19 March 2016

These are not hippo's but Carabau or Water Buffalo.  They love
water and mud.  There are several others not visible in this view.

This was a routine week with some minor variation from other weeks.  I will explain mostly by pictures - some from way back that we had intended to add earlier.  We will note what each one was about.  

We went with the Watsons to Lubigan which is a small branch/area in the Pamplona District.  None of us had been there before. We saw these Carabou on the way there.  It was a beautiful little place.  The Watsons had scheduled a meeting to talk about Family History and we went for fun but Sister Hoopes was able to talk to a sister who plays the piano and wants to learn more.





We visited a museum which was on the campus of University Nueva Caseras. The Watsons had seen it advertised as a Museum of Naga City.  When we arrived, a man greeted us and actually took 2 hours with us and showed us through the entire museum.  He is the Curator and has been there many years.  His name was Clodualdo N. Ceron and he was a very cordial and helpful guy.  He said that he knew the leader of our church Mr. Collado and that the Collado daughter had been one of his students.   Elder Collado is one of the Area 70 out of the Manila area and was just recently here on a visit with Elder Nelson.  Elder Collado had previously been a Mission President in the Philippines.  We were treated royally again and thanked profusely for coming to see the Muscum.  I think there are not many people who visit the museum but we enjoyed it and learned a lot.  It would not have been so special without him to show us through.

The Museum contained a lot of history of the University as well as the Philippines.  There was information on the 300 years of Spanish occupation and also the time the United States was here.  The founder of the University was named Jamie Hernandez and he was an accountant/auditor.  I believe that he had, at one time, been in government in the Philippines.  On our way out, we were shown a large document on the wall which was a paper written by Jamie Hernandez on "What Makes an Auditor".  I am sure any of you would be thrilled to read this. Actually, I was interested but Mr. Ceron pointed out one section which talked about Moral Integrity which was very good.

The important part is in the picture here but a little hard to read.  The important part is: "Moral integrity!   Those are not mere words.  These are basic elements of any organization composed of human beings.  You take out those elements and that organization become and empty shell.  It becomes a mistake of nature."  He goes on to talk about the need for integrity within the auditing function and how important it is to for an auditor to be of high moral integrity.  We really liked this and have put a picture of it here just to keep for our memories.

The need for moral integrity is not just for auditors but everyone and it is the only way we can truly relate to each other on this earth.  Sadly, this element is missing in so many of the relationships today whether it be government; business; social; and even within family relationships.  The lack of such integrity is one of the signs of an iniquitous people as identified so often in the Book of Mormon.  This article was written in 1959.

Us with Mr. Ceron from the University Museum.  Sister Hoopes
says that I didn't know I married an Angel.  See her HALO in
this picture?

The rest of the week was piano lessons; picking up missionaries who needed to be moved; assisting on car issues; and so forth. That is it for this week.

PDay at our apartment on Monday.  Also Elder Beard's BDay.
Sister Hoopes had been promising them Mexican Food.

Elder Howard, Elder Hofeling on the left and Elder
Imalay on the right.  E. Hofeling is the new AP.

Elder Garcia on left, Elder Beard with the cake and Elder
Tan on the right.  No candles but it sure tasted good.

President asked us on Tuesday to go to Pili and pick up the
Sister on the right.  She is a VISA Waiver going to Irvine
California and will be leaving on Sunday.  She is crying.

In Lubigan.  This cowboy rode right past the church and up into the trees.

Elder Costner from New Mexico.  We deliverd a package
to him on Sunday.  He is in Buhi but we saw him at the
Iriga District Conference last week.

Sister Killian from Washington also received a package.

We took the Baao Sister and Elders home and they had an
investigator with them who we dropped off here.

Notice the quaintness of this little place.  There are benches on both sides of the little bridge. Everything is cleaned up nice.  There are people in the doorway watching us and one can just picture the inside.  Probably a couple of rooms and some very minor furniture. Probably no water inside or cooking facilities. It does appear to have a solid floor.  Still a very picturesque little place.

We were given some coconut milk and Buko which is the
young coconut.  I am feeding Sister Hoopes the Buko.  She
loves it!!!!!!!

