DAY 3

On the third day we woke up early and caught a small 1 hour flight to Palowan (El Nido). We totally landed on a dirt runway, and it freaked me out a little. From there we took about an hour boat ride with the others to our little resort on a little island. I was in awe the whole time at the beauty.. The water is so blue and there were little islands that looked like mountains all over-some of them had white sand on them and some of them were giant cliffs with trees growing all over them..This is probably the prettiest place I have ever been in my life..When we got to our room we were welcomed by a little monkey in our tree. He started throwing little coconuts at the people below-so funny. At the resort all of the activities are included in the price-so we sat down and made a schedule of what we were going to do the rest of the time...I didn't want to miss anything and had everything planned out-haha...The first day we took a boat ride to the small and big Lagoons. They are so beautiful..Scientists think they used to be caves that collapsed and left these beautiful Lagoons. We snorkeled in the big Lagoon and then we kayaked in the small lagoon..After that we had dinner- everything is buffet style...I was afraid of what they would serve..They did have a ton of crazy looking seafood-but they also had rice with beef, fresh fruit, (the mangos are sooo good!) bread, salad etc..Thankfully I was able to find things to eat.. I felt like I was in a dreamland today-it was seriously that amazing...I was in total awe at the beauty..The atmosphere was so relaxed and peaceful...Awesome day today...

Boat ride over to the Island

 I couldn't get over the beautiful Islands all over the place..Different shapes and sizes..

 Look at the water!

 This is our resort..

 Looking out from the resort..

 Boat ride to the Lagoons

Inside the big Lagoon

 Small Lagoon

We stayed in the little room on top....                      Our little monkey friend

DAY 2

Today we had our driver Robert pick us up and take us to the Greenhills shopping center. My aunt was also able to come...The shopping here was awesome..I bought nike shoes for Logan and Cache for 5 bucks each...They also had cute knock off name brand bags like prada and chanel for 10-15. (I settled on only buying one). They had women's shoes galore--I bought some adorable flats for next to nothing...They also had many venders of pearls-nice quality pearls for awesome prices... I think Perry's favorite part was bargaining with all the vendors in tagolog..I loved shopping here-but hated the pressure of feeling like I had to buy everything...We spent 3-4 hours here-and I know I could have spent alot more time...(We shopped only 1 floor and Perry told me later there were 4 floors!!) We shopped through lunch and realized that it was already 2...We ate at a little restaurant by the mall. It was very good-nothing weird...After eating we drove to a little strip of souvenir shops...I didn't find much here besides a cute little jeepney car for Cash and some shells for Logan...This area was pretty poor and it stunk..Three cute little boys came up to us and put their hands out for money-instead of giving them money we kept giving them high fives..They thought it was hilarious..They were so cute...Anyway-after spending a little time here we had our driver take us back to the mission home where we enjoyed some chicken enchiladas for dinner..yum. Fun day....

In America we are obsessed with being tan and dark....In the philippines they want to be light skinned and there are advertisements everywhere for skin whitening creams etc. Kind of funny to me.. 

 Anyone need to use the bathroom??  Saw this male urinal right alongside of a main road..lol

 How do they ever get power with those lines??

 These are some of their modes of transportation..Side cars...

 Jeepneys...These are everywhere and they will cram them full of people...I wanted the experience of riding in one-but we ran out of time...They don't have air conditioning and are very cheap to ride in-so many people use them to get around as opposed to an expensive taxi...

 The next few pictures are of the poverty....The houses shown below are called squatters and they will build houses right on top of each other...They are everywhere...It is extremely sad to me that they actually live in those conditions..

 Here are the little boys that kept high fiving us...Aren't they cute??

