Blog 15 - April 19 to 25, 2015

We rewarded ourselves by spending Sunday in the mountains at Buhi branch.  The mountain people are not shy and love to have us with them.  We feel so spoiled where ever we go but the further we get into the rural areas the popular we are.  We are establishing a fun tradition on Sunday afternoon if we don’t have meetings.  We make a huge pile of crepes and have them with juice from fresh lemons and icing sugar. 

On Monday I had a dentist appointment that fell through.  We did wash and waited for Skype but the connections were bad as usual and didn’t get to connect with any family.  I could use some grandkid time.

We went to Iriga on Tuesday but got stood up by the two sisters who were supposed to come for genealogy work.  We had access to the church wifi so we did some genealogy home work for some members then left in the early afternoon.  While packing the car to leave a branch president we wanted to meet came to the car and introduced himself.  We set up a meeting with him.  President Bermudo is the Iriga second branch president.  The sister missionaries that serve in that area live near the stake building and stopped to talk.  We have a wind chill factor at home for the effect temperature and wind have on flesh.  Here we have a humidity factor that raises the effect of heat on flesh.  While we talked by the car in the sunshine the temperature measured +37 degrees but the humidity factor said it was +45.  I AM GOING TO DIE!  While we were talking these boys were playing basketball in that heat and didn’t seem to notice!

Wednesday morning we did classes in Nabua.  They are so faithful in that little area.  I took pictures of them working with us, although I am behind the camera here is Sister Masculino and her daughter and Sister Joy Alvira.

Then we did some “wacky” pictures. 

…and a “wacky” selfie!

Thankfully, my dentist appointment held and I got my bridge glued back in.  Dr. Evans would slap me around if he knew I had lost it again.  She put a post in to anchor is better and I am really babying it.  My manly bib says, “We Pamper Smiles”.  My pink wipe bib is rolled up to show you the blue one!

We had to take some information to the elders in Nabua and I caught these kids sitting in the doorway of a little tindahan.

On our way to Bato we saw this work going on in a rice field.  The current crop is off and these men are working the field to get it ready to seed this week.  These 3 pictures are from the same field and it shows a modern rototiller, a guy with a how making border dykes and a carribow (water buffalo) pulling a type of harrow.  That is quite a range of technology in one field.

We had some work to do with members in Baao on Friday.  We haven’t been there for a month so it was great to see them again.  While waiting for the key to arrive, Valerie took a picture of me with some primary kids outside the church building.   Can you tell which one is me??  I look like a snow drift!

These are the members we worked with in Baao.

It is Elder Robles’s birthday today.  He has served valiantly and goes home in 3 weeks.  I love that kid and will miss him in our district.  This is his birthday party in the church with Elder Alvaran his companion, and some Wacky branch members.  Sisters San Hose and Killian from Washington is also there.  Yes, she is taller than me.  I keep telling her she is blending right in around here!

We are just preparing to go to a baptism in Cotnogan.  The Sister is being baprtised in the river.  While I was doing the wash out behind our house this morning a lizard stayed around and watched me so I have a picture of him standing on a bamboo wisk broom.   He is about 10” long.

On our way to Cotnogan we passed one of these tractors.  It is a self propelled rototiller without the tines, pulling a trailer.  They use them a lot for hauling farm cargo.

Valerie and  picked up the Elders at their place on the highway and drove them to the member’s house were the baptismal service was being held.  Here we are waiting for the others to arrive for the  service.

The branch president is in cap.  The elders and a councilor in the branch presidency are in white.  This is a very nice home with bamboo walls and a thatched roof.  The kitchen is outside the back door and

has a beautiful fire place for cooking.

Following the service we all walked down to the river valley about 500 meters away.  

This is a picture of the river valley.  It is so tropical and beautiful.

There were two carabow sitting upstream in the water.  We call them water buffalo and you can see why.  This water is very warm and they would stay in it all day if they could but they are needed to farm with.  They are very stalky with huge hooves for digging into the mud for traction.  White carabow are quite rare.

