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!