Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Merry Christmas
December 19, 2012
Merry Christmas!!!
This has been a difficult week to be so far from my children
and grandchildren. There was the
horrible tragedy in Connecticut where 20 first graders and their teachers and
administration where killed, my grandson Zach had his Christmas concert we
missed, one of our PEF participants lost her mother. I wish I could just hug
each member of my family and Laumi (the PEF participant). It is hard to have such tragedy at Christmas
time and this is the first Christmas I have not spent with my family ever. I guess I am a big baby, because I am just so
sad. The only consolation is Faith and
Josh will be here soon and I will get to hug them and hold my little faith on
my lap. I did not think I would struggle
this much with homesickness, being such a cranky old lady, but boy is it tough.
The only good thing about it is I don't
have to go shopping (I will make it up to everyone when I get home)!
I received a message from my niece Kassandra that her sister
Christina wanted to talk to me so we called her. She was thinking about me so asked her
Facebook sister to contact me. It was so
nice to visit with her. I have been
sending candy bags to the grandchildren for years and when my sister Karen
passed away I decided to add her young grandchildren to the list. Christina told me that when Halloween passed
her girls asked her why they had not received mail from Aunt Joan. I was touched that they remembered. Thankfully Christina explained our absence
and that we would resume our traditions when we return to the U.S. I loved
preparing the packages for our family and mailing them on special holidays. I
never really thought it was a big deal and was so surprised they were
missed. How funny that little gestures
are really that important after all. I
loved talking to Christina. She is a
wonderful young lady and a great mom. I
also love to see and follow her sisters and all of our other family and ward
family and my students on Facebook. I
don't feel so far away when I can interact with people I love daily. What a blessing the Internet is for me here
on my mission. When it is down, I am
very sad not only because I cannot work, but I cannot check in with those I
love.
The Philippine people celebrate Christmas continually, party
after party and fireworks every night. I
don't know how they afford the fireworks when everyone is so poor, but they
party hardy during December. I wonder
what New Year will be like. There have been parties and receptions galore at
the resort in our neighborhood and the music goes on and on. The music is not half as bad as the dogs
barking though. Our neighbor's have
three dachshund dogs that bark and howl continually throughout the night. I knew I did not like dogs (grand dogs are
and exception)! I don't suppose that a Mormon missionary ought to kill their
neighbors dogs.
Well, I love you all and hope you are well and happy.
Merry Christmas!!
Monday, December 3, 2012
Sunday, December 2, 2012
December 3, 2012
December 3, 2012
The last week has been busy for the slow season of our
work. On Tuesday we taught out
Conversational English class and our students are doing wonderful. They speak English very well and are ready
learners. Wednesday and Thursday we
completed all the preparations for our PEF training. Friday we picked up our leader Franco
Avincula and Jib at the airport around 8:00 am.
Then we returned to the church to continue set up for the training. Dan and I drove back and forth to pick up the
service missionaries for Iloilo. They
had rough crossing as the wind was blowing and the waters were very
choppy. Dan was concerned about the
arrivals of everyone and hoping they would all get here safely. Then he was also worried about the catering
we set up hoping they were on time and had enough food. Everything went very well. We were so excited to see everyone again and
in one place. They shared so many
wonderful success stories with us. Hearing their stories made me realize once
again what a great work we are doing here helping these wonderful young people
gain an education and establish successful careers.
The training was on Friday and Saturday, then on Sunday we
were invited to San Carlos for one on our participant's new babies
blessing. Her name is Dionelee Mahinay. We
were very honored to be invited. We
drove over the mountain early and arrived in plenty of time. I love the drive through the mountains
because it is so lush and green. When we
arrived at the church we attended both branch Sacrament meetings so we could
see our participants. They are always so
happy to see us and the smiles on their faces just light up my whole
being. They are wonderful young
women. When Dionelee arrives with her
family she immediately came and asked if I would like to hold the baby. The
baby is beautiful and has a whole head of black hair. She is so little and precious. While I was
holding the baby, Dionelee asked if Dan would bless her baby. The babies Dad is
not a member of the church and so it was a great honor for Dan to bless Dionelee's
baby. He did a wonderful job and returned to sit with me with eyes full of
tears. What a special day.
After church we had dinner with Elder and Sister Chin, (our
new mission couple) before returning home.
