November 28, 2014 - Friday in the Philippines

Today we celebrate our first week in Laoag and we are meeting some very special people.  I just hope I can express our gratitude properly for the tender mercies and the blessings that have crossed our paths.

We are getting acquainted with the shopping facilities here and we have a senior couple, Elder and Sister Pettingill who gave us some initial tours.  We also met the Richards who have been very helpful in getting us oriented to the city.

Perhaps our biggest hurdle we cleared this week was going out teaching with the sister missionaries last night.  We met two families who were so welcoming to us.  We got to sit with the sisters and in one situation taught about the importance of Scripture reading and in another situation they taught about faith.  In both families, mom and I were able to contribute and bear testimony.  It was our first opportunity to feel like missionaries!

Yesterday was our first district meeting and we sat with Elders and Sisters in a 90 minute training.  These Elders and Sisters were so sharp in the Gospel!  Some were short timers who will be leaving in December and some were just in the beginning weeks of their missions.  They were from all over; Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Philippines, Tonga, Canada, and they were all very engaged in the work of the rescue!  The one lesson I was able to appreciate the most was taught by the district leader, "We are called to the Philippines because the Lord knew we could handle it".  Now that was profound and made a huge impact on me because sometimes we think that what the Lord asks us to do is more than we can handle. That is a tool of the adversary!  But, because He knows us and what we are uniquely qualified to offer, we can do hard things and fulfill our purposes to serve and build and bear testimony!

The Filipino People are very religious and very receptive to prayer and discussions about Jesus.  We saw pictures of the Savior in both homes we visited last night.  We are grateful to be here and we are ever thankful for your prayers!!

Check out the additional pictures this past week that were just posted on previous blogs!

The foundation being dug

The family that will have the house

Here are some pictures of the house foundation and the family receiving the humanitarian aid.  The people are very poor and this is why the Richards family is here to help build housing.  This house will be 16' by 20' with no interior walls.  There is no plumbing or electrical and several families will be living here.  They are very excited to have this new addition.  That is mom in the purple dress.  We were humbled to meet this family.

November 25, 2014 - 3rd day in Laoag

Mom and I met some great people yesterday.  A family by the name of Richards who have moved here from Utah with their 6 children to experience the culture of the Philippines.  Brother Richards served his mission to the Philippines in the 1990's and has returned with his family to do humanitarian work here.  He has been such a blessing to mom and I!  He has helped me get the internet up here in the apartment and even though it is very slow, we can still connect with the blog and with email!!!  Yea!

So mom and I continue to meet so many wonderful people who have been set in place to help us in our transition here.  We are working hard to stretch ourselves and get acclimated,  to this extremely different way of life and we see progress each day.  Thank you for your prayers!

We will meet for the first time our mission president and his wife this Saturday.  He has been away at a mission president's conference and we will get together and see how we can help him in his responsibilities.  In the meantime, we are settling in, cleaning the apartment and getting ourselves oriented to the area.  

I had my first haircut today and here was the process; hair washed, head massage, hair dry, back and shoulder massage, hair cut meticulously, then another hair was and head massage and I was done.  Price?  $4.25USD!

Again we are connecting with some wonderful people who have taken our transition under their wings.  In addition we have felt the prayers of our family and friends and will be eternally grateful.

David's Hair Salon - Elder Lasher's 1st visit

Catholic Church mid 1500's

November 24, 2014 - Welcome to Laoag

After a long anticipated journey that began back at the mailbox in Rigby on the 3rd of September, mom and I have arrived in Laoag!  We flew in from Manila this morning and we arrived in the Laoag Airport at about 1:15pm and what an interesting airport!  We departed from the airplane on to the tarmac and the air was warm and a little muggy.  But the thing I have first been impressed with is the fresh air and then the kindness of the people.  This is such a beautiful area!

We were met at the airport by the AP's and the Senior Couple the Pettigills.  They were such a welcomed sight and so friendly and helpful!  

We first went to the mission home and received an orientation to the mission.  We will be having our own car.  I will need to get a Philippine Drivers License and that should be interesting.  In Manila, there are maybe two full lanes of driving with up to 5 cars competing for those two lanes.  I was overwhelmed with how the drivers were able to "fill the gaps" so quickly and still make left and right turns.  In the process there were motorcycles, pedestrians and dogs and animals to keep from hitting.  I could not believe the patience and the calmness that prevailed!

Needless to say, this senior missionary couple was overwhelmed with the new environment but we were happy to note that Laoag is much more quite and simple.  The Pettingills were so good to us.  They took us under there wings and we went shopping for some necessities for the apartment.  

More precious notes

AM Study

Our Dryer & Extra Bedroom

Dining area from the front door

Bedroom

D

Livingroom

Dining area

The precious notes!

HO! HO! HO!

View of the plane arriving in Laoag

 

 

 

Laoag International Airport 11/24/14

 

AP's and Elder and Sister Pettingill greet the new missionaries!

