Church Again!

For our first Sunday out of quarantine, we attended Sacrament Meeting at the Castillejos ward with our office sisters. We haven't attended in-person church in almost six months and it was wonderful to gather and worship as fellow saints again. The restrictions here allowed us to drive to church but they don't allow anyone under the age of 21 or over the age of 60 to leave their homes. So the attendance at church was limited. We have learned, thankfully, that Steve is allowed to leave home because he qualifies as an APOR (Authorized Person Outside of Residence) due to the nature of our religious work here. Although it was grounds for teasing that I might be out running the mission by myself.  

At church, we visited with a delightful and newly-baptized sister (in red) and one of her friends who helped to introduce her to the missionaries. Sister Desiree was baptized on July 4 and was happy to learn that we had fireworks in the US in her behalf.

After church, we went to the home of the kind and generous Wright family, where we participated in our first teaching with the missionaries. 

The teaching was 90% Tagalog, 10% English and I was able to pick out a few Tagalog words (ebanghelyo/gospel, Jesuscristo/Jesus Christ). It was a tender and sweet experience to watch these amazing sisters do what they are here to do, teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I look forward to many more opportunities to participate in this.  

After the teaching, the Wrights served lunch, where I was introduced to many new Filipino foods. I have to say "I" here because Steve remembered most of the foods from his mission in the Philippines as a young missionary. Dishes included Paksiw (fish cooked in vinegar), mung beans, Igado (a pork dish), saba (a type of banana that was boiled), and lumpia (egg rolls). All delicious.

After lunch, the Wrights treated us to a tour of the fruit trees on their farm.

We've had a farm-to-table experience with two of the fruits they grow, cacao and calamansi. The cacao starts like this ...

Then Bro Wright processes the cacao into this, something that looks like Reese's, and then it ends as delicious hot chocolate.

Calamansi, similar to a lime, starts like this ... 

And ends as a delicious juice, with thanks to Mercy for teaching me how to do this. 

We ended our first Sunday with a farewell dinner and Family Home Evening for one of our assistants, Elder Presentacion. Right now our missionaries leave one by one, depending on the restrictions of Covid in their home province and hometown.





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