Elder Chin is a pharmacist and Sister Chin is a nurse. They are from
North Salt Lake City. They have five
grown children. Elder Chin loves to cook
and made a wonderful stir-fry. They are
a special couple and we love them. After dinner we drove back home. It was a beautiful day for the drive and we
stopped a couple of times to take photos.
We planned on stopping at the falls, but there were many stopped so
there was no room to park to stop. We
will return to San Carlos soon so we will stop then.
This week we travel to Manila for training with the other
PEF couple missionaries and Franco and Jib.
We will attend the temple there also.
I am excited to go and see the other wonderful American couples. The couple who works in the office and
approves all the loan paperwork will be concluding their mission and returning
home in two weeks. We will miss them greatly.
They have been a great help to us in our work here.
Dan informs me we are on week 30 of our mission leaving 71
weeks to go. Time seemed to go so very
slowly in the beginning, but know I see that this time will pass quickly and I
will soon return to my family. I am
thankful for their love and support and their prayers for us. I love you all very much.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Thanksgiving
November 24, 2012
Today is Thanksgiving in the United States. We had Thanksgiving with the new missionaries
and senior missionaries at the mission home.
I made two turkeys, gravy, and rice stuffing. I loved the rice stuffing and think I might
continue making it when we are home for holidays. Here in the Philippines there is not and
stuffing bread available so I would have had to leave the bread slices out to
dry and then cut it or crumb it. Well if
I had done that we would have had ant stuffing because if we leave anything on
the counter it is covered with ants in seconds.
Rice stuffing is made just like regular stuffing: sauté the onion and
celery season it as you would bread stuffing, then combine it with rice cooked
in chicken broth. It is so good. We had a pretty traditional meal with the
other couples making mashed potatoes, and an apple crisp dessert. There are no pumpkins or canned pumpkin here
so that mean we could not make pies.
The day was very nice other than missing my kids and
grandkids. It was difficult to not be
home with everyone. We were able to talk
to the Mitchells, Faith and Josh and Dan's girls and Julie, before we lost
internet, but we missed talking to the Pearson's, Tisdale's, Padilla's and the Sheldon's. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful
family and are thankful for them and our many friends who support us on our
crazy adventure.
We have been to Iloilo twice this month and will have PEF
training here in Bacolod November 30 and December 1 with all our service
missionaries and our boss Franco and Jibb from Manila. We have everything
prepared for the training: motel reservations, meeting accommodations and meals
catered. We are anxious to learn about the recent changes implemented and how
they will impact our work. Hopefully,
things will be streamlined a bit. It is
so difficult to get the applications complete and the tuition checks released
we often find ourselves banging our heads against the wall with
frustration. Our work is very rewarding
though as we see the students doing well in school and changing their futures.
Our mission had a new couple arrive Tuesday, whose name is
Chin. He is Chinese American and she is
Caucasian. They are from North Salt Lake
City. They will live in san Carlos. Elder Chin is a retired pharmacist and his is a registered nurse. They seem very nice and will be a great
addition to the mission. Our mission
will increase by about 100 missionaries before spring due to the reduction of
missionary age and increase of missionaries serving. That will be exciting. We heard that a mission has been opened in
China with about 80 expected missionaries so that is very exciting. What a
blessing that will be for China. The
church is really growing here in Asia.
Once again, I want to thank our family for their love and
support as well as tell them how very much I miss them. If and when we serve another mission we will
request is be one of the shorter missions in the U.S. so we can still see our
family occasionally. This being
thousands of miles away from them is the hardest part of our mission. We love you so very much and pray for each of
you daily.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Sisters Adams, Sinema, Lopez, Bevens, Anderson
November 6, 2012 Blog
November 6, 2012
Last week we took our car over to Panay on the ferry. We did really well for being the only white
people on board. On the return trip Dan
had to back onto the ferry as it had only one entrance for loading and
unloading so it required backing on. We
were the first vehicle so that made it a bit easier. The ferry from Bacolod to Iloilo had openings
on both ends of the ferry so loading and unloading are much easier. We went to
Panay for a week. We drove all over the
island to familiarize ourselves and to meet with our service missionaries. We arrived by ferry on Tuesday and returned
on Monday. Saturday Dan trained the
priesthood brothers in their cluster meeting of all the leaders from the
Island. While he was teaching, I sat in
the Institute and caught up on some of my correspondence. I also met Sister Scott, another senior missionary
couple from Snowflake Arizona. Amazing
another senior missionary from Arizona. She has only been in the Philippines
two months. She is a wonderful woman and
I had so much fun showing her our family photos and getting to know her. She told me that her youngest daughter had
been trying to have a family for five years and was not having any
success. Her children got together and encouraged
her husband and her to serve a mission so her daughter could get pregnant as a
blessing from their service. Amazingly,
her daughter is already pregnant. What
an answer to prayer and a blessing for their willingness to serve the
Lord. We pray for similar blessings for
each of our children from our willingness to serve here in the
Philippines. (We do not need any
blessings for ourselves, so we pray our children will receive the righteous
desires of their hearts.)