This was taken a little while ago.  The Elder on the right is
Elder Aquino.  He was here on Visa Waiver waiting to go to
the Las Vegas Mission.  He is there now.

This little guy is the son of President Tino in Bato.
When we visit, he sits by me and finds the songs
in the Hymn book for me.  Cute little boy.

12 March 2016

A very different and interesting experience this week!

This was taken during the early procession
into the meeting hall.  They grabbed
ahold of me like I was going to escape.

I have mentionend in past weeks, I was invited to speak at the Brentwood College of Asia International School Commencement Exercises.  I was also asked to give the invocation.  I received the program ahead of time and could see that there was a speaker from Vancouver, Canada so I invited Elder and Sister Watson to go with us.  The event was held at a large center which was not far from the old Mission Home and so we were able to get there quickly and easily.  We left at 3:30 pm, as the event was to start at 4:00.  We found a parking spot and went through a gate that was controlled by security guards without any issues (I think our uniforms give us away) and were promptly greeted by some young women who we did not know.  We were ushered into a large reception hall that was very nice and beautifully appointed. We were given a place to sit while they were getting ready. About 4 pm they started a procession of the graduating students which seemed to take forever but it was interesting to watch.  They had kids from preschool all the way to college who were graduating that day.

After a while, two young women came and asked me to go with them.

The US flag was recognized and the National Anthem was
played by the band.  It was beautiful and great to stand at
attention with our hands over our hearts in a foreign country.

They led me out of the building and up some stairs; across a balcony and then down an elegant winding set of stairs to the outside courtyard where we had entered.  We progressed through the courtyard and then back into the hall and I was seated in the front on the stage.  I was the only one there at this time.  The other speaker came a little later and was ushered in like I was and then the President of the College and the Administrator both ushered in and  sat on the stand.  We had met the President and Administrator before at an English evaluation day at the school and they were very nice and gracious people.  (This was covered in a post last year)  The Philippines National Army Band was there and played a few songs during the ceremonies and also during the Dinner Party afterwards.  Interestingly, the US flag was prominent during the Presentation of the Colors by the Military Police.

The graduating students.

When everything finally got going, we had a speech from the President followed by lots of different recognitions during which the students all came forward in a slow procession again to receive their awards.  At some point, the Canadian named Francesco Cena spoke. He is a young man who is an entertainer, Mr. World Canada, Mr. World Talent, a debate coach, along with many other accomplishments.  They had 2 pages of written material that they covered for him.  I was feeling quite inferior by the time they finished with his Bio.  But, he was very genuine and a great speaker.

Taken during the Dinner Party.  Frankie Cena on the right.
Next to him is the President and then the Administrator is
the woman standing in the middle.

I was scheduled as the closing speaker and it was probably about 8:30 in the evening so we had been there for a long time.  The theme for the event was "7 Billions Dreams, 1 Planet, Consume Carefully".  I took one look at that and said to myself, "I am not going to give a green speech, that just isn't me".  I decided to talk to everyone as an individual about God's plan for us; what God wants for each one and how we relate to each other.  I basically gave a shortened version of the workshop which we do for the Missionaries going home.

The dance group outside in the courtyard in some of their costumes.

 After the formal activities were over, there was a Dinner Party which I hadn't planned to stay for because it was so late but we ended up staying and it was very wonderful.  The facility was beautifully laid out.  There was a nice buffet line but we sat at the Presidents table and we were served.  The food was Filipino and was excellent.  We also had entertainment from the band and from a group of Native Philippino dancers which was very good.

It was truly a memorable evening and I am glad that the Watsons went with us.  We had a great time.

The dancers in the Gazebo in the courtyard.

The whole week was busy with transfers going on from Monday through Wednesday.  After the long night on Monday, we taught the all day workshop on Tuesday and it was probably one of our best days ever.  We had invited our Bishop, Alan Bigtas, to attend and he was really helpful and offered good insight from a Filipino perspective. The concepts we try to teach are especially important as there is a special emphasis on Self-Reliance here in the Philippines.
Wednesday, we helped with the orientation of 15 new missionaries, who arrived that morning from Manila.

