One year anniversary

Windy wharf in Bogo, Hannah, Gloria and Shefra


Shallow water fishing with nets and bamboo fences

Monday, September 4, 2006

Today is our 1 year mark in the Philippines! We went to Bogo – the first branch that we visited after we arrived. It was very exciting to see the changes from a year ago. When we first visited there were two small branches, 35 – 40 in Sacrament meeting. Reverence was deplorable with children running around during the meeting, people talking and going in and out the whole time. White shirts and ties were not common and there were very few men except for those on the stand.

Yesterday at the one branch (the two were combined into one several months ago), over 120 were in attendance at Sacrament meeting. Families sat together, with many men in the congregation in addition to those on the stand. All the men on the stand were wearing white shirts and ties (not important in and of themselves, but very important as a symbol of respect for the priesthood). Children were not running around at all and if any needed to go out, a parent went with them. It was really wonderful to see the great spirit at the meeting.

After the meeting, Bob had planned with Shefra Carabio for us to go over and visit Professor Estacion at his house. Shefra and her friend, Hannah, went with us. When we arrived, the Professor was not there. It turns out he is a Baptist minister and had gone out to help some Church members, but would be back ‘soon’. His son Duke welcomed us and invited us to sit outside in the shade and wait. He offered food and drink, but we explained that it was Fast Sunday. He then picked two pomegranates for me to bring home. Those are the first I have seen growing here. We waited nearly an hour and the Professor still didn’t come. We enjoyed talking with the girls about their boyfriends, or lack thereof. Both would like to be married and are sad that they are not.

Professor Estacion had left a message for Bob that he wanted to talk to us about maybe teaching another seminar at his University – perhaps on English – which is the reason we went to his house in the first place. Bob wrote down the cell number and email address of Duke and said we could communicate that way and we took off.

Just as we were leaving, Duke mentioned that if we went down the road about ½ a kilometer we would come to the community wharf and fishing area. Naturally we wanted to see that, so off we went. Both Shefra and Hannah had been there often – it being a frequent picnic/swimming place for the Young Single Adults. It was very windy, but interesting and we were glad to take a few pictures of the new-to-us type of fishing. Men were out in the water making a large funnel out of bamboo poles stuck vertically into the sandy bottom of the sea. Between the poles they stretched a thin, small mesh net. This forced the fish to swim into an ever narrower channel where they had spread their fishing nets with holes large enough for the smaller fish to swim through. Only the fish big enough to sell for eating were caught. We saw two groups of men in the hip-deep water. One group was working on the funnel poles. The other group was pulling in the net full of fish. This looked like a very effective way to catch fish in an area where the water is shallow for quite a ways out from land.

Afterwards, we dropped the girls off at the Carabio’s home and drove back to Cebu. It was a lovely day and we felt very good about the progress in the Bogo Branch. In the evening Bob and I prepared for the new missionaries coming in this week, by photographing and then reducing and printing out the missionary photos to go on their bank card applications. It is very easy and fast to do with out new camera and the computer and color printer.