We spent the first part of this week being lost everywhere
we went. Whether in the country or in
the city, no matter where we were there was always someone to save us. After the second day of being lost in Baao,
and feeling very frustrated with the waste of time and gas, a guy on a motor
bike kept waving at us and we waved back.
Finally we realized he was following us so we stopped and discovered he
was the branch president. He admitted
that we looked lost and being “American looking” he realized we were the new
couple missionaries. He directed us
around the town and then left us.
Valerie and I laughed about our good fortune and I said, “Do you get the
feeling we are being watched?” It was
all too coincidental.
We had a meeting with the new Elders and Sisters serving in
this area since transfers were this week.
They are all from the Philippines so the all speak Tagalog and English
is their second language. Communication
can be a challenge but we get by. The
branch president, President Botor showed up at the meeting and spent all day
with Valerie and I showing us the district and church meeting houses. At the end of the afternoon we discovered
that he rides his family vehicle, a small Honda motorbike to Naga every night,
one hour one way, to work as a night security guard for 12 hours a day. During the day he delivers invoices for the
electric company. His daily wage is
less than $8. He and his wife have 4
children and we felt so guilty that we would take him away from his family and
work schedule but he said after he left us yesterday he felt that he should be
more accommodating to us and spend some time showing us around. It cost him precious dollars and time to be
with us. We have so much to learn about
true charity.
This area is not a tourist spot so to see white people is
quite a novelty still. Little children
don’t always know quite how to act but often they rush out to touch our hands
to their foreheads, which an act of respect.
The people are so loveable. I
wish I had more pictures of family, Canada and snow to show them.
For the last two days we have been working with Elders
Robles and Servancia, both Filipinos and Sister San Jose from the Philippines
and her companion Sister Latini from California. They serve in Baao with us.
They are remarkable teachers and although we can only guess at part of
the conversations they often ask us to talk, pray or testify and the spirit is
always there to translate. The people
we have taught are very humble and we have had ducks, chickens, puppies and
cats walk through our teaching environment but no one seems to notice. We have3 only been here a week but already
feel an association with the people and secretly hope to stay a long time in
this area. We have a long term plan we
would like to initiate next week if we have the support of the four branch
presidents in our zone. The few
missionaries we have talked to about it have been excited to be a part of it
even though they are already very busy teaching.
Saturday was Valerie’s birthday but a regular day for
us. Last evening I took Valerie to a
resort hotel in Nabua for dinner. We
had the place to ourselves and the food was different but good. I will spoil her tomorrow in Naga city as we
have to go to the mission home and do other business on our Pday.
Yesterday morning after our walk I did the wash in our cool
little washing machine and hung the clothes on the line to dry in time for a
two day rain that shut down all the churches in the district to day. We drove to Nabua in a torrential downpour
with trees and palm leaves covering the road only to find the building locked
so we made our way back to Baao to find the same situation. We received a text from the mission home
saying that the Sisters in Irigua, about 7 km from us had 2 inches of water in
their apartment. My clothes are still
on the line getting their 48 hour rinse.
The power has been out since 6:00 AM which is a normal
occurrence here. They call it a “Brown
Out” and it is just part of life. We
had cold showers this morning because the only hot water in the house is our
shower that heats the water electrically on demand. The faster the water travels through the heating coil the colder
it gets but it takes the cold out. Most
of the missionaries don’t have it this good.
Elder Watson
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