Week 8 - February 26
Monday -Started the day with an earthquake drill. FHE.
Thursday- We traveled to Iloilo for the third time to attend the graduation ceremony of some 20 participants in our ARP Program. We arrived early and took advantage of some extra time so we took our first Jeepney Ride through the city and spent some time exploring the market an viewing the old buildings. I loved it and there was great 70’s music playing so I could sing
along.
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| Most Jeepneys have a name on them, this one is Christine |
It was such a great opportunity to be invited to attend the Graduation of these brave
participants. It was organized by the service missionaries who serve in Iloilo. Brother and Sister Sollesta are passionate and contribute so much to the ARP program in this area. We were greeted by many of the group leaders from the area, local police (who happen to be members of the church), a radio owner (Elvir), and the Bishop.
The meeting included several speakers. They speak Hiligaynon so we don’t understand much.
Three of the participants spoke of their gratitude for the help and the program. One gentleman who kept his comments brief said that he had never heard of God or Jesus Christ, but now he
prays every night. It was amazing. The Bishop got up and surprised everyone by opening up about his own story about drugs, prison, and crime. Again we couldn’t understand but there was such a strong spirit in the room and we later learned that nobody (including his wife) knew of his past. At one point he was involved in a robbery and almost lost his life. He begged not
to be killed as it would be so painful for his father, he was spared. He has since dedicated his
life to the church and service. His wife was so sweet and wanted desperately to have her picture taken with us. Then when her children came into the room she wanted our picture taken with her whole family. She practically begged us to stay for church on Sunday so she could get a picture with us at church. It’s like she wanted to brag to her friends that she knew us. We have not done one thing for her, the people of the Philippines are so kind. They are so grateful
simply by our presence.
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| Receiving his certificate |
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| Redheaded Missionary, pretty unique |
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| This Elder from Utah was our interpreter. |
We loved it when the full time Elder’s showed up. After the meeting they were taking down the names of many of the participants who wanted to know more about the church and the feelings they were experiencing. It was “Magical”. (100% of those we work with are not members of our church)
We were then taken to a lovely dinner with some new Filipino foods to try. We got to meet the Sollesta’s son Lester, daughter-in-law and granddaughter. What wonderful people and so interesting to visit with. It was such a great day.
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| Lots of new few choices |
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| Doing the best I can |
We stayed at the Del Rio and were able to enjoy the running and walking path. I miss running
and walking so much. It was so great to be out among my fellow runners. So many Filipinos running by and saying “Good Morning” with their beautiful smiles.
Friday - We returned from Iloilo and enjoyed the evening with a mani-pedi. We then went to get an ice-cream cone. We ran into 5 other couples as we were walking through Eastwood.
The social life here is so good.
Saturday - We took a trip to S&R and we got pulled over again. We drove into Manila to do some training with Stake Leaders and Bishops to encourage them to recruit the Group Leaders we will need to get the ARP program going in that area. After looking all over for the church
we knew we had arrived when we saw the basketball hoop. Mormons Church’s are notorious
for the basketball courts in the parking lots. They served up Shakey's pizza.
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Our new friend Kimber, she works in the Area Office and serves as
Stake Relief Society President.
She also has a beautiful voice and sing in the choir |
Week 9 - March 5
Monday - 100 Days We put together contact information for all the places we need to go to so
that we can get ARP up and running. We are hoping to offer it to our members soon. Day 100 of our mission.
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| Jairus presenting our projects to Steve Peterson |
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| Mango Brava |
Tuesday - We had a recovery meeting in Manila and taught our participants “The Serenity Prayer”. They all seemed so excited about that. They have no clue about prayer. We had another great moment as a gentleman in a leadership position in the church in Manila showed up to the meeting. Soon he was telling his story about his troubled youth and then he found the church and it changed his life. These are just brave people to share their stories with people who need to know that change is possible.
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| Step 2 - Hope |
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| Empty chairs soon to fill up |
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| Kate (a social worker), the Soleta's our wonderful Service Missionaries, me and Sister Bowsing |
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| Our class |
Wednesday - We went into Pasay with Jairus to pick up some documents. We had lunch at Conti's and had our first Mango Brava..
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| Our parking spot at Conti's |
Thursday - We had lunch in the conference room, 3rd Floor catering, with Area Leaders and Steve Peterson from SLC. We took off to go teach Pathways on Thursday afternoon and took a wrong turn. While following Waze we went to enter a bridge and got pulled over again. Apparently you can’t cross the Legaspi Bridge on Thursday's if your license plate ends in a 5 ( who knew?) Steve again refused to give the officer his Driver’s License (sometimes you don’t get them back) but this time the officer just kept asking. As we were calling security and having no luck the officer came over to my side of the car to talk to me. I was trying to explain that we had no idea we couldn’t drive on the bridge and that we are American’s in the Philippines helping those in need. I told him we were going to Deseret Foundations to teach English but he couldn’t understand me. All the sudden these two gentlemen walked over out of nowhere. One of them said “Hello Sister” to me and proceeded to visit with the Pulis (police). I knew they were trying to help us. Soon the officer motioned for us to go. I asked the gentlemen how they knew we were there. He said “I saw your name badges”. We were in a small sedan with tinted windows and they noticed that? It was such a perfect example of "First Observe and then Serve". These young men had the wherewithal to look around, spot a missionary couple in trouble and then respond. Such
a tender mercy.
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| Steve explaining to the officer that he need to call Church Security |
When we finally got to the Beehive Foundation the Pathway students were so glad to see us and
so kind. I made them treats and was so happy they turned out. One lady asked me for the
recipe. I was so embarrassed, I used a mix for both the brownies and the cookies. Trying to figure out the oven, flours and sugars hasn't been easy. Now that I have an audience for my baking I’ll be able to practice and improve.
