The sun has set on the year 2013 and now we begin the year 2014 and our last month in the Philippines Baguio mission. We have had a marvelous 2013 as we have served our mission and as we have served the Lord, and our Filipino brothers and sisters. We look forward to seeing our family and friends and yet we still have a heavy heart at leaving our friends and fellow missionaries. Our mission will always be one of the highlights of our life. We began the month of January by visiting the branches and saying our goodbyes. We shall always love the memories of our time here in the Northern part of the island of Luzon.
The sunsets in the Philippines are so beautiful.
This young child was enjoying the ride with mom and dad.
For those who asked for the sunsets, here are two more.
Enjoy the brilliant sunset.
An armored car in the Philippines.
Our friends the Nisperos. The man on the left is President Nisperos who is the President of the Bauang 2nd Branch.
This lovely family is the Gacad family in the Bauang 2nd Branch. They are a delightful family of 8 children. Only 4 are shown in this photo. Sister Gacad is the Relief Society President.
Brother Bernie and Sister Gina Gatchalian of the Aringay branch.
The Mabalot family in the Aringay Branch. He is the 1st counselor in the Bauang District Presidency.
This lady and her 23 year old Downs child were a job to visit. The child's name is Lyn Lyn and although she does not talk she will smile and blow you kisses.
This is a rice harvester.
Another, for those who always ask.
Scaffolding on the house being built across the street from our home in Aringay.
One more.
And another.
And another.
One of the families we visited.
The outdoor kitchen of one of the families we visit.
These children were so quiet during our visit with their parents, we had to reward them with a sucker.
Another family we visited. The young lady in the pink is a scholar and leads the singing in the Aringay Branch.
Judy is always sweeping the street in front of our home to ensure it is always clean.
Our camera seems to want to take pictures of all the sunsets.
This lady in the Aringay market who talked our ear off and introduced us to these delicacies. She is related to some of the members in the Aringay branch. We bought some of these fried sweet potatoes and banana's in brown sugar from her.
This banner shows what the Baguio Mission home Baguio Mission home will look like when it is completed.
Welcoming the new missionaries to the Baguio Mission.
These are the sister missionaries that arrived in our mission on January 15th.
This photo and the next one is of the elders who arrived in the mission on February 15th.
The batch photo of the new missionaries that arrived on February 15th.
During the new missionary activities on February 16th we had a great lunch at the Lingsat chapel catered by Sister Gina.
The Aringay baptismal font was being repaired so this baptism took place in the Aringay river a short distance from our house. The missionaries are on the way to the site selected for the baptism.
Everyone is waiting for the baptism program to begin.
Brother Bernie Gatchalian and the convert.
As you can tell the convert is very happy with his decision to be baptized, even though the water is cold.
These two lovely sister missionaries, Sisters Pelayo and De Jose are the ones who taught the new convert.
This stack of wood on the highway to San Fernando is drying and ready for sale.
Sister Balledos giving Tupig to Sister Fullmer. Tupig is rice and coconut and brown sugar and wrapped in a banana leaf and then grilled. It is very good.
This is a close up of the Tupig.
This tour bus is owned by a member of the Church and it is unique to have a bus with CTR on it.
This is President and Sister Dungan. He is the District President of the Agoo District. We became good friends and will really miss them.
Elder Comer and Elder Fullmer at the Mission Presidents residence on the beach in San Juan, Philippines. The occasion was missionary training.
Sisters and Elders enjoying the delicious meal that Sister Balledos cooked.
President and Sister Balledos at their residence serving the missionaries their lunch during a break in the missionary training.
This is Joy, a department manager at the store called "April Joy". The mission buys mattresses, chairs, ironing boards and other items that we use in supplying our missionaries homes.
This is the beach where the Aringay branch held a farewell party for the Fullmer's.
The Fullmer's on the beach of the South China sea.
As we took a walk to the beach, these are some of the Aringay branch children that followed us.
A fishing boat on the South China sea near the beach where the farewell was held.
A group shot of some of the Aringay members at the farewell for the Fullmer's.
The Aringay Relief Society sisters singing to Elder and Sister Fullmer. The song they sang was "Farewell to you my Friends." It was so touching with some crying it brought tears to our eyes.
Waving goodbye to us.
The Aringay Relief Society president made these gifts for Sister Fullmer.
This photo is of the Aringay branch mission leader, the sister who was baptized on Saturday, January 25th and the missionary, Sister De Jose, who taught the sister the lessons leading to her baptism.
These are the Aringay Sister Missionaries.
These are the Aringay branch Relief Society Sister's after church on Sunday, January 26th.
The family shown here is the family of the young sister on the right who will leave shortly for her mission.
From left to right is the Dinkels, President and Sister Balledos, the Brown's and the Fullmer's at the birthday luncheon at the Greek restaurant for Sister's Brown and Dinkel.
The birthday sister's with Sister Fullmer.
The wonderful voices of our office elders singing happy birthday to the birthday sister's.
The lady and her husband who we bought our water from for the last 18 months. She was fun to tease about being on vacation a lot, even though she wasn't and she was so very nice.
Sister Pelayo from Subic Bay, Philippines with the Fullmer's.
This sister and the two elders were born in Samoa but live in New Zealand. They have beautiful voices and sang a lovely song for us for our farewell. The song title was "When He Comes Again."
The sister on the left is a new missionary and the sister on the right, like Sister Fullmer, is from Texas. Elder Fullmer teases her about eating the candy her mother sends to her and about getting to much mail. She has an outgoing personality and is a delight to be around.
Sister Dinkel, Sister Balledos and Sister Fullmer at the San Fernando Zone training.
The Aringay market where we buy our fruits and vegetables and we have grown to love many of the people who own shops in the market.
The extension of the market on the left contains many more stores and shops.
This Elder is from Samoa and has a great voice. Sister Fullmer calls him her gentle giant because he is so soft spoken and yet a powerful missionary and zone leader.
The sun is setting in the South Pacific and also on our mission.
We know our mission is coming to a close. We have been saying our goodbyes to the various branches for the last few weeks. The Aringay branch gave us a wonderful farewell party on Saturday, January 25th. The friendships we have formed with the various branch members has been one of the highlights of our mission. The Lord has blessed us with health and success and lasting relationships that will last forever. We know we were sent to this mission because the Lord wanted us here to assist wherever and whenever we could. We love the Philippines and especially the Filipino people. A part of our hearts will always be reserved for the love of the Filipino people. The gospel is true, Heavenly Father lives, and Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. The Holy Ghost has born witness to us that this is so. Our hope and prayers as we leave the mission is that all senior couples who have the capability to serve a mission will do so.