 Lunch at the restaurant

PHILIPPINES

Perry and I are back from our trip to the Philippines... Perry has always wanted to take me back to his mission so when my aunt and uncle got called to be mission presidents over Queson City, (his exact mission) we decided now would be the perfect time to go. It was such a wonderful experience and one that I will always remember. I was planning on doing one big post-but it was too overwhelming for me so I am going to break it up day by day...
 Anyway-our flight left 6:00 am Friday morning and it took us 29 hours to get from our doorstep to my aunt and uncles, (with 4 different flights and a time change of 14 hours-we were exhausted-but super happy to see my aunt and uncle at the airport to pick us up) After about an hours drive we were at the mission home... We both slept like babies..
 The next day we got up early and took a taxi to Antipolo-(one of Perry's areas) for church...He had several people he was excited to see there...(Through facebook he was able to come into contact with several members and people he baptized-so they knew we would be there) Anyway-one of the ward members gave me a beautiful pearl bracelet that she was wearing-and another gave me a necklace and earrings.. I felt guilty taking it-but knew they would feel bad if I didn't.  (These people have nothing-but yet they are soo happy to give) The lesson was interesting as the teacher would speak a little bit of tagalog and a little bit of english-(half and half) It is huge for them to learn english-so they like to practice it alot. Anyway-I was able to follow a little bit..They also asked Perry and I to bear our testimonies in sacrament meeting...Perry did an awesome job with his tagolog and it was really neat to see him interact with these people that he loves.. It's amazing to me that after 12 years they even remember him-but all of them were very warm and kind and I could see their love for him. After church we took pictures and hung out for a little bit- and then we tried to find a family that he baptized...The mom was working in a nail salon-so we found the salon and she was completely shocked to see Perry...Her boss let her have a break and she took us to her home to see her children. When we got to the home it was about the size of my dining room with cement floors and one tiny bed...(I guess they take turns sleeping on it) It made me feel very guilty and spoiled to think of our home in comparison...) Perry says that this is one of the average to nicer homes here. Anyway- he was excited to meet Perry Max-her little boy that was named after him. (This family didn't speak hardly any english so I couldn't really follow the conversation) Her husband is a driver in kuwait and hasn't been home in 4 years. The company was supposed to give him a plane ticket 3 weeks ago to come home for a visit but then they decided not to-and it is too expensive for them to buy one so they have no idea when they will see him...She got choked up and it made me very sad and I realized that I take Perry's job for granted..I complain about him coming home at 8:00 sometimes-but at least I still get to see him everyday...Anyway-it was a wonderful day seeing the people in his mission and they all enjoyed seeing him..First thing everyone said to him was "Wow, you are big now, you gained weight. You are very handsome now that you are big." I guess being big means you have enough food to feed yourself which makes you rich and handsome-lol! (not quite the same as America)
After visiting everyone he wanted we went back to the mission home and ate dinner with My Aunt and Uncle and the AP missionaries. It was a great day...
Below is a pic of the mission home...Beautiful..                 

Perry baptized the lady's husband in the gray-but she refused to take the lessons at the time and since then she has been baptized along with her children and all sealed in the temple.

These are all the people who were either a family member to someone who has been baptized or they have been baptized themselves while Perry was serving...

This is the same wall of the same church-12 years ago...Look how tiny Perry was lol!

These are pictures of the Tarana family that is missing their dad being abroad...The little boy on the bottom right is Perry Max...He was born right before Perry left the mission.. Isn't he adorable?? The picture on the bottom left is a picture of Andy's baptism 12 yrs ago...Andy is the boy in the picture in the green shorts just below.

HAPPY EASTER

Hope everyone had a good Easter....We did...It was an absolutely beautiful weekend and we loved it!! Below are pictures (Did you expect anything less-I love taking pictures and because I haven't been so great at putting them in photo albums at least they will be on my blog)

Cousin Easter egg hunt at the Allred's. They were ready to go-especially Cache-he definitely did not want to take time for a picture.

Digging in...

Easter egg hunt/activities at the rec center..(I thought it would be super crowded-but it was really low key and not busy at all...perfect for the kids)