Cultural Festival

Boys in their coloful costumes (girls in background) Girls practice bamboo dance at rehearsal


September 24, 2005
In the evening the Cebu South Stake had a Cultural Evening with youth from the five wards presenting native dances. Bob took pictures at the practice on Friday night as well as at the event on Saturday night. Our favorite type of dancing is called 'tininklin' and is done with long bamboo sticks as shown in the photo. The boys, each holding one end of the stick, tap them on the ground or wooden block twice and then clap them together about 8 inches in the air in a rhythm of tap, tap, clap, tap, tap, clap. The girls (in this case) dance beside and between the sticks in very lovely patterns with graceful hand movements - and quickly so they don't get caught when the sticks come together. One dance had a group of girls. Another dance told a story of a prince finding his princess. And the prince and the princess and a girl holding an umbrella over the princess all danced around and between four bamboo poles in a criss cross pattern. Very intricate and lovely.

To the mountains

Gloria at vegetable stand in the hills View of Cebu from the Mountains

Saturday, Sept. 24, 2004
After morning chores of housecleaning and laundry, it was our turn to use the car so we drove up to the mountains where Bob had gone on Wednesday with the Mission President. It was a beautiful drive with not much traffic and very scenic views. We wanted to take more pictures, but couldn't find many places to stop - there are either houses or cliffs. Our goal was to get fruit and vegetables and maybe a small plant. The Mission President and his wife had told us the produce was very fresh and delicious and much cheaper than in town. They were right. We bought corn on the cob, potatoes, all kinds of fruit and three small plants for the kitchen window sill. The drive back down the steep hills was as lovely as the drive up had been and we decided it's a drive we will take frequently.

Family History Fair

Young computer user at family history fair Gloria at Family History display

Thursday, September 22, 2005

The Family History Fair was very well done. They had posters and displays and large, framed genealogies of Jesus Christ and of Rizal - a Filipino hero. They had an elaborate opening ceremony with flowers and food and dignitaries and speeches. The Public Affairs couple missionaries from the Area office in Manila - the Sessions - were there and had brought the displays with them. They had two computers and two microfilm readers set up to help people find out about their ancestors right on the spot. The location, in a nice new mall, was good as many people came by and then stopped in to learn what was happening. I understand they have quite a few Filipino records on microfilm for people to search.

Second trip to Bogo

Apparently, it has been pointed out to me that I am not labeling the photos; I will improve. The swimming pool in a recent posting is not at our house - too bad - but rather at the pension in Bogo where we spent the night.
The big box is a missionary package sent by a mom to her son. It weighed nearly 200k and was mailed in February! The mom had been calling for months to try to find it and finally located in in a warehouse in Cebu where it was sitting undelivered because the company said they didn't know the place where it was to go. The Mom gave them our phone number, they called, got directions and delivered the box. Then we had to repack it into many smaller, lighter boxes so the missionaries could deliver it to the elder - who goes home October 6! Needless to say, his zone had a feast.
These are boats - mostly used for fishing - in a bay on the way to Bogo. It is generally cloudy most of the time right now since it is the rainy season.

We had a beautiful drive up to Bogo early Sunday morning September 18, - left home at 6 a.m. after some concern about getting out the gate since it had been locked the day before. We got a key after that, but it is very hard to work. Bob did get the gate open and we took off. We saw much more traffic than we expected so early in the morning, but the roads were much clearer after the first hour of getting out of the city. The sun was shining as we drove along the coast of the island and then began the climb up into the hills. We saw many, many three-wheeled bicycles and motorcyles with side-cars that are used as taxis. Unfortunately, it looked like people were going to market, and not to Church. We saw one side car with high sides carrying a huge pig - probably to market.
Bogo is 100 k and about 2 1/2 hours from our apartment. We saw huge fields of sugar cane rolling up and down over the hills and passed a couple of big sugar processing plants.
We arrived early and found Elder Willis - the zone leader - had just arrived. The President had asked him to assist and translate if needed so that Bob could meet with both Branch Presidents and get some required information. That went very well. I visited Primary and YW and helped as asked. I had taken some old Church magazines for the Primary leaders to use to cut up for more visual aids. They asked me to prepare a sharing time for next time when I come, so they can see how to do it, that will be a challenge since I haven't served in Primary in many years. That Primary has three young women as their leaders: two are returned missionaries, the Carabio sisters, and the third is their friend who was baptised three months ago. One of their main problems is they don't know they songs so can't used them to teach and to calm the children. I am thinking about how to help with that.
The Young Women teacher was our new friend Anne Hansen - a Filipino woman married to a Dane- I think, maybe Norweigian. She gave as fine a lesson as I've seen anywhere and obviously loves the girls and they know it.
The drive back home seemed long - we were tired, but not too hungry as we snacked as we drove.
We had Elders Little and Olsen over for dinner in the evening - spaghetti with chocolate pudding for dessert. We enjoyed visiting with them. It was a great day.

