The Lord's purposes will be done, even with his imperfect servants ! And Banana Trees and the Gospel.

Dear Great Family and Great Friends,
 

  We are so very thankful the Typhoon passed us by with only a wink of rain and wind.  In fact, some regular rainy season rainstorms - like yesterday - had a lot of rain - 6 inches in one hour.

 Yes the road is a river,,,,

   We are plain old people who forget names and get people's names mixed up with their faces.  A very sweet woman we met at Church invited us on a Wednesday to her home, and said we could have dinner, too.  We told her we would visit her and didn't know if we could eat all her food ( because we have to be very careful with what we eat in the Philippines - is it cooked in purified mineral water or tap water? )  We wrote her name down, along with many other names we've written down that we've met in Church.

   On that Wednesday, there was the Typhoon threat, and our President Monahan declared we as missionaries should all stay at home - or if not safe, move to an LDS Church Bldg.

   We as imperfect servants, texted who we thought was the sweet woman, that we could not make it and we would speak again with her in Church.  We had met so many new members, we even may have forgot her face with her name,,, we were so embarrassed.



  On the next day Thursday, Elder Roberts said, Let's visit the  Petilla family that owns the store -- he had written in his notes.  We came to the store, and a cute girl said  -- no this store does not belong to the Petilla family.  We are the Bololong family that owns it.  The owners came out and Elder and Sister Roberts were so embarrassed that they had mixed up the name of the store owner.

The wife Sister Bololong said let me take you to the Petilla family who owns the other store.  The Petillas were not there, so she said, let's visit my dear friend, ok?  We of course agreed.
   Well.......  the dear friend   .....   Was Our Sweet Dinner Appointment Lady ! ! !
She lived in a very beautiful home and gave us a very lovely and -- safe to eat -- dinner that evening!

   Yes, the Lord still loves her,  had us visit her, even tho we forgot her name.  What a wonderful new friend we have.
She has a beautiful garden that her son, now passed away prepared for her.  The flowers remind her of him.  She wants to work now in the Manilla Temple, and hopes the proposed Urdaneta Temple will be built soon.

  We went to Urdaneta to pick up supplies, and stopped at a "Minute Burger".  They had delicious 2-for 1  burgers  (about 2 for a dollar) and strawberry milkshakes.  But the best part was the cute girls that worked at the very small business - Dolly and Tine (short for Christine).  We gave them a pass-along card of the Church's Articles of Faith.  They were happy and like everyone we give it too, accepted it and said Salamat po   Thank you.

We got to go to SM grocery store in Rosales.  We finally found Campbell's tomato soup.
They also have some other "different from US foods.  Like Rice in a Can...?

  And many, many different kinds of TUNA !   I've never seen so many varieties of TUNA !  It was a whole isle long....

There was Corned Tuna and Corned Lamb along with the Corned Beef.

We had a great 4th of July. 

We had asked the Missionaries at District Mtg to wear red, white, or blue. And we sang Patriotic Songs.  My dear Elder Roberts was emotional, remembering his time as a Veteran in the US Army in Vietnam, as a Ranger. 

The Banana Tree outside our home gets a new leaf twice a Week !  We almost can watch it grow.
This is one day...

This is the next day,,,

And it is full in about 4 days ! !

It was looking sooo good, and then the "Typhoon winds" shredded the leaves...

 

We love to watch Banana Trees and the Church grow.  Some Missionaries told us today that they have 18 baptisms coming up.  We are greatful to be a part of the Hastening the Lord's Missionary Work.
Love,
Elder and Sister Roberts