November 23, 2014 - Sunday

We made it to the Philippines!  We arrived late last night after some 8,000 air travel miles and 28 hours of actual travel miles... A trip I won't mid taking one more time!

We traveled on some huge aircraft that held 320 passengers.  There were 4 classes of passenger travel and we sat on the very back row of the economy class!  It was probably the most challenging for me to sit for such long periods of time!  We never did see the sun set until we arrived in Manila.  That was interesting!

So, it is now official, Sister Lasher and Elder Lasher are full time missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We had many very interesting conversations just from people seeing our name badges.  

We had several former missionaries come right up to us and engaged in some wonderful dialog.  We also had several folks who talked to us who had great admiration for the missionary efforts of the Church.  

My appreciation goes out to all the missionaries, who may never quite understand the impact they have had on people, who have impressed these kinds of people.  They were very complimentary about all the missionaries they have seen in their travels throughout the world.  It is such a privilege to be a part of this great world-wide work!

Mom and I had a comfortable room last night.  We had representatives from Church Travel meet us at the Manila Airport and took us to our room.  We got to the room just a little before 11pm and we were tired.  But it was really only about 8am in the morning Rigby time!  We have an adjustment period for sure!  

We meet for our Church meetings this afternoon with a small branch.  A brother will be picking us up in about 2 hours and we will meet with our first Church members!  More to come!

Well, we made it to the Branch Meeting that started at 2pm Philippine time and met some absolutely wonderful people!  Brother Clem has been our driver coordinator and we finally met him and his family.  What a pleasant and happy group of brothers and sisters.  We instantly felt that we were a part of their congregation.

For each of our grandchildren taking piano lessons or who might be thinking about taking these lessons, this is a note for you!  The branch lost their pianist about 3 months ago when he moved out of the area.  One of the counselors in the Bishopric has 3 daughters ranging in age from 11 years old to about 8 years old.  After a few weeks without a pianist, their dad asked them if they would like to play since they knew a little about the piano.  They were NOT receptive to that idea but dad was persistent and encouraged them to at least try.  Well, we heard them play today and they were not only good at playing the Hymns for the Sacrament services, but they were happy to be doing it.  They were so excited when we met them to tell us about their callings to play!

The rest of the meetings were great with many of the branch members participating.  There were several testimonies that were shared about miracles in their lives and in missionary service.  Probably the most touching came at the end of the meetings when another Primary young girl came up to us and said she wanted to be a missionary "just like us".   Tell me Heavenly Father doesn't know each of us and where He needs us to serve!  We sure found out today that two senior missionaries discovered that their service is needed here in the Philippines....  

November 20, 2014 - Thursday

As most of our family will agree, this last two weeks has gone by quickly.  The MTC experience was absolutely amazing!  The last members of our district left today and mom and I shed some tears over the friendships we have made.  

Sister Chao was the last in out district to leave today and then mom and I are leaving tomorrow morning at 5am.  Our flight leaves Salt Lake at 8:30am tomorrow, and we arrive Saturday late in the afternoon in Manila, Philippines.  We will stay in Manilla for a few days as our Visas are processed and then we are off to our mission field of labor. 

This experience in the MTC has been so good for mom and I.  As you can imagine, being together as full time missionary companions takes adjusting time.  The best thing we have done to transition more perfectly is talk to one another and not only express our concerns, but also express our love for each other.

An interesting tender mercy presented itself early this morning as we were doing our last load of laundry at 5:30am.  Mom started reading her Patriarchal Blessing that we both brought on a laminated card, and she was amazed at the parallels those promises and blessings had for her full time missionary service.  The Lord has confirmed on so many occasions that He needs His missionaries in the mission field now.  We are grateful we could be a part of this great work!

Sister Lasher at the MTC laundry - last day! (Dad took the picture!)

Elder Lasher at the Provo Temple - last day (Mom took the picture!)

November 19, 2014 - Wednesday

Today is sunny and in the mid 40's here at the MTC.  We are winding down our training for the mission office portion of our stay here so we checked the mail early!  What a wonderful surprise we had waiting for us with a package from home and wonderful notes from our Rigby 10th Ward friends!  Thank you so much to the activity that the Young Women had to write the missionaries!  In a future day, precious young women, you will recognize just how much this meant to each of us away from home!

We also received many precious notes from our grandchildren and an idea came to me that will help me enhance this blog!  I am going to start a grand children's corner and answer each one of their questions they have!  We love those precious notes!  They will be wall decorations in our apartment in Laoag!

I got these pictures today.  Ali sent me the winter storm in New York very close to where we "thought" we would like to serve a two year mission..... Seneca Lake, New York.  Perhaps by a show of hands, which one would you choose?

Laoag, Philippines!

Let's see.... Philippines or New York - Seneca Lake area??

November 18, 2014 - Tuesday

Sister Chao - Taiwan Mission Secretary - 84 years old and serving!