One other interesting experience of the week. Two women came into the office to try to sell us an electronic toy with lights and noises and it shot out little plastic discs if the right button was pushed. Elder Edlund talked with them at length and when they left, not only had we not bought anything, but they each had a Book of Mormon and an appointment to meet with the missionaries!

Trip to Bogo, part one

Saturday, September 10, 2005
After morning scriptures and prayer and exercise, we dressed and packed and prepared to go with President and Sister Anderson to Bogo. It was a beautiful morning, clouds mixed with sun and sprinkles. We drove north out of the city of Cebu and then along the eastern coast of the island nearly to the very north end – it took about 2 hours. We saw all varieties of ‘tricycles’ –three-wheeled pedicabs carrying every imaginable load, people, baskets of roosters, rice, bananas, boxes of every sort, and a few with large metal, drums filled with ice cream, that they stopped to sell along the way. We also saw brightly colored jeepneys – called jeeps here – and bright yellow large buses full of people heading in one direction or the other. We passed at least two of our chapels on the northern side of the city; one was the Lilo-an chapel that we visited on Thursday.
After leaving the city, there was much less traffic. The roads are good the entire way and we enjoyed seeing the hills to the west and water and islands to the east, peeking through the houses, shops and ‘beach resorts.’ Brother Fleming Hansen, a Norwegian who was raised in Vancouver, Canada, met us at the chapel and led us to the pensionne of his mother-in-law where we were to spend the night. The rooms were clean and bathrooms were okay – the price was right - $16.00 U.S. – and they had air conditioning. We then went to the chapel for a Zone Conference with the eight elders serving in the Bogo Zone. I was especially impressed with their Zone Leader, Elder Willis. He taught a powerful lesson about involving members in missionary work. After the conference, we attended a baptism of two new members: one was the husband of a recently-reactivated woman; the other was a 10 year old girl whose mother comes to Church, but not her father. It was a fine baptism, when it finally started over an hour late. I don’t know what they were waiting for and the President wants to work with them to help them start on time.
After the baptism – about eight o’clock – we went over to the Hansens’ house where Sister Hansen had a delicious roast pork and roast chicken dinner prepared for us. She said she got the recipes off the internet! She is an amazing person. In her house was a beautiful cross stitch of fish; she is a great cook – brownies to die for; and she has planted wonderful flowers and plants and landscaped her yard herself. She and her husband are raising three – five children (I was never quite sure, but think one is hers from a former marriage and others are ones they have rescued in the area.) She is the Branch Young Woman President and is very involved in the lives of her girls. Brother Fleming is the Elders’ Quorum President and general advisor and supported to the Branch. He also plays soccer with the missionaries every Monday morning and feeds them frequently and helps them all he can. Oh, and he plays the piano and teaches piano lessons to those who want to learn. Every branch needs a couple like them.