Later President Ardern, the second counselor in the area presidency
came in to sit on the comfy couches for a rest and we visited for a little bit
about PEF. He was so excited about the
proposed changes. He confirmed that in
the Philippines we needed to continue to provide for four year programs, but
believes we can find outside resources to provide scholarships so participants
do not have to incur so much debt. He
also is very excited about adding a mentor component to the program. He made me feel so much more excited about
PEF! I am so excited to be a part of the
program here and help the young people better their lives. What a blessing this is for us.
I love reading the updates from all of our friends and
family on Facebook, in emails and letters.
I don't feel so isolated when I hear about your lives. I need to tell each of you not to worry when
you hear about Philippine weather issues, because we live on a pretty sheltered
island and rarely suffer from the tragic weather of the other islands. If you hear of tropical storms and do not
hear from us directly you can always check our mission president's Facebook
(his is Marlo Lopez) and he puts at least bi-weekly mission status reports. If we are not traveling we come into the
office and have internet to try to keep you informed, but we do not have
internet at home. Please do not worry about us. The Lord will protect us.
Now on the spiritual side (if you don't want to know just
skip this part). I was suffering from
severe homesickness. I so missed our
children and grandchildren. I just felt
so bad I was scheming up ways to come home to see everyone. I have never felt so depressed before in my
life. I do not know why someone who has
endured and triumphed over so many sorrows in one lifetime could not remember
the healing power of the Atonement of my Savior when I needed to feel it. When I was divorced I knew to pray for the
Saviors healing power and he did lift my sorrows. When our daughter Holly died, I relied on the
comforting spirit of my Savior and he lifted my burden and gave me the strength
to move forward with my life and support our family. Even though I struggled understanding why losing
my sister Karen to cancer was so difficult for me, I knew that the Lord would
lift my burden if I but asked. In my
darkest hour I just have to ask for the healing and uplifting power of the
Atonement to remove my burden and it is done.
Yes, I am a slow learner! I did
finally remember and thankfully did ask for that same blessing with regard to
my homesickness and I immediately felt normal again. Yes I still miss you all, but I am able to go
about my responsibilities with joy and happiness! I am so thankful for my testimony of the love
of my Savior and the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love my Father in Heaven and my Savior,
Jesus Christ. I love reading the Bible
and Book of Mormon and learning more about God's plan for me through the
teachings found in the scriptures. I love our prophet Thomas S. Monson and the
wonderful teachings we were able to hear at General Conference and cannot wait
for the talks to be available here in the Philippines. I love reading then over and over. When we get to Manila in December, I will buy
a copy of the November Ensign so I can have a paper copy to read and reread.
I love each of you and an thankful for your part in my
life. We pray for you each day by name. Sometimes too long (or too big of family) and
then dinner is cold. Oh well small
sacrifice for us, but so worth it.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Bacolod Pulis
Hanging out with Bacolod pulis (that is police to us)! Not to worry Paul I was not in trouble!
Departing elders
Lechon
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Sister's Conference
This
Monday and Tuesday was the Sister's Conference at the Presidents home. All the
young sisters from our mission (about 40) were in Bacolod and spent the night
in the mission home and enjoyed training and socializing with one another. On Monday night President Lopez talked about
a Lamanite
woman, Abish, who was a servant of Lamoni
who was converted to the Lord, (Book of Mormon, Alma 19). Abish had been converted and was faithful to
her beliefs although she was quiet and
shy and did not talk freely about her beliefs.
