Blog 50: February 1 to 12, 2016

That’s right…I am that far behind.  This is going to be brief but concise because I want to catch up today.  We are taking today to plan and catch up.  On Wednesday the 3^rd we did a training in Libmanan with 2 new elders, Bactad and Golez then went for ice cream.  I got Sister Watson and I each a Magnum bar and told them to get whatever they wanted.  The grabbed a carton of ice cream and went to the till so we bought it for them.  They went straight home for lunch from there.

On Thursday we trained Elder Elmario in Pasacao who Elder Gaser is training.  We set up some plans for the FH event on Saturday.  Elder Elmario is on my left.  Elder Tokoragi is the elder in the long sleeves.  He is a professional fighter like his father.  They both fight in the ring for a living.  They are MMA (Mixed martial arts) experts.  He if from French Malaysia so he speaks Tagalog and French.  He understands English but doesn’t speak it very well.  I love those men but Elder Toloragi is very special to me.  He in on the end in the green tie.

On Friday we picked up the Sisters in Pamplona on route to the zone training in Sipocot.  Both siste Watson and I presented ideas to the zone then waited for their training to end.  We ate at the church then trained Elder Villabobos from Ragay and Elders De Lara the ZL in Sipocot and Elder Taholo.  We love being with the missionaries at zone meetings and catching up with the ones we know.

We took a short cut home through Naga to miss the rush traffic.  We had to go to the mission home to borrow the projector from President Reeder.  We arrived just as a big American guy, his wife and four Filipinos were at the gate.  We visited with the group while waiting for the projector.  He served here in 1975.  It was the Philippines north mission then and he had some wild stories.  There were only 300 members south of Manila then.  We went days without a companion at transfer time so their house boy, Willy, who still works for the church was his companion.  He got a pig as collateral from a loan to a member that lived in the house with them.  They eventually butchered it and ate it.  He loved his mission experience.  The people with him were members he baptized and have since brought hundreds into the church.  They are all ward and stake leaders.  There are Three stakes and two districts with over 10000 members in Naga mission boundary now.  He couldn’t believe it.  He has been very successful working as a head hunter for Intel corp.  One of his companions is a multimillionaire from becoming the wall nut king of California.  Another became mega rich from patenting the Styrofoam egg carton.  Many missionaries from the Philippines have become extremely successful.  I am still waiting.

The FH Event in Pasacau was late starting but went very well.  We need to motivate them to do another.  Here are some pictures of that event.  This is Sister Watson beginning the videos before many people showed up.  The power was off when we got there and we made plans to do a dry run without the electronics.  The power came on for less than an hour so we could do our video presentation then use the laptops until their power ran out.  It was miraculous how the timing was perfect for power to be available.

This is a class helping members do searching.  

This was the beginners class.  They are beginning to write their family stories in the my family booklet so it can be scanned into family search.

The Pamplone sisters did a class with the primary so the parents could participate with us.

We went to church in San Fernando so we could meet the brother that makes the bolos, or etaks ro Machetes depending on your language.  He was there but doesn’t speak English so we made arrangements with the missionaries to go with us to meet him at his home and translate for us.

On Monday I spent time working on the van and making a brief talk for a funeral tomorrow in Buhi.  Sister Merly Olivaras, a cousin to President Olivaras passed away this week.  She has been failing for a while although  she was only 56 years old.  The cause of death was complications from diabetes and a kidney stones.   She left her husband and four children who are aged 22 to 30.  Her husband was very distraught.  The chapel was full but only 6 branch members were present.  The rest were Catholics who are from Sister Merly’s barangay.  Two youth missionaries and me talked.  We all said the same thing and it was a great spirit there.  The people told President Olivaras that it was so different from a Catholic funeral and it felt good.  They are mountain people and very few speak English but can understand.  I saw several nod their heads as I spoke.    It is normal here to have your picture taken like this in the chapel with the family of the deceased.  This is the missionaries, branch leaders and the family with Sister Merly.