Trip to Bogo, part 2

Sunday, September 11, 2005
This morning as we were loading the car and packing out of the ‘hotel’, Sister Anderson asked the President if he had told me about the telephone call the night before. My first thought was that Lisa had given birth. He laughed, “No,” he said. “They want you and my wife to talk in Sacrament meeting!” We went back to the Hansens’ for breakfast – bacon, eggs, toast, mango, pineapple, and orange juice. Wow! Then Bob and the President left for an early PEC meeting and then off to visit two outlying branches. We stayed at the Hansens’ house for about an hour and then Sister Anderson drove us over to the Church – about a quarter-mile away. We both spoke on “Do What is Right, Let the Consequence Follow, “ as did two branch members who spoke in Visayan (they don’t call their language Cebuano here). We had really no idea what they said, so we all may have said the same thing! I must study my language more.
We visited and tried to help in Primary where we were entertained by a little boy – about five who had brought a pet grasshopper with him – quite the distraction – and amazing to me to see how it would not fly away from him, but stay right on his knee, even when he wasn’t holding it.
We visited with members after the meeting and then Bob and the President arrived and we all four spoke it Sacrament meeting. I just bore my testimony in Visayan; Bob talked briefly about Bible references in the Book of Mormon. The attendance at both these two branches is quite small, especially considering they have a beautiful, brand new chapel to be dedicated in November.
On the drive home, we all felt more relaxed, although tired. We ate a snack, stopped to take pictures a couple of times, then the Andersons invited us over to have dinner with them before taking us home. They are temporarily living in a penthouse condo – very nice – while a new Mission Home is being built. They have beautiful views out over the city, so Bob took a few more photos.
We had no sooner arrived home, than a knock came at the door. It was two single-adult representatives coming to ask us to speak on “Dating, Courtship, and Marriage” at an up-coming Saturday morning ‘hike’ in the mountains. Doesn’t that sound interesting? I can hardly wait. We agreed depending on the schedule the President has for us.
I checked the internet right away and sure enough – Lisa’s baby Charlotte is safely here! Hurrah!
We unpacked and began to prepare for tomorrow when the phone rang. It was David. We were so glad to talk to him. It was a great connection and made us feel so close to the family and so grateful. Then, Lisa called! Oh how happy I was to hear her voice and to know that she was okay and the baby was fine. We are so blessed to be on a mission in this day and age of modern communication. We were glad to hear about all the girls, Lisa and Chris, and their remodeling project. Our children are such a blessing to us.

Traveling to Cebu

Monday, September 5, 2005

It is hard to believe that we are actually here in the Philippines, Cebu City, when only a few days ago we were in the MTC in Provo. We left Provo Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. after a day of preparation – haircuts, laundry, calling some of the children, packing and sorting. I had a sore throat, Bob had one on Thursday, and I didn’t feel very well, so after lunch I took a long nap while Bob weighed all the bags. All was okay and we had time for dinner and then checked out of the MTC and took a van to the airport. We had been a little concerned about traffic, but we arrived in good time to check in. The Delta representative did not know what to do, so he checked our bags all the way to Cebu. It sounded good to us, but we found out it L.A. that it was not right – we had to go through Philippine Customs in Manilla and then recheck the bags there.

The plane was on time and we had a short flight to Los Angeles. We were told by the Delta representataive to go outside and walk a little ways to the left and we would be at the international terminal. It didn’t look right at first, when we went outside and started trudging down a long sidewalk in the dark, but we checked with a airport security man and he confirmed we were on the right track. When we got to the international terminal we saw signs that said, “EVA Airlines (a Chinese airline that turned out to have excellent service) Aisle C, so off we went, only to find a deserted counter beneath the EVA sign. We stood there a minute or two before someone came by and told us, “No, EVA is on Aisle A.” So off we went! We met there the first angel of our trip. A young woman, EVA employee, was very helpful. It seemed Church Travel had booked us for ‘deluxe’ class seats, but only paid for ‘Economy” and they had paid the fare for weekday travel and by the time the plane took off – 1:40 a.m. – it would be Saturday, and thus the weekend. After talking to her supervisor, and her talking to someone else, they agreed that we would travel “Deluxe” as that was where they had our seats available, but that we would have to pay the $32 each for the price of weekend travel. We were happy to do that in order to have the matter settled. Another problem to be tackled was that our checked luggage had to have new tags, sending it to Manila, rather than Cebu. She printed up new tags, said not to worry, she would get them on our bags, and gave us the new stubs. It sounded a little scary, but she seemed very confident and we hoped for the best. Finally we had boarding cards and were directed to one end of a long hall to go through security, We were a little confused about exactly where in the throng of people down there we were supposed to be, and seeing our confusion, our ‘angel’ sent a young man who took us through the middle of the crowd, to a special security line, walked us through, got our luggage cart through (we had a cart as we had put books and heavy things in our carry-ons to make our other bags lighter. Anyway, he sent us on our way to the boarding gate where we had about a two-hour wait. After about an hour, along came our ‘angel’ and chatted for a moment to make sure all was well, before continuing her other duties.

