Father's Day Week!

Father's Day was the beginning of a big week for us! We had a wonderful day of church 

at the Buendia Chapel in the Makati 4th Branch.

We asked our cute security guards to take our picture in our apt. lobby. 

What a handsome Daddy our children have!

Roger requested good old hamburgers for dinner so we did it up right and 

I made our traditional baked beans!

We had so many toppings, it was hard for Roger to wrap his hands around the burger!

He also got a couple of gifts - the favorite? The candy bars of course!

The next day was our Philippines Area Office Devotional. We get to have them every week 

and it is a good start to our day! It was the Public Affair Department's turn to  prepare

 the devotional and Haidi asked us to speak. It was a sweet humbling experience.

That night we had a little celebrations with the DeLaMares before they returned to Utah. 

 Chili's opened a restaurant at Mega Mall so we attended the grand opening! Their chips

 and salsa are still wonderful! We will miss the DeLaMares and their leadership!

 The next day we were sitting at our desks and heard the door open. Then we heard, 

"Hello Coach!" There stood Will Vea from Utah! He was one of Roger's 

football players at Skyline High School. He has been serving in the Philippines and 

will soon be returning home.

 Elder Vea kind of stands out in a crowd here in the Philippines! 

Elder DuPaix, Elder Vea and his companion and Haidi, our cute director!

What a great week! Sun. we were back at church and a family was visiting from Singapore - 

Nathan and Jessica Lawler and their little daughter Sage.  The young man came and 

asked Roger if he knew his Grandmother. He said he had seen a a DuPaix on her Facebook

 page. Roger said he did know Marty and John, his grandparents, but better yet, Roger also

 knew his Great Grandparents and several other family members! Awesome! 

What a small world it is especially in the Church!!!

Intramuros - A Trip to the Past

 Our Senior Missionary Zone had a wonderful activity as we went into Intramuros.
It is a fortress the Spanish built when they conquered the Philippines.
Our friend, John Go Hoc planned a wonderful afternoon and evening for us.
We met at his school, The Kiddie Joy School and got to meet
several of his darling students.

In 2007, John decided he would teach the street children of Intramuros some lessons from the  Bible. 100 children came and after that week, they came back so he began teaching them from his porch. Now he has 20 young men and women who help teach 400 students. He has had a great influence on many children and as they graduate, he also helps them get into collage.

We met at John's school and were entertained by this cute group of children playing tone bells. They played "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You" and "How Great Thou Art". They were the perfect songs for our age group and of course, several of us sang along!

They put away the tone bells and brought out these beautiful bamboo 

instruments call angklungs.

They are two pieces of bamboo tuned to the same octave and when you shake 

them up and down, they produce a beautiful flute sound!

Elder Jackson said that we should return the favor and teach them one of our 

fun songs, "Wadallyachy"! The kids were wonderful and could keep up with Elder 

much better than we could!

Soon our trolly car arrived to take us for a tour of Intramuros!

Sis. Ferrin, Sis. DuPaix, Sis. and Elder Jackson!

Our first stop - Plaza San Luis Complex (Casa Manila)

Wonderful re-creation of the early architecture. The Casa, is a museum showing the 

affluent lifestyle at the turn of the century and included beautiful artifacts. 

Elder and Sis. DuPaix in the Court yard.

We then took a walking tour along the wall and into Fort Santiago. 

There are horse drawn carriages or calesas all around Intramuros.

The gate of Fort Santiago - Built in the 1500's.

Many missionaries and friends in our Zone.

Statue of Dr. Jose Rizal. He was held prisoner here in the fort.

These footprints mark the way he walked to where the Spanish executed him by firing 

squad. He was killed because he wanted independence for the Philippines so they

 could have their freedom. He was uniting the people with his writings so the Spanish

 put him to death. Rizal is a national hero.

Posing with a guard looking over the Pasig River

That evening we went to Barbara's for dinner and a dance floor show. It was 

interesting to see how much Spanish influence there was in both the dances and 

the beautiful costumes they wore.

Hellos and Good-byes

Hello!

 A few weeks ago we had the 

wonderful opportunity of seeing 

some sweet friends again! 

Elder and Sis. Howell came to the

 Manila Temple.  We were in the 

MTC with the Howell's plus our 

daughter's had served as mission 

companions in the San Diego 

Mission! The Howell's came with 

a group of Latter-day Saints

 from Malaysia!

These wonderful people came to do their own temple work and also work for their families!

It was wonderful to get to see them again! That was a fun hello but a few days later, we were saying good-bye to our mission leaders, Pres. and Sis. DeLaMare and the Hables from our Branch.

