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.
