A Day in the Life...

 E. Bird, S. Hadlock, E. Hadlock, S. Bird, E. DuPaix, S. DuPaix is photographer!

Good Morning!  We live in an Apt. tower that has 40 floors.  It is strange to have to 

go up and down an elevator to get to your apt!!!  Three couples who work at the 

Philippines Administration Office (PAO) live in our same tower.  We all have parking 

underground and all go in a different times.  One morning we were all on the same 

elevator at the same time. This is also amazing in that there are 

four different elevators!!!

Off to work driving on EDSA. It is a 8-10 lane divided highway which the drivers often make 

into 12 lanes!  It is 6 miles to work and we can usually get there in 10-15 mins.  Now we 

also take EDSA home but you have to go round about so it is 10 miles home and takes 

30-45 mins to get there! We always know that road to turn on because of this monument!

This is the first sight we see as we get to work!  The Manila Temple is so beautiful.  

This picture was actually taken one evening when we stayed late packing food kits. 

The sun comes up so early that we never see the lights on the Temple in the morning!

Our Public Affairs Office! The door on the right is ours.  It is one of the only "secure" 

places, once you get into the building, so you must have the "Key" or be let in!!! I'm standing 

by a tarpoline (no I did not say trampoline!) These are very popular here in the Philippines 

as a great way to get your message out.  This one is to remind everyone to check out our 

new mormonnewsroom.ph!  If you haven't done so, please go there today!  Elder DuPaix 

wrote the article about the Calamity meeting and we also took the pictures!

We often get to work close to 7am so we have a few minutes to check emails, make 

some calls and do some skyping!  It was fun to talk with you Meri!!!

One day we were talking about shoes and how we were suppose to wear "closed toed"

 shoes as the dress code in the PAO.  Our poor little director was shocked as she had never 

heard that direction.  The next day she came and showed us her cute "closed toed" shoes! 

 We had to prove that none of us had dress code violations so we took a picture to prove it! 

It's good to be able to have fun at work!!!

One of Elder DuPaix's assignments is to send out exhibits to different wards and stakes.  

Here he is presenting a New Building Openhouse booklet to a Stake Public Affairs Director.  

Her name is Pink! Notice pink shoes, blouse, and purse!!!

So...since Elder DuPaix has the assignment of exhibits, he thought it might be a good idea to 

see what all these boxes contained before he had them sent all over the Philippines!  He did
a great job of repairing and getting copies of what each exhibit contained.  He was glad he 

wore his work clothes that day as this room gets pretty dirty!

Another thing we do very often is have meetings in our conference room.  Interesting - 

Sis. Bird and Sis. DuPaix are wearing shawls and sweaters!  This was the coldest room in 

the whole building but now we have it fixed!!!  Sometimes we even say we are too warm!

Sometimes we even invite other departments to meet with us.  Haidi, Sis. DuPaix and

 Elder DuPaix are on the right side of the table.  Here we were planning the Calamity 

meeting of which Elder DuPaix wrote about in the mormonnewsroom.ph  Be sure to 

check it out!

A beautiful storm!

With all the rain we have had here, we thought this would be a fun blog. 

These pictures were taken from Elder and Sister Bird's apt.  It faces west, 

toward Manila Bay. You can see the rain pouring down!

These pictures were taken over the course of just a few minutes.

It is amazing to see how fast a storm comes in and then suddenly...

You can see hardly anything!

This is that same affect from our side of the building facing north.

It is an eerie feeling - almost like fog. It comes in quickly, and then it is gone!

This is one of the best pictures of the week from here in the Philippines.  

Jerry comes in every week to wash our cars - rain or shine. 

 This is how he provides for his family.

This week of course it's rainy but Jerry came prepared. 

 He just does his work like always!!!

A Saturday Adventure!

 We started the day with our husbands taking us to the women's correctional institution.  

Sis. Bird and I were not very happy to be there!

 At least they marked us so we would be able to leave when the time came!  We 

actually went there to buy some of their crafts.  The inmates make darling 

little beaded purses and other things.

 Our hubbies took us home after we had purchased at least one thing from 

each of the girls!

 We started down this very busy road and wondered where we were going to go 

when we saw this garbage truck at the end of the road.

 We hoped he would stop but he just kept coming.  Can you see him motioning us forward?  

Can you also see there are people and tables in our way?

 He looks at us and says, "Look.  You have this much room."  He must have thought

 we were driving a trike instead of a car!!!

 Whoa!  Two inches to spare!

But the great people on the street were trying to clear out and help us so we made it through!!!

 Our final adventure of the day was to find the patch of green that we can see from 

our Apt.! We can actually drive to it!  It is the only park-like area that we have seen 

close to where we live.  We were lucky enough to find them "mowing" the lawn!

 It must take him hours!

Of course, all that grass must be raked up.  The rake looks like a bundle of sticks 

but it works great.  They also use them to sweep the roads and I have one 

to sweep my floor!  It works really well!