We went to the entombment in the rain.  Each of the container on the right hold a body. 

On Wednesday we went back to Pamplona to work with the sisters.  They were on splits so there was Sister Stackhouse with a member girl named Angel who is preparing to go on a mission.  They speak Becol here, not Tagalog so Angel translated for us.  We went to visit a sister who lost her husband two weeks ago.  We took a trycee to Pamplona centro because the road is under construction and our van couldn’t make it.  There were 9 people in the trycee!  It us just a covered side car on a Honda 100 scooter.  It cost us 8 pesos each which is about $0.22

This is a new trycee behind us heading up to Pamplona.  Where do the 9 people sit/stand/squash? 

From the trycee we got on a “skate” which is a homemade, illegal motorized cart they lift on to the rail road tracks and go.  When two skates meet they stop and one lifts his skate off and let the other go by.

This the skate in front of us.

We have some videos of us on the skate.  Sister Watson loved to feel the wind on her face.  I love to feel the wind blow my…scalp!

This is Sister Stackhouse and Angel washing their legs off after we crossed a swamp to get to the member’s house.  After two meetings school had let out so the kids followed us.  They don’t see white people back into the jungle this far so we were popular.  The sisters did some action songs with the kids on the street.

This a big file to send with all the pictures so I will end it now.  We love you all!! I love to feel the wind blow my…scalp!

Blog 49: January 25 to 31, 2016

We couldn’t run on Monday morning, P-day, because we left at 6 AM to meet President Olivaros at the Buhi chapel.  We followed him up to his mountain baragay and met his wife.  There is only one family in his barangay of over 2000 mountain people that is not related to him.  This is wife and youngest son.  He has three daughters in school. Two are in high school. There is 7 years between this boy and his next to oldest sister. They have one of the homes constructed with blocks and concrete with a metal roof so when the typhoons hit, everyone squeezes into it.  He toured us through his barangay and introduced us to his uncle the barangay captain.  This preschool is below the barangay office.  The teacher has 25 students but because it was raining only these few boys came to school today. 

We passed a coconut basket on a skid pulled by a carabau.  

We climbed up the mountain to President Olivaros’s cousin who owns the biggest carabau on the mountain.  It was raining but it was worth it.  He loved showing off his animal and letting us sit on it.

We have many more pictures from this day and a video of president telling us about rice farming.

Tuesday brought exciting news.  A general authority from the Philippines Area Authority is coming to view a training that we do to teach missionaries how to use family history as a finding and teaching tool.  We did some running around and meeting with others to arrange things for the event to happen on Friday.

Tuesday was transfers which is always chaotic.  Our van was getting washed and the parking lot was full of missionaries so I went out onto the street and hailed a trycee to take me to Sister Watson who was getting her hair done across the city on Magsaysay drive.  The driver didn’t speak English so I pointed and kept saying, “Magsaysay”.  He gor me there and Sister Watson was waiting on the street.  I yelled to her and she met me on the road, hopped in and we directed the trycee back to Panganiban Drive where we live.  It cost 24 pesos which is about 60 cents.  Valerie was impressed! 

Fast forward to Thursday evening where we met with the general authority, President Haynie of the Philippines Area Authority.  We had dinner with him and the Reeders at the mission home.  He was a very personable man and easy to talk with.  We ate a wonderful dinner and had a 90 minute Q and A.  The following is an excerpt of a report I sent to a friend back home.

 We have just passed our year mark and have had quite an adventure to get to where we are now.  We were called as MLS missionaries.  We had very little training on how to accomplish the task of strengthening the branches in the first district we lived and worked in, Iriga district.  Our task was to help prepare them to become a stake.  After several months of work, experience and research we developed a project that teaches missionaries how to use family history as a finding and teaching tool.  It springboards them into teaching the principle of eternal families connecting less actives and investigators to deceased relatives.  The success exploded the positive indicators of the Iriga zone.  It took them from the least producing zone to the top tying them with the highest producing zones and took Iriga district from 0% submitters to 3% in about three months.  That doesn’t sound like much but it is over 60 submitters with over 600 names.

