Experience or Undistracted?

So is it experience or the fact that I don't have any children distractions?  We have an appointment for the missionaries to come over for dinner. I am ready to go and I still have 10 minutes to twiddle my thumbs.

In my past history, missionaries have come while I'm still scrambling, or trying to figure out why something didn't defrost, or dinner just wasn't done on time.  Is the fact that I only have one thing to think about or calculate timing the reason dinner turned out fine?

I guess the only way to find out is to have the grandchildren over when I invite the missionaries over for dinner again.

I Ask

I ask the Lord for protection while driving - I'm in one piece and no one else has been hurt.
I ask the Lord to arrive home safely and quickly - the traffic keeps flowing.
I ask the Lord to support and aid Jeffrey at work - he comes home with stories of miracles.
I ask the Lord to give me a meaningful mission -  "Are you the manna we have been praying for?"
I ask the Lord what should I do today - someone to visit comes to mind.
I ask the Lord to guide the dentist's hand - the missionary thanks us for the job done.
I ask the Lord for help in teaching children - there comes one moment of connection and learning.
I ask the Lord for help with accounting - Sister Stewart comes up with a new plan of action.
I ask the Lord to help me through software program -  pieces of enlightenment filter in my mind.
I ask the Lord for understanding how children learn - Sister Stewart teaches sign language - miracles.
I ask the Lord for directions when lost - memories of Jonah's main street guidelines come to mind.
I ask the Lord to heal quickly - Sister Whitehead arrives with a remedy.
I ask the Lord to protect my children - Michael tells of happenings and asks if I pray for him.
I ask the Lord about curiosities in this land - I see wild monkeys!
I ask the Lord what is going on in a neighbourhood - I am invited to visit a home there.
I ask the Lord for help living in a different country - Sister Lorraine "localises" me.
I ask the Lord for a sewing machine - Jeffrey finds one and buys it.
I ask the Lord to bless specific people - the answer, "you are the blessing you are praying for" - I adopt some grandchildren and children and have a "family" to love and care for in this country.
I ask the Lord to protect and help me find my credit card - the vendor had it in her till.
I ask the Lord to protect and help me find my credit card - I found it on our apartment floor.
I ask the Lord to protect and help me find my credit card - No one has used it.
I ask the Lord to help me sew up some skirts I have never done before - 10 beautiful wedding skirts.
I ask the Lord for help to to make a bride feel beautiful on her day - She is radiant.
I ask the Lord for the best apartment at an affordable price - big, nicely decorated, views on all sides.
I ask the Lord for help negotiating a new world - He sends me Jonah who shows me her country.



This was a draft of a post while on my mission of the miracles happening. I never finished it, but the idea comes through so I'll post it as is.

"That's for the young people......"

When I first started Pathways to figure out how to get back into school to get my degree, there were several things that I heard but in my mind discounted due to my age and previous inability. One was this promise given by Elder Eyring concerning the students.

"They will be natural leaders who know how to teach and how to learn … those graduates of BYU-Idaho will become legendary for their capacity to build the people around them and to add value wherever they serve" (Elder Henry B. Eyring, A Steady, Upward Course, Brigham Young University-Idaho Devotional, September 18, 2001). 

When I got back from Manila I realized that I had contributed to the Dental Clinic and to our ward and added value to my workplace. This was a promise fulfilled.

Another promise was the fact that we were to take a characteristic of Jesus Christ and work on it for a semester then watch our own character change. In my mind I said, "Right. Work on this characteristic for 4 months and presto your life will change? I don't think so."  I felt I was too old to change and that these promises were for the younger students.

Could I have been more wrong?  In four months I went from being Linda Ann Adams to Sister Adams. Being a student to serving the Lord full time. Yes, this was another promise that was fulfilled and I can say my perception of people has changed completely. *Poverty, challenges, and culture produces an entirely different people who have so much to offer that of course I had never been aware of before.

Be very careful of the promises given from servants of the Lord. They will be fulfilled.