That is enough for this week.  We will have lots of pictures of new missionaries and transferred missionaries next week.  Take care......

Saturday lunch at our place prepared by Elder Luardo who
went home on Wednesday.  

Elder Luardo with a plate of Mexican WEDDING cookies
made by Sister Hoopes.  It was a special joke for him
to remember to go home and get married.  We will
miss him.

5 March 2016

And the playing continues.....

This is the skating apparatus.  Small engine and moveable
bench seats.

Monday was District activity day and we went skating....   Not the kind of skating that you would think of when in Utah or Woming. There is no ice!  This kind of skating is done on a small platform on train tracks.  It is actually a mode of transportation for people who live along the train tracks.  This form of transportation is a small platform built on top of some rollers which fit on the tracks.  It has a small gas engine which drives it and a couple of bench seats which can be moved on and off as the need dictates.

One might ask, "What happens when you meet a train or someone coming from the other direction"?

Easy answer.  You just move everyone off and pick it up and move it.  See the picture.....

The district on the skate.  The driver took the picture.  Sorry,
the sun made it very difficult to get a good picture.

Another question might be, "How many people can you get on one of those things"?  Answer: We don't know.  On our way back from nowhere, we started with our 14 and the driver. We stopped somewhere between 7 and 15 times to pick up additional passengers and being wedged in between people, it became impossible to see how many were on our skate. I asked one of the taller missionaries standing in the back to try to count and he finally came back to me and said, "I think about 30".

We actually had a really good time.  The skate moves along fast enough that you feel every bump and connection on the tracks but we got a nice breeze and that made it really good for us.

The rest of our week was just like the past weeks.  We traveled some for piano lessons and Zone training meetings.  Sister Hoopes has been preparing some guides to help non English speaking missionaries practice English.  The following is one of her stories for them regarding the tricycles that provide so much of the transportation.  

(EX. A tricie is a motor cycle with a built on side cart that carries 1 -50 people.  It is a major transportation provider in the Philippines, one must wear a gas mask to survive traveling more than 1 KM (kilometer) if following a Jeepney on a Tricie, because of carbon monoxide poisoning from  the exhaust fumes.)

This is so true!!!

Program for the Graduation Exercises on Monday night.
Notice the Guest of Honor speaker.

We start getting really busy now.  We are leaving this afternoon for a Pamplona District Conference Adult session; tomorow is Buhi Branch in the Iriga district; Monday is the speech at the Brentwood College of Asia International School and Tuesday is the Career Workshop. 

I am adding to this post an email which we received from one of the Missionary Sisters who returned home in January.  It is so fun to read.

Elder and Sister Hoopes! 

        Thanks so much for forwarding the powerpoint and for the sweet email! Your career workshop was totally awesome and has helped me so much in the past almost-month since I've been back. I loved the practical spin you took on Elder Christofferson's talk! I loved the quote "He will not act to make us something we do not choose by our actions to become" and have found it so true even in the almost 4 weeks since I've touched base with the mother land. The day after I got home I was still so inspired ( and jet-lagged) that I applied for BYU Provo, and good thing too, cause the deadline was in 2 days! If it wasn't for your powerpoint and extra push, maybe I wouldn't have applied. Then that same day I applied for BYU, I went out and got a job as a receptionist at a dentist office. I just marched in there all confident, told them my "skills" with wording from that personality test sheet, and BAM I was hired. This week BYU responded and lo and behold I got accepted! So here I am, not even a month back, and I have a great job and start school in the fall. 

Everything has been falling perfectly into place as I've put myself in a position to have it be so. The Lord is so merciful to his obedient and hard working missionaries that really give their all, and is so ready to pour out blessings when we aim high and show Him by our actions what we wish to become. Thank you so much for gearing my mind to think about the future, its really made coping with the loss of the past a much better experience! There is so much to look forward to in this life and I'm just grateful I get to keep living it and figure it all out. I miss the mission SO much, those people changed my life and I love them dearly. I learned so much and my testimony and faith became real to me. The good thing though is that the real life has plenty of opportunities to use that faith and testimony, and I only hope to continue to do my best every day. Dadagos man ako :)

       Thanks again for the workshop, the cookies, the spontaneous rides in your car, and everything else. 