Presently, he have recently moved and with our limited time, hope to finish and support the work in one more district.  In the evolutionary process of learning how to make missionaries more successful we have developed plans and trainings to assist Priesthood Leaders and Relief Society leaders use family history in their home teaching and visiting teaching efforts; we have a program to train Family History Consultants to assist the missionaries with their investigators and less-active members; we have develop events to be held at the meetinghouses to create an awareness and an excitement for family history work (with many other positive consequences for the church unit); and primarily to train and assist missionary work.

This past week we were surprised and delighted by a visit from the Area Presidency in Manila who have heard about the success of one zone (Iriga zone) in the obscure little Naga mission, and came to investigate.  We quickly gathered together many documents we have produced and put together a binder for President Haynie of the First Quorum of Seventy.  I am attaching a copy of the cover letter in the front of that binder.  The information we refer to in the cover letter is only a partial collection and was meant to be a reference for him to analyze.  His visit was provoked by our request that the Philippines produce an instructional  video to be viewed by missionaries at the Manila MTC so they can come into the mission field prepared with a skill that is very efficient.  Our limited research and analysis shows that statistically, this approach works with more success than any other.  Many positive, unintended consequences have occurred as well, in terms of strengthening branches and wards, increasing activity, giving purpose to some unit calls etc.

We had a wonderful evening with President Haynie last night as we outlined what we have done and what we would like to see happen in the Philippines in terms of support for the missionaries. Today he witnessed a zone training we did for the missionaries. It is very intimidating to direct a workshop being monitored by a mission president and a general authority! 

Friday was the training and it went very well.  President was there to view our project but he took 20 minutes to address the missionaries.  Sister Reeder took pictures of us while we trained.

We are helping President Haynie set up for his part after our workshop. 

I have some notes from his presentation that I am going to paste into this blog right here.

 January 29, 2016

Elder Haynie:  Presidency of the Area Authority First Quorum of Seventy

A Family History experience is the most essential in the conversion process.  In terms of retention in the gospel, it is most important for a new member to go to the temple with a name from their family.

If you were in prison (spirit prison) and someone gave you a key would you not use it?  The level of acceptance of the gospel on the other side of the veil is far higher than here on earth.  Deceased people are praying for missionaries to be sent to their families here on earth so their families will join the church and do their ordinance work for them. 

Moses 6:31  Enoch is called to a mission

       V32  …oym..all flesh is in my hands

       V34  …mountains flee…rivers turn…walk with me (not behind me)

       V 36-37  …beheld the spirits of God…testified…(Elder Haynie said the most important event for a new member is to go to the temple with a name of a relative and feel the spirits God has created.)

My Notes:

The Church of Jesus Christ believes in eternal families.

“Today Thou shalt be with me in paradise”  Christ went to spirit world, Paradise.

Luke 16:19-31  Great gulf between Lazarus and the rich man after death.  Lazarus begs Abraham to send missionaries to save his living family. 

Christ bridged the gulf between spirit prison and paradise  1Peter 3:18-21; Moses 7:37-39

D&C 138:57-59  Elders continue to teach when they depart this life.

By comparison, Paradise is very small and spirit prison is huge.

It was a busy week with a lot of arrangements to me made.  We were glad for Saturday.  I did some paperwork catch up and Sister Watson went for a hair appointment.  On Sunday we went to Libmanan for church and met President Lucillio of the mission presidency.  WE have some plans to get the district more excited about being LDS.   This is going to be so fun!

We love you all!!

Blog 48: January 18 to 25, 2016

Monday and Tuesday were business days.  We caught up on some training material, fired off a million emails, caught up on face book information and organized things for another busy week.

