Blog 38: November 8 to 15, 2015

This is beginning the third week that Valerie has been sick.  It seems to be getting worse even with the antibiotics and other meds we have.  I have been keeping her hydrated with anything she will drink and eating lots of soup.  We took Monday to do house chores, cleaning and clothes washing.  It is unusually hot here lately with each day reaching over 35 degrees.  At least there is a breeze of about 10 to 15 kph which really helps.  They keep telling us that December will be cooler.  What is “cooler?”  All things are relative.  On Tuesday we walked in the morning at 5:00 AM to beat the heat but Valerie’s lungs and my knee slowed us down.  It takes an hour of walking t get to the mountain that I love to run up and for some reason I can run uphill all day.  I will get it looked at when we get home. 

Funny story…there was a big meeting in our front yard in the late morning and big equipment was moved to the front.  They are widening the highway so it is our turn to have the construction crew.  I went out front to take a video and the high hoe operator hit our water line on the first stab!  Water was gushing everywhere but no one seemed to care.  The water lines are about 4 inches below the surface or run across the top of the ground.  Our front area filled with water.  We paid the water bill and told us it would be fixed that day.  Not true!  The rest of the story is that we were without water for three days and had to use our stored water and refill it often to have bucket baths, drinking and washing water.  The toilet was the most thirsty.   On Thursday I watched a crew fix the line beside out house but they didn’t come 50 feet to our place.  This is what our riser looked like.

The neighbor had water service but there was no connection to our line.  I went to the water office again and they were shocked that we had no water.  The neighborhood was fixed on Tuesday.  When I offered to fix it myself they got a guy who got a guy who got a guy down to see me.  There is a girl who works there that is very helpful.  Her father is a friend of ours.    She interpreted for us and we found that the construction department had not told the meter department that they took our meter.  They installed a new meter by 5 PM and we showered for 30 minutes each.  We have a joke here that we never get water, electricity and internet at the same time.  When we get home at night and the water is off we celebrate because we know we have internet!!  On Wednesday night we lost all three.  It was hot and quiet around here!

The elders came to the house Tuesday morning to use our technology to make up the baptismal program.  Then they came with us up the mountain as missionaries to translate for us.  It is quite isolated up there and the people were suspicious of us in the beginning.  Now they call out to us, send their kids out, hold their dogs back and the kids going down the mountain to school will race me.   There is a little girl, Dita (Deeta) who runs out to meet us every morning while her parents watch from the house about 50 yards back in the jungle.  She calls us lolo and lola, grandpa and grandma.  We had the missionaries introduce us and thank them for their kindness to us.  We gave them a Canadian flag, some Alberta pencils, Canadian flag pins and a beautiful picture of the Savior.  They were very appreciative.  We explained that it is difficult to make it all the way to their house right now and that we are moving to Naga in three weeks.  The mother told the elders that Dita waits in the doorway every morning for us and we haven’t been for over a week.  She was very disappointed.  She was so happy to see us she wanted to crawl all over us.  This is Dita and her mother.

Valerie rested but we had an afternoon baptism in Iriga.  Biboy and a girl from the branch were baptized.  Baao is such a supportive branch.  There were several members there.

The Juntilano family came all the way from Bula area with the two youngest kids.  They got bored during the service so I showed them pictures on my ipad.  They are the cutest kids ever.  They are waiting for another picture when I took this shot.

It was Biboy’s birthday so we went to Gloria’s home after for a pancit and a birthday party for him.  The missionaries were there and we all had a great time.  This is Sister Blad and Elder Petero with Biboy.

Wednesday was like Christmas for me because we went to Buhi and trained Elder Codinera.  We served with him in Cotnogan several months ago.  Looking back through my journals I have more stories and notes about him than any other missionary.  The kid is amazing!  Valerie came to train him on the computer but she is still quite sick.  We did a district training with them and showed him how we use family history as a finding and teaching tool.  It was no surprise that before we got home that night he had already tried it and had success stories for us.  I love that man!!  I was so excited to see him again I forgot to take a picture with him.  He replaced Elder Cayago and will develop the Ibayugan area across the lake.

Thursday Valerie stayed around and rested and tried to cough up a lung and I went to zone interviews in Iriga in the morning and Bato in the afternoon.  I set up appointments to train the missionaries that are new to Iriga zone.  Next week is going to be very busy.  While I was in Iriga the sisters from Buhi were disappointed that Valerie didn’t get to see their matching outfits.  I asked if they would make me one to match and they said if they did I would have to wear it.  We are at a standoff right now.  They aren’t sure if I really would or not.  I hope they back down first!!  This is what they look like.  Try to imagine me in these colors.  I think it would really set off my eyes!