        Love, Sister Chloe McGrath

That is all for this week.  

Look close.  He is turning the skate while on the tracks.  He
lifts one end and puts a jack stand under and then pushes
down and swings the entire contraption around.  The bench seats
are sitting to the right.  They will go back on after turning.

All were invited to the Hoopes' apartment afterwards for hot dogs and fresh donuts.
Hot dogs for breakfast?  The hot donuts were wonderful.

The entire group for breakfast after the activity on Monday.

27 February 2016 Ibayugen

A week of playing and partying!        Well, maybe not quite...

From the boat sailing towards Ibayugen.

 We left Monday morning early with the Watsons and President and Sister Reeder on our way to Ibayugen.  This is a remote area on the other side of the lake which is near Buhi. We arrived a little late due to traffic issues but met 6 missionaries there and our boat to cross the lake.  It took about 45 minutes to cross the lake.  After arriving on the other shore, we had to walk a short distance into the village but it was mostly on a concrete path.  There we met with Branch President Oliveras from Buhi and some of the members in the group in Ibayugen.  We had picked up Branch President Botor from Baao on the way.  We learned that he likes to go when he can.  He is a security guard and he always stood in the back watching over everything as if he were there protecting us.  And MAYBE he was although we never once felt threatened or in any danger.  

Native tribe during their dance.

Sister Missionaries along with the chief in red in the middle
and another woman who I don't know.

There is a native tribe that lives there of about 2000 people.  A few of these native people did a cultural dance for us which showed their gratitude for their lives and the earth.  We struggled to understand the interpreter's explanation of their beliefs but a lot of this was about gratitude for the light and life of the earth.

 A very few of these natives are members.  The chief of the tribe is a woman who is 80 plus years old and not a member.  But they love the Mormons.  We had heard before that a few years ago, a landslide had covered their water supply and they asked government and other religions to help them get water back to their village.  The only ones willing to help were the Mormons through the Church Humanitarian services.  The church went in and developed a new water system and piped it to the village.  To this day, the church is highly respected in Ibayugen and also in Buhi.  

There are missionaries who go there almost daily to teach and they are having great success.  We keep hearing that if the chief were to get baptized, all of the tribe would be baptized.  Consider bringing an entire stake in at one time. Some day, that is going to happen.  

The chief (woman in red in front) and the others from the dance.

This is the home where they hold the church meetings.

We had a great time there with these people.  The chief spoke a little english but no one else does.  So, with help from the missionaries and Branch Presidents, we were able to get along great.

President Botor (Baao branch and our body guard) and me looking
over the lake before returning back to Buhi.

Pres and Sis Reeder along with Elder Kostner from New Mexico.

Pres Botor helping Sis Hoopes from the boat.

The rest of the week:
Piano lessons in Pasacao on Tuesday.
Dinner with the Reeders and Watsons on Wednesday
Couples party in Pamplona.  We went with the Watsons on Thursday evening.
Friday was Naga Zone Conference.

Still seems busy when I start writing about all the things we were doing this past week.  Next week starts with a District activity on Monday morning which we will participate in.  Then it is prepare all week for the following week.  I, Elder Hoopes, have been asked to speak at the Brentwood College of Asia International School Commencement Exercises as the keynote speaker.  I will also be giving the opening prayer.  I have received an invitation which I will post next week.  And then on Tuesday is the all day Workshop for the missionaries going home.

Plastic wrap from the Bautista's and one of the bags of sugar.

Lastly, this week we received an unexpected gift from some great friends in Canada.  One of our Elders here in this mission is from Naga, Elder Bautista.  His parents sent him a package which included some things for Sister Hoopes.  If you can't tell from the picture, it is a large roll of film which dispenses so easily and 3 bags of Canadian sugar.  Sister Hoopes said she might start baking again now that she has this wrap.  And then, just a couple of days ago, I heard her say, "Oh, I am so excited.  I get to use my roll of wrap" as she wrapped up half an onion.  Thanks to you dear missionary parents for your blessings to your missionaries and to us.