On Wednesday we went to Buhi to train the two missionaries that have transferred in since our last round of training.  We spent the afternoon training and printing off their pedigree charts and fan charts so they can use them as they use FH as a finding and teaching tool.  They are an amazing district and are so lucky to be in such a beautiful mountain area.  Elder Cordinera and Elder Templado didn’t need training but they came as well.  I was glad they were there and although they have been trained several times they still learned something new.  They have a baptism this coming Saturday.  Sister Abordo who lost the baby May last fall is also getting baptized.  We won’t miss that one!  This is the Buhi district.

Naturally Elder Cordinera stole my iPad and took a million selfies.  I finally caught up to him and got it back.  

These are the other missionaries in the class training while Sister Watson in on the computer with them.  

We didn’t get home until 8 PM.  The highway is very busy and it is so difficult to see at night with all the traffic and the motorcycles passing on both sides.  But we made it!

We had to leave early Thursday morning to get to Bato for a training with Bato, Nabua and Cotnogan.  We were held up because of a car accident in Pili.  Sister Watson was driving and did a great job in three lanes of traffic going one way on a single lane. pan>

We finally passed the accident scene and saw the two smashed vehicles.  It was yucky!

Remarkably, we got to Bato in time.   We role-played and trained in the morning meeting.  They all went for lunch while we set up for the class and companionship training.  Then we did training and computer work with them until about 5 oclock.  The properties of any value in the Philippines have stone/brick fences and locking metal gates.  Because we got there at 10 AM and left at 5 PM the gate was open.  The parking lot has two basketball courts and they were filled all day.  The neighbors love it when we need to get our van through the gate.  They can follow and play ball on concrete.

These are the Bato district leaders.  

There are 10 in the district so I am missing some that must be with Sister Watson in the FH room.  This is a blurry picture of them role playing as missionaries teaching a less-active family.

It was a great day but it became a beyond great day when the elders left the church to tell the basketball players and kids to leave.  Valerie and I packed up our mobile office into the bin and carried it outside to put into the van.  When we got outside, we saw two companionship's with their pedigree charts, teaching a lola (grandmother) the FH approach they just learned!  They got a call back from that 20 minute encounter.  She was there watching her grand-kids play on the lawn.  You can see the fence in the background.

Again, it was late and we fought our way home in the dark.  Because we have fully completed teaching every missionary in Pamplona and Iriga zones we rewarded ourselves by eating at a new restaurant.  It was very good but I could have eaten more.  The portions are small here because they just don’t eat as much as we do.  They have very efficient digestive systems and can operate on very

While we were teaching in Bato, President Reeder phoned us and told us that President Haynie of the Area Presidency in Manila is coming to view a training.  Manila wants to see what we are doing that is producing the results that Iriga zone of the Naga mission.  There are 27 missions in the Philippines and Naga is a smaller, lower producing area.  It includes some of the most impoverished parts of the Philippines as well.  

Friday was a catch up day and it was raining so we enjoyed staying home and working in the office down stairs.  The exciting thing was a package from Shand and Trish’s family and a card from Shirley Brown in Wales!  We appreciate the thought so much.  We know the sacrifices you make for us.  Thank You all!

Saturday was amazing!  We went to Buhi for a baptism of 9 new members.  Sister Abordo who lost baby May last November was baptized.  Her family all came although she is the only one who speaks English.  Their kids are very well behaved and her husband is a hard worker.  This is the group of baptismal candidates and those baptizing.  They ran out of clothes for the girls who are older than they look and the smaller women so they traded in the change room.

On Sunday we went to Pasacau for services then had a final planning meeting for the FH Event.  This is the last Sunday before transfers to we had pictures because some the elders will be transferred.  All four elders are here as well as the branch FH committee.

…and so ends another week.  We love you all and pray for each of you!  

