Since
we were in Naga on Tuesday to help Jayle get packed to go to the Manila temple
and the MTC we decided to explore some of the mission north of Naga city. We went to a costal port called Pasacao. We have a beautiful chapel there but the
internet service was no better than at home.
We then searched a farming town called Pomploma which is the district
center but could not find the building.
We will try again when we get serious about working in that area.
The
Filipinos have a great concept of community involvement in education. April and May are the hottest months so that
is their summer break. The kids go back
to school in two weeks. The third week
of May is the time when the school yards and buildings are cleaned by the
parents, community members and volunteers.
Our church and the missionaries serving in this area, Iriga helped clean
two grounds this week. We had yellow
vests made with our church logo showing.
Because we are in such a rural area, white people are very rare so many
parents came out to see the white people work in their schools. We swept the grounds for a local school;
grade 1 to 6 school where a member, Sister DeLima teaches. It only took about 4 hours but it was 38
degrees above with high humidity so we drank a lot of water. This is a picture of our group at that
school.
The
next day we cleaned the largest school in the province. It is also a grades1 to 6 school but has
over 1100 students. There are a lot of
kids in the Philippines. Sister Cortez
teaches there and is very involved with the operations there. We even trimmed trees with bolos (machetes)
and hauled the branches about half a km to the compost pile. All weeding, lawn mowing and trimming is
done with bolos. They are very skilled
with the blades. This took about 6
hours until noon to finish but we were very popular by the time it was
completed. We made many new friends
with the parents and have been invited back to visit the classrooms next
month. This is our group after several
hours of brutal heat, humidity and labor!
These
are four teachers who teach grades 5 or 6 and have invited me to visit their
classrooms.
The
back part is grade 3, 4 and 5. The two
story building is grade 6.
The hallway is the outside
court yard. Every other classroom has
one sink and a CR (comfort room, toilet) for the staff and the students to
use. The average classroom size is 55
students. The teachers I have talked
with complain about lack of resources, books, text material and technology in
public schools is non-existent. They go
to high school from grade 7 to 10, then to college or the workplace. I haven’t seen a high school yet although we
did go to a graduation ceremony in February and it was amazing. The pageantry was like nothing I have ever
seen.
I didn’t think teachers in
Alberta had anything to complain about during my teaching career but after
seeing these conditions, I know how spoiled we are in North America. That is enough of that rant!
Friday was a tough day as we attended the funeral
service for Sister Michelle Oliva Victorino from Cotnogan. The service was in the Bato chapel. Both the mission president and the area 70
spoke. It was a great service but very
difficult to see Michelle’s mother, sisters and family surround the casket.
I
helped sing in a missionary choir. We
sang, “Bring the World His Truth”. She
passed away while serving her mission.
On
Saturday we went to San Ramon for a baptism.
While driving the elders to the Ocompo chapel some kids must have been hiding
in trees along the road and dropping large rocks on vehicles. We took two to the roof of the car. The elders said we couldn’t catch the kids
so we just drove on. This is the damage
they did to the roof just in front of the back window.
This
is the chapel at San Ramon which is just a group of the Ocompo ward about 35 km
away.
It is just an overhead door
into a small warehouse room, but it works for them. Most of the members of the group already travel several kms by
pudyak or tricee to get here so this is a blessing for them.
The girl who was baptized is one of three in the
family to be baptized this month. Her
mother and sister have a date in three weeks.
The girl in the white shirt was baptized.
When we got home in the
afternoon President Botor, his brother and nephew were harvesting the
Mangos
from our tree in the front yard. They
left the gate open so the neighborhood kids came to “help” as well. It was chaos but very fun to watch. The typhoon last June knocked the blossoms
of most of the mango trees in the area so they are a rare treat this year. We got several bags full. We did fill one feed sack full that I stored
for the branch party on Monday. The
rest got eaten on the spot or taken home in shopping bags to feed families. We have had severl “Salamats” from the
neighbors who obviously had kids here and took fruit home. The adult males climbed the tree and cut or
shook the fruit down. There are lots
left on the limbs of branches too small to crawl out on to, but too big to cut
down. I would damage the tree. We had fun for an hour then cleaned up the
yard.
The
bigger guys caught the fruit as it fell.
The guy with the pole is has a blade attached to the end. He would cut the fruit off with the blade in
one hand and catch the fruit with the other.
I was impressed!
We went to church in Buhi to
see their new building on Sunday. They
deserve it. They live in a small
fishing village and have grown from a few members in the early 80s to a branch
with 120+ attendance in sacrament meeting.
The branch president lives way up in the mountains and cannot be
contacted by phone or internet services.
He comes down regularly to check in with his counselors for messages
etc. He is a wonderful man. He is dedicated and faithful yet his wife is
not a member. We were the only white
people there except for a sister who was visiting from California. She served a mission here in 1982 and came
back to reunite with some of her companions and the members she knew here. We gave her and her two friends a ride from
Buhi to Iriga. She knew people there
too and she had a great reunion with them.
Valerie and I spoke in sacrament meeting. President Bermudo asked us several weeks ago and it has taken us
this long to satisfy all our other commitments so we could go there. We need 4 Sundays a week in order to get to
all the people we need to deal with.
Sunday is when they assemble and it is difficult and expensive for them
to travel.
Thanks again Tabitha, one of
my beautiful daughters, for doing this blog for us. We love you all. We are
very happy and busy but miss you so much!
When our technology allows us to connect with you on facebook, your
pictures and activities make us a little home sick for you. Keep up the great work.
Congratulations Mike for your
new call as Elder’s Quorum president.
You are a good man and will serve well.
I am so proud of you and your family!!
I love you so much. As a bishop
I could not have done my call without an Elders Quorum President (Tracy Hall)
or a Relief Society President (Roselynn Easter then Carol Gibb).
I will close with a picture I took at 6:00 AM
while we were on our morning jog. Think
about this the next time you complain about your breakfast. They are just trying to prepare theirs.
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