Native masks and dancing

President and Sister Rahlf with their game faces!

 Native dancing.

Typical things to see.

 Beautiful flowers.

Where are we?  This doesn't look like Vegas!

Drying of rice while it is still on the stalks.  

Usually we see the rice being dried after it has been removed from the stalk.

 Colorful rooster.  There are chickens everywhere.

What to expect while driving in the Philippines

 A common mode of transportation:  the Jeepney.

How is this for a narrow road?

Ye Elders of Israel!

From left to Right: 

President Rahlf, Elder Honeycutt, Elder Mills, Elder Shorter, and Elder Campbell.

Grandpa bones

Grandpa's bones!  The tradition is to keep an ancestor's bones wrapped in a blanket.  The bones are brought out on special occasions.

Ancestral hut and rice fields

An ancestral hut.  Families actually lived in such dwellings.  They are built on stilts to ward off the creepy, crawly things.  There is a block on top of each stilt that prevents rats from entering.  Food was cooked over a fire underneath the hut.  This is Sister Campbell with me.

 The terraced rice fields of Banaue.  These were created by hand labor and are still maintained by hand.  Each terrace is carefully built in layers.

Elder and Sister Mills

Elder and Sister Mills (the couple that has been training us), Brother Melendez who was baptized March 8.  He will baptize his wife and daughter, Monica, next Saturday.  He has a great testimony all ready.  The spirit was really strong at his baptism.

Tricies

These are tricies.  This is a very common mode of transportation.  They are basically motorbikes with fancy sidecars.  A tricie ride costs approximately 50 cents.  We have not ridden one yet, but they are very convenient because they can maneuver through traffic and into tight spaces very well.  However, they are slow.

There is a tricie under there!

These piggies on the way to market--by tricie

Taguegarao

 Crowded market area in Taguegarao.

 A catholic church made completely from concrete.  Notice the details formed in the concrete.

Low tide

This is a low bridge on the way to San Pedro.  In the rainy season, this bridge is completely submerged.  The only way to get across is by boat.

 It is really dry now.  The banks of this river are  way low.  You can see the boats that will ferry when the rainy season comes.   Right now someone is camped out on the riverbanks.  This is laundry day.

Out and about

 The past two weeks we have traveled twice to the northernmost city in our mission:  Tuguegarao.  It is larger than Cauayan City where we live.  Along the way we snapped a few pictures.  This is rice fields.  The golden rice is ready to harvest.  The green fields in the back are still growing.

This gentleman is leading his small caribou ( they pronounce it caribow as in bow to the audience) into the cornfield. 

In the northern part of Luzon (the main island) they grow tobacco.  This tobacco curing reminds us of home.