New Stake and New Senior Missionaries

President and Sister Peterson are still doing well on their mission in Laoag! They continue to serve and minister in a variety of ways.

They attended and spoke in a district conference in Gonzaga in the beginning of March, which is a 6/7 hour drive away from the mission home. Directly after, they had to come back and start working on transfers, and getting ready for the departing and new missionaries!

In response to all they are doing, my Dad said, "Like Elder Holland said, we are tired, but we are okay!" We will make it! I'm learning patience big time. And that is good for me. Transfers are always interesting. That's what takes me the longest. Now that the missionaries can call home every week, we aren't really sure what it has done yet. It doesn't seem to make to much a difference for our missionaries. They go to these computer shops, and that's where they email from. They don't have cameras on the computers, so the missionaries can see their families when they call, but the families can't see them. And so that's about the best we can do. "

In reference to missionaries now being able to call home every week, Sister Peterson said, "This change has been pretty seamless. Other than the difficulties of technology that is consistent with the Philippines, we have seen mostly good things. For some missionaries it has been very welcome, for others it is no big deal. I think it is great that the option is available for our missionaries!"

Sister Drzayich and Sister Robinson came March 12th, and my mom enjoyed finding and fixing up a place for them to live. They were elated about loving the people and will most certainly change lives here.

My Dad had some good news to share with us. He said "We got our stake approved! The first one since I've been here. The Ballesteros stake. It's awesome. The leaders are great and it is very well prepared. On March 17th we will create the Ballesteros stake. In our area they have been trying to make this a stake for a long time. It's probably been 15 years, and it should have been a stake already. There was a lot of paperwork, movement of branches into districts, etc that needed to be done. I feel good about it, we got it done!" The stake will help delegate some of the load that my dad would normally do including; missionary calls and releases, temple recommends, district conferences, any church disciplinary councils, etc. They still have 4 Districts to make into Stakes. When enough Stakes are created in an area, the possibility for a Temple increases. Right now, the members have to travel 10 hours to attend the Temple, so getting one closer is an important goal.

After the stake was created, Sister Peterson said, "All the members are really excited about this new stake that is being formed. It will be the 108th stake here in the Philippines. They had a big photo booth which all the members could use to have their picture taken with a backdrop saying "108th Stake". They also gave out buttons (picture below). They always love to have a reason to party!"

They have really begun to get familiar with the places they visit, and one of their favorite places is a German restaurant called "BergBlick" which means Mountain View in German and is accurately named due to the impeccable view of mountains out their windows. (Pictures below)

- Sadie

Enjoy the pictures below with comments from Sister Peterson!

Our new Senior Sisters arrived and this is what was there to welcome them at their new apartment

Dinner at La Preciosa to welcome Sister Drzayich and Sister Robinson

Crème brûlée at the Bergblick! We told Detlev, the owner, that we liked the music he plays (70’s) and he told us that he puts that play list on special for us when we come because he noticed the first time he played it that we enjoyed it

We hope to stop there every time we travel to Cagayan

This is the outgoing batch from this cycle. We love them so very much and will miss them!

We had matching outfits so of course we had to have our picture taken

If the office Elders or Assistants get a hold of your phone when you are not looking, this is what happens.... and I love it!

Some of our trainers just before meeting their new trainees.

Our newest incoming batch of missionaries - we are so excited about them!

A much needed double date with the Kartchners. Most of the time for our Date Night, we end up running errands together because there is just so much to do, but tonight we forced ourselves to just go and relax and it was wonderful! The Manila Symphony Orchestra played with the Famous Paoay Church as the back drop. We ate dinner at a little restaurant across the street with a great view that we could watch from.

Our view of the orchestra and church - breathtaking! This church was completed in 1710 and is famous for its distinct architecture.

Yup! We still like each other

Training by the Assistants at our last Ilocos Side of our mission Zone Conference

Role playing is so effective!

Comments from the Elders and Sisters during ZC are THE BEST!

Practicing teaching techniques

Cagayan Side of our mission ZC

Playing The Companionship Game

In hopes to move the new Sr. Sisters into the assistants apartment, we had them move everything out and Sister Domingo deep cleaned. A couple of days later, we changed our plan and they moved back in, however, the cleaning was needed and so it was a good thing all in all

All the new trainers with their trainees - perfectly matched by the Lord. It is really wonderful to see how this happens! We hardly know anything about the new incoming missionaries, but are guided as to who should be their trainers - we would totally be messing things up without His help...