Happy Thanksgiving 2013 from Cebu, Philippines

      Okay, so neither of us has eaten Thanksgiving Dinner in a restaurant before. But we did this year, and it was great! No preparation - no dishes to do. Even better than that was the company!

Sister and President Schmutz at the end of the table. 

Will and I on the left, Elder and Sister Mather on the right.

President - Mathers - then, Sister Evans, and Sister and Elder Ernstrom.

At the far end - Sister Keller, and Elder Wieland. 

(Sister Wieland was graciously taking the pictures.)

Elder and Sister Sommerfeldt

      The name of the restaurant was "The Ranch," and the decor was very western. The chair seats were even stitched to look like the pocket on jeans. As you can tell, the dinner was the traditional turkey, dressing, cranberries, and potatoes and gravy. We did have to laugh at the President when the pumpkin pie came, and he said, "I'm glad I ordered a large piece." The pie was about 1/3 the size of a regular piece we would have at home. However, the meal was delicious and helped us realize it really was Thanksgiving Day. 

Monday was P-day

      We have been in the mission field for almost a month and finally had a Preparation Day. Not that we have been hard done by - at all - but it was good to go and play today and enjoy being outside.
      We decided to go to Mactan Island and explore. Mactan Island is where the airport is, and also where they sell ukuleles.....YUP you guessed it!

Sights of the island:

shopping

churches

schools and students in uniforms

Trikes...Want a ride?

I take lots of pictures from the car window.

Notice the head gear many of the young  people wear here.

      After driving around for awhile, we saw a large resort - The Imperial Palace. It turned out to be a very elegant, very pricy hotel. We walked through the lobby and down toward the swimming pools.

The beach was mostly rocks with a little sand, and really wasn't what we had anticipated, even though the pictures look lovely.

      On our way out, we checked at the desk to see how much they would charge us to just come and swim in their pools for the day: 2500 pesos each a day. That is about $81.00 each. Guess we won't be doing that!
      As we were leaving the resort, we asked where we might find a ukulele factory. They said to turn right at Julie's Bakeshop. ( There is only a Julie's Bakeshop on every other corner.) When we got to that street, it looked more like a narrow alley, so we didn't turn in. After eating lunch a little further down the street, we asked someone there where we might find a ukulele factory.They said to go back up the road and turn left at Julie's Bakeshop. So, we went back and sure enough it was the right street.

      The guitar and ukulele shop was a very small, pleasant, clean place that was run by a husband and wife. She made jewelry out of shells - of course I bought a necklace from her - 40 pesos. They carried very expensive to very inexpensive ukuleles.

Will is the king of bartering, and we finally paid 1,000 pesos for a ukulele that was marked 2,500 pesos. There was lots of joking, laughter, talking, and getting to like these fine people. Bottom line, Will offered 2,000 pesos for two ukuleles.

      The husband said that was just too low. Will explained that theirs was the first shop we had stopped at, so we would look around. We said a pleasant good-bye, walked out of the store, opened the car doors to get in and the wife said, "He will take that, come back." So we did! The wife also gave us a carrying bag for each instrument.
      Then, I asked her for two picks. She only had one new one. She said it cost 25 pesos, and would just give us the other used one. Will was trying to pull out 25 pesos, and I said, "For heavens sake, just give them this, and pulled a 100 peso bill from his hands. They were laughing hard. 100 pesos is such a small amount, but I think it made their day, leaving them feeling good about the sale, and I also think we got a good deal. It made a very pleasant day and a fun memory.
       We are now the owners of two fine looking and sounding ukuleles. Each day we are taking lessons from u-tube, trying to figure out how to play the darn things. I can't believe how sore our fingers get. Also, Karen hates that she had to cut all her fingernails short to play the chords.

       A couple more stops on the way home - a stop at the mall for a ukulele chord book, etc., and a quick grocery store stop completed the shopping.
       Because Monday is the day we are allowed to use the washer and dryer at the mission office - which laundry room is actually the temple laundry - we ended up at the office.
      There we were invited to go to dinner with Ernstrom's and French's. Sister French is the mission  mental health advisor. She is working with some of the Tacloban missionaries who are still struggling. About four more missionaries have now chosen to return home early, with a medical discharge from their missions. Many have been able to move forward, but some feel they need to return home. They may return at a later date. However, now they need the stability of home to heal. Our love and blessings go with them.
      Sister Schmutz has also been ill for the last three days. She is such a sweetheart and a very integral part of this mission. Thank goodness for the Priesthood, and a blessing given to her by her good husband. We need her here with us.

Wow! Sights and sounds of a fantastic weekend!

     Today, Sunday, 24 November 2013, Elder and Sister Sommerfeldt attended church in the Balamban Branch 1 and Balamban 2. The drive to get to Balamban from Cebu takes about one hour and 30 minutes. The drive is very beautiful - from the sea on the East side of the island of Cebu

This is Cebu City on the East side of the island. The island in the distance is Bohol.

Before our mission was split last July, it was also in our mission. 

Bohol is now part of the Cebu East Mission.

 - over the mountain - to the sea on the West side of Cebu.

We are standing on the Island of Cebu - West side.