She set a quiet example of happiness and peace and was a faithful
servant to the King Lamoni and his wife the queen. When the kingdom began to struggle Abish
overcame her reserved nature and shared her strength and belief with the
Queen. Abish was able to convert the
queen and strengthen her people and their kingdom. After he retold the story of Abish he asked
each sister to think of a personal character trait she shared with Abish. I thought about how I never doubted the Lord
of his love for my family and myself even through our darkest trails of
poverty, divorce and death of loved ones.
That testimony of the Savior's resurrection and atonement sustained me
even when it would have been easier to just quit working so hard to remain
faithful and strong.
Then
President asked each companionship to share what character trait they felt
their companion was an example of. Dan said
I was able to love and care for all those around me and make each person feel
loved and encouraged (something like that).
I did not see that as an "Abish" character trait at first but
thought it was nice that Dan would value and recognize that trait in me.
Tuesday,
President Lopez talked about Esther in the Old Testament and how she had the
courage to approach the king (her husband) about the fate of the Jewish people (her
people). In those days no one was
allowed to enter into the King's presence without being summoned by the king
himself, and if they did so they could be punished with death. The king had
been manipulated to sign an order of Jewish extinction by one of his
advisors. Esther, being Jewish was approached by Mordecai
(her adopted father) and urged to go into the king and plead for the saving of
the Jews. Esther was frightened to go
into the king without the kings invitation and struggled with the decision to
obey Mordecai and risk her life to plead for her people, the Jews. I can just imagine how frightened Ester would
have been, yet her life was at risk simply because she was Jewish even though
that was unknown at the time. At first
she told Mordecai she could not go speak to the king as her life would be in jeopardy.
Mordecai
then stated, "For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and
deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s
house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom
for such a time as this?" (Ester
4:14).
Esther
gathered her courage and went into the king and plead for her people and her
own life and the King learning of Esther's Jewish lineage stayed his execution
order out of his great love for Ester.
President
Lopez likened this story unto each of us sisters and said that we do not know
why we were each called to serve in the Philippines at "such as time as
this" but we have been sent here by a prophet of God and is we are
faithful and do our best in all we do we too, like Esther will be successful. I thought of Sister Annie, who was in San
Carlos. She told us she had been diligently praying for a way to help husband
support their family. Then we were sent
here and shared the PEF program with her and the people of San Carlos. Dan told them of my desire to attend college
even though I was a wife and mother and older than most students in the
U.S. He also shared that if the people
were unsure of what their future held for them that they should pray to find
out in PEF was the answer for them.
Sister Annie went home and spoke to her husband about going to college
and he encouraged her to also pray about her desired. (Annie's husband is the
District President for the San Carlos District, and is a rice farmer who sells
rice out of his store at the front of their home.
Annie
said that night she prayed and in her sleep dreamt of herself in uniform
attending school and then being able to teach in the schools in San
Carlos. She knew then she was to follow
the path she had prayed about and is now on the road to becoming a
teacher. She shared with us her gratitude
for our missionary service as if we had not come to the Philippines her family
would never have been able to afford her college education or the education of
her children. She said she believes the
Lord sent us here in answer to her prayers.
I believe this also! As Esther,
before we met Annie I wondered why we were here. The PEF leaders had indicated
we were to go to Africa prior to our actual call and we were sure that was
where we would go only to come to the Philippines. I wondered if I would ever know why we were
called here to serve yet thanks to Sister Annie I now "knoweth whether
thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Ester
4:14).
I
am sure there are more Sister Annie's out there for us to help, but knowing we
have helped this humble and faithful woman better her life is a great blessing
and a testimony that the Lord does call us to where we are individually needed
and where our work will better benefit those we serve.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Masskara Festival
Ambulance drivers
September 28, 2012
YEAH! Our San Carlos Class of young women who began the PEF
process with us in June are all PEF approved and will begin school in
November!!! We drove over yesterday to San Carlos to go over the last of the
paperwork and to train our new specialist. Her name is Zinnie and she is a
teacher on the small island across the channel beside San Carlos. She said her school does not have any
electricity until 5pm each evening so they have limited resources. I can't wait to go and see her school.I have
been to the school in Isabela and I think it would be very difficult to teach
in a room without window or doors, with cracked cement floors and insecure
walls and foundation. I will take
pictures then next time I am in a school..
