We have to wash what?

I've been a bit slow getting back to my blog having already finished this one once - 

then forgot to save it and LOST it.  So sad!!!  But I downloaded the picts again and here
 goes!  When planning a meal you must plan to prepare in plenty of time so you don't
 become too hungry!  Since we did the shopping last blog, thought we should tell you what
we do with the food once we get it home!  We wash all the fruits and veggies in a special
 preparation or clorox water to eliminate bacteria, then rinse it all in filtered water.

We need to be careful with our lettuce to wash, rinse, dry and stuff in a plastic zip lock so 

it can stay as fresh as possible.  Sarah and John, this is when we really need that

 Salad Spinner you gave us for Christmas!!!

After everyone told me we had to eat as much mango as possible, thought I would show
you the first one I ever peeled.  If it is ripe enough, it is easy.  Or you can just cut off the
front and the back and scoop it out with a spoon like they do at the Mall when they make

 Mango Shakes!  Just put a couple of mangos in a blender along with some fruit juice, 

a cup of crushed ice, and blend while adding some canned milk!  Yummy!

You even have to soak your cans here!  

Wash, rinse, dry, and they are ready to put away or open!

Finally!  We get to eat!  It has been fun to share a few meals with Elder and Sister Bird!  

Notice the pitcher of juice on the table.  It is our new favorite drink - Four Seasons.  

It is a combination of pineapple, mango, orange and guava!

After dinner we have another fun job.  Doing the dishes is kind of like camping indoors. 

 We have no hot water in the kitchen, but we have some filtered water there.  We have 

hot water in the bathroom, but it is not filtered!  So...we get hot water from the bathroom 

and add "Joy" and clorox for the wash cycle and boil the water in the kitchen for the rise

 water.  Elder DuPaix has lots of fun trying not to burn his fingers when rinsing!!!

Now the work is done, the fun begins!  We went to the store and found Haagen Dazs
ice cream on sale of half off so we bought several.  We didn't realize that our little splurg
 would cost us $25 bucks!

Let's go Shopping!

We begin by parking our motorcycles!  There are almost as many parked in the lot as there are cars!

 Next we go through security.  Notice male and female have their own lines. 

 They are careful to check bags and purses.

 There is a beautiful selection of seafood.  Other things are available at certain places, sometimes!  We go to one store for milk, one Mall for Cool Whip, and another for pudding!

 John, just had to send some sushi for you!

 The sales assistants are so helpful.  There is usually one person assigned to each row in a store.
These young people are not usually high school or college students.
Many have design or marketing degrees.  It is crazy.

 They have a specific uniform for the area they work in!

 Right down to the shoes!!!

 Another department!  They were helpful with finding my" hair care"!  These wonderful young men and women are very respectful.  They always greet us with "Hello Mum-Sir" for Sister, and "Hello Sir, po" for Elder.  There is no female or male distinction in their language so they just say both.  

"Po" is said to show honor.  They are so polite and friendly!

When you are tired after shopping, be sure to head for the Senior Citizen line, 

complete with a bench for resting!!!

Notice the cute checkers and baggers are also dressed in uniforms, with their hair all done up in buns.

They also use their checkers to help with advertisement - hence the head gear!

This was one of my favorite pictures.  There were five assistants helping Elder DuPaix 

make his purchase.  Sometimes I think they are so excited to be able to help. 

We went to buy a light bulb and nine assistants came to our aid!

We are finally done so some relaxation and message therapy is in order!  p10 isn't too bad a price for a great three minute workout!

On the Road to Malaya!

Today we took our second trip to the Malaya Branch.  It is about 2 hours southeast of Metro Manila, depending on the traffic.  We looked at a map and couldn't even find it!  Elder and Sister Bird drove us there today and said, "When you see this tree, you know it is time to turn left to Malaya!  And yes, she is sweeping the dirt under the tree!

There are some beautiful sights along the way like this tree canopy.

 The first time we went to Malaya was our first Sunday here in the Philippines.  

Several of the trees had these beautiful orange blossoms but today they were all gone.

 I am always drawn to the children.  It is so scary because the roads are narrow and the people's doorsteps are next to the road.  Many times the children sit on the side of the road to play.

 This is the most common sight - clothes drying on a line, or a fence or even the side of the road.  These wonderful people may not have very much but they are clean and happy.

 This is the Malaya Chapel.  It is beautiful!  We found out that when people have to go further than two jeepney rides to church, the Brethren begin looking for a place for a new Chapel for that area.

 This picture was taken our first Sunday here.  Elder and Sis. Bird, 

Pres. and Sis. Delamare (our Mission President) and Elder and Sis. DuPaix.

 Today (July 8th) was awesome!  I got to go to Primary!  We brought a keyboard with us 

so we got to play and sing songs!  These are very precious little children!

 Sis. Bird taught them the Wise Man and the Foolish Man!

 Our Chapel even has two built in lawn mowers!

 On the way home we were able to see some rice paddies up close 

that were not submerges in water.

 This is rice that has been harvested and has been set out to dry -- right on the road.  

It is the hottest, dryest place.  The log is your warning to go around and not drive on it!

 We also found that we could just pick up our meat for dinner along the way.  We have pork!

 Fish!

 and Chickens!  Pluck your own!!!

 This was the picture of the day!  This is one way to transport your new coach and chair!  

Just load it on a tricycle! (Trike)

 From the country to the city!  What a difference!

 We stopped at our Mission President's home. 

 It is beautiful and we hold zone conferences there.

 Finally!  Home Sweet Home!  This is our apt tower!  We live on the 19th Floor which is on the floor above the fifth cement support beam.  Our apt. windows are inside the alcove so you cannot see them!

Independance Day

 Happy 4th of July!  We have been celebrating most of the week! 

We got together with many of the senior couples for family home evening.  This picture was actually taken a few weeks ago at our zone conference.  We are very blessed to have so many senior couples and Sisters in our mission -34 to 36.  We have so many because the Area Office has so many different ways for missionaries to serve and the office is in our mission!

 Sis. Miller made rice krispie treats into cute fireworks!

 Today we celebrated Sis. Hardick's birthday.  These are some specialties - 

egg or custard pie and the cake roll is made of meringue filled with custard!

 But the rain also came to try to dampen our spirits.  It rained so hard yesterday 

that they suspended school in some of the low lying areas because of the flooding. 

 This is water running off the sidewalk on our way home!

 We had our own party when we got home.  We had the Bird's over for dinner!  We found BBQ ribs at S&R (like Costco) and pistachio pudding and cool whip at one of the malls so we could make that yummy salad!  The Bird's brought huge baked potatoes and...

 Rootbeer Floats to top off the evening!  They couldn't find vanilla ice cream 

so we put in vanilla almond!  It was very yummy!

 Since they have already had their Independence Day here (June 12)  There were no fireworks but we found our own out our window - blue and green

 blue, pink and green

 and blue and yellow!

                                         Sorry, we missed the picture with the hot pink top!

Happy Independence Day to you all!