July 1st, 2020 marked the first day of our last year serving here in the Philippines.
Have 2 years really passed since we began this incredible adventure?!?
Pineapples pineapples everywhere! Each seasonal fruit makes me so happy!
Mark turned 60 in June and these sisters wanted to make sure he knew he is their #1. Here in the Philippines, 60 means you are a senior citizen, which also means that we get to go through the fast lane at the grocery store - yay! However, COVID restrictions keep senior citizens from doing much more than that. We keep a low profile and it hasn't effected us too much...
Father's Day chats with all the kids 😊
Filipino fences 👍🏻
More amazing fruit - Dragon fruit!
Obviously, the 4th of July is not celebrated in the Philippines,
however, who would have guessed that it would be our German Friend, Detlev,
who surprised us with a fun reminder of this important US Holiday.
4th of July traditions continued on with our family. Here are all our grandkids (minus the two oldest and the baby on the way) at the family cabin wearing the t-shirts they each made.
A year from now we will be hugging and kissing them all until they can't breath haha...
This is how we participated in the leadership seminar this year. This is the women's breakout session.
Taking the family cow for a walk...
Due to COVID, some of our missionaries were not able to go home when their missions ended, and they served up to 27 months (21 for the Sisters) rather than the usual 24 (18 for the Sisters). This group is the first group that we were able to get home since March. We are so proud of them and the wonderful way they served! Sister Lagdaan, shown below, was not able to cross the COVID provincial border checkpoint to join the farewell and so we included her virtually. We are down to 70 missionaries now and there are no incoming in site in the near future. We had 186 at the time of evacuation and although it feels like a very different mission, this marvelous work still goes forward in a miraculous way.
These are two of the few missionaries that, despite COVID check points, we have been able to transfer to a different area. There are still so many of our missionaries who have been in the same place for 8 months or more now. We usually try to transfer them before or around 6 months of being in one area.
Oh how we love these amazing young men and young women!
A fruit stand that we frequent. There are always excellent bananas in season.
Most of our missionary apartments do not have Air Conditioning, which is consistent with most of the Filipino homes here. However, we are slowly starting to install units and these two sisters are very happy about the new addition to their apartment. 
This Sister wont let the fact that she does not have an air conditioner get her down.
She drew her own. Gotta love that optimism!
Compared to the picture in my last post of our virtual Zone Conference, you will see a huge upgrade. Thanks to the new smart phones, we now can see faces rather than the colored circles that represented each companionship - hooray!
The second group of missionaries ending their missions and being able to go home despite COVID restrictions. Their countenances shine with the truths that are deep in their hearts. We will miss them deeply, but can see how their missions are springboards for faithful and joyful lives ahead!
Cute kids everywhere!
We love awarding the missionaries with these certificates for memorizing the new Bicentennial Proclamation. It is a powerful message to the world and as the words go through my head during different times of the day, I feel peace and assurance because of the divine gift of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I feel joy at knowing that our loving Heavenly Father has a plan for all human beings in every nation of the world, and the fact that He will speak to each of us personally and help us all to prepare for the promised second coming of Jesus Christ.
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