That is all for this week.  Take care.

This is a closeup of a small hut on the lake.  They were all over
and people live here on the lake.  See the boat which is their
access back and forth to land.

20 February 2016

District Leaders of the Naga Mission

After such a huge week, we deserved to have a slower week.  After the General Authorities left on Sunday and we got things cleaned up at the Mission Home, we came home and just relaxed.  We didn't have choir practice so we were able to just enjoy the quiet afternoon and evening.

Monday, as usual, was English testing again although only 2 actual tests with one additional practice test with Elder Peralta who is one of the assistants and will be leaving the office in 2 weeks.  He actually goes home in April.  I, Elder Hoopes, spent all my spare time preparing for the District Leader Training on Tuesday.  I have been teaching a part of this meeting since nearly a year ago.  It is held quarterly and is for all of the District Leaders in the Mission.  My assignment is to teach from the Handbook 2 the part on, "Leadership in the church".  It is a very great lesson that I enjoy teaching to these young men. I really appreciate President Reeder allowing me to be part of this. Sister Hoopes attends with me and gets to spend more time with Sister Reeder.  My part only takes 45 minutes but we spend the entire day with them.  It is always special for us to be with the Missionaries and President and Sister Reeder.   Unfortunately, they are usually talking about and dealing with missionary health issues.

Elder Wright and his companion in the office on Tuesday.

Monday night, I, Sister Hoopes, gave a piano lesson to a single adult sister that had been introduced to me by the Piano Teacher who taught piano lessons all last summer at the church next door.  Cilyn was a very good student who picked up my teaching method very quickly.  I was so impressed with her that I decided to send a keyboard home with her that night.  We had an extra long lesson and then it took an extra 15 minutes to set her up with a Keyboard.  Because it is so bulky to carry in a box, and she had a very long way to go, I put the keyboard in the carrying case, and because it had been a little rainy earlier, I decided to cover the keyboard and carrying case with 2 plastic garbage bags, although it was not rainy at the time.  About an hour later, I received this message "Good evening sis. Hoopes...this is sis cilyn...I got hold-up but don't worry they did not take the organ maybe because it is wrapped with garbage bag.  They took my bag with the manual you gave me in it so I cannot practice.  I'm sorry, they have gun with them I did not get the manual."

We felt the hand of the Lord blessing her that night. This brand new keyboard was the most valuable thing that she had.  But to the robbers, it must have looked like garbage. This sweet young woman was robbed and threatened and still worried about not being able to practice, I know she will be a blessing to her ward and her keyboard was saved by the hand of the Lord.  I also learned that I we have to be careful and are protected as a people as we go about the Lords work.




I, Elder Hoopes, took a sick day on Wednesday and I was actually quite ill.  I thought I might have Dengue because of some mosquito bites I had the previous weekend and how I felt but we decided it was probably some kind of flu.  We did all our natural treatments during the day and I received a blessing on Wednesday evening from Elder Watson and felt pretty good on Thursday.  Back to normal pretty much on Friday. Sister Hoopes was feeling a little down yesterday but still did piano lessons last night and again this morning.

We have a big day coming up on Monday.  We are going to Ibayugen with the Watsons and Reeders.  This is a small and remote area where we have a group of saints who are part of the Buhi Branch.  We are going there for a special program that they are putting on for all of the missionaries who are in Buhi and for us.  We drive to Buhi and then get on a boat and cross the lake.  At the shore, we will walk a little way on a dirt path and climb a hill to get to the meeting house which is the home of one of the members.  We look forward to going and meeting with them.  It should be quite an adventure. Will have lots of pictures and an update on our visit for next week's post.

Following are a few pictures from the week.  Have a great week!!

Our air conditioners have been giving us  trouble so they
got a cleaning on Thursday.  Notice the hole in the wall.
That is where the unit sits in our main area.  Another one is
in the bedroom.

Units being cleaned using high pressure washer.

We bought the coconut to drink the milk for 25 Pesos (50 cents).  This is a young
coconut called Buko.  You just spoon out the soft coconut
and can eat it.

One of the great students who has learned to play quite
well taking lessons from Sis. Hoopes.  This is Glenda.