*Update: After posting this, the Quirino First Ward send this quote which I feel is any example of what I saw in the Filipino Saints.
"Adversity helps to develop a deep of character that comes in no other way." Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Saturday Fun!

Invited to a Luncheon

The four ladies in the front are all Filipino but I'm not sure which Evenlyn is which so we have Evelyn Briones, Geneline Advent, Rosen Stafford and Evenly Gutierrez. In the back Laurie Henderson is on the right (she is the hostess), Jeffrey and I and SueZann Wuthrich is on the left.

Laurie Henderson is Debbie Adams (my daughter-in-law)'s mom. She invited Jeffrey and I to a luncheon where we watched four amazing Filipino women make a speciality. I had so much fun and loved all the dishes. This time I watched very carefully and I think I figured out the adobe chicken. It is one of those recipes with simple ingredients but each chef does some little twist to make it great.  I'm still going to have to ask questions on the pancit, I really want to learn how to make good pancit.

In the above picture, notice that everyone is in the photo. For some reason a camera in the hands of Filipinos always includes everyone. I tried to take a photo of five people and kept cutting off heads and barely fit all in......is this an instinctive ability or learned?  Maybe it's the angle....it just feels weird to practice taking pictures of myself.....

Pancit....I fell in love with pancit my first month into my mission. Sister Albos and Sister Chan both make excellent pancit. I even had a crispy pancit that was very good. Learning how to make this dish is a goal of mine.

Yummy goodness!

We ended up after the meal was over putting together Halo Halo. I do not believe I have had this dessert the same way twice. EVERYONE has their own twist to it. This one was made with mango ice-cream, it was delicious!!

Mincing up the garlic for adobe chicken. I watched this chicken being made and heard another twist on how adobe chicken is made.......on Sunday I combined the two and made some chicken to take to a woman just out of the hospital. Hopefully it was good.

I love lumpia!  I loved it before I went to Manila. I haven't had Sister Chan's fresh lumpia here - I'll have to try it on my own.....

Rozen put the ingredients for Halo Halo together, made ice-shaving with a machine, and let us put our own together.

If this is how ministering works? I am all for it!! We had a nice hour or so of cooking. I brought fruit salad and SueZann brought her green salad mostly pre-prepared too. I loved watching the Filipino women working shoulder to shoulder with familiar camaraderie.

At the table the conversation fell to whitening soaps and Jeffrey said later he was very surprised that so many people want to whiten their skin when thousands want to 'tan' here in America. And then the conversation turned to conversion stories. I felt very blessed to be able to hear their stories.

One of the Evenlyn's asked if I knew Jimmy Albos! What a popular man he is. Lots of people know him in America and in the Philippines! I left a picture of our group on Facebook and Jim Albos said she was the daughter-in-law of Nanay Adviento. Of course I had to go look on Facebook for her to see if I knew her. I found this picture at a birthday of Charito Santos Alferez, that says Nanay is there so with the process of elimination, I think this is she. I did recognize  Angelo, his brother and family in the other pictures.

Is this Nanay Adviento?

Ah, I miss my friends in the Philippines and I love getting to know other friends here!

Deja vu Moment

I went to a Filipino store that a missionary recommended to me and realized I 'd been there before. I walked into a store that I had been to about eight or nine year ago. While walking through the store looking for snack items for another missionary, a particular smell hit my brain and suddenly I was back in the Philippines with all these memories cascading over me. I stopped in my tracks and almost started to cry. I miss my friends and Ate so much!
I laughed when I got in the car to go home because a similar situation happened when I went shopping in the Philippines in a reversal of locations!  What is it about smells?

I don't know how long this store has been around, but I have been here to get lumpia wrappers with my friend years ago - though I didn't know at the time that it is Filipino - they even have street food in the center of the lobby.

Having lived in Manila these two stores are very familiar!

Really!!!! There is a Jolibee's only 5 miles away from my home!!!