Monday, April 22, 2013
Cebu!!!!
April 2013
This has been a truly busy month. With the addition of over 200 participants with the inclusion of the Cebu mission, I have
been working hard to contact each of them.
Once I contacted each of them my Facebook was so crowded and messy I had
to group all my friends. What a problem
that was! I made a group and started to
send a group post and there was no text box.
I was so upset. I researched,
called my tech support (THANKS daughter Julie) and we decided I would have to
delete the group and start over. After I
finished the second time (not as easy as it sounds) I found the same
issue. After some more research I found
out that I cannot have over 130 in a friend group. So once again, I made two groups for Bacolod
so I could post. I will be the Facebook
expert when I get home.
We also traveled to Sipalay (five hour drive) to help
several young people and train our specialist.
There is one Geocache there that requires a short hike (less than a
mile) to find, and since the weather was not raining we set out to find the
cache for Dan. I always wondered why the
people here use umbrellas when it is not raining. I walk and hike in the Arizona sun all the
time and never have an umbrella. Well we
got to the cache and began to walk back. I began to feel nauseous, light headed and my
legs began to fail. I had to sit and
drink more water. After I began to feel
a bit better we started walking again only to have to stop again when I thought
for sure I was going to faint. Here in
the Philippines I sweat so very much that I decided I must have just been
dehydrated (heat stroke) and once I rehydrated I could finish the walk. I will have to use an umbrella if we hike any
more. It was a beautiful hike though and
other than my little heat stroke, which I know about now, I plan on seeing more
of the wilderness when we have time.
We also traveled to Binalbagan to teach the last workshop
there. We were so excited to be able to
complete the workshop and complete the applications for the participants. Each of the young people had done all their
homework so we were able to complete the on-line applications while we were
there. Elder and Sister Domingo (church
service missionaries there) are wonderful teachers obviously as the
participants were prepared and we could just move forward. Having the local couples really does make our
jobs so much easier.
We think traveled to Cebu, by plane, and met all but two of
the Stake and District presidents and the mission president. What great men. All but one were very receptive of having us
to help them and were willing to look for and call service missionaries for us
to train. In Bogo District, they called a PEF specialist over a year ago and
have been waiting for someone to come train her. We promised to return and train her within a month. We also have to go to Bohol island to meet
those leaders since that is another island.
We had a lovely time meeting the Employment Resource Center (ERC)staff,
the full time missionaries there and enjoying visiting with President John
Balledos who is one of the new mission presidents heading to Salt Lake City in
June. He is a wonderful man and will do
a great job. He has been the Employment resource
manager, and was the overseeing Stake President and project manager for the
building of the temple, new stake center, mission and temple presidents homes,
and the large building that houses the temple patron house (dorm rooms for out
of town visitors) distribution center, laundry, cafeteria, family history
center and temple missionaries apartments.
The entire complex is so beautiful you can easily forget you are in the
Philippines. Missionaries there do not
even have to ever leave the complex if they eat in the cafeteria. While we were waiting to visit the mission
president I went to the ladies room and
immediately recognized Sister Gale from our batch at the MTC in Provo. She did not recognized me though because my
hair is totally different (disaster with color and grown our layers). So I went and got Dan (who they recognized
right away). We had such a nice visit
and they wanted us to join their Friday night dinner outing with the other full
time senior couples but we had a conflict.
We will join their Friday party night next time. We also love the Johns couple who work in the
ERC office. Probably the best thing
other than attending the temple (another long story) was the hamburger we had
at TGI Fridays in the Ayala Mall across the street from the ERC office. What a modern, very large mall with many
United States stores. I even bought two
new pair of shoes!! I wear a 7 1/2 and
after being told they did not have that size in four of five styles, I asked
what style they had in my size. The
sales clerk brought out four styles and I took two pair. Easy way to shop that is for sure.
We traveled home Saturday evening bringing pasalubong
(treats) for our friends at work, a tradition here. When you travel, you have to bring back edible gifts for your
co-workers and friends. We are beginning our 50th week and will be half way
done at the end of the week. Time is flying by now. We will be giving away all our clothes and
packing to leave before we know it. I
must say this had been the hardest but most rewarding thing I have ever done in
my life. I have learned so much and love
so many people here, but full-time missionary work is not just a 40 hour work
week. We often go for two or three weeks
without a day off (participation day is a myth) and there are also no weekends
or vacations. If I ever decide to do
this again, it will have to be a temple mission. Those missionaries get two
week vacations twice a year when they clean the temple. Then I could see my family!!! That is the
hardest part of this experience. The
hard work is not the difficult part believe me.
I am late sending this letter this month as I wanted to
include the Cebu travel. I love the city
of Cebu. They have westernized
buildings, American stores and restaurants,
most drivers follow most traffic rules all mixed in with the poverty so
it is masked a little. They even have Costco!!!! We will go there next time
when we can take our car and fill the back seat with Costco brand stuff.
Hope you are all well and happy. We miss our family, friends and ward so very
much and would love to hear updates from you all. The easiest way is either Facebook or email
at dansinema@aol.com if you are so inclined. You are in our hearts and
prayers.
Lots of love,
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