Here is the mother, Sister Cases and her two daughters at the river’s edge with the missionaries and her neighbor who is in the branch presidency, waiting to be baptized.

Can you pick Valerie and I out of the crowd?  We just blend in…

It was an amazing experience for us.  This brother is a farmer, fruit producer and a wood worker.  He does amazing work.  I have forgotten what type of wood this is but it is very dense and heavy for it’s size.  This is a piece he has worked on for a furniture dealer.

That is all for this week.  We say good-bye to the Gardners who are going home next week.  They are very excited to be with family again.  Thanks again for all your sacrifices for us…Mike and Becky for taking care of business and keeping the farm going, for all your prayers and thoughts in our behalf and for Tabitha who keeps you posted with this blog.  We love you all!

Blog 14 - April 12 to 18, 2015

I missed blogging last week but it was quite uneventful.  We had a three day brownout so we made the decision to buy a generator.  Wednesday was spent running all over Naga city arranging the purchase and getting all the needed accessories.  Things are very different here and I seem to learn the system the hard way.  The biggest mistake was to find that the receipt I got from the vender was not a legal receipt so I had to drive all the way back to Naga on Friday to arrange getting the legal document.  It would take too long to explain the process.  Suffice to say I am learning patience, doing a lot of unnecessary driving, buying too much gas for the car and not doing what we are here to do.  Valerie is getting smart and not coming with me on these wild goose chases.  By the end of a day I am wound as tight as a spool and she is fresh as a daisy!  This week will be better.  We have had two short brownouts since we got the generator set up.  We told everyone our silently waiting generator is the reason there is power but they don’t get it.

Tuesday was hot and humid so without power our rechargeable fan had run out over night.  We went to a gas station near Pili, who was not affected by the brownout, to get things charged.  They were very good to us and allowed us to recharge everything…fan, computers, tablets, phones…for no charge.  This is Valerie working on her computer while it is charging.

While we were waiting I went exploring and found a real truck.  I have no idea where you could use this machine over here but someone is serious about Americanizing this Dodge.

Because it was so hot we stayed in the air conditioned car and took a short road trip to the coast past Goa.  We passed an area with rice fields on both sides of the narrow concrete highway with homes and tindahans (stores) on the road with no back yard and the front doors opening onto the highway.  You would hate to have someone drive into your house at night!

We made it to the little town where the inlet surrounded the land.  This is what it looks like when little kids see a white person.  We are quite a novelty here.  They are sooooo sweet and lovable.  Their lola (grandmother) is looking out the door of the bamboo house next to the white tindahan.

This picture is to prove we really did make it to the ocean although the highway got more and more narrow as we drove to the dead end in the little village where the kids lived.

The rest of that week is a blur as we set up the generator.  It is a bit smaller than we hoped, only 3200 watts.  We are happy to find it is small enough to lift it into the trunk of the car and take it to the church buildings, run a cord into a room and operate our router, computers, printer and A FAN!  I sat between two fans in our home yesterday and still sweated anyway. 

We had conference on Saturday and Sunday at the district center in Iriga.  It is a week late because we don’t have the technology in the buildings to have live broadcasts so the mission office records it on disk and we project it at the stake centers the following week.  It still is new and direct for us.  They play the English version in the main chapel and a Tagalog translation in the relief society room.  We got to meet several new people and visit with friends.  A few of the missionaries introduced us to members that we were able make appointments with to do some family history work so this week is full with appointments and meetings. 

This is a picture of Valerie with Sister Maria Moralis who has become a very close friend.            

Last night we had a crock pot chicken with local vegetables.  We love the crock pot because it doesn’t create heat in the kitchen.  This is a picture of how beans grow in a hot, humid environment. We are so impressed with the fertility of the soil here.  These are un-genetically engineered string beans from the local market.

