Cebu

May 2013

We have spent the weekend in Cebu. I really love Cebu.  It has all the beauty of the provences, yet all the conveniences of the big city.  I also love the Ayala Mall, located directly across the street from the Employment Resource Center where we are able to work while we are here. Then we are able to work and have really good food for lunch and dinner.  There is Sbarro's Pizza, TGI Fridays, Krispy Creme, Italian ice, a great Thia restaurant and some other we have not tried yet. The best of both worlds. 

Today we went to church at the temple complex.  There are four wards meeting in that building so we chose to go to the nine o'clock meeting.  Funny that is the time all the temple missionary couples attend also.  So there were five American couples and us there.  We have not attended church with American couples for a year so that was different.  I noticed that the American men essentially over took the Sunday School class and Dan said they did the same in priesthood.  I was sad, because the local members are so wonderful and humble and I love being taught by them.  At least in Relief Society the Sisters were wise enough to listen quietly. One of the couples the Browns just arrived yesterday from Salt Lake City. They were telling us about how amazed they were to arrive at their apartment there at the temple.  They said it is like being in the temple itself with its beauty.  They have drinkable water in their apartment and American washer and dryers for their clothes.  They are only here to serve for a year.  They also get two week vacation during the temple cleaning shut down.  I can do that family it would be just like when I was teaching and could only come to visit twice a year, so... just saying...Bless my heart...I might have to do this mission thing again if I get bored, but only a year!!!

Saturday we drove three hours to Bogo to train Sister Nolasco.  She has been waiting for training for a whole year.  She is the wife of the district president and they have four children.  Their children are 6, 4, 3 and 6 mo.  They had had another child who died who would have been 2.  She is amazing!  I just love her and her little family.  We took color books, crayons and cookies for the children so they would be entertained while we worked, they were so wonderful.  Other than the driving it was a special, wonderful day. 

Friday we attended the temple here again.  Since we were the first people there (Sinema curse or blessing) we were once again asked to be the witness couple, which includes being in the prayer circle.  I just was amazed that once again the concerns I have been struggling in were included in the prayer.  How does a total stranger (the brother leading the prayer) know I am worried about my family.  He asked that our families feel the love and comfort of our Father in Heaven through our service in the Philippines.  I felt that the prayer was once again just for me.  I love attending the temple.  What a blessing it is for us to have the Cebu Mission added to our responsibility so that we can come here and attend the temple.

Next month we will be in Bacolod, Cebu, and Iloilo for training and I have to say I love the traveling.  It makes the time go so much faster and I love the opportunity to attend the temple once a month. I am a better person when I can meditate and reflect during my temple visit.  In our two visits here we have already identified prospective church service missionaries with the Stake leaders and have trained one specialist.  Our goal is to train a church service missionary couple for each stake and district in the Cebu Mission before our mission is complete in April.  We have a lot to do with only 11 months to do it in.  Please pray for us that we will be able to complete that responsibility before our release in April.  Time is flying by and before we know it we will be on the airplane heading home.  I am so thankful for the love and support of our children and grandchildren.  They are the most wonderful people in the whole world, How did I get so lucky to have them all. 

Cebu trip 2

May 2013

We have spent the weekend in Cebu. I really love Cebu.  It has all the beauty of the provences, yet all the conveniences of the big city.  I also love the Ayala Mall, located directly across the street from the Employment Resource Center where we are able to work while we are here. Then we are able to work and have really good food for lunch and dinner.  There is Sbarro's Pizza, TGI Fridays, Krispy Creme, Italian ice, a great Thia restaurant and some other we have not tried yet. The best of both worlds. 

Today we went to church at the temple complex.  There are four wards meeting in that building so we chose to go to the nine o'clock meeting.  Funny that is the time all the temple missionary couples attend also.  So there were five American couples and us there.  We have not attended church with American couples for a year so that was different.  I noticed that the American men essentially over took the Sunday School class and Dan said they did the same in priesthood.  I was sad, because the local members are so wonderful and humble and I love being taught by them.  At least in Relief Society the Sisters were wise enough to listen quietly. One of the couples the Browns just arrived yesterday from Salt Lake City. They were telling us about how amazed they were to arrive at their apartment there at the temple.  They said it is like being in the temple itself with its beauty.  They have drinkable water in their apartment and American washer and dryers for their clothes.  They are only here to serve for a year.  They also get two week vacation during the temple cleaning shut down.  I can do that family it would be just like when I was teaching and could only come to visit twice a year, so... just saying...Bless my heart...I might have to do this mission thing again if I get bored, but only a year!!!

Saturday we drove three hours to Bogo to train Sister Nolasco.  She has been waiting for training for a whole year.  She is the wife of the district president and they have four children.  Their children are 6, 4, 3 and 6 mo.  They had had another child who died who would have been 2.  She is amazing!  I just love her and her little family.  We took color books, crayons and cookies for the children so they would be entertained while we worked, they were so wonderful.  Other than the driving it was a special, wonderful day. 

