembrance creates a desire in us to give gifts to Him."

—Henry B. Eyring, "The Gift of a Savior"

Weeks 44 & 45

Boy where does the time go?  We are into December and the last of the "ber" months to celebrate Christmas in the Philippines.  It seems to have gone on and on, but things are in full swing now.  We hear fireworks every night.

Typhoon Ruby was our first happening:

She was a super typhoon and predicted to be worse than Yolanda last November.  She was also predicted to hit Manila, but it goes to show you what faith and prayer can do.  Even though there was damage and people were displaced, it was nothing compared to last year.  We only experienced 36 hours of rain here in Quezon City.

On Sunday, senior missionaries and other volunteers spent the day making survival kits.  I believe there were three trucks loaded to the top which left our area office to assist people in the hardest hit areas:

 There were 90 of these "100 lb" bags of rice which were

broken down into 3 kilo packages and put with sardines,

noodles and corned beef.  This is a 72 hr kit for one person.

Christmas lights on the Temple grounds:

 The full moon before "Ruby."  The Navajos say with a 

moon-dog - storm within 24 hours.  Yep it was true!

Our Nativity in a Filipino creche.

Our friends and ward members from

Manti, E/S Harris are serving in Brazil 

and sent this picture to us:

This is our Nativity:

Same, yet different looking

These are my favorites!

Saying good-bye to Sister Sawyer:

 Sister Amistad & Sister Sawyer

President Amistad

 Gotcha!

I sent Edward to get a Christmas tree.  We both remember going out into the forest and choosing that perfect tree, cutting it down, then hauling it back to the truck to bring home.  After wrestling with the tree, the trunk was whittled down to fit in the tree stand.  The smell of fresh pine would permeate the house and extra branches were used as boughs to decorate the home.  Here is what he brought home this year - my very own Charlie Brown Christmas tree, complete with cones:

We can't decide if it looks better decorated or not, but at least we have a tree!

Parting thought:

"Placed around the world, temples have their own unique look and design on the outside, but inside they all contain the same eternal light, purpose, and truth. In 1 Corinthians 3:16 we read, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” We too … have been placed all around the world, like temples, and we each have our own unique look and outward design, like temples. We also have a spiritual light within us, like temples. This spiritual light is a reflection of the Savior’s light. Others will be attracted to this brightness."

—Neill F. Marriott, "Sharing Your Light"

Let your light so shine!  RWYA and KoKo!  We love you!