Elder & Sister Ward

Posts

6 December 2012

Typhoon Hi, Everyone, The typhoon went another direction and became weaker by the time it was supposed to hit us. We feel lucky--or blessed, because there definitely was death and destruction on the island of Mindinau just north of us. We got some really heavy rain and 20-30 mile an hour winds for about and hour or so then it blew over and got deadly calm and nothing more. We were quite relieved but prepared for the worse case scenario. The temple was closed only Tuesday afternoon and we're back in full force yesterday and today. It was rather scary but we're fine. Thanks for your prayers and concern for us. Don't know much else, but send our love to all of you. Lyman and Linnea

3 December 2012

TYPHOON COMING OUR WAY Hello Everyone, Just in case you haven't heard about the typhoon headed our way. This one is actually supposed to hit us. We've been counseled to store up water and food, so we've been preparing all day. They have tied supports to all the palm trees around our complex in expectation of hard winds. I think we'll be okay in our housing that is well built, but I worry about the Filipino members who live in such weak shanties--if it turns out to be bad. We may be without electricity and water for while. It should be an interesting experience if it does turn out to be a bad one. But our faith is strong and we'll make it through this. There are a lot of other people suffering more than we will--I'm sure. Other than that, we are doing fine; I just haven't had much to talk about lately. We had to work on Thanksgiving day, but had a potluck dinner last Monday night to ce...

15 October 2012

Hi Everyone, This morning started out with a false fire alarm. I had just gotten out of the shower and was disturbed to hear this horrible loud sound, which was all too familiar, and the loud speaker blaring that we should get out of the building. I told Lyman I was getting dressed first so I hurriedly pulled on my pants and put on my shirt and then it all stopped! I was relieved but also hacked! A few weeks ago, the same thing happened but it wasn't exactly a false alarm. It was a Sunday night when it went off so we were dressed. I thought, what is the most important thing to grab. I decided it was my purse because it had all of our money, debit cards, temple recommend, keys, etc., so I grabbed it and we headed down the back stairs as directed. We met up with all the American missionary couples, but none of the Filipino couples came out. We decided we'd have a meeting out there in the street, under t...

30 September 2012

Hello Everyone, Well, I haven't written for sometime now. Didn't think you'd want to hear about everything we do aside from temple work as all we do is cook, eat, clean, shop, watch Fox News, read scriptures, go to bed, get up, go to the temple and start all over again. Been sitting here listening to the thunder and the rain coming down in torrents again--love the sound! All of us missionary couples went to a certain a ward today for church. The bishop wanted us all to come and bring a dish of food to put in on a potluck linger longer. They had a week of 'finding the lost sheep" missionary week and wanted all of us to join in their celebration of accomplishment. The bishop is the main laundry guy in the temple--just a young man, but he's doing a super job with his ward. The mission pres., Elder Smutz (prounounced smootz) was one of the speakers. He and his wife are such a nice people. He told of the h...

2 September 2012

Dear Friends and family, Guess most of you have heard by now that there was an earthquake in the Philippines off one of the islands about 150 miles away from us. We had just gotten home from the temple and were sitting at the table when it began to shake. I thought at first Lyman was doing something funny but we soon realized it was a quake. It was basically mild--nothing was rattling or swaying but was definitely noticeable. It lasted a good 30 seconds or more--enough to "shake" me up somewhat. There was the threat of a tsunami, but nothing much came of it. We had rain for a couple of days afterward--whether that was connected or unusual I do not know. Anyway, we're fine--and not scared into going home--yet! Ha! We attended two stake conferences in the last two weeks at the request of the Temple Pres. just to let the people know we're interested in everyone. The first one got a new stake pres. and there ...

31 July 2012

Hi Everyone, Well, our two week vacation is over and we are glad! There isn't too much to do when you don't spend 8 hours a day in the temple. Most of the couples took trips to different islands or places on this island and lot of the Philippine temple missionary couples went home. We had to be out of our apartment several different days for a few hours at a time because they were working on different items. They scrubbed floors, cupboards, sinks, tubs, the oven, the hood fan, and then they took the air conditioner completely apart and cleaned it and put in a new filter; they also put new drapes on both the bedroom and living room windows. So it was like having a brand new apartment. They also repainted the hall walls on our floor. Each day we'd take a list of things we wanted to get at a certain mall. So we would get a taxi to take us to that mall and we'd spend 3-4 hours w...