This is Sister Angela Moralis doing genealogy work with us in Iriga.  She is the consultant in Iriga 1^st branch.  Her mission application papers are in and she is waiting for her call.  She is very gifted and a great kid.  She will be a dynamic missionary!

These Sisters came to the Iriga family history room to do genealogy with us in the morning.  The one near the computer with Valerie is a new convert and her friend came to support but is sick and didn’t feel like doing anything today.  Sister Elizabeth Vela in the black shirt has carried four babies against doctor’s advice but only two have lived.  She was told she had a 50/50 chance of living through the gestation period.  She said her strength was that her faith in God told her she would be alright.  She just found the church a few months ago and knew it was what she has been looking for all her life.  These are stories you hear and read about but we are living among these miracles!  

In the afternoon we had these brothers come to start their genealogy work at the Iriga stake center.  I love it here because we have air conditioning in the family history room.  This is a selfie with the branch consultant, Sister Moralis with Valerie helping Brother and Sister Arines.  The mouse is very sensitive and Sister Arines keeps laughing at her husband trying to navigate in familysearch.  

I had to get my bridge glued back in on Wednesday morning.  Dr. Dato is very patient with me.  As long as she can keep it in until Dr. Evans can work his magic when we get home, I will be happy.  I love the pink bib and the stupid pig hanging in front of me.  They spoil me at this clinic.

On Wednesday we arranged to get into the only air conditioned room in the Nabua church building which is a space above a Honda motorcycle dealership.  It is a two man job to get our mobile office up the narrow stairway but Valerie is a farm girl and we manage.  With the kids out of school for summer vacation we have found the internet to be very slow.  Also, the church does all its upgrading and revising the family search software at night in Utah which is day time here so we run into a lot of road blocks.  It is fortunate that these people are so patient and content with life that time is not a stress for them.

Buhi is a beautiful little town on a lake in the tops of the mountains about 45 minutes from here.  The welcome sign is so impressive I had to take a picture of it.  For a few minutes I acted like a tourist but have repented since.

The new district primary president lives there and her two councilors are from Baao.  We picked up the two councilors and drove them to Buhi to have a district presidency meeting.  I did a role play primary lesson with them then I went to work with the elders while Valerie did training on what they need to teach the branch primary presidencies to get the primaries more operational.  Their biggest challenge is space.  All the branches we have visited have all the kids from 18 months to 11 years old in one room with one or two teachers.  They lack basic resources like pictures and music.  Valerie gave them so great models to follow. 

These are the sisters in the presidency at the meeting in their building.

This is the view of the mountain above the lake from the church balcony.  It is an open warehouse looking building but they are getting a new chapel in May.  We are so excited. 

Friday we took the elders to a family we met on one of our morning walks.  We talked with a lady last Tuesday morning and told her we would bring the missionaries to her and she accepted.  The discussion didn’t go well but we will see her again as we have a route we walk into the hills every morning.  It is about 4 miles and quite difficult but we seem to accomplish more mileage every week.  Because it is further into the rural region it is quite startling to see white people back in there.  We have been onthis particular route for about two weeks so we are becoming more accepted.  The little kids still run and hide from us and others will yell at us from the safety of their yards.  Whatever we say to them they repeat.  They are so cute!

We were invited to seminary and institute grad in Iriga on Saturday.  Angela Moralis invited us but we knew a few of the other students graduating as well.  Jayle brought her mother.  We have worked with Jaylee quite a lot as she is a family history consultant here in Baao but her mother is less active. Jaylee is very proud of her parents but we have  never met them so it was nice to see her mom face to face.  She is very proud of her daughter.   Jaylee just received her mission call to anther mission in the Philippines.  She is a remarkable kid.  She speaks English very well, has finished college and can sign in Tagalog so she will be a real asset in her mission.

This is us with Jaylee and her mom at institute grad in Iriga.  The gravitational pull has us all leaning over.

This is us with Angela Moralis and her mom.

