January 31

Hi all.
I hope that you have had a great week.
We had a pretty interesting weekend. We went to a ward in Manoling. I don't think that the place showed up on any map. It is about 12 k off of the main road and much of the road is rocky and hilly. It is up in a mountain area and there are small communities along the way. The people live in mostly "nepa huts" and would be considered poor but they seem to live quite well and seem to love living there. The people are mostly involved in farming. (Rice, sugar cane, corn, coconuts, and pineapples, and bananas.) The area is beautiful and the chapel was dedicated a few months ago. It is amazing to see a beautiful chapel in an area like that. It is in great contrast with anything in the area. There was about 100 people in attendance; they are a delight to be with.
The Bishop asked me to speak about the Self Reliance program.
We were told by missionaries and others that we should go there and see the beautiful area and the beautiful chapel. I told the ward the reasons that we were told that we should go there and l was impressed to tell them that of all the beauties we were able to see in the area, the most beautiful thing was the people in the chapel and that I was sure that our Heavenly Father values then more than all of the chapels in the world. The people are so precious and we made friends with them immediately. We told them that we would like to see some of the waterfalls in the area. The Elders said that they would go with us to help us find the falls and then several ward members wanted to go with us too. It was so fun.
It is good to get a feeling of our Heavenly Father's love for his children. Those people are a special group and it seems fitting that they should have a special chapel.
This really is our Heavenly Father's work
I love you all.
Dad