We also had to drive north of San Carlos so Dan could
interview a sister for baptism for President Lopez. That took another couple of hours on very bad
roads. While we were traveling we got a
call asking us to pick up two sister missionaries from San Carlos hospital and
bring them back to Bacolod to Riverside Hospital. Riverside Hospital is the best facility on
the island although Dan and I both are not sure we would want to stay there,
but it is totally enclosed and has air conditioning, television, and phones in
private rooms. We only saw the emergency
room last night but are going back to visit Sister Person this afternoon. She has only been in our mission two months
and the doctors in San Carlos thought she had Dengue Fever, but the doctors
here in Bacolod say that is not the problem.
Her blood pressure is high and her platelet count is low. Dengue Fever is a very deathly illness. So we have now been a mission ambulance
complete with IV dripping from our car ceiling into Sister Person's arm,
emergency flashers, and Dan' generated siren! Yes our patient was
laughing! Her companion has to stay with
her in the hospital 24/7 so they will be happy to have visitors today.
Dan had a sip-on and ubo' (cold and cough) last weekend and
so he rested Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Monday we had the Mission President Marlo Lopez and his wife, the Adams
and Andersons (all senior couples over for Lunch on Monday. Dan was the chef and everyone loved the best
meal they have had while in the Philippines!
(Their words, not mine even though I eat better than anyone else in the
Philippines! Luckily) He also made Texas sheet cake and that was a real
hit. He is also cooking for the sister's
conference this Tuesday. I think he is now the Mission chef!
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Sept. 17, 2012
Blog Sept
17, 2012 this was a long, long,
week. Wednesday we traveled to San
Carlos ( two hours) to help the good young people there edit their applications
now that we have a better idea what is expected. When we arrived we could not access their
applications. We called Cebu Employment
Resource Center (first approval office).
After about an hour wait the applications were visible again. Dan worked with some of the applicants and I
worked with others. Then we drove two hours back home to Bacolod. Saturday and Sunday we drove back and forth
to Binalbagan (almost 2 hour drive) to train leaders about PEF during part of
their Stake conference. We spoke in the
evening adult meeting. Sunday we also spoke in their general session. The members there are wonderful and were all
so pleased to meet us and hear from us.
We met four of our PEF students and were so excited to meet them.
One the down
side once we thought we had all the applicants application in San Carlos fixed,
we got a message from one of the sisters saying there was still a problem. Dan emailed the Cebu office only to not hear
back anything. Of course it was Friday
so we will not be able to resolve anything until Monday. We learned this week
we were supposed to pay an auto use fee (I think it covers maintenance and
insurance) which is fine, but we had never been told so we had to pay for four
months use. The day we went over to pay
that bill there was another query about our housing. The mission dept. doe not
communicate well and thus our housing arrangements are still a matter of
concern. Dan had to recount again how we
had to arrange for our own housing directly with the owner of the house with
the help of the former missionary couple.
Of course during our call and arrival we have had several missionaries
and mission President change and so we have to keep recounting the story. Dan was about ready to strangle someone. Maybe this time all will be resolved because
we signed a two year lease and there is no moving! No one said missions were all smooth
sailing.
This weekend
we have to travel to Sipalay again (5 hour drive) to teach Planning for
Success. Hopefully, the weather will be
better this time as last trip Dan and I tried to get the only geocashe on this
island only to be rained out. We almost did not make it back with all the water
on the roads. We will try again this
trip and hopefully not have to deal with the rain.
We are
planning a day off this week before traveling to Sipalay so that we do not over
due ourselves. Yes, we did learn our lesson.
Looking after ourselves. Hope all
is well with our family and friends. We love you all very much and pray for you
every day.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Lopez and Bevans
The Bevans on their way home to
Canada after serving in Bacolod Philippines Mission.
Elder Mata at the Manila Temple
August departing missionaries.
Typical
jeepney load!
There could be a few more on this
tricycle!
One of the beautiful sunsets from our
backyard!
Elder and Sister Billiones in La
Carlota
Accomplishment!
September 4, 2012
Today was the best day of my mission!!! I actually completed
a task. This morning when we got to the
office I opened my email and had an email from Bridgette. After I responded, Maddy from ERC called to
tell us that President John Balledos the director of ERC from Cebu was in the
office and had time to see us. We went
down the hall to meet him and proceeded to ask him all the questions we had
about reasons PEF applications may be returned from his office to the applicants.