  We had a big party but the cute guy in the yellow shirt fell out of a tree and broke his 

elbow so their family was home tending him! We also found another connection with 

Derek and Cathy.  Cathy's dad had played football at BYU with Elder DuPaix!

 It is a small world!

Ben DeLaMare and Elder DuPaix. What a fun kid who kept our Senior Zone young!

Janice and Doug McAllister with the DeLaMares

Sorry Pres. Bohn! Didn't mean to catch you eating!!!

This is the cute Little Family! We have gotten to work with them in
Sunday School and with the music at Church!

Charity Windsor and Melinda Bailey

And I made GF lemon bars to celebrate the event!
Several of us are gluten intolerant in our Branch!

 Elder and Sis. Harris are our office couple! They work so hard to keep the mission going. 

 We will have to tell them good-bye at the end of July along with Elder and Sis. Miller.

 

We had also had to say good-bye to our cute legal externs! Shantel and Alex were only 

here for six weeks but you become a family when you are away from home!

 Then came some of the hardest news of our mission. Elder and Sister Hadlock had to return

 home from their mission early as Sis. Hadlock's cancer returned after three years in remission! 

We don't like good-byes!

 Sis. Hadlock, The DeLaMares, Elder Hadlock 

They were serving as our Humanitarian Country Directors.

Our last Zone Conference of Monson's Warriors before Pres. and Sis. DeLaMare returned home.
Good- bye :-(
 

Baguio Adventure and Training!

Our Baguio Trip began at 4am! We met at the PAO and got a van with Luie, 

our wonderful driver! It was a beautiful drive, especially seeing the 

sun rise over Mt. Ariah.

 

 We stopped for a CR break and found a good one - a seat AND paper! Awesome!

 We saw this little tike as we left NLEX and headed into Urdaneta. We couldn't 

believe all the baskets they had packed on, and inside, their family!

 Another tike we drove past was full of young men, at least 5 or 6. Roger rolled 

down the window to take their picture and they shouted out, "Hello Joe!" He said

 that in Viet Nam, the locals always said the to him - GI Joe.

 Next stop - Lion's head. It was awesome. Everyone was stopping for pictures in the 

canyon going up to Baguio.

Sorry, a moving car just does not do justice to the homes that are built straight up
 the mountain. We understand more fully why they worry of earthquakes here!

Baguio is beautiful and cool! It is so high that even pine trees grow there! 

As we drove up to Camp John Hay. When we drove up, I couldn't believe it!

 I felt like we were in Park City!

 The inside reminded us of Westgate!
For a little bit, we could imagine 

that we were close to home -
just on vacation!

 After we checked in we did some touring. Haide, her son Vaughn, and 

Elder and Sister DuPaix in front of the Presidential Mansion.

It is the summer home I'm sure!!!

 We decided we were all tired of being taller

 than Haidi!

 Luie than took us to a shopping area high on the hills of Baguio, overlooking the canyon. 

There was a photo op where you could put on the native clothing and take pictures. 

There was the cutest little girl there with me!!!
She wasn't very excited about having me in her picture though!

 Elder DuPaix with his cute little Native wife, Sis. DuPaix.

After we left, we bought some strawberry jam and peanut brittle and then went to

 "Easter Weavers"to see how they actually make the clothe. It was toltally amazing. 

These looms are almost 100 years old.

Sat. Morning we went to the Chapel for our training. Most of the meeting 

houses have outside basketball courts. These cute young men were having 

a great time - and none were members of the Church!

We had a wonderful training with the Stake Public Affairs leaders in the Baguio area. 

After much urging from Elder DuPaix, Sis. Bailey and Sis. DuPaix finally sang a 

duet with Haidi accompanying. We sang "Teach Me to Walk".

Our Baguio Training batch! Wonderful women, almost all of whom are involved 

in the teaching profession.

Shopping before heading back to Manila.

Sis. DuPaix buying oranges at the wet market. (Wet verus dry goods!) 

They were really good!

The funniest sight - McDollibee. Quite the combination of McDonald's and Jollibee 

who are the biggest competitors for the fast food marker here. However, I don't think 

he was selling burgers!

We came down the canyon, which reminded us of Provo Canyon, complete with a 

lovely waterfall. It was June 1st, Grandpa Rasband's birthday and I thought of the many 

trips we had taken up Provo Canyon to visit his Mom in Heber. I think he would have

 enjoyed our ride!!!

Hanging bridge over the canyon! There was a nice resort on the other side - 

if you dared to go across!

Coming to the end of a wonderful trip! A beautiful sunset! Then the thunder, lightening 

and rain set in. Our driver was amazing and kept driving even when some of the big 

trucks gave up! It is one of the worst storms we have driven in! We were very happy 

to arrive home safely!