One P-Day in the Mission

Monday is our 'p-day,' or 'preparation day' in the mission.  We actually have a lot of flexibility in our scheduling, but for the young missionaries, it's their day to shop, do laundry, clean house, email, play - - everything they need to do to prepare for the coming week.

Tony and I start our Mondays (after he runs 8-10 km, I should say!) with about three hours of skyping with our kids and grandkids, which is such a great way to stay connected with them!  One granddaughter we have met only over skype, since she was born in Ohio just before we left on our mission.  It'll be fun to see if she likes us as well in person.  : )

This last Monday, after skyping, we got ready and went to an activity in Mangaldan with all the missionaries in the zone.  When we arrived, they'd just gotten the new zone t-shirts they had printed up.  These were designed by Elder Virina and depict every one of our missionaries as some super-hero.

We've had a transfer day since this was taken, and several of these missionaries are now in other areas.

The artist, who has now completed his 2-year mission and went home this week.

We watched the movie, "Ephraim's Rescue," which is a sequel to "17 Miracles."  Both are stories dealing with the ill-fated Martin handcart company of Mormon pioneer days.  I brought some homemade chocolate chip cookies and brownies, which are always a hit, as few homes here have ovens.

After the movie, some ladies served lunch, which we just took a couple bites of, to taste it, before we had to leave.  It was delicious - - jackfruit and shrimp cooked in coconut milk and seasoned with garlic and Magic Sarap (pretty much like bouillon granules).

Our next stop was Calasciao, to the tailoring shop of President and Sister Franco, who had made some clothes for us.  Tony had ordered a barong (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barong_Tagalog) and I, a two-piece dress. 

President Franco is Second Counselor to our mission president, but he's not a full-time missionary.  He's a tailor and operates this little shop in the public market.  It has about six sewing machines and a serger.  They've been very busy making school uniforms for weeks but fit in our little job, as well.  His awesome wife is sitting way in the back, on the right side.  Shops like this in the market have three walls and the front is open. 

Next on the agenda was to meet with some sister missionaries and talk with a potential landlady about an apartment they'd found.  They've had so much trouble with an unresponsive landlord and had been watching for another place they might move into. This one looked very promising.

 Unfortunately, we found out a few days later that the owner didn't like the terms of our contract and the deal was off.  That happens sometimes.  Back to the search, which just involves the missionaries doing a lot of looking and asking around.

It was beginning to get dark by this time and we headed home to Manaoag.  It's never a good idea to be on the road after dark, and we avoid it whenever we can, but even in July, it's dark by 7:00.  

We do see some incredible sunsets here.

Once we were home, Tony made us some BLT's and we watched a movie on youtube.  So, that was our day.  Every day is a little different for us, and, like I said, this was a P-day, not a regular workday at all - - just a fun day I wanted to share.  : )