With Wondering Awe

Missionary Madi happens to snap a picture here and there of the most beautiful scenes.
         
            Many are so amazing that no words need to be stated.

                            Thanks for sharing Missionary Madi.

A PICTURE SPEAKS A THOUSAND WORDS

Missionary Madi sees the beauty that surrounds her, embraces & captures it!

The worlds greatest artist, his paintings change every moment, and leave us in awe. Timeless and Fleeting.

Missionary Madi Selfies

Once in a while you have to revert to your pre-missionary life. Taking snapshots of one self is called a selfie. Missionary Madi was particularly skilled at this prior to leaving on her mission. So here is a shout out to Missionary Madi Selfies..........

Shout out to Lovie (you know who you are)! Love Missionary Madi's Silly Self!

Proverbs 4:26
Ponder the path of they feet, and let all thy ways be established

There is the famous "Thinker" now the famous "Ponderer" Looks serious.....

Finally what we have all been waiting for. Missionary Madi and I talk about her shoes a lot. I am constantly entertained that she does not wear the expensive, well made, conservative, missionary appropriate shoes she purchased prior to leaving on her mission (might have been the endless laughter each time she would put them on to model for everyone). But really is this truly a better option?

Rubber boots gone rogue - Amish? Mennonite? Hutterite? Some kind of ite?

Luxury Living

Missionary Madi is quizzed weekly about her living conditions and how she goes about the simplest tasks. Missionary Madi never complains and will most definitely have a whole new appreciation for the basic necessities of life upon her return to America. I think we will all agree that we totally love our washer and dryer compared to hers. Notice the stool provided for her comfort while scrubbing her clothes. However the stool and baskets are festive colors of pink!

Laundry Missionary Madi Style!

I personally am super happy for the luxury of a toilet with running water. Her dad requested this picture of her toilet. I find the empty toilet paper holder "Alarming". Different world to say the least.

Could Be Worse! Toilet Paper Please....

 Then there is the matter of her pets King Kong and his girl friend Goliath. Missionary Madi informed her dad that spiders are the devils creatures.

Missionary Madi is not a fan of these super sized spiders!

Sometimes you have to Monkey Around

Missionary Madi has been up to some fun adventures. Often the pictures that she sends home are almost to amazing to be real. She is such a champ at adventure. Missionary Madi is in true form and living by the motto "Anything you can do, I can do better!" Apparently on Monday for their preparation day they went to the Hindung Caves. Missionary Madi climbed up this vine like a monkey (Gymnastics pays off in the Philippines). She stated "I just had to do it because all of the boys were."

The cave area looks beautiful and like a fun adventure. 

Missionary Madi Monkey! She does her own stunts!

Missionaries enjoying "P" Day

Hindung Caves

 Missionary Madi is getting to enjoy some of the sites in her area.

Missionary Madi states the best part about this day was going to the home of the senior missionary couple and having nachos and ranch. The girl loves her American food.

April 2012 vs April 2013 What a Difference a Year can make.

What Missionary Madi was up to in April 2012........

What Missionary Madi is up to in April 2013......

We miss this girl more than anyone can understand. What an amazing example she is to our family. I never would have imagined last April when I was shopping for the perfect dress, worn out from a day of manicures & pedicures, makeup and the perfect hair style that this would be where Missionary Madi would be the next April. She loves glitter and everything that sparkles and she is living a life far from that, and she is living it well. She is AMAZING!

ZONE MEETING - MAASIN

Fun to hear from Missionary Madi this week. She is enjoying what she considers her "weird world". Life is so different for her in the Philippines. Drinking bottled water so she does not get some crazy inside eating worms, hauling water in jugs to her home, eating weird foods like squid balls, living with crazy huge spiders (King Kong - her pet name for her spider room mate), being attacked by cockroaches (hope this is an exaggeration), speaking a foreign language, living a very simple life in an incredibly beautiful country. They traveled about an hour away from Matalom to Maasin for a zone meeting and zone interviews. In Missionary Madi travel style she got car sick and made her trip not so fun. She had a baptism this week and she thinks it is the best feeling in the world. Her goal is to have one every day for the rest of her mission as it made her so happy.

Missionary Madi's Zone - Only 4 Sisters Wow!

We got our first letter from Missionary Madi in the Philippines.  So excited to feel like we will actually hear from her now and then. She wants us to look at resorts in Maasin as they are close to where she is in Matalom and to Tacloban. She is planning where we should stay when we come to pick her up in July 2014. Missionary Madi wants us to work on talking the Stake President into releasing her before she comes back to Utah so she can swim in the ocean. Silly Girl! She did state that she has Elder Shields (Ostler's relative/friend), Sister Robinson (Sara Jackson's friend) are in her area. Small World - However Weird!

Sent April 1, 2013 from Philippines Received April 16, 2013 in Utah

REPUBLIKA NG PILIPINASS 20

Philippines Anyone?

Missionary Madi is amazed and impressed with how humble the living conditions are in the Philippines. She made the following statement after attending a funeral in a ladies home where there was just a simple coffin placed in the room, "but it made me realize how much we make things over the top and how humble they can be". Pretty wonderful for her to learn this type of wisdom first hand. Missionary Madi was an amazing girl prior to serving a mission, these experiences will continue to inspire her to become an incredible woman.

Sacrament - Where they typically hold there meeting

The Ocean & Sunset

Missionary Madi is standing pretty close to the water.

Tempting Fate!

It's a JUNGLE OUT THERE.....

Missionary Madi is doing great and loves the area she is in. However humble this area is it also incredibly beautiful. Here is a glimpse of the beauty that Missionary Madi finds herself surrounded with. It is a good thing that she is so Obedient as I can see that she would love to dip her toes into this beckoning ocean. Especially on those 86 Degree plus days with almost 80% humidity.

Sister Kramer her Companion and a member in Matalom.

Incredibly beautiful Tree House. Looks unreal!

Sister Kramer and some crazy Beast! 

We were mocking Missionary Madi about this animal as we asked her what it was. She told us a cow or Caribou. We laughed as we new it was not a caribou but it is actually a Carabao (cow) - Swamp type domestic Water Buffalo.

Very dehydrated FROG!

This is the view from her front porch.

Amazing view of the Ocean.

Mail Delivery - Finally

Missionary Madi finally got her first Mail on Thursday, April 4, 2013. Let's just say that the first round of mail delivery leaves a lot to be desired. Her stuff was damaged but still she was still able to salvage a little of it. Good for a chuckle. Remember my previous blog post of her first package and it's contents. Her second package that I sent contained her a new debit card and she received it safe and sound if not a little attached to Carmel corn. This is how it arrived.

Not exactly the same way it was sent! Oops! Must work on packaging.

 

Debit Card strategically hidden in a box of Cracker Jack! Some Prize.

Easter in the Philippines 2013

Happy Easter! 

It is awesome to be reminded of the true meaning of Easter and the blessing of the atonement and the opportunity to be made pure through the Savior's love.

Missionary Madi is doing great and enjoyed her first Easter away from home. She was not allowed to be out on "Holy Friday" (Good Friday). So her and the other sister missionaries went to a senior missionary couples home and painted eggs and made a bunny cake. It looked like they had a lot of fun and the eggs were impressive.

Love this blond blue eyed Sister Missionary!

Philippines Easter 2013

Happy Girls are the Prettiest - Happy Easter!

BUNNY CAKE!

Sister Kramer Busted out her Artsy Skills.

Fun to see all the sisters together who were in the MTC.

Happy Easter!