Monday was a hot one again.
We spent most of the day in the air conditioned car, the mission office
and the Nags S&M mall so it wasn’t too bad. Valerie’s laptop is fixed and home from the hospital again so we
are ready to go full steam ahead but the local wifi is still not working after
about 9:00 AM local time.
We had no power most of Saturday, Sunday and Monday with
short sessions of brown outs the rest of this week. The generator got a few hours on it and we are very impressed
with the ability of this 3200 Watt machine.
We can manage the fridge and the air conditioner in the bedroom by
unplugging cords but the Genny keeps chugging along.
There was a fiesta in the Elder’s area in Bula yesterday so
we took the sisters with us and went to Brother Vibal’s home. There were several member families there
including President Botor. We
socialized and ate a lot of different foods including one that looked so good I
took a large amount only to find it was ground up green jalapeno peppers. I was able to mix enough rice and adobo with
it to eat it. It was masarat
(delicious) but HOT! I tried to get the
missionaries to take a spoonful but they are Filipino and know what the food
is.
We then went back to the sister’s area with them after dark
and did two discussions with investigators and one member visit.
This is Valerie at the fiesta eating a dessert
with a type of jelly from coconuts in chilled coconut milk.
As
is the case so much around here, a member of a family will go “a broad” to work
to make good money to send home. The
investigators we taught had their daughter’s three month old baby while the
young single mother was working in the middle east. This kid was huge for three months old and very happy. There are still two girls at home to help
lola (grandma) take care if the baby.
He is not hurting for attention and love. Sister Killian from Washington is in the background.
At
the less active member’s home some kids came to listen but I
couldn’t get a good picture of them.
They kept hiding from the camera.
Friday
was sooooo hot and we spent most of the morning outside walking for various reasons. This is Valerie and Sister Cynthia, one of
Baao’s family history consultants walking with me to get a key to the
church. Cynthia is amazing. She was widowed very early into her marriage
but has stayed active and has such a positive attitude toward to life. She is very ambitious and loves to
learn. She is always taking classes to
learn a new skill. She also serves in
the district primary presidency. She is
a great person and it is a privilege to serve with her.
We had a tragedy in our district. Sister Michelle Victorino was serving in another mission in the
Philippines. She and her family are
from Cotnogan in our district. She got
sick and went to the hospital last week and they couldn’t find the source of
her problems. Finally they discovered
that her gall bladder had burst and overwhelmed her system with toxins. We were texted on Friday evening to pray for
her but she passed away in hospital at midnight. Her body will be shipped home and the funeral will be this
week. The area president will preside
at the funeral. We were asked to not
visit the family yet but plan to go next week as we know them. The branch president is her uncle and good
friend of ours; President Oliva.
We did family history work in Baao on Friday. All our other appointments fell through or
there was no internet to operate so we did a lot of running around for nothing.
Saturday evening we had a Canadian farewell supper for the
district and for JayLe from Baao branch who is going on a mission. Elder Robles is finished his mission and
Sister San Jose will be transferred. We
will miss all three of them too much.
Darn these attachments. It is really
like a funeral to see them leave because we will not see them again in this
life. We have had eternal experiences
with each of them and it is hard to see them progress.
We are eating a traditional branding meal from the ranch
back home. Valerie had bbq beans,
potato salad, rolls (pandesal), potato chips and a jello…but the gelatin here
is made from sea weed and does not taste good.
It went to a special place instead of the dinner table. The kids drank root beer. This is the group with us, Elder Robles,
Elder Alveran, Sister San Jose, Sister Killian and JayLe. She is going to a Filipino mission where all
the missionaries are Filipino.
Foreigners are not allowed there because there is a civil war going on
against the Muslims who want to claim that area as their own and separate from
the nation. It is a hot war and many
soldiers are killed on both sides of the fight. We have a sister in our branch whose husband is a marine in the
war zone. She has some very sobering
stories. Her husband gets a 30 day pass
to come home on the 23rd. They are
going to the temple in Manila to be sealed with their 4 year son, Sky.
Anyway…here we all are having a great time together one last
time!
We
went to church in Baao on Sunday to hear JayLe’s final testimony. During priesthood/Relief Society/Primary I
got to babysit the Primary President’s son, Mark Joseph. He is a sweet little man and is so easy to
keep occupied. He is only 4 months old
and has 7 older siblings. Elder Robles
has my ipad!!
I
will close with a few pictures of the neighborhood. This is a picture of a neighbor’s home two doors down from
us. It is the Roperto family’s home but
the neighbor woman is about to bath her daughter in the community water
pump. It is a bit dark but there are
others sitting in the alley up and to the left in the picture. There are several homes packed into that
small area. I am standing on the very
busy, narrow, 2 lane national highway that runs past our homes. The kids have no space to play.
Behind
their homes and between our yard and them is a sewer ditch. You can see the sewer pipes sticking out of
the homes. The kids sometimes go into
the ditch to look for treasures when it is not wet.
Thanks
so much Tabitha for helping us keep this blog going. We love you all!!
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