Blog 47: January 11 to 18, 2016

The big news around here is that President Russell M Nelson and his wife, Wendy Watson, are coming to tour the Naga mission in 3 weeks.  President Reeder has assigned the Hoopes to put together a mission choir of the  local districts.  It will be nice to see Wendy again.  We haven’t seen much of her since she married President Nelson.

Monday was a business day.  In the afternoon we took a road trip to find a high way that shows on the map but not on the internet map, Maplandia.  Sister Watson wanted to drive the van for experience because it is full sized and hard to park here.  We had a beautiful drive, saw lots of activity, rice was drying down every road, and we got several great pictures of life and agriculture.  Sister Watson drove dowm this road because the map said it would connect us to a major highway and we would have a short cut to Libmanan but about 500 yards down the road it went into a single lane with 2 foot drops on either side and no place to trun around.  We could not see far enough down the road to see if it widened again so she had to back up to the last intersection.  The van has good mirrors so we got there with people staring at two white giants in s full sided van on a trycee trail.  I am going to burn the map.

The road is 8 feet above the rice field levels with squatter’s huts on either side squeezed between the road and the fields.  This picture doesn’t give and idea of the depth of the drop down to the housed but it is quite steep. 

 The road becomes the only yard the kids have to play on.  We call the roads, “Multi-use areas” because they are places for living, playing, drying rice, businesses, tents for wakes, playgrounds, walkways, parking areas, work areas for mechanical jobs…and driving.  On the drive we accidently found the Calabanga church building.  Now we know where Calabanga is. 

On Tuesday we trained the sister companionships in Pamplona.  It was splits with the STL sisters from Daet that day with.  Sister Cruz, one of the STL (Sister Training Leader) stopped at the church with Sister Mariano because she wanted to learn what we were doing.  We gave her a fast training and she invited us to do a zone training in Daet.  We said we would make something happen after transfers.   Forgot to take a picture…my bad!

Wednesday was hot and humid.  We hope summer isn’t going to be bad this year but that is dream we won’t see.  The kids will be out for summer break on March 1 so summer officially starts about 10 weeks from now.  They get March and April off.  The heat in the open, unfanned classrooms would kill you!  We went to Pasacau and trained three elders.  We had a great time with the guys then went for Halo Halo to a restaurant. Two of the Elders do not speak English very well.  One Elder is from French Malaysia and is a professional fighter like his father.  That is how he wants to make his living.  I will get a picture of the Pasacau elders on Sunday.  Again…my bad.

Thursday was supposed to be a full day with Iriga but they changed their zone schedule so we had to change as well.  We went to the hospital to visit Elder Heaton and did some food purchases.  We had some home work to do for the Pasacau elders and finished the day preparing for Iriga district training.

We made it to Iriga for their district meeting and did a 30 minute crash reminder and role play.  They went for lunch and we did companionship training's.  You can see how focused they are on the instructor.  Being ignored like that brought back great memories of my Springside Students ignoring me 6 hours a day.  AAhhh the good memories of Springside…

Saturday was a great day.  We drove to Libmanan to help them with a branch family history event.  We were supposed to pick up the 4 sisters in Pamplona along the way so they could help with the primary children but Sister Pasina was in hospital with dengue fever and Sister Mariono started pucking minutes before we were pick her and Sister Stackhouse up.  We went alone!   Libmanan is where Sister Cedron, the district FH Consultant lives.  Bad news, she is gone to Manila to work in a bank and her husband and  year old son are still here.  The family plan to be together in a few months but it is a great loss to us!

The elders were amazing with the members and investigators.  Elder Afoe, the DL and Elder Key were very helpbul.  Elder Baker, the ZL was on splits there so he helped too.  

The local FH history consultants were very busy and did a great job.

The best news was the branch sisters fed us twice and it was good!  This is the cooking  and kitchen crew.  Two of them are teachers so we had a great talk with them.

We missed Sister Cedron who is the district FH specialist but has moved to Manila to work while her husband and 2 year old son wait for a place there with her.