Friday we attended the temple here again.  Since we were the first people there (Sinema curse or blessing) we were once again asked to be the witness couple, which includes being in the prayer circle.  I just was amazed that once again the concerns I have been struggling in were included in the prayer.  How does a total stranger (the brother leading the prayer) know I am worried about my family.  He asked that our families feel the love and comfort of our Father in Heaven through our service in the Philippines.  I felt that the prayer was once again just for me.  I love attending the temple.  What a blessing it is for us to have the Cebu Mission added to our responsibility so that we can come here and attend the temple.

Next month we will be in Bacolod, Cebu, and Iloilo for training and I have to say I love the traveling.  It makes the time go so much faster and I love the opportunity to attend the temple once a month. I am a better person when I can meditate and reflect during my temple visit.  In our two visits here we have already identified prospective church service missionaries with the Stake leaders and have trained one specialist.  Our goal is to train a church service missionary couple for each stake and district in the Cebu Mission before our mission is complete in April.  We have a lot to do with only 11 months to do it in.  Please pray for us that we will be able to complete that responsibility before our release in April.  Time is flying by and before we know it we will be on the airplane heading home.  I am so thankful for the love and support of our children and grandchildren.  They are the most wonderful people in the whole world, How did I get so lucky to have them all. 

afternoon monsoon

The weather has changed!! There have been afternoon thunder storms every day for a week.  We have been very lucky to have been home before the rain starts.  We are still in summer officially and not the rainy season, but that has not made a difference.  By about 4:00 pm the rain and thunder starts and then starts and stops most of the evening.  It is actually nice to go to bed with the rain falling, even though I do not like rain, I have seemed to sleep better the last few nights when I fall asleep to the rain falling.  Rainy season is not officially to start until June, so we will see how that goes.  We have felt very blessed to have a fairly dry year so far as neither of us like getting wet and being out in the rain. 

Today we drove to Binalbagan to teach the last session of Planning for Success.  The drive is two hours and on a two lane undivided road full of traffic including cars, trucks, buses, tricycles, people and animals.  It is probably only 50 miles but with all the traffic it takes two hours.  We were able to complete the application for one young woman and set up the other two to start.  They had forgotten their user names and passwords, so we had to request new ones from lds.org.

Sunday was Mother's Day and the Primary children sang a beautiful hymn, "Where Love Is" and then gave all the mothers yellow roses.  The really neat part was the bishops son just broke away from the group and ran straight for me to give me the flower and a big hug and kiss while wishing me a Happy Mother's Day.  I was so pleased.  Even though I am so far from my family I was thought of an recognized.  What a sweet gesture from a young boy who is normally so shy.  I was very thankful to be able to attend our resident ward where I at least know many people. 

We were supposed to travel to Cebu to do some more training but were told to not travel during the election, so we will leave this Thursday instead.  There is a tendency to have violent outburst during the election and the mission dept. prefers we be safe. So we did not travel. I really am excited to go to the big city where the hotel has real air conditioning and there are American restaurants.  There are also many tourists so we are not the only foreigners.  Not that that has ever bothered me. 

It is very hard to be here right now and there are several struggles at home with our family, but I know the Lord will watch over everyone and that the family will watch out for each other.  I am so thankful for children that support one another and are loving and caring.  I pray for them everyday.

 

Cebu

 

 

This week we are in Cebu City (an additional assignment from the Area President). It is a large metropolitan city. It has a very large shopping mall, even larger than any we have in Tucson. There is still much poverty within the city, but we are staying in a very westernized modern hotel and from the inside we can hardly tell we are still in the Philippines. We have met many of the leaders here and will meet several more before we travel back to Bacolod Saturday afternoon. We were so blessed to attend the temple this morning and I had one of the most spiritual experiences of my life there. It was actually a combination of experiences which left me in spiritual tears sitting in the celestial room after the session.

 

We arrived at the temple complex about 8:00am for the 9:00 am session. We discovered that here in Cebu temple it is often difficult to find married couples to be the witness couple so we were asked to serve in that position. While waiting for the session we were alone in the ordinance room for quite a long time allowing me to spend quite awhile visiting with my Heavenly Father regarding some concerns and desires for those we love, both at home and here in the Philippines. There was such a sweet spirit in the room.

 

When it came time for the prayer circle there were only three couples including Dan and myself, and all most every sister wanted to volunteer to be in the circle.  I cannot describe how it felt to be in the circle during the request for blessings for the missionaries, "including the lovely couple within our circle".  I have never felt so humbled and blessed as I felt to be standing there with tears in my tears. It is incredible to feel so much love and admiration as we do here as missionaries.  If only they knew in the U.S. we are second class members because we are "divorced" and "no failure can compensate for failure in the home". 

 

On a side note, when we first arrived at the temple complex we were so impressed with the complex.  Within the property is the stake center, the temple, the temple president's home, the mission president's home and a very large building which houses a patron guest sleeping rooms, the apartments of the temple missionaries, and the mission offices, the laundry and cafeteria.  For a small moment once you enter the grounds you feel like you are in the United States on the temple grounds.  There is not poverty, trash, traffic, and worldly influences.  I was almost jealous of those temple missionaries who live and work there on the temple grounds and never have to leave there except to go to the grocery store, and if they eat in the cafeteria they would not even have to do that.  That is the next mission, if I can get enough courage to go again and leave my family.  This has been the most difficult, yet most rewarding experience of my life.  I marvel at the couples who can barely walk yet are here serving in this difficult country.