Mid August

We met up with one of the convert families from Bogo for a Temple tour and baptism session. Elder Oribello and Elder Labrador came with us and also the other office couple. Elder Oribello drove the AP’s van so we could all fit. It was nice to have someone other than Dad drive as I don’t worry so much when someone else is driving. And Dad enjoys being able to look out the window and see what’s along the road other than other vehicles, which is a nice change for him. Traffic is so crazy here that when Dad drives he has to really concentrate on the traffic. When we are driving along I will see something and say to him, “Oh look at that.” And he will say to me, “Do you really want me to look?” (No, keep your eyes on the traffic!!!!)

The family’s children love Elder Oribello he was one of the missionaries who taught the family and was just released as one of our Assistants to the President. Elder Labrador is also a great missionary, they are the zone leaders in one of our zones. We had a great experience. I was able to participate in the baptisms. Every time I came up out of the water it was nice to see a smiling face as Elder Oribello was just a grinning the whole time he performed the ordinances. Elder Labrador had some family names he had researched to do. It was a great day as it always is when we go to the Temple.

On Sunday we went to the family’s home after church meetings and did a family home evening with them. We brought cake and drinks and they provided a pasta dish. Love this family, they are so kind and generous to everyone. They always feed the missionaries and she is a good cook so the missionaries love it.

Dad did a demonstration about repentance using pepper and dish soap for the lesson and we talked about how family home evening can strengthens families, using the example of sticks how families that are united are strong like the sticks bond together but by themselves they can be broken.

We met up with the elders and Rose to take them with us to FHE. We love Rose she is close to the family as they were baptized about the same time. It is hard on her being all alone, but she is so wonderful. We love her. She brought us each a Saba pinaypay. A Saba banana sliced and spread like a fan that is dipped in batter then deep fat fried, stuck on a stick and sprinkled with sugar. Very lami (delicious). Reminded me of food at a fair.

There is a lot of street food sold on sticks. It makes it so people can stop and buy something to eat and then walk on, eating. I am thinking the next time I feed grandkids I will put their food on a stick. So much fun (there must not be a word funner, spell check did not like the word) to eat your food on a stick.

Why do I write about food all the time? No wonder we are no longer thin people. I tried fixing the dish that another family served us, it is called Menudo and is very tasty. It has pork, potatoes, carrots, and onions. The meat is marinated in lime and soy sauce with brown sugar, then cooked in tomato sauce. It is like a stew that is served on rice, but in this picture it is with noodles because the rice was gone when we had it as a left over. I fix it quite often because it cooks well in a crock pot.

I buy a leaner cut of meat then the Filipino’s do and found that the leaner cuts are actually less expensive. I am always cutting the fat away on the meats. I don’t like skin or fat on my meats. They also cook with the bones in so you have to be careful. We once bought a chicken when we first arrived and they asked if we would like it cut up and I thought that meant that they would cut it so we had legs, thighs, wings, backs, and breast. No, what it meant was that they took a big cleaver of a knife and chopped it up. Like, Whack, Whack and voilà, you have a cut up chicken.

This week we also taught missionaries at their district meeting about how to teach FHE. It is interesting to hear Dad’s perspective on FHE and how he viewed ours when you kids were small. He saw things differently than I do, which has been rather insightful.

I then had them play a game. I had made cards from paper with scripture story pictures and the one holding the picture could only say yes or no as the others tried to guess what scripture story the picture represented. They look more engaged in the game then the workshop part, but they were actually engaged in the workshop part also.

After the meeting we fed the missionaries some barbecue chicken and rice (always rice), bananas, rolls, a drink, and I had made rice krispie treats, however the only cereal I could find was cocoa krispies to use so they were very, very sweet. I had seen a cereal that was half chocolate and half plain that would probably work next time. Most of the cold cereal sold in the stores here are chocolate flavored. Marshmallows are plentiful so they were easy to find. I bought some mango marshmallows the other day to just try them and sure enough they tasted like a mango and much better than the just plain white ones. But now that I have tasted them I have to figure out what to do with the rest of the package. I am sure the kids or missionaries will like them. We invited the FM (facility management) people who have their office at the same building we were meeting in to also have some of the food. They said it was a very good Abubo, which is a very famous food here. Dad told them we call it barbecue chicken. Everyone liked it, there was just enough left over for dad and I to have a leftover helping for dinner. One of the FM’s peoples husband came in the office yesterday and said his wife really liked the dish and he wanted to make it and asked how to make it.