It was exciting to hear what the pitfalls are and to hear the things they
specifically check for in each application.
We visited about an hour and asked him many questions. He is a very nice man and has such high hopes
for PEF. He also said he was excited
seeing the increase in PEF applications from our mission. The amazing thing about this visit was the
timing. One of our new applicants had
found her application returned from Cebu and asked me to help her with the
problems. I was so excited to practice
what I we had just learned. We opened
her application and checked each of the questions from Cebu. Then we also typed her Age Exemption Letter
because she is over thirty years old and needs to explain why she is making an
application at her age. When we were
done with the letter we went to check if the letter was expectable with Charry,
I saw that President Balledos was still in our office. So the applicant, Ruby Santillan Ariaz and I
went to give him the letter, thinking it went to him. He informed us the letter went to Franco through
Charry BUT that he would be glad to check Ruby's application to be sure
everything was correct. We were so
excited. After checking her application
he approved it while we were sitting right there together and forwarded the
application to Franco. We were so
happy. We went back to our office and
added more information to her ldsjobs.org account and emailed Franco that her
application was sent to him and her letter was in Charry's office if he needed
it prior to her approval and Salt Lake submittal. I was so excited to not only help an
applicant but also to have the application approved at Cebu. I am so used to beginning and completing a
task from my career as a teacher. Here
in the mission field I teach a class and then the applicants file their application
and I do not see the progress of their application and approval until they are in
our system as a student. That may take
up to six months. I have felt like
nothing is really happening because I cannot actually see the progression of
applications but today I actually not only helped but saw the progression. It was so wonderful. I feel so accomplished and excited. Ruby wants to be an elementary school
teacher. She will be a great teacher and
I am so thankful for the opportunity to help her build for her future. This was a great day!!!!!!
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Sept 2, 2012
Another week has passed and it is now September. This week the sewing machine I ordered from
Manila arrived. I have already shortened
a skirt that was dragging on the ground.
I also shortened the sleeves on two of my blouses. It is so nice to have something to do in the
evening other than sit exhausted on the couch.
I have had to order thread and scissors from Julie since the thread
colors are so limited here and they do not have access to sewing scissors.
This last Tuesday the mission saw a ten percent reduction on
missionaries including the Bevans, another senior couple from Canada. They were so welcoming and Sister Bevans and
I really bonded. I will miss her very
much. The mission assistant Elder Reidhead
from Snowflake, Arizona also went home after completing his mission. There were
three elders who completed their missions from Arizona, one from Gilbert and
one from Mesa as well as Elder Redhead.
Because of the reduction of missionaries another couple, the Andersons
were transferred from San Carlos to the mission office, and we were asked to
help them find an apartment. We asked
the women in the office and they did not have any ideas, so I started to search
on the internet and found a broker to help us.
Funny how we have only been here three months, and yet we are the ones
asked to help. I guess because we are
adventurous and have traveled the entire island already we are the go to
couple.
This week was the Bacolod Stake Conference. I was asked to help with the Young Women
training and was so surprised. I was
even more surprised when I found that half or the ward Young Women leaders were
young women themselves. They are so
faithful and hard working and are just as mature as the older women. Some of the older women have served ten years
and are weary and needed to be lifted up and encouraged. Sister Colbing, the Stake Young Women
President asked me to assist her after
her husband told her how much the young
single adults love when we teach. She
asked me to teach about the enabling and strengthening power of the Atonements
and how through that power leaders can be energized and learn to recycle ideas
and lessons to help the young women of the church. The sisters all thanked me and told me how
inspired and touched they were by my training.
I do not think I will ever get used to the kindness, thankfulness and the way the saints here think Dan and I
are angels. In Tucson we were not anyone
special and sometimes felt less than others in the church due to our prior
divorces and trials in life. Yet here we are the ones who are experienced and
thought of as angels.
This week we also found out that President Ricardo Colbing,
one of the Institute directors grew up in the same city as Alma Sipalay
Andrews. I think is amazing that we are
in the Philippines and work very closely with someone that knows and loves the
only Filipina in our home ward. Small
church isn't it.
