Email sent July 19, 2009

Well three months into the mission and some days we stillwonder what to do. The one day Elder Adams took a nap. When he got up he had afunny look on his face and I ask him what was wrong. He said “ I had a scarydream I was in the Philippines and when I woke up here I am in thePhilippines!”We have been really busy and have loved it. The mission officecalled us and asked if we would help with the new senior couple coming to themission on July 14. The Mission President change took place on July 1 and theAP”S were busy training the president and his wife, so they didn’t have time togo check out the House in Sipalay the Elders found to rent. We told them surewe would be happy to help out.. We went to Sipalay on July 6th . Wepicked up the Zone Leaders and 3 members of the branch and went to checkout the house . The owner lives onanother island and no one has been living in the house for awhile. It islocated right next to a gas station which is owned by the same person. We wereat the gas station standing under a canopy waiting for the house key . We werejust talking and all of a sudden I felt something on my head and it started to move. I quicklypushed it off!!! There on the ground running off was a small lizard. There musthave been 8 or 9 people standing there and it lands on my head!!!! It waspretty funny. I don’t yell when things like that happen now. It is so common tosee them running around and they eat the ants and mosquitos for their meals. Wegot the key and off to the house. First impression “ Extreme Home Makeover”.The yard was all over grown. The inside was dirty. A dead mouse had built ahome in the drawer of the closet. The paint had started to come off the walls.Come to find out it is the only home in the city for rent. We told the owner ifhe would drop the rent to 6000 pesos a month we would rent it. He agreed tothat amount and we could deduct the amount we put into fixing the house up at2000 pesos a month until it is all deducted. He also agreed we could stay inthe house while we fixed it up. We set the game plan to come back on wed. withsome of the furniture and supplies to paint. We decided to do the painting sothe house would be ready on time. When we arrived at the house there were 5members cleaning in the yard. They were so excited to have a senior couple comeonce again. The Bakers from Idaho lived down there for a few months. The house they lived in was alreadyrented. It started to rain so we allwent into the house and started to paint the front room. I don’t think theyhave painted before. They really worked hard and we were able to finish thefrontroom and the hallway. The security man for the house and gas station cameto help us paint the bedroom. There was a piece of corkboard on the wall so Iasked Elder Adams to take it down so we could paint there. He touched the boardand something moved that was behind it. I said it was probably a little lizard.He said NO it was bigger than the little lizards. We asked the security man tocheck it out. Well a big lizard came running it from behind the board. The mangrabbed the straw outside broom and started to hit the lizard as it ran up thewall. They were both pretty fast and quite a sight to watch. The man won thebattle and the lizard was unconscious as he took it out the front door. Theselizards make quite a sissing noise when they upset. Glad to have it out of thehouse. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to sleep in the bedroom that night. Anywayback to painting the man got three walls done to our one wall and his wife cameto help by sweeping and mopping the floor. We had the bedroom done in no timeat all. When the paint dried we could see why he was so fast. He missed a lot ofspots, by now we are starting to get low on paint and trying to decide whichroom we should touch up. The front room won out. The bedroom has the new looklike when they use the rag rollers.We wereable to get the kitchen done the nextdaywith paint we bought at the market. We ask for two gallons of white paintand thought that was what we bought. When we got ready to paint the extrabedroom early Friday morning the paintwas not white. The paint inside the can was more of a pale green color. Therewas no way to take it back so we used it for the top half of the bedroom andthe left over brown from the kitchen on the bottom half. We decided that wasokay because the tile in the room was half pink/white and the other halfgreen/white. We called it the left over room. On Friday the zone leaderscontacted all the Elders to come help.We had 14 Elders and planned to work in the yard but it rained too hard so theycleaned the bathroom, under the cupboards and the floors. They were a big help!Ruth a return missionary and our best help fixed our lunch for us. I gave hersome money and she did the meal along with a friend. We finished about 1pm witha house that looked and smelled much better. We stopped in Kabankalan at aleather shop to get my songbook recovered with a leather cover. He told me hewould have it finished next week when we came back down. Took the Elders homeon our way back to La Carlota. Slept very good Friday night in our own bed! Satmorning it is raining very hard and we were suppose to go visiting with thePonteveda RS. We decide to still go the meeting place and see if they come.When we got there they were waiting. They said they asked the branch presidents’swife if she thought the missionaries would still come. She told them that theyare Americans and they will come rain or shine, so they finished theirpreparations. We were glad we decided to still go.We went to 3 inactive housesand had really nice visits. We encouraged them to come to church on Sunday. Wehad a nice lunch that the sisters brought with them. It sat in the truck allmorning without being kept cool. We still ate it and the food blessing workedwe didn’t get sick. Bro Durio is who we ate with. He used to be in the branchpresidency but got out because it is sohard to get to church all the time. Has been inactive so we asked him to cometo church on Sunday. We would be attending the branch and would know whether hecame or not. That is a real problem here. They will say they will come as tonot offend you, but have no intention of coming. We went to a man’s home by thename of Flores. He remembered my aunt and uncle that served here. He said hewould come to church on Sunday. It was a real nice day! Sunday we went tochurch at Pontevedea. Bro Durio beat us to church. He was at the church waitingfor the gate to be open. His wife and children all work in Manilla and comehome to visit every so many months. He catchs crabs and sells them. He reallylikes Elder Adams you can tell. Elder Adams really has a way with the Filipinomen. They really enjoy talking to him.. We gave their branch some white shirtsand ties to keep in the presidents office to use for doing the sacrament. Thenwe travelled about an hour to Moises Padilla to do some teaching training. Mostof the members there have been in the church under 1 year. The branch presidenthas been a member for 2 years. The missionaries have taught Pres Samolte verywell and he has been teaching some lessons. The language is still such aproblem.. We have to get some one to transalate to make sure they know what weare saying. They say they understand English but don’t really understand. Thisis just a little sample of what we do as missionaries of the Church of JesusChrist of Latter-day Saints. We love the opportunity to share our testimony ofour Savior Jesus Christ! Love to all! Elder and Sister AdamsPs We meet the new mission president on July 16. We really like him and his wife a lot. They are very friendly and really want to help the branches and districts function better. Pres Tobias is planning on training the leaders again and it has worked out that our district will be the first one! The new senior couple made it here and are in the house we fixed up. They texted us"They are hot and sticky". Welcome to the Philippines!
Pictures:
The zone of missionaries at the zone activity, walking on a bamboo bridge,Elder Adams cutting the lawn, and us at Moises Padilla church