14 February 2016

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

It is now Sunday afternoon on February 14, 2016.  It has been a really crazy week in many ways and a GREAT week in others.  I will explain.

We had a visit this weekend from Elder and Sister Russel M. Nelson, of the Quorum of the Twelve.  With him were Elder and Sister Ardern from the Area Presidency and Elder and Sister Collado, the Area Authority Seventy.  We were notified of the visit a few weeks ago and President and  Sister Reeder asked Sister Hoopes and Sister Watson to take care of providing all of the food for the visit.  That meant a Saturday morning meal; a Saturday afternoon meal and a Sunday lunch after all the meetings were finished.

This was a very special visit for Elder and Sister Watson as Sister Nelson is the first cousin of Elder Watson.  She is from Canada originally and they have not seen each other is about 15 years but have communicated a little by email.  They commented on the fact that they would go clear around the world to meet up with each other.

Choir practice with missionaries on Thursday morning

The week went like this:

On  Sunday, we went to the Naga 1st Ward which meets in the Canaman chapel.  We met with the Bishop about a girl in his ward who has been taking piano lessons from Sister Hoopes.  She needs encouragement and support from the ward.  After this meeting, we went back to our Naga chapel where we attended Priesthood and Relief Socity with the Naga 2nd Ward.  This was just for fun as we had invited the Watson's over for dinner in the afternoon.  Our Naga 3rd ward now meets at 1 pm.

Monday was English tests again for most of the day.  We will finish up the testing tomorrow for all of those going home in March.

Tuesday we left early again for Pasacao for piano lessons and then back to Pamplona where Sister Hoopes met with another Sister who is teaching piano lessons to 9 kids from her area.

One of two practice Lemon Meringue pies.  The Elders were
thrilled to be able to test it for us.

Wednesday was a shopping and food preparation and testing day.  See the attached pictures.

Thursday was District meeting day for all districts.  We had called a Final Practice for the Missionary Choir which was held in the Canaman chapel.  This chapel was being cleaned for the visit of Elder Nelson and it took a major effort to get them to open up and let the missionaries come in to practice but after the practice they all had to go elsewhere for their district meetings.  We went back to our apartment to continue with the food prep and testing.

Food prep at our place on Friday.  We also had lunch with
the Watsons this day.

Friday Sister Hoopes and Sister Watson went shopping for the final things needed for the food preparation on Saturday and Sunday.  Piano lessons in the evening for Sister Hoopes which went until 8 pm.

Saturday morning early, we left for the Mission Home to prepare the Saturday morning Brunch for the visitors arriving around 10:30.  Sadly, the Philippines airline did not cooperate. They were distracted by the fact the "Pres. Aquino of the Philippines" had priority.  He was in the Naga airspace and they wouldn't allow anyone else in, until he had cleared and so, the visitors did not arrive until just in time for their meetings in the afternoon.  Some were able to get a little to eat before they had to run.  Saturday afternoon dinner was very quiet so the food was either very good or they were very hungry and tired.  Maybe all three as Sister Hoopes and Watson received all kinds of praise and recognition for all the food.

Sisters surveying the table for the guests.

Saturday evening was soup and salad with bread sticks and the Quiche from Saturday morning. Sister Hoopes prepared a Pasta Fagioli soup using a "copycat" recipe from the internet.  The soup tasted just like the the soup from the Olive Garden restaurant. They loved it and Elder and Sister Nelson asked for more of the soup on Sunday at lunch.  The Collado's also asked for more when they saw what the Nelson's were eating.  The missionary choir sang  the Hymnplicity arrangement of "Joseph Smith's, First Prayer " during the  Saturday evening missionary session. Our young Elders and Sister did a wonderful job. But more importantly they had a wonderful time preparing and singing for an Apostle.  Sister Baird lead the arrangement and Elder Garcia played the piano, which was no easy task.  This was a brand new experience for them all.  Most of the Elders and Sisters have never sung parts, yet they tried and learned to really enjoy trying to learn to sing. All the missionaries from the entire mission were invited to the meeting.  It was a great time to hear from the Reeders, Arderns and the Nelsons.  Elder Nelson spoke very personally to the missionaries about their calling. He referred us to D&C 31. This section names a number of blessings that are OURS because "of your faith in my work". The blessing that so many of us desire is "I will bless you and your family, yea your little ones; and the day cometh that they will believe and know the truth and be one with you in my church". We all come from different circumstances in our lives, but we all have the same desires, that our families will join with us,"that they will believe and know the truth and be ONE with (US) in (HIS) church".
He then left a special Apostolic blessing upon all the missionaries.  It was very special to all of us who were there.

