Christmas Call - seen but not heard:0

Sarah emailed Christmas eve to tell us she would Skype with us on Christmas night-(9am her time the day after Christmas.)  The Christmas Skype was tricky because we could see her, but not hear her, so we tried various arrangements  and finally ended up typing back and forth.  It was great to get to see her though.  We all gathered around Nick's computer, and he did most of the typing (he's fast!)
Here are some of the  Christmas Phone call notes:
She says she's really doing fine!  She never had jet lag, and she only has about 10 mosquito bites on each leg...She's healthy and happy!
       There are 2 areas in her ward, and even though her area is small in geographical area, it is very time consuming to get from one appointment to another. It doesn't sound like they do much tracting, but mostly teaching.  They have 9 investigators with a baptismal date.  (Wow!)  However, she says most of them won't be baptized on their scheduled dates, because they aren't keeping their commitments.  They have to come to church for 4 Sundays in a row in order to be baptized,  and only one of the investigators has met that requirement.

"super legit investigator (Ericson) playing the guitar and  his little sister Lola"

He looks young to me, but Sarah says he is around 20.

The people are so nice to the missionaries.  She says church is happy and really noisy! The children are so cute.  Last Sunday one of the little girls came over to sit by Sarah, and was talking to her, it was during the Sacrament and she watched Sarah reading and pondering her scriptures.  Sarah gave her the scriptures, and she spent the rest of the meeting looking at the scriptures just as Sarah had.  

     Sarah said she made "nobake" cookies for their ward Christmas party,  which is about the only option considering they do not have ovens.  They do have a rice cooker and a hot plate...

     Sarah and her companion go running in the mornings during exercise time. The other 2 sisters in their apartment are Filipina and just think they are so weird for going running. When Sarah and Sister  Garcia come back to the apartment they do sit ups and push ups and the other sisters laugh at them:)  

     The sisters take turns cooking for each other. The filipina sisters make "weird" stuff for breakfast, like corned beef.  Sarah makes toast and jam for breakfast, and the other sisters aren't too crazy about that apparently.  

Sarah at the mall - pretty modern mall considering the living conditions!

Pictured here is their main mode of transportation, I think:

Sarah loves the kids!!  She says they're soooo cute!

We were surprised that Sarah's schedule is that they have language study, scripture study, and companion study, and leave their apartment about 11, because she is going through the in field training program.  They have to be back in their apartment by 6 pm, unless they have an appointment, in which case they can stay out until 7 pm.  They can't be out after dark because of safety concerns.  Even though their proselyting time is limited, they seem to do a lot of teaching.  She says the living conditions are not as big a concern as she expected.  It sounds like the transition to life in the Philippines is easier than she expected, even though she is dealing with lots of insects, no shower, and limited hygiene resources.
It was so wonderful to see and "talk" to Sarah!!