Blog 28, August 23 to September 5, 2015

Valerie and I did a 75 minute drive to Laganoy in the Goa stake as an invitation from an Elder who served here.  Laganoy 2^nd ward wanted to do a FH event so they called the ward council together to listen to our plan.  They treated us like royalty and we made instant connections with the ward leaders.  It was worth the drive and we got to see new country.   We are having an event with them in three weeks.

On Monday we had some supplies to get in Baao so we went down town and saw the silt from the flood we missed about 1 km from our house.  Their fiesta went on as planned and we went through the tents.  We bought a single speaker we needed for a presentation we are doing in Buhi.  The street vendor who sold it to us was very happy to sell to a white couple.  These are some pictures of the mud left behind from the flood.

The guy with the fighting rooster was very pleased that we wanted a picture of him with it.  I told him he would be famous in Canada from this picture.

This is going to be a huge file with all these pictures.  Maybe I will have to cut it in half and send two…

We continued training the Iriga companionship's on Tuesday and Wednesday.  They each got root beer floats for breakfast too.  The consultants from both branches came on Tuesday morning.  We were surprised  and very happy to have them there.  The zone leaders were there as well so it was a good training.

Wednesday’s group included Elder Tan from Australia who is also the DL and a very mature kid.  He is a natural leader and has very good organizational skills although the picture of him with his mouth open doesn’t support anything I just said about him!

Valerie and I train at the same time.  She works with one companionship in the office getting them registered on line and printing their pedigree chart while I am in the next room training them to use FH as a finding and teaching tool.

We met with President Botor (Baao branch president) Thursday morning to finalize the Baao FH event for Saturday.  President Reeder (Naga mission president) was doing interviews in Iriga and we had to blast over there to get a projector he is lending us.  Valerie stayed home doing some last minute FH problems for a local member while I did the Iriga business.  President Loida (district primary president)…we have a lot of presidents in this area!...anyway, Loida needed some information she is using as a display for the Saturday Buhi open house of their new building.  We wanted to be there but have the Baao FH event planned the same day.  We picked up the Baao sisters so we could take our recycle box with them to a part member family who separate it and make money to get them to church.  They are a remarkable family.  The father has been a member for 25 years but was not very active.  In a local basketball game with the elders he said he remembered being baptized and gave them their location.  It is a few kms out of town on the international highway and it took them a few tries to find them but they did and began teaching them.  We taught a lesson on feeling the spirit.  They are a remarkable family and are scheduled for baptism in three weeks.

I had a couple of hours on Friday morning so I did the wash with our manual machine but I won’t complain because the missionaries, like everyone else do their wash on a scrub board.  The spinner wouldn’t work so the clothes were rung out by hand and hung on the line just in time for a down pour.  They are still on the line trying to dry between showers and it is Sunday today.  We will have to take them to Naga tomorrow and rewash them then dry them in the machine.  We spent the rest of the day and evening with members doing FH work in the church.

Saturday was amazing.  We went to the church early to set up and it was soooo hot in the building.  We were ready to start at 1 PM as planned but only the missionaries and branch president was there.  He usually starts on time but he said, “Elder, we will wait until 2 and then start with whoever comes.”  I know he was disappointed because he works so hard.  At 1:30 people started coming in and by 2 we had about 30 members and investigators so we started.  President Botor knows I am a very punctual person but later I told him that he was inspired to wait to start this time.  The event was amazing!  These are some pictures of the four classes we held.

This is Kimie and the stake indexing specialist doing a class on indexing in the clerk’s office.

This is the group with the consultants and missionaries beginning their family history.  It is a large group because the investigators are there.

The Gamils from Naga stake are the area family history specialists and they did a class on researching in the Philippines.

On Sunday we went back to Cotnogan for services.  Valerie had a primary meeting with the new primary president.  She has only been a member for 3 months.  We went to her baptism in the river when she was baptized with three of her five daughters.  I had a meeting with President Oliva about a family history event in their branch.  I love this little isolated branch in the mountains.  The meeting house is an old cinder-block house and the door stays open continually.  Street dogs come in and out of sacrament service and the termites have eaten the hymn books.  Check out these pictures.  This is a kid wandering around the room we use for the sacrament meeting and adult Sunday School class.  Notice the book on the chair and the dog behind the pulpit.

This is a close-up of the hymn book.

This is a the branch presidency’s second councilor opening adult SS class in the chapel room with the help of a scarred up old street dog.

The people are always so happy to see us and make us so welcome.  I love this branch.  The reactivation and missionary work is going so well because of the amazing elders that we trained this week.  Elder Hermosa is the DL and is a great leader but goes home in two weeks.  His companion is Elder Doctor, that’s right, Doctor and they are doing amazing things here.

Friday was a bust!  We had 9 appointments set up over the full day in Baao and no one showed up.  Gloria was there doing her job as consultant and the sisters dropped in but we caught up on many small items, did some planning and waited. 

Saturday morning was incredible!  They told us when we arrived on January 9 that Christmas season was from September until the end of January.  On Saturday morning I was doing the wash out back and the neighbor behind us was playing Christmas carols at 7:00 AM.  I was so excited I ran in to tell Valerie who didn’t seem as moved as I was about the idea of Christmas at 35 degrees with intense humidity.    Where is her Christmas spirit!?  We went to Pili to do grocery shopping at noon then on to Lagonoy to do a planning meeting for their FH event this Saturday.  We planned for 4 missionaries and 3 consultants.  This is the group that showed up for the meeting, many who just came out of interest.