On Sunday we went to Pasacau to church and met with the FH consultants after.  They are planning a branch FH event and we will help. 

My tooth is hurting again so I picked up some antibiotics with the prescription from last August.  You really don’t need a prescription, just the name of the meds.  Since they have no narcotic meds here it is easy to buy meds.  They sell pills by the “piece” or each pill.  It is much cheaper here but they don’t have all of the meds we have in North America. 

That finishes this week.  We love you all!  

Blog 46: January 4 to 11, 2016

It’s back to work we go after two weeks off.  Except for retail outlets, a lot of the businesses and shops shut down for the two weeks of Christmas and New years.  We are sick of eating so much.  Each branch or family party was a feast!  When people ask what I got for Christmas I just show them my stomach. 

We went to church in Milaor on Sunday.  It was just outside Naga city and is the closest church to the city.  It is a very good ward but we were surprised at the number of people of who didn’t understand English.  We expect that from a country branch but not a city ward.  It was a good day.

I took the van in to Lisam for service at 7:30 AM and was still the third one in line.  They don’t open until 8:00 AM so the security guard gave each vehicle a number for when the office opened.  I was number three.  This is the outdoor service center and that is our grey, Hyundai van on the right.

While I was waiting for the van to be finished I stood across the street and got a shot of a typical Filipino driving move.  If you can’t get to where you want to go in traffic some in the vehicle gets out and stops or directs traffic for you.  No one ever honks in anger or gets upset, it is just part of life.  This is a guy stopping traffic on the national highway so a big truck can back out of a business on to the highway.  It is a regular occurrence.  There is never any parking for personal vehicles because very few people own cars.  Everyone takes a pudyak, trycee, jeepney or bus depending on the distance you want to travel.  When we park in front of a store on the main highway someone always stops traffic for us to back out when we leave.  Most do it for a tip.  There is a lot of poverty so there are always people begging for money.  Young boys will follow you out of a store or restaurant until you give them money.  They are usually working for a crime boss of some type.  We try to help the ones who look like they really need it…cripples, mothers with little kids etc.  We are probably getting sucked in but not all the time.  Anyway…back to my thought…this is a truck backing onto the main highway into Naga city.  The guy beside it in the blue is stopping the traffic.

The van needed a wash so Lisam takes it across the highway to one the biggest car washes in the city.  A car was is just a place to park, a bucket and brush and sometimes a garden hose.  We have never seen a pressurized water spraying system.  It is all by hand and they do a great job for 80 peso which is about $2.10 CAD.  I had to take this picture into the setting sun at about 5 PM so it is washed out but this is the huge car wash.  It has a roof which most don’t.

There has been a rash of break-ins and thefts around our neighborhood so we have been told to be more vigilant in our security measures.

We have done a lot of homework, running around, and visiting sick missionaries in the hospital.  Elder Heaton from Utah who has served in Cotnogan got an amoeba (bacterial) infection and we visited him in the hospital today.  They have him on an antibiotic drip.  His district leader, Elder Fallesii from Samoa stayed with him.  Elder Heaton is about 6’2” and is very slim already.  After being sick for three days and becoming extremely dehydrated, he looked even worse.  He was in good spirits but had no energy.  I joked that I was glad his mother couldn’t see him right now.  He said she would be on the next jet here if she did.

We met with President and Sister Reeder yesterday to report and to see if our family history training is helping the mission.  All the indicators are that it is amazing how effective it is as a finding and teaching tool.  Hoopes has us over for a fruit pizza in the afternoon and we visited until about 6:30. 

Thursday I had several booklets to copy for training on Friday.  I went early to the office to use the photocopy machine and found it out of order AGAIN.  That thing is a piece of junk!  I went to look around the city to find a copy place and finally found one.  I did over 450 copies and it cost 300 pesos.  There are fewer copy places here than in Baao but they charge less here.

