This is a great way to start
a week. We are going to Baao for their
Christmas party. We have three
Christmas parties to attend before New Year’s celebrations on Thursday. Baao did a great job. We was wonderful to see our old friends and
many new ones who have been baptized recently and some who are
investigating. The party started at 1
PM but didn’t get going until about 2 PM.
They call that, “Filipino time” and it means things will start an hour
late. The church leaders here are
trying to begin meetings on time and make schedules important but it is a
culture clash to try to teach it.
This is a picture of the youth and kids playing
a timed event game. They used a lot of
toilet paper and had a lot of laughs.
The
sisters played a game where they had to tip their heads back and have a cookie placed on their foreheads. At the signal they had to try to get the
cookie into their mouths without using their hands. That was funny!
The
men had to tie a balloon onto their back belt loop and at the signal try to
break everyone else’s balloon while protecting your own. The elders ganged upon me and cheated by
using a sharp pencil to break mine. The
last two men took it quite seriously and it was funny!
Next,
we were divided into three groups for a relay race. We had to sit on a rug and pull outselves across the floor and
back with out feet. My new Ibayugan
shoes gave me an advantage and our team won!!
I forgot to get my prize.
After the games we had to go
because we had to get back to Naga for another choir practice. Valerie didn’t go, she was beat by
then.
Tuesday morning the
assistants to the president were informed that they cannot get driver’s
licenses. Elder Abasante has an license
but has only driven a bike. To
accommodate them we traded our little Toyota Corolla for the full sized Hyundai
van. We moved our things from one
vehicle to the next then went to do some business in the van. It is big is very nice to get in and out
of.
On Wednesday we left early for the party in
Cotnogan and did some business in Baao along the way. President Oliva was at the door of the church and was so happy to
see us although I think I was more excited to see him. They are so happy and humble. We got pictures with President Oliva and his
brother and sister-in-law but Sister Oliva was busy in the kitchen.
Naturally
the party was packed with church and community members. It was very exciting for the kids and many
of them performed, danced, sang on the videoke machine and played many goofy
games.
At
one point the sisters all danced to a Hawaiian tune and Sister Watson made me
get up and dance with her. They all
made room for us to dance and we jived for them, although most of the Filipinos
we have partied with are amazing dancers.
One
unique game was this. As a relay race
each team sent their members up one at a time to stick their faces in a basin
of flour until they came out with a coin in their teeth. One little girl who is a special friend came
over after and said her eye’s hurt!
Really??
Everyone
had a great time then the food came out.
We had sticky rice, cassava, and some kind of bread. We appreciated it so much because to them it
was a feast and they were so excited to share with us. We love these people!
On
the way to Pili we passed an accident scene from two days ago. A few people were killed. The bus filled with people left the lane,
crossed the other lane, ran up over the 10” curb, over the sidewalk, down a two
foot drop and drove into a hut. When we
got these pictures the dog had been chained to the window frame and the
chickens were roosting under the bus.
The roof of the house had gone through the windshield and the front of
the bus was in the hut. We don’t know
how many were killed in the house or in the bus but people died.
It rained a bit on the long
drive home in the dark and I had to get out and use my window cleaning squeegee
to keep the glass clean but it was so nice to be above the headlights and not
directly in their line of fire like in the Toyota.
We ran on Wednesday morning
and when we got back to our apartment at about 6:30 there were people with two
slaughtered pigs behind the church washing and scraping the hides and cleaning
the severed heads. They had the garden
hose on them and were preparing to cook them for the Naga 3rd ward
party tonight. When we left for
Cotnogan at about 10:30 AM the pigs were still laying on the concrete in the 34
degree heat, tenderizing! We were too
late getting home to attend the Naga 3rd ward Christmas party but we
were worn out by then anyway.
Thursday was a business day and it rained quite
heavily all morning. In the afternoon
the couples met at Hoopes for a lunch and gathering. President and Sister Reeder left at 5:45 because the missionaries
were on lock down at 6:00 PM.
We watched a movie with
Hoopes called the Cokeville Miracle. In
1985 in Cokeville, Wyoming, not far from where Elder Hoopes was raised, a
former sheriff of that county held the elementary school hostage and exploded a
bomb that killed his wife and himself but not any staff or students who all had
miraculous stories to tell of their rescues.
It was very inspiring. We left
their apartment at 8:00 PM and it sounded like a war zone with all the fire
works and fire crackers. I passed out
at about 10:30 but Valerie was woken up by the noise at midnight and took an
amazing video of the constant fireworks all over the city. The sights and sounds were deafening (I
slept through it) but saw the video she took and watched some youtube of
it. She finally quit at 2 AM but it was
still going on. They know how to party!
We crashed on New Year’s
day. I slow cooked a roast pork. We had crackers and cheese, mushroom soup
and Swiss bread, then roast pork, roasted potatoes and carrots with broccoli in
cheese sauce. We listened to soft
music, while the fire bombs continued throughout the day.
Saturday I washed clothes and tried to find the
key that unlocks the emergency escape door on our second floor bedroom
window. I went through over 100 keys
stored in the mission office below us but couldn’t find one that fit. I wish I had my hand grinder or a hack saw
here!!
No comments:
Post a Comment