From Ron:  We are somewhat settled in Cebu and enjoying getting to know and serving with the local temple workers and other missionaries.  On my second day here, I was the lone officiator in the evening temple worship session -- our sessions are usually small, 8 to 15 people, and so there are rarely followers (other male workers in the session) here, and I have officiated in one session per day since.  Only one session yesterday was large enough to have a follower and he was being trained.  The number of women attending the temple far exceeds the number of brethren.  Mary-Rose is being "broken in" a bit more gradually.  

We have a small cantina in the temple and we are the only foreign missionaries who eat the Filipino food.  We are careful in what we select, however, to ensure our health.  We have to wash all our fruits and vegetables in vinegar water before eating them.   It's interesting to see the variety of foods available.  We can't find powdered ginger anywhere, probably because there is lots of fresh ginger root, but we did find Cheez Whiz!

It is very humid here, but this is the "cool" time of the year. Nothing over 100 degrees.  We have braved a couple walks to a store a few hundred metres away (no regular blocks like home).  Driving here is crazy and I have not ventured to do it yet.  The main rule is "If I am  ahead of you, I have priority."  One intersection near here has 5 roads coming into it.  There are no traffic lights at most intersections, including this one.  You all go into the middle and see who is ahead of whom, and the car that is ahead or has its front in front of you gets to move.  It is a slow process getting through.

There are two large stores here much like COSTCO and even carry a lot of Kirkland brand items.  The prices are roughly 20 % higher than at home for "Americano" items.  The store near us is much smaller but we can get groceries, pharmaceutical and home items there.  We saw red and yellow watermelon at one store so of course I had to choose carefully so that I was buying the best two!  They are not as sweet as our melons, but still "lami" (yummy)!

We now can charge up our electronics without worrying about "frying" them.  We are still working on getting our communications set up -- now have cell phone minutes for local calling, and have learned about a new app, "Marco Polo" that allows you to send a 30 or so second video of you talking to home, where the receiver can look at it at their leisure and then reply so the original sender and see their reply at their leisure.  Nice way to "talk" when the time difference is 15 hours.  We love seeing our kids and grandkids!