We are working hard to get applications processed so that we
can have the distinction of having the most new PEF participants in the
Philippines from our mission areas.
Looks like we will be successful.
We are even beginning a new workshop next Saturday. Workshops are usually held on Tuesday, but
we thought there should be one on the
weekend for those who are working or attending school and cannot come on
Tuesday during the day. We hope to have
a full house!
All is well with us and we so appreciate all of the support
and prayers of our friends and family.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
August 25, 2012
This has been a wonderful week. We taught a workshop Tuesday
and have been working to compile data about the participants who are 150 days
past due with their loan payments. We are very concerned for many of them. We wonder what we can do to help them. Friday we drove to Sipalay. On the way we stopped in Binalbagan to help
President Cobing with the Planning for Success there. We had had so many problems with the computer
application and the internet and amazingly the same problems occurred while we
were there. Now we have witnesses to our
problems. We were there for two and a
half hours trying to get one young woman registered and begin her application. The computer screen was projected on the wall
so all the participants could see the forms. When the participant got to the
first page of the application, and tried
to input her phone numbers. The application asks for area code in one box and
phone number in another box. We entered
the numbers the way it is supposed to be.
The application denied the number.
So we put the number with the nation code first and The application
would not accept that number either. We
must have tried at least ten different ways.
We tried to call all the numbers for the people we know in Manila. We tried to call several leaders here in
Bacolod other than President Cobing who was with us. We tried to call the help desk in Salt lake
City and Dan went outside to try to get our phone to work better. When he came back inside he was inspired to
log out of the computer and start again.
Amazingly, when the young woman logged back in and reentered her information the program
took the phone number the first time, the way we had tried many times previously
to input. I was so discouraged and yet
the participants had faith and said we should just keep trying and eventually
it would work. I am so amazed at their
simple faith and their endurance. They
stay positive even though things look impossible.
The drive to Sipalay is four hours from Bacolod. The roads are full of pot holes, unpaved
stretches and of course people, dogs, water buffalos, chickens, roosters, cats,
pigs, motor scooters, jeepneys, large trucks
and one or two cars so the speed is slow and precarious. On the way down we saw an accident between
two jeepneys. I had been surprised that
we had not seen many accidents with the driving
and crowded roads. The two jeepneys had crashed head on I am sure
because one was either passing someone, or driving in the wrong lane (a regular
occurrence). On the way Dan had knocked
the handle bar of one tricycle because they just think the whole lane it theirs
and do not pull over for faster vehicles.
No one was hurt and we both just drove on thankfully. When we got to Sipalay we checked into the
hotel (The Sipalay Suites. The room was
so small with twin beds and maybe four feet of walk space. The bathroom was not as wide a my arms
outstretched, but we did have warm
water. We decided to drive out a bit and
look for the only geocashe on the island. It started to rain and gradually got
harder and harder. When we got to the
part of the road that was not paved it was too muddy and rutted to continue and
raining so hard we could not hike in to find the cashe. So we turned around and went back to the
hotel. The roads were flooded and we
were a bit nervous about getting back, but we did. We had dinner in the hotel restaurant with
the Bevans, and President Cobing. We had
pizza. One of the pizzas had fried egg on it and it was ok. The bed was uncomfortable and the room's air
conditioning did not work so needless to
say we were very uncomfortable all might.
We did not have a very good night sleep needless to say. We attended the District training and
completed our responsibilities. Dan
taught the priesthood about PEF and I
taught about preparation using the parable of the ten virgins. After the
meeting, I was approached by two young women who had many PEF questions. They both had loans and were 150+ days late
and had dropped out of school. They both
want to become current and get back to school.
We were so excited to meet them and one other participant. We also met the teacher of the Planning for
Success Workshop who just received the calling. She is nervous and asked if we
could teach the third session and we readily agreed. We were so excited to meet participants and
leaders and be able to make connections in Sipalay. We were planning on staying in Sipalay that
night also, but due to the rain and uncomfortable surroundings decided to head
home. We had lunch with President
Colbing and then headed home. After we
got home we were so tired we went to bed for some real rest. Today was our Ward Conference and it was very
nice. I was so thankful to be home and
able to go to our own ward. The weeks
are rushing by and I wish we had more energy and time to fulfill our
responsibilities. I hope the lord will
excuse out weaknesses and strengthen us in our efforts.
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