We went to the Baao building on Friday to do a training with Sister Blad who is new to the area but we got so busy with the missionaries and their investigators, we didn’t get to teach her.  After helping the missionaries and the investigators all day, Valerie was ready for another rest.  This her hard at work keeping several people going at once.

We had to pick up some packages from the ZL to deliver to Buhi on Saturday.  We did that and tried to meet with President Olivaros.  He has a carabow that we want to get a picture of with us riding it.  They are a smaller very domestic water buffalo.  The will stand in water up to their ears, close their nostrils and put their heads under water.  If there is a mud puddle any where they will roll in it and splash themselves with the mud until they are covered.  We see the farmers riding them to the fields pulling a homemade bamboo skid with a plow or other farming tools they are taking to the next field.  Their hooves are as big as a draft horse’s hooves so they can plow through the mud in the rice fields.  They have the coolest horns and keep their heads up when they walk.  We want one at home but I think the cold would kill them.  They are black but still seem to deal with the heat.  It has cooled down to 34 today so winter must be here!  They only have two seasons, hot and rainy season.  We are suffering a drought right now.  There was very little rain this rainy season and the dry-land farmers are waiting to seed rice and corn.

Anyway, we went to Buhi but couldn’t connect with President Olivaros so we hit market and drove back to Iriga.  There is a bus/jeepney/trycee terminal on the highway so we stopped and took pictures of the different jeepneys parked there.  Most are home made!

We hit the Iriga market and Valerie bought some small souvenirs for the grandkids.  Although this culture is over 4000 years old they really don’t have any cultural representations.  Canada has the maple leaf, maple syrup…Alberta has mountains, wheat fields, petroleum products etc. They have little jalapeño peppers with Philippines written on them.  That is about it!  But they fit in an envelope so we bought some.I went to Cotnogan for Sacrament meeting then had to leave to pick up Valerie, hit them mission office to get Chelsey’s package…BIG BONUS, then went on to explore the highways around Pamplona where we are working next.  We drove out to Pasacou where we have a beautiful building for the branch then went back to the main highway and went north past Pampona building toward Sipsicot where the zone leaders live.  We found several tindahans selling honey on the highway but it was Sunday so we couldn’t stop.  It is a beautiful mountain pass but very busy highway.  On the way we passed this trycee that was delivering bamboo furniture.  We would need a three ton truck to carry this amount but they are so resourceful they can make these trycees work like semi trucks.

I also got a good shot of this dump truck filled with people standing in the front of the box and the rest are sitting on plastic chairs at the back.  Again, they are so resourceful!  Notice on the right the, “Fresh Concrete” sign.  Do you like the pylons that are along the white line to keep you off.  They are just rocks they have picked and set along the edge.  It is a real money saver!

We did a training for the priesthood leaders at 3:00 PM in the Pamplona district (stake) building.  There were over 40 people there.  Many things were new to us at this meeting.  Everyone was here on time, in fact they were early!  And, they didn’t eat after the meeting, they all just left.  Both of those characteristics are new to us.  We call being one hour late, “Filipino time.”  It is a joke here but a very predictable thing.

We don’t like driving these busy highways at night because of all the padyaks, trycees and jeeneys that don’t have light and the padyaks are very slow moving.  However, we made it safely home because of sincere prayer and unpacked Chelsey’s box.  This is the treasure we found complete with art work from Lexi Lou.  This all has a Thanksgiving theme…the art the food items.  This is better than Christmas.  The box got here in two weeks and we are still waiting for the box Becky sent with our meds in it from seven weeks ago.  Here is our treasure!

And so ends another week in Iriga district…we will be gone in two weeks.  We are going to miss this place but life goes on.  We got to Skype with Chelsey, Becky and Shand yesterday (Monday the 16^th) so it is a perfect week so far.  We love you all and are so proud of each of you.  Happy birthday Manny!  Thanks again for Tab for doing this for us!

Blog 37: November 1 to 7, 2015

The highways here are very narrow.  The international highway goes right past our home and runs the full length of the island of Luzon, through Manila and connects the north to the south.  It is so populated that goods are transported by truck continually.  There are no real truck stops with parking and restaurants so the trucks park on the side of the road where they can to get a break and to eat.  There is a popular eatery on the highway south of  Bato.  Sometimes there are 20 trucks parked on both sides of the road because there is a cement shoulder for parking.  This is a picture of the truck stop in the morning before the traffic really gets going.  The parking lot is the shoulders.

Sister Watson has had a chest cold since Friday and is not doing well.   Now I have a sore throat which is good.  As missionaries, when your companion is sick you are both grounded so we might as well be sick together.   I have a prescription for some antibiotics from when I had bronchitis in July.  It is not a big deal to get drugs over the counter here so one prescription can be refilled quite easily.  We have to go to Laganoy today to do a planning meeting so we will get hooked up with some good drugs today.  We are always too busy on weekends so we need to get well now!

