14 September 2010

Dallin: "I didn't know he would be so soft."

The Taoist Temple in Cebu is a Chinese place of prayer. There is a sign where you go into the "temple" that tells you how to know the answer to your prayer. It says you should throw these little blocks on the ground and how they land tells you what your answer is. I'm thankful that I know about the Holy Ghost and how to pray to Heavenly Father and get answers. Some people have some very different ideas, don't they? When the missionaries teach people how to pray, it changes their life. When you open this blog, you might want to go to the bottom and read about the last picture first. It might be easier for you to understand. I love you so much, Grandma

Elder and Sister Burton are from Salt Lake City. Their children wanted them to serve a mission and are helping pay for them to be here. They are both artists, and Brother Burton has been making little model Filipino houses when he has some spare time on Preparation Day. He gave one of these houses to us and we will bring it home with us. Aren't they cool looking? Brother Burton plays the piano, and he is using the keyboard in this picture to teach people how to play. Not very many people here know how to play the music for singing in Church. I am glad some of you are learning how to play so when you go on your mission you will be able to play songs for church. Some branches sing without a piano and it's harder that way.

Elder and Sister Outcalt are grandparents too. They came to the Cebu Mission in June. Bryce and Spencer, Sister Outcalt is the aunt of someone in your ward, Matt Holyoak. This picture is taken at the place where a new church house will soon be built in Tubigon. We really like the Outcalts. They are excited to be missionaries here. They are helping the new members of the church learn how to be leaders. They are helping young men prepare to serve missions. They are such good helpers for Heavenly Father.

Elder Outcalt has lots of hobbies. One is making wooden toys. The easiest wood to find here is bamboo. He made these cars out of bamboo. He is going to teach the Young Men how to make cars and then they will take them as gifts for an orphanage. That's where kids live who don't have any parents. I think they will like having these toys, don't you?

Here is Grandpa with the missionaries from the Calape Zone. We are at Sagbayan Peak. The missionaries next to Grandpa are Elder Hodges and Elder Latimer. They were AP's when this picture was taken. Elder Hodges went home a little while after this picture was taken. He lives in Washiongton. Once a week missionaries have "P-Day." That's short for Preparation Day. That's when they can write letters to their families, clean their apartments, shine their shoes, and stuff like that. But once in awhile they can have an outing to see things that are close to where they live. We were happy that they invited us to spend part of their Pday with them. This is a small zone with only 8 misisonaries. One zone has 28 missionaries.