Friday was busy as we had to drive 90 minutes to Sipocot for zone training.  Sister Watson drove the van for the first time.  She did well.  I think it made her homesick for her school bus that is waiting for her back home.  We did a demo for the zone, participated in their training, had lunch with them and did training classes with Ragay district and spent the afternoon with Del Gellago district.  The are 90 minutes and 120 minutes away from Ragay respectively.  We appreciated them meeting with us to save two days of driving.  This is the Pamplona zone at zone training.

I can’t get the whole chapel in one shot!

After the trainings we packed up and drove back to Libmanan which is on the way home.  We met with Sister Cedron, the district FH Consultant and three branch consultants.  Sister Cedron just miscarried a baby in her 7^th week and their financial situation is such that her husband’s income isn’t covering the family requirements.  They have a two year old daughter.  Sister Cedron is going to Manila to work and her husband and daughter are coming later to join her.  Naturally she is upset about the loss of her baby and leaving home.  When we asked why the men don’t go away to work she said that Filipina woman are more ambitious and reliable so they do the work as well as take care of the house and kids.  We have book we read regularly to educate us to the culture and it says the same thing.  The traditional Filipino man is cared for while the woman serves.  I am glad my little daughters and granddaughters weren’t raised here.

Saturday is not P-day (Preparation Day) but I had to wash clothes in the early morning.  We did a road trip and accidently found Calabanga chapel.  Valerie drove and at one point on a road that followed a river through the jungle, the road narrowed to one lane so she had to back out about 500 yards.  The road was built up about 10 feet above the rice fields.  The squatters had built their huts and the jungle had grown up to the road’s edge so there was no place to turn around.  This is the width of the road before it narrowed.

This doesn’t give a good perspective of the drop from the road but it is about 10 feet down to the living areas and the rice fields.

We took some footage of farmers working the land with rototillers and carabau.  It was hot there was a lot of rice drying on the roads.

Today is January 9^th.  It is our one year anniversary of arriving in the Naga Philippines mission.  The time has passed too quickly.  We went to dinner with Hoopes to the Rai Rai Restaurant in the mall and had tempura shrimp, some kind of vegetables and rice and sushi.  It was very good!  It was P920 for 2 of us which is expensive here but it is only $11 a piece for Valerie and I.  Mcdonalds at home cost that much for less.  I made Valerie an anniversary card.  It was just a pencil written message on scrap paper but it is the thought that counts…

I must get ready for some assignments in Pamplona tomorrow.  That will be our first time going to church there although we have done a district training and a missionary workshop there.

We love you all!  Thanks again so much for all you to support us.  We miss you but realize it is less than six months before the end…

Blog 45: December 28, 2015 to January 3, 2016

This is a great way to start a week.  We are going to Baao for their Christmas party.  We have three Christmas parties to attend before New Year’s celebrations on Thursday.  Baao did a great job.  We was wonderful to see our old friends and many new ones who have been baptized recently and some who are investigating.  The party started at 1 PM but didn’t get going until about 2 PM.  They call that, “Filipino time” and it means things will start an hour late.  The church leaders here are trying to begin meetings on time and make schedules important but it is a culture clash to try to teach it.

This is a picture of the youth and kids playing a timed event game.  They used a lot of toilet paper and had a lot of laughs. 

The sisters played a game where they had to tip their heads back and have  a cookie placed on their foreheads.  At the signal they had to try to get the cookie into their mouths without using their hands.  That was funny!

The men had to tie a balloon onto their back belt loop and at the signal try to break everyone else’s balloon while protecting your own.  The elders ganged upon me and cheated by using a sharp pencil to break mine.  The last two men took it quite seriously and it was funny!

Next, we were divided into three groups for a relay race.  We had to sit on a rug and pull outselves across the floor and back with out feet.  My new Ibayugan shoes gave me an advantage and our team won!!  I forgot to get my prize.

After the games we had to go because we had to get back to Naga for another choir practice.  Valerie didn’t go, she was beat by then. 