Filipinos are not afraid of a camera.  They love having their pictures taken and when the posing is finished they love to do “wokey” (wacky) pictures.  This is an example of wokey. 

…and a selfie wockey with my ipad!

On the drive back to Baao from Iriga we passed a goat that had tangled itself in some electrical wire.  It was too good to pass up.  All the livestock is staked out.  There are few fences but the barbed wire is much more effective here.  The barbs are about an inch long and much closer together than ours.  It must be too expensive for the few who have pasture land around here.  I am sure there will be another brown out because of this stupid goat.

Thanks again Tabitha for setting this up for us.  We love you  all!

Blog 13 - March 30 to April 5, 2015

We started this week with a bang.  I just finished doing laundry Monday morning and was ready to Skype with family when I got a text from the Iriga missionaries and from Sister Reeder.  Elder Tobias had had an accident at a district PD activity and needed to be taken to a Naga hospital.  I left Valerie talking to Shand and went to Iriga to find the hospital the missionaries.  After getting directions from 4 different people I found the place by accident.  The cities here are a maze to find an address.  I picked up Elder Tobias and his companion and went to their apartment for supplies.   He had fallen on his arm in a sack race and dislocated his right elbow.  We met Sister Reeder at the hospital.  They know her well there as she is constantly taking missionaries for treatments.  They had to anesthetize him and relocate his elbow.  I stayed there until he was out of surgery at 4:00 PM.  After buying supplies and doing business in the mission office I went home to the brown out.

Tuesday was awesome.  We took supplies to Elders Gapasin and Codinera and worked with them for the afternoon.  They are so amazing.  The area is mountainous and remote yet they are always the top producers in all the positive indicators of missionary work.  They walk about 20 km a day in the mountain region of Cotnogan.  I told them how much I admired their determination.  Elder Codinera said he lived in the mountains near Cebo and walked two hours to get to church from his home.  He said he went over two mountains and crossed two rivers.  When the rivers were flooding he would swim through the flood.  He said his family was the only members in his barangay.  They tried to share the gospel with their neighbors who were partiers.  He said they gambled, drank and had many partners.  His father suddenly decided to move the family and build a new home in his father’s family’s land in another barangay.  The place where they left was totally destroyed by fire a year after they moved out.  He said he knows Father told his father to move his family just like Lehi who moved out of Jerusalem which was destroyed behind them. 

This is Elders Gapasin and Codinera working in Cotnogan.

Wednesday is Nabua day.  We worked with a single guy, a returned missionary, named Nephi.  His parents have been temple workers but his mother passed away a few years ago.  He lives with his father.  Nephi was an instructor at a tech college.  A few months ago he was in a hurry to get home to change and get ready to go to a wedding dance and party.  He rides a motorcycle.  Most of the motorcycles are about 125cc.  They are not big.  He said he always wears a helmet but was in a hurry to get to the dance.  He was moving at 80km and hit a dog.  Naturally he flew through the air and sustained a lot of damage.  He has lost the use of his right hand and has pins in his wrist.  He is the happiest guy ever and laughs at everything.  He said, “The reason I hit the dog was because Ilove to dance.”   He said the reason his father looks so young is because he loves dancing.  The dad is 70 and in very good shape for a 70 year old Filipino.  We see him in church every week in Nabua.  This is Nephi doing his family history work with Valerie IN AN AIR CONDITIONED ROOM! 

 It is hitting the mid 30s and very humid everyday so a/c is our best friend.  I hope the power does not go off but the local news says we are being cut off indefinitely on Sunday.  Great!  That is the day we get hit with the typhoon, although the worst of it is north of us, closer to the region Elder Eric Nielson is serving in. We are very aware of the conditions in that region and are praying for him and the others in that area.

