This week we made a last minute decision to go to Batangas. This was Elder Huff’s very first area when he was here on his young mission, 51 years ago. He has been wanting to get down there ever since we arrived, and since we are almost finished here, we realized it might be the best opportunity to go down there. It is only a 2.5 hour drive there, but it isn’t our area, so we haven’t had occasion to go there. A bonus is that they have really wonderful snorkeling/diving in this area. So we combined our trip to include a P-Day of snorkeling. It’s too bad we don’t have an underwater camera. The coral was so plentiful and varied. We have decided that the fish here seem to be smaller than Hawaii’s fish. They have good varieties of fish, but they are small. We also found a nice hotel to stay at, which was also a huge bonus. It is managed by a man from Belgium. He is looking for someone who speaks Japanese to increase their Japanese market, so we talked to some people at church on Sunday and we might be able to help him and some returned missionary who might need a good job. Hopefully that works out!

So, on Sunday we attended one of the Batangas City wards with the hope that someone was there 51 years ago, but it seems that wasn’t the case. They have a Batangas Stake now, whereas 51 years ago, they had just started a “group” with about 20 or so people. Lennie said there were usually more investigators than members who attended church. Also, they just met in the house the missionaries were living in. So it’s heartwarming to see how the church has grown there. Great members, too. On Saturday, a very elderly man came to our hotel , along with his granddaughter who had to speak in his ear (since he is very hard of hearing) . He had some good stories to tell about when he and his family joined the church. They joined shortly after Lennie was there. Later, we found out that he mentioned Elder Huff in his ward on Sunday, and there was someone there who remembered him. So we went to the wrong ward!!! We just might have to go back before we leave! We hired a boat to take us to an island to snorkel and they were a great couple to travel with. They had never snorkeled before, and said we helped make their trip wonderful! I love it when these win/win situations occur. We loved our two days away. So nice to get out of the city and pollution.