The EVA plane was very large and the “Deluxe” seats were less fancy that first or business class, but much better than ‘Economy.” We were so grateful to have them for the thirteen-hour flight to Taipei. We could recline them way back and they were wider than the cheaper seats. They fed us a good dinner about 2:30 A.M. and then we tried to sleep. I was quite restless and Bob also didn’t sleep well, but we did doze some. They served breakfast a couple of hours before we landed and brought Bob a newspaper to read. I chatted with the woman next to me, Chinese-American, who lived in Boston near the Boston temple. She was quite friendly, but wasn’t interested in hearing about the Church.

Taipei had a beautiful, clean, new airport and we were directed where to go to meet our next flight – to Manila. In the airport a man came up to us, identified himself as a member of the Church, and visited a few minutes. Other people chatted and were friendly as well. It is a very cosmopolitan airport and we saw many Americans on business and on tours.

We also saw a beautiful Orchid display in the hall where our gate was, along with a small National Museum with very old Chinese scrolls – some from the 700’s and paintings from about 700’s to modern times. Very lovely and interesting. We had about a three hour wait there. I saw a place to use the internet for free, so waited in a short line, visiting with the man in front of me, a computer science teacher in Manila whose family lives in Los Angeles, so he commutes to work! I sent a quick email to the children and checked to see if we had any notice that the mission president was expecting us and had plans to pick us up – no news.

Sunday, September 4, 2005

The plane from Taiwan to Manila was full, on time, and okay – seats quite different than in the ‘Deluxe” class and we were very grateful we had the comfortable seats for the long leg of the flight. In Manila we had to gather all our bags – and they were all there, HURRAH – and then go through Philippine customs. Then we weren’t sure what to do – we had heard two conflicting stories. One was that we would just go to a Philippine Airlines ticket counter in the airport where we landed and check in there. The other, which proved to be true, was that we had to go to another airport – the national rather than international one – which was about 5 miles away. Unsure, I ask a passing woman who was wearing a Philippines Airline badge. She stopped and answered our question then asked if we had pesos. Of course we didn’t so she directed us to a bank right near us, in the terminal and Bob changed a twenty into pesos. Then she led us outside, both Bob and I pushing very full luggage carts, she arranged for us to get a taxi and waited until we were in it and then, after hugging me and saying, “God bless you, hurried off. What an angel to us she was! Incidentally the taxis at the Manila airport have an interesting arrangement. If you want a taxi, you go inside an office, tell them where you are going and they write up a ticket with the price you should pay. They give you the ticket, which you then hand to your driver. When you arrive at your destination and pay him, you sign the ticket and he has to return it to the ticket office in order to be allowed to pick up another fare. Curbs dishonesty they hope. It certainly worked fine for us.

At the new airport, actually they call it terminal 2 of the international airport five miles away which is what led to our confusion earlier, anyway we again were helped by kind people who did charge us for the overweight big luggage – about 30$ we think…it was in pesos and we hadn’t begun to figure them out yet. But, they waved us through with our carryons which were each double the allowed weight – weight limits on carryons were new to us. We didn’t want to check them since we still didn’t have confidence that all our suitcases would arrive it Cebu. We then headed to the gate only to be told the airplane we were supposed to ride on had been hit by lightening on its incoming flight from Japan and would have to have a major check-up before it was cleared to fly again. We had about an hour delay while they found a different plane and then we were on our way.

The flight from Manila to Cebu is short – about an hour – and even though it was quite cloudy, we could see many islands below, some with what looked like beautiful beaches. The land was very green and the house roofs were red, yellow or blue, making very colorful patterns from the air.