The meeting went well.  Bishop Vale crammed 14 people into his office because it has air con.  The missionaries in that area are very supportive and have heard of the success in the Iriga zone so we offered to teach them a onetime training and they gave us their district training time on Friday.

Wednesday…Valerie is very sick but won’t quit.  We scheduled a meeting with a member of the district presidency in Pamplona for today.  It is a two hour drive so I tried to talk Valerie into staying in bed and we would re-schedule but she wants to get it done.  We drove to Pamplona and had a very good planning meeting with Preseident Cedron.  He is a dynamic young leader and is a great asset to the district.   We had to do business and make payments at the mission office, bought some food and got home before dark.  We were too beat to make any dinner so we had our fall back meal…fruit and oatmeal!  It is our staple here!

Thursday was a slower day.  I did some local business while Valerie rested.  We had a lot of homework to catch up on and to get ready for the Lagonoy training tomorrow. We both napped in the afternoon because we were exhausted and it is so hot outside.  It is about 36 degrees above but there is a slight breeze.  I had to deliver some recyclables to President Botor’s home.  His wife has a stand where she sells something she has cooked to put over rice.  Last week I bought two fish.  The broth and veggies were very delicious as they cook everything in coconut milk, but we are still not fish fans.  There is a big cock fighting arena beside President Botor’s home.  This is a better picture of the gate.  The top head gate says, “Welcome to BAAO SQUARE GARDEN.”  The gate has advertisements for the best chicken feed to raise a good fighting rooster.  There are bill board signs with owners holding their champion fighting rooster endorsing a brand of chicken feed.

We were on the road by 7:00 AM to get to the Lagonoy meeting.  The missionaries are so amazing!  This is the Lagonoy district getting instructions from Sister Watson.

On the drive home we got some footage of a thrashing crew close to the road.  I didn’t take any still pics of it but have it in my “farming” file of videos.

Valerie took Saturday off and tried to rest but of course rest to her means working on FH in her computer in bed.  I did a big load of wash.  It was a perfect drying day.  It was hot and breezy.  My heart soared like a hawk.  We have two wash lines.  One is near the back door so is sheltered by the house and trees and doesn’t get much sun, wind or insects.  The other line is in the back yard jungle tied to three palm trees.  It is much more exposed but the ants use the line as a highway.  I have been shaking the ants off the line and spraying the tree where the line is connected and having good success.  However, I learned that once the sun goes down at 5:45 PM the ants begin their exodus down the line.  I had forgotten to take the towels down with the other laundry earlier because they were out of sight.  I went out in the dark to get our towels which were very dry and fresh, shook them lightly and felt something hit my face so I was sure the odd creature had been taken care of, and brought them into the house.  I threw the pile on the bed and began picking one at a time to shake, fold and put into the towel drawer.  When I had finished I noticed I was covered in ants and so was the room where I had shaken them.  Naturally, Valerie came in at that moment to return to bed to see our new ant pile I had created for her.  Although she was sick, I marveled at the energy she was able to muster to deal with my neglect, but the poor ants took the brunt of her wrath and the situation was quickly remedied with dispatch. 

I went to church in Baao while Valerie rested.  We left for Naga at noon, picked up the projector at the office, picked up the Sisters Bakly and Teimwarane at Canaman chapel and went to the Canaligan chapel to help Sisters Bagio and Ubana with some investigators who wanted help with their FH.  It turned out to be a branch activity.  There were several investigators there but the big prize for us was that there were 4 branch consultants ready to help.  Luckily we were prepared for something like this so we did a video demo then did individual help on several laptops the consultants had brought as well as our two that we loaned them.  This is the video presentation.

We have several pictures of the missionaries, members and investigators with the branch.  These are the sisters that serve in this area.  Sister Bakly is in the Blue on the right side and Sister Bagio is in the stripped skirt in the middle.  Sister is showing off the extra buns they gave us for snack time!  The baking is amazing but very rich.  Fresh dairy is almost nonexistent here so their baking recipes consist mostly of condensed milk and eagle brand.  If you live sweet baking…this is heaven!

Of course, this what happens when the missionaries get their hands on my ipad.  Selfies…

We got lost in down town Naga after dark trying to find our way to the mission home from the Sister’s apartment.  As usual, we had the feeling to follow a specific line of traffic and after only one u-turn we found familiar territory and got back to the mission office to return the projector.  We accidently met with the Gamil family.  They are the area representatives for family history so we had a short meeting.  We met their son who left on Tuesday, for the MTC on his way to Africa for his mission. 

This ends another exciting week here in the Naga mission.  We miss you all and wish the internet worked so we could talk with you.  Thanks again for all your sacrifices in our behalf.  We love you all!