Mondays our car is coded, meaning we can't drive between 7 am and 7 pm. Last Monday, we drove in at 6:30 because we knew we needed the car in the evening to attend a missionary farewell.

The Paines had also driven in because they had late evening plans, so when the office closed at 4:30, we all walked about half a block over to a little restaurant, La Creperie. We have a hard time with Whole Foods Plant Based eating in restaurants, but we, at least, are able to avoid meat. I had a delicious pumpkin soup, then a crepe with mushrooms (and cheese). David had mushroom soup and the same crepe. They were all delicious.

After dinner we walked over to the church for the missionary going away of a sweet sister, Parizia Albania, in the Makati 3rd Ward (a Tagalog-speaking ward). When we first arrived in Manila, she adopted us and translated for us, and greeted us very warmly every Sunday. Just last month she served as a part-time missionary to help us out as numbers came out uneven. (This happens as missionaries are very sick, or go home, or have been waiting for visas to other countries and they finally arrive.) Her mission call is to Australia, via the New Zealand Missionary Training Center, and she was very excited.

Third Ward has a monthly ward Family Home Evening, and they used this one as Paris's (her common name) farewell. We gathered in the cultural hall, and only 45 minutes late (this is the Philippines!) started with an "icebreaker" activity.  We sang a little song in Tagalog but it was essentially nonsense words as we patted our thighs, shoulders, and head. Then while one leader was telling us which to do--"Bago" meant thighs, "BagoBago" meant shoulders, and something like "BagoTAY" meant head-- the other leader was doing the wrong actions. We got eliminated if we could not follow the correct words. It was pretty fun. (And we both were eliminated!)

Then we had a short lesson in Taglish, so we were able to understand most, and then were served a delicious meal by Paris's parents. We had been in town since 7 am, so at 8:30 we decided we needed to leave, so Paris bagged up some food and sent it home with us. It smelled heavenly. We love the people in this ward, and are sad that Jan. 1, the building schedule changes, and there will no longer be overlap between the two ward meetings. We will have to choose between attending the English-speaking ward and this one, and we both have assignments in the English ward, so it will probably win. To attend both would mean 7 hours at church, and I don't think we're up to that!