Tuesday morning the assistants to the president were informed that they cannot get driver’s licenses.  Elder Abasante has an license but has only driven a bike.  To accommodate them we traded our little Toyota Corolla for the full sized Hyundai van.  We moved our things from one vehicle to the next then went to do some business in the van.  It is big is very nice to get in and out of. 

On Wednesday we left early for the party in Cotnogan and did some business in Baao along the way.  President Oliva was at the door of the church and was so happy to see us although I think I was more excited to see him.  They are so happy and humble.  We got pictures with President Oliva and his brother and sister-in-law but Sister Oliva was busy in the kitchen.  

Naturally the party was packed with church and community members.  It was very exciting for the kids and many of them performed, danced, sang on the videoke machine and played many goofy games.  

At one point the sisters all danced to a Hawaiian tune and Sister Watson made me get up and dance with her.  They all made room for us to dance and we jived for them, although most of the Filipinos we have partied with are amazing dancers.

One unique game was this.  As a relay race each team sent their members up one at a time to stick their faces in a basin of flour until they came out with a coin in their teeth.  One little girl who is a special friend came over after and said her eye’s hurt!  Really??  

Everyone had a great time then the food came out.  We had sticky rice, cassava, and some kind of bread.  We appreciated it so much because to them it was a feast and they were so excited to share with us.  We love these people!  

On the way to Pili we passed an accident scene from two days ago.    A few people were killed.  The bus filled with people left the lane, crossed the other lane, ran up over the 10” curb, over the sidewalk, down a two foot drop and drove into a hut.  When we got these pictures the dog had been chained to the window frame and the chickens were roosting under the bus.  The roof of the house had gone through the windshield and the front of the bus was in the hut.  We don’t know how many were killed in the house or in the bus but people died.

It rained a bit on the long drive home in the dark and I had to get out and use my window cleaning squeegee to keep the glass clean but it was so nice to be above the headlights and not directly in their line of fire like in the Toyota.

We ran on Wednesday morning and when we got back to our apartment at about 6:30 there were people with two slaughtered pigs behind the church washing and scraping the hides and cleaning the severed heads.  They had the garden hose on them and were preparing to cook them for the Naga 3^rd ward party tonight.  When we left for Cotnogan at about 10:30 AM the pigs were still laying on the concrete in the 34 degree heat, tenderizing!  We were too late getting home to attend the Naga 3^rd ward Christmas party but we were worn out by then anyway.

Thursday was a business day and it rained quite heavily all morning.  In the afternoon the couples met at Hoopes for a lunch and gathering.  President and Sister Reeder left at 5:45 because the missionaries were on lock down at 6:00 PM.  

We watched a movie with Hoopes called the Cokeville Miracle.  In 1985 in Cokeville, Wyoming, not far from where Elder Hoopes was raised, a former sheriff of that county held the elementary school hostage and exploded a bomb that killed his wife and himself but not any staff or students who all had miraculous stories to tell of their rescues.  It was very inspiring.  We left their apartment at 8:00 PM and it sounded like a war zone with all the fire works and fire crackers.  I passed out at about 10:30 but Valerie was woken up by the noise at midnight and took an amazing video of the constant fireworks all over the city.  The sights and sounds were deafening (I slept through it) but saw the video she took and watched some youtube of it.  She finally quit at 2 AM but it was still going on.  They know how to party!

We crashed on New Year’s day.  I slow cooked a roast pork.  We had crackers and cheese, mushroom soup and Swiss bread, then roast pork, roasted potatoes and carrots with broccoli in cheese sauce.  We listened to soft music, while the fire bombs continued throughout the day. 

Saturday I washed clothes and tried to find the key that unlocks the emergency escape door on our second floor bedroom window.  I went through over 100 keys stored in the mission office below us but couldn’t find one that fit.  I wish I had my hand grinder or a hack saw here!!