We had a great Christmas!

Our Christmas weekend started on Christmas eve when we had a nice dinner together. Then we all got to talk to Elder Daniel in the Philippines! He spoke some Tagalog for us along with some Illongo and some Kinaray a. He says they mix all three with some English which makes for some interesting lesson and conversations I daresay. He is doing really well and adjusting quickly to all things filipino. We opened some presents with the grandsons and the married children and then they all went home to have their own Christmas experiences. Robert, Stephanie and I went for a drive to see Christmas lights (there were not as many this year) and get some hot chocolate from the 7-11 (our favorite place for cocoa). Christmas morning was not as exciting with just the three of us, but we had fun anyway. We went to get Jessica and the boys because Cole had to work and then we talked to Elder Nathan in Africa! He is doing great and had three baptisms on Christmas day. He is very happy and says that he has an agreement with his companion that Elder Taylor cooks and Elder Nathan washes the clothes (by hand in a bucket). He says they eat well and the clothes are always clean! We went to Grandma and Grandpa Fernelius' house for the afternoon and had a wonderful time with siblings, nieces, nephews, cousins etc. Sunday we had a birthday party for Robert's mother in the afternoon and then went to his cousin's house in the evening to visit with cousins from out of town. One of them was the family who went off the freeway and rolled down a steep embankment in Nevada the Tuesday before Christmas (you may have seen it in the paper or on ksl.) It was a very tiring but happy weekend!

Daniel is in the Philippines!

Daniel arrived in the Philippines November 17th at about 6 pm there. Here it was November 17th at 3 am. He left with about 20 elders and sisters on Monday afternoon and they totally missed Tuesday! It is 15 hours ahead of us here. We talked to him on Monday night while he was waiting at the airport in Los Angeles. We got to talk for almost 2 hours! Then when he was in Taipei he called again for a short time. He said the airplane was really nice and everyone got slippers to wear, a down pillow and a blanket. Everyone had their own TV and remote (of course the missionaries didn't use them!) They even got two meals! Much nicer than flying in the states! After that they flew to Manila and split up to go to their respective mission. Daniel and 7 others were continuing to Iloilo. I am hoping that when they got there they were fed and put to bed! We should have an email on Monday and we will send it out!