Following the meeting we went to the centro to see the famous broom.  This is where their brooms get assembled and shipped to the Bicol region.  We are so happy to have our selfie taken there.  We can now die peacefully knowing that we are part of a small group of foreigners who have seen “The Broom” in Lagonoy.  The brown painting on the broom makes me look like I have more hair than what actually remains.  This was a pure, yet pleasant accident.

This is the broom without my head in the way.  We have seen it all now!

While we were driving we got a text saying that Sister Barawidan woke up with a swollen eye.  They went to Naga to the doctor who first diagnosed it at a cockroach eating her eyelid in her sleep.  Later they decided she has a contagious eye virus and has to wait it out.  She came to district (stake) conference today but wouldn’t let me film her eye.  This is all I could get.

I am finally caught up on this.  We have a busy week ahead so I will try to keep up and get more pictures.  Thanks for all you do.  We love our family and friends.  Thanks for the support as we approach the mid mark of our mission time.   Except for missing family we are excited and happy to be here in spite of the heat and humidity but if Joel could survive it so can we!  We love you all!

Blog 27 - August 10 to 22, 2015

Another two weeks have blown by.  We had to blast into Naga for supplies on Tuesday.  We went right down town.  Since I drive it is difficult for me to take pictures.  I have noticed that the roads are not designed for the traffic.  We were on a main road that is a one way to get onto the very busy street that the mission office is on.  I stopped and waited until it there was a break and took pictures of it to show how narrow and winding it is but the traffic still make about three lanes and we get to where we are going.  The driving is crazy but it works.  No one gets upset when you cut them off.  A horn is a warning that you are going to get cut off and no one is insulted that you would cut them off.  Everyone makes room and traffic signs and hand painted street lines are only decoration.  Here is a main thorough fare.

We had to go to Bato on Thursday to finalize the plans for the branch FH Event.  While there we found our way down to Bato lake.  We took videos of the fishing activity out there.  This is one of the may docking areas.  The fishers go out at night to catch fish so they can start selling fresh live fish in the morning.  We have a guy that comes past our house at 5:30 AM peddling his pudyak with a scale to weigh what you buy and the live fish in two barrels.  We can hear him yelling,  “Talapia!!” from quite a distance.

Saturday morning was the baptism for a sister from a part member family.  Elder Lawrence’s parents attended as he is going home.  They are from Idaho.  He has been dynamic missionary who taught over 40 lessons  a week.  Elder Pring and Cynthia are in the picture

We had our first of hopefully many, Family History Events at the Bato church on Saturday, August 15.  Most of the missionaries and members that were there to help came late and President Tino had to work so he left me to conduct.  It was very good for those that came.  Many came late.  They prepared food for 150 and only about 40 showed up so they saved the leftovers and fed the branch on Sunday.  This is what the chapel looked like just before we started.  As you can see it is mostly missionaries.

We rewarded ourselves by going to Cotnogan on Sunday.  The two street dogs that usually attend were there.  I have got to get a picture of the dogs in Sacrament meeting.  

Monday was a great day.  We used the mission office and mission home washing machines and dryers and finally got some dry clothes to wear.  After a very good lunch with Hoopes and Reeders, Valerie and spent 3 hours doing family history work with Reeders and they each found a family name they could do ordinance work for.  Then we outlined a new project we want to initiate with the missionaries on how to find and teach using family history.  President Reeder is a business man and had some

On Tuesday we did a district service project in Nabua.  We swept a barangay street as a zone.  It went very quickly which was nice because it was hot and humid.  This is part of the zone hard at work in the blazing sun!  You cannot see the people who are working with me.

Thursday was district training meeting in Iriga.  The DL, Elder Tan asked us to do the training on Using Time Wisely.  We had a lot of fun and learned how to better utilize our 86 400 seconds in every day. 

Valerie and I are becoming a great teaching team!

Friday was individual training with each companionship.  We are now teaching them how use family history as a finding and teaching tool.  We give them the concepts, discuss how they apply to the finding and teaching they do and then role play with them.  It is so fun and we get our share of laughter.  Baao elders and sisters came to the church to be the first to do the companionship training.  I love and respect these young people so much!

Because tomorrow is my birthday they had a cake made and Sister Bakly from Great Falls, MT make a card that they all signed.  The card had a picture of a guy with a strip of hair on it.  I will treasure it.

We started the individual companionship training's on Friday while we were doing FH work in Baao all day.  I am sure their mothers will be pleased with me giving them root beer floats for breakfast.  There must  be something from one of the food groups in a root beer float.  We then went to Chow King for a birthday dinner.  We had to go back to Iriga on Saturday to get our phones and router rejoiced for the month.  Saturday was a big parade day in Baao and the church is right on the parade route.  I have several minutes of parade footage on my iPad.  We know nothing about pageantry compared to the way they party.  I had a priesthood meeting in Iriga later and was supposed to pick up President Botor but things got confused.  It started to rain and it poured for several hours over night.  The city centro got flooded but we weren’t aware of it until Monday. 

Since I have so many pictures I am going to end this blog now and continue it on another page so I can email them.  Our internet service has been so poor lately we haven’t been able to do much with email or skype and we miss the communication from home.

We love you all!  Take care of each other.