After the General Authorities left the Mission Home.

Sunday off to the Mission home early.  This lunch included Sister Hoopes' special chicken salad sandwich with her own rolls and an excellent Italian vegetable salad from Sister Watson.  Lemon Meringue pies were made and finished early Sunday morning but were too hot to take up at the time and we never did get them up to the visitors.  However, they had plenty to eat and were very satisfied.  We know that the missionaries downstairs are very hopeful that they will be the recipients of some of the pie as they are being stored in their refrigerator.

This week was truly different because it involved so much of the food preparation and cleanup to make the visit for these General Authorities special.  Also, we were glad to take the burden of food prep and planning off Sister Reeder. The choir practice and singing, proved to be quite stressful as I, Sister Hoopes,was running back and forth between the Mission Home, where we were feeding our visiting authorities, and the chapel, where we had 20 minutes for a final practice. Me thinks I must have been acting quite stressed out because Elder Howard said.  "It's alright Sister Hoopes you just have to have faith. It's good!",  as I was trying to get "38 youngster's" into place and ready to go, before an Apostle of the Lord appeared to shake their hands!!!

That's all for this week.  Hopefully, things slow down a little.

6 February 2016

The week after transfers is always a slower week and we are grateful to have a little less going on.   

This week in quick review was as follows:

The New Zealand Rib Eye STEAK

English Tests all day on Monday

Pasacao for Piano lessons

Feeding Missionaries 

Missionary choir practice for Elder Nelson's visit next week

Month end car reports

Feeding Facility Management

Piano lessons in Naga Friday night and Saturday morning

The week included another visit to the restaurant which the Watsons found and took us to.   The menu included a beef steak from New Zealand so Sister Hoopes just had to try it.  It tasted good but was quite tough with lots of gristle.  She says she

will give them "one more chance"! "Flavorful

tasty steak, too bad I had to chew and

swallow it!"

The assistants for Chili Dogs.  Elder Tan said the next day
that he was  addicted to the chili.  (after one time eating it)

These Elders got Chili over baked potatoes.  I think they
liked it!

A thought for this coming week:

I read a talk given by Elder Holland at a Mission President's Training in June of 2013. This talk is featured on the church web site at lds.org.  It is titled, "Knowing The Godhead". It was an excellent talk on the Godhead and their roles and relationships. I was very touched by a concept which he identified near the end of his talk.  It was in relationship to his testimony of the Holy Ghost.  

He said, "I testify that through the power of the Holy Ghost, we can chase darkness from among us and be warned against danger and against untruth. I bear witness that the Holy Ghost is also the Holy Spirit of Promise, confirming and authenticating covenants and ordinances and ultimately sealing all saving blessings unto eternal life. I am in awe that we have such ready access to a member of the Godhead and have it so constantly and repeatedly if we live worthily of it. I express my near inexpressible gratitude

for the gift of the Holy Ghost."

Missionary choir practice

The underline and bolding of the text are mine. While the concept is not something new, it is not something I had really thought of before. How marvelous that we can actually have a member of the Godhead available to us at any point in time. The Lord has provided for us everything that we need to move ahead in this life to fulfill the measure of our creation. We just need to live worthy of it and take advantage of everything that He has provided for us including the Savior's atonement and the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

That is all for this week. The picture's captions give enough information about each of the pictures.

Until next week.

Our Facility Maintenance friends came by for an
American breakfast of fried potatoes with eggs, ham, bacon
and pancakes. 

Elder and Sister Watson went to Buhi and brought these
bananas home with them.  They were green and covered
with bugs so we stored them in our laundry room.  Now they
are ripe all at once.