The land mass in the distance is the Island of Negros. It is also in our mission.

      We understood that church began at 9:00 a.m., and we were feeling good because we arrived at about 20 minutes to 9:00. Then we discovered that Branch 1 begins at 8:00 a.m. and Branch 2 begins at 9:30 a.m. So, we enjoyed Sacrament Meeting in Branch 1 - at least the last 30 minutes of it, then stayed for Sacrament Meeting in Branch 2 at 9:30, since we had not taken the sacrament. Of course the young missionaries greeted us warmly, but so did the members of each branch.
      Sister Isaacson was also new to Branch 1, having been transferred there on Thursday, and she bore her testimony in the first meeting. She is a re-assigned Tacloban missionary. Part of her testimony included: On Tacloban during the typhoon, "I woke up in the night and felt I should pray for the members. I did not know why. I wasn't aware they were in danger. I did pray, and our members were protected. God loves us all, members and non-members." She was speaking some in English and some in Cebuano.
      President Telebrico visited with us before the 9:30 meeting, inviting us to introduce ourselves and bear our testimony during the meeting. Sister Hutchings and Sister Sawyer invited us to sit with them, and they introduced us to Jenny and her daughter, Meyann (said Mi-ann).

      One day as these two sister missionaries were tracting, they were "taking trike."

      The driver kept asking when they wanted to get off. They weren't sure, but finally said they were ready to walk. Across the street they saw a young girl, and they walked across to talk to her. Her name was Meyann. She is 11 years old. They asked her if she would take them to talk to her mother. She was happy to do that. The Sisters gave Meyann and Jenny the first lesson. By the end of the lesson, they both said they wanted to be baptized. Now Rianato, Jenny's husband is also taking the lessons. He has been a heavy smoker, but this last week, he cut that down to 1 cigarette a day. He has said by next Sunday he will stop completely. Jenny and Meyann's baptisms are on Saturday, December 21st. They hope Tianato will be ready to join them. 

      The house that Jenny and Meyann lives in holds three apartments with three different families. The cement walls divide the apartments, but do not go clear to the ceiling. Another family in the apartment house has been listening as the lessons have been given. They now want the Sisters to visit them and give them the lessons. They are very interested. 

      The Lord work is hastening! If we as missionaries do not find the elect, they will find us. 

       Another street contact told the girls he was not interested in their message. Before they left him, they told him he was welcome any time at their church. This Sunday he showed up at church and they have an appointment with him to teach him this afternoon. 

      As soon as we sat down in Branch 2, this little boy and his brother moved their chairs over by Elder Sommerfeldt's chair. They sat there the entire meeting, very reverent - not moving away. Elder Sommerfeldt encouraged them to fold their arms during Sacrament and the prayers. I'm sure he has two life-long friends.

      The same sister spoke in Sacrament Meeting, taught our Sunday School class, and then taught our Relief Society class. I mentioned to one sister at the end of RS that I would be willing to teach RS occasionally if they would like me to. Wow! I'm teaching this coming Sunday - my choice of topics as long as it is about a talk given in the Liahona by a member of the First Presidency. I think a table cloth and flowers are probably in order. It's fast Sunday, so no chocolate!

On the way over the mountain, here are some of the things we saw:

Palm trees and mountains.

Bulls - notice the rope that is hooked through the nostril of the bull. 

Sometimes they were staked in place - sometimes they were wandering free. 

This one was particularly funny, because we saw him on the way to church. On the way home, I wanted to try and get a better picture of him as he was walking along the road. As I rolled down the window of the car and held up the camera, he was running away from us.

Nurseries - selling flowers and other plants.

This morning these shelves were full of flowers.

There are fruit stands everywhere.

Many areas of the road were very steep.

 In some places the road had slid from unstable soil, making the road very uneven. 

I was very excited, because last week, I learned the word hinay (said - he ni) means slow down.

Here is a house that lost some of it's roof during the typhoon. 

Also notice the fence. They come in all varieties here. 

We enjoyed seeing this sign.

It was close to this thatched roof house.

Sunday is obviously laundry day.

Terraced gardens.

Back home in Cebu. Can you see the temple?

      Relief efforts are still on-going for Tacloban and other areas which were torn apart by the typhoon. 

About 25 motorbikes arrived to be distributed with the supplies. The motorbikes are for the Bishops so they can deliver supplies or medicine to their members in remote locations. 

This is one of the young survivors of Tacloban. 

This girl was tending the baby while his mom attended the temple.

On Saturday, A former Elder and Sister from the Cebu Mission were married in the Cebu Temple.

The Elder had been in the office to see us earlier, but we didn't get his picture taken. 

His new wife was happy to show off her beautiful wedding dress.

     Saturday afternoon on our way to the Ayala mall,

 we passed this up-scale housing.

You see all sorts of things while driving.

Driving anywhere in the Philippines is an adventure. Especially in the big cities.

And we thought Italy was bad ... not!

Grocery shopping at the mall: Rice anyone?

 Friday night was date night: dinner and a movie. 

Oh, the benefits of being senior missionaries.

Elder and Sister Sommerfeldt, Elder and Sister Johnson, and Elder and Sister Brown.

Johnson's and Brown's are Temple Missionaries.