Where to start...

Somewhere in the middle I guess.  

We made it through the MTC and Valerie has described that very well and the details that got us to our new home in Baao, Camarines Sur, Division 5 in the Philippines.  We are very fortunate to have such a beautiful place to stay in our first area.  We have a gated yard with locking front gate, a cement hoggery in the back yard, beautiful flowers, a coconut tree, a banana tree and my favorite, a mango tree that got beat up in the last typhoon so we won’t get any fruit this year.  The hog barn has been abandoned and cleaned out.  It has become a storage place since.  We wash our clothes in an electric washing machine that I have to turn the water into then shut it off, let it wash then take the clothes out, drain the tub and put the clothes in a separate cylinder and spin them.  We hang them on clothes lines tied to the palm trees in the back yard.  We have a neighbor, Daniel, who comes in three mornings a week to tend the yard.  He does an amazing job and we pay him 500 pesos a week which is $11 to us.  A lady, Pina, who is raising her 5 grandchildren comes in twice a week to sweep the yard…that’s correct, she sweeps the driveway the concrete, the steps and the grass lawn for 200 pesos which is about $4.50.  We haven’t met her yet but plan to give her a raise this week.

The natives here are the nicest, sweetest, most content, happy, cheerful, humble, relaxed people I have ever seen.  But when they get behind the wheel of a vehicle they are crazy!  It is full speed ahead and take any space you can.  Pedestrians have no rights.

We attended church today in the Bata branch, which as you all know is just past Nabua and about 40 minutes from Baao.  We plan to find and attend the Iriga branch next week.  We walked around our neighborhood yesterday and had a crowd of kids following us.  They are the best language tutors we have.  Everything we say is funny to them.  They happy and clean but have only one set of clothes, no space except the streets to play in and small shacks or boxes to live in.  This is truly a third world country.  The next time you don’t feel like eating your broccoli, please send it here because they only eat rice with something to put on it if they can get it.  We are so blessed to live in a country of abundance.  We can only help spiritually because they are more satisfied and content than us.  We pass by many schools and the kids come flocking out after class laughing, holding hands and arms around friends and family.   Respect and honor are still a big part of their culture.

Life is great.  Valerie and I are well cared for by people who have much less than we do.  We are learning so much about Christlike humility.   Elder Watson