The airport in Cebu is on a little island connected to Cebu Island by a big bridge. At the airport we again collected all our massive luggage pile onto two carts and headed outside, hoping someone would be meeting us as we still hadn’t heard if they even knew we were coming. Yes, there was mission van and two young Elders – Clark and Edlund- almost as happy to see us and we were to see them. They loaded us up and headed to the mission office, where our apartment is located as well. Unfortunately, the traffic in Cebu City didn’t look much different than that of Port Harcourt, except there were not nearly so many motorcycles and the cars were newer and had fewer dents.

We were very tired by this time – having been in transit about 36 hours- and were very glad to arrive at our apartment. However, it was Sunday night about 6 p.m. and we had last eaten several hours earlier, so were not only tired but hungry – and no food of any kind in our apartment. The elders hurried back to their apartment and returned with Top Ramen, apples and peanut butter, honey and bread. What a delicious dinner they made for us – well, remember, we were really hungry. We had made up our bed while they were gone – finding the sheets in our luggage after some searching.

We went downstairs to the mission office and saw Ben Little and delivered his birthday gift – beef jerky – and then it was up to bed. Our bedroom window is adjacent to a very busy street so it took us awhile to get used to the noise, but we soon were fast asleep. It had been a blessed trip from beginning to end.

Last day in MTC

Thursday, September 01, 2005

This was our final day of classes with our ‘office’ study group: the Phillips, the Dunns, the Holyoaks, and us. We have become close and enjoyed learned together. We exchanged email addresses and took pictures and hope to keep in touch. I am grateful for computer skills I learned which will greatly ease the load, especially in the area of correspondence and reports.

This was my final language class as well and we spent the time reviewing pronouns, verbs and some sentences I had written. I am grateful for the opportunity to begin to learn the language before we get there.

We called Chris and Kate and had a short visit with Chris and we so glad to talk to him. We called Britt and were grateful to hear that both girls are doing great and that Britt’s blood pressure was going down and that they would all be going home tomorrow. We received a package from David - jerky for Ben Little, a note, and a letter I had written to my mother and that David had printed out for me. David has been such a help to us, from having us stay there, driving us to the hospital to see Britt, getting us things we need.

We received our travel documents, and after some confusion about our visas and a stop over in Manila, we called Church travel in Salt Lake and feel that all is in order. We planned our day tomorrow in order to accomplish all the tasks – haircuts, laundry, packing, checking out, etc. – necessary to leave.

Traveling to Cebu

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

What an exciting day! We had our normal routine of breakfast, classes, lunch, classes and then…..someone came to get us to tell us Britt had gone to the hospital to deliver the twins and that David was on his was to pick us up. The Mission President had approved our leaving, and leave we did! David met us in the lobby and was there by the time we could get from our classroom to the lobby (via the travel office since we had not yet received our travel documents.) We went directly to the hospital in Orem where Britt looked sort of comfortable since they had given her an epidural. One of the twins was breech and a C-section was a possibility, although all were hoping it would not be necessary. We arrived at the hospital about 4 and at 4:30 Britt said she was ready to deliver. They did a quick check and agreed and off she went. We were able to watch the delivery from a window outside the room. They took her to an operating room, still not sure what would be needed. Her favorite doctor arrived just before they took her in so he delivered both babies; Rebecca came first and then he had to go in and manually turn and pull Susan out – not pleasant for Britt, but far better than a C-section. Rebecca looked great and cried lustily. Susan was more lethargic and the doctor worked on her a little, but she was soon okay. She had a little breathing difficulty and so was put on mild oxygen and Bob and Chris gave her a blessing. Meanwhile Britt was taken back to her room and given Rebecca to hold and nurse. It was such a thrill to be there and such a miracle. We both felt very, very grateful.

David took us to his house for dinner and to check on the children, then back to see Britt and the babies for a few minutes (Britt and Rebecca were doing great; Susan was back on oxygen and being monitored. They had taken Susan off the oxygen for the blessing and then left her off for awhile and it looked to me like she was doing fine, but they wanted to be sure.

We returned back to the MTC very, very grateful missionaries. I feel quite torn about leaving now when I could be of such help to both Britt and Lisa, but have been promised that the help they need will be given them.