This is “Holy Week” and the people take it seriously.  They have parades, public self-floggings, even voluntary crucifixions.  We went to a parade in Baao last night.  It was very interesting.  There were floats with lighting powered by generators.  The floats began with statues of events from the last few hours of Christ’s life up to the crucifixion.  Each float was followed by people who were connected to that event.  After the final float about Christ on the cross there were several more with statues of saints, mostly female.  There was a St. Susana, St. Gloria, St. Maria…each followed by crowds carrying candles.  It was not what I expected but very interesting.  Because it was at night the pictures are not the best quality but you will get the idea.  I have just included a few of the clearest pictures in this blog.

These are the followers with their candles.

Another float…Christ chained to a pole with wounds all over his body.  They really display the brutality of the crucifixion.  

You can see the people pulling the cart with the float on it.  They were all pulled by people. 

The thing I wanted to find the most was a procession of people whipping themselves and eventually they actually crucify someone, a volunteer, Friday evening.  Missionaries have a 6:00 PM curfew to protect them from any problems since we stick out so much.  The morning news shows 7 faith healers who were crucified at noon on Good Friday.  As extreme as it is I do respect those who want to show their faith and dedication in any way.  I am not here to judge.  I shouldn't have watched the Da Vinci Code movie!

We did family history work in Bato on Thursday and met the most amazing guy, Brother Santiago.  He looked like an old farmer; a small man with oversized hands.  As we talked I learned he is the youngest of five children.  His father died the day this man was born.  All five of the kids were college graduates because his mother put priority on education.  I have met him in priesthood several times and he is always very happy but quiet.  Sometimes the language barrier is an issue.   I asked him if he farmed and he surprised me by telling me he had his B.Sc degree as well as being a certified (journeyman) welder.  He did underwater welding on drilling rig platforms off the coast of Saudi Arabia for 19 years.  The money was sent home to take care of his family and invest in local real estate.  He has a small farm and some rental property.  I will get a picture of this amazing brother next week.  When we started talking about drilling rigs I brought a picture of one up from the interweb and he came to life explaining how they work and what his function was.  We looked at underwater welding pictures and the language barrier was no longer there.  He had four generations on paper so we put it on the familysearch website, shared and printed name and he left with a printed fan chart, a pedigree chart and determination to find more family names.

There was a district (stake) Family History Consultant activity at Iriga on Friday.  Kimmie, the stake consultant called the meeting and invited all the consultants to bring a friend to help search named for.  There were several non members but the internet connection was down so we just walked through it and made appointments for next week.  We are praying the technology will work or we are at a standstill.

We had a Baao District Breakfast in our house Saturday morning.  It is transfer day on Tuesday but no one from here will be leaving so we are having a, “No one is being transferred out of Baao” breakfast, then color Easter eggs because that is not done here.  They are all world class missionaries.  The American is Sister Killian from Washington state.  She is white, 6’1” tall and has been out 6 weeks.  I told her when she got here that she would blend right in so that is our joke.

This is the process…

This is the artistic aftermath of 2 hours of coloring 18 eggs.  They took it very seriously.  

These are the finished masterpieces!  We are so proud!

Elder Robles made me promise I would send a picture of his Ninja turtle egg to Canada.

The typhoon is supposed to hit sometime tomorrow but we are not in the most dangerous area.  We are getting rain now but no wind.  Sunday is going to be the wet day for us.  We are also rumored to start a long term brown out on Sunday so we have been preparing.

By the way Mason, I showed pictures of my family to these girls on Thursday at Bato and the one in the white shirt, Mariol, is 17 and plans to marry you.  The other one, Jeancent is only 12, sorry buddy!

They took my tablet and did a dozen selfies while Valerie and I were doing family history with a sister in the air conditioned room.  This was the last one they took before I got my tablet back.

…and that ends another week. I would like to wait and report on tomorrow, sacrament meeting in Cotnogan, but I had better send this tonight in case the 3 month brown out hits!  I haven’t proof read this one so any mistakes are purely intentional!  I love my family.  Thanks for taking care of each other!

Thanks again Tabitha for posting this and for making this look so professional.  This is our mission journal as well as our blog.