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| Pathways Class |
Friday - We met in Makati with Steve Peterson and our leaders from the APO to go over our Welfare Projects. We had 3rd Floor catering for lunch.We then went shopping at Greenhills. While we were in Kenny Rodgers getting something to drink there were about 4 employees fascinated with our name tags and wanted to know who we were and what we did. After giving them an explanation one of the young man said “I want to go on a mission someday”. We need to carry Pass-a-long cards. In our assignment in Humanitarian/Family Services we are not allowed to proselyte, but as shoppers we can. We had dinner by invitation of the Ido's (DTA Director of Temporal Affairs), another lovely 3rd Floor Catering Dinner. Steve got sick.
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| Jairus reporting on our projects |
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| Jairus, Daniel (Our DTA) and Kenneth |
Saturday - A quiet day in the apartment getting caught up, went to the movie Toomrader with Stroud's, McIver's, and VW's, Steve stayed home sick.
Sunday - We had dinner at the MRC with the Elliott's. I made a cherry pie and it turned out really good.
Week 10 - March 12
Monday - FHE The Haynie's presented their power point on the history of the church in the Philippines.
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| Elder Allen Haynie |
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| Telling us about the history of the church in the Philippines |
Tuesdays - Went to Devotional, I love the choir and the choir director. They bring such a great feeling into the room with their voices and smiles. Every Tuesday we drive to Manila for the ARP group we have going there. We are joined by social workers and Dr’s in the community. A random drug test proved to be a bit frustrating for most of our participants, but a few passed and seem eager to recover. We had a new gentleman join us who asked for our help finding his father who is believed to be deceased. It’s amazing how strong family ties are. We will see what we can do to help.
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| The choir |
Wednesday - Mabuhay for the third time. We went to the Mission home and had dinner with all the missionaries in Quezon City. The Mission President and his wife are Mike and Mary Coster, they do a wonderful job.
Waiting to sing with us
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| They love to play the ukelele |
Early Friday morning we flew to the Island of Negros into Bacolod City. It is the second top sugar producing city in the Philippines. We met up with the Zorn’s from Cebu and went to meet with some church leaders to discuss getting some ARP leaders trained so we can provide our program in Bacolod. It is always such a good feeling to drive into a church parking lot. They are mostly located off busy streets where you would never expect to see them. You immediately notice the nicely manicured landscape. Sister Zorn told us that many community
members will step onto the church basketball courts or inside the church because they love the way it feels.
We then went to have lunch and spend the afternoon with Dr. Sarabia and his staff. We had a wonderful lunch of roasted chicken, rice, and vegetables. Dr. Sarabia sat across the table from us and immediately started talking about his work. LDS Charities has partnered with him for about 3 years providing much needed eye equipment so he can carry out his charity work. He spent a lot of time explaining the challenges he deals with from PhilHealth and other obstacles and how he overcomes them. He has an enormous love and desire to help the poor and needy and to restore eye sight to those with cataracts and other eye problems. We then took a van to the far north end of the island to visit a new medical facility. Dr. Sarabia wanted us to go in his van so he could be our tour guide and tell us all about the area. It was fascinating to see the sugar cane fields with workers cutting down the sugar canes and loading them onto a trailer pulled by a caribou. We saw a ton of huge trucks carrying the canes to the factory to be processed.
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| Dr. Sarabia's Clinic |
Dr. Sarabia is Catholic but mostly he is very spiritual. He said for Christmas this year he and his wife spent two days listening to The Mormon Tabernacle Choir because they loved the way it made them feel. He has great respect for members of the church.
We met several of the boards members of the medical facility they are building right next to a beautiful resorts (its a coastal town). We met the doctor who had the idea to build this health facility which will soon be a hospital. A very kind 87 year old surgeon who has spent his life work developing different types of equipment and prosthetic devices for orthopedic needs. They are all so appreciative of LDS charities and the donations enabling them to continue their good work. Dr. Sarabia was so excited to see this facility and know that with two operating rooms and the donated equipment from LDS Charities they can help twice the amount of patients.
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| Dr. Gustillo and his staff |
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| Equipment donated by LDS Charities |
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| The resort |
We were then treated to a nicely set table with some food. They were so excited to share the
area’s delicacy which was a coconut or cheese bread pudding, and some noodles. I continue to be amazed at the way we are treated by grateful people trying to help others, it’s so inspiring and motivating. The director of the health facility project sat across from us. He told us that the youth of the church from all over the island come to this resort in April and May for team
building and youth conferences, probably similar to EFY. He has such respect for the way the youth conduct themselves and the organization of the leaders in our church.
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| Some rice treat |
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| Nothing ventured, nothing gained |
On the way home Dr. Sarabia had our driver pull into the sugar plant. It is a whole city because the workers of the plant live there with their families (similar to a mititary base). It had beautiful foilage that we drove through. The children were walking home from school, they are so fun to watch and listen to. As a group of girls walked past one girl said “Sester Browne and then they all started giggling”. I think they like to practice their English.
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| Sugar Cane Factory |
When we arrived back in Bacolod, Dr. Sarabia had his driver take us through some neighborhoods to see some of the oldest buildings and hospitals. We drove up to one house
turned into a museum and as we got out of the van we noticed some workers sitting out visiting on the porch. One woman noticed us and quickly walked up to us so excited to see our name tags. She wanted us to know she was a member of the church and so were most of the other
workers. Members of the church get so excited to see missionaries.
Dr. Sarabia was needed at home for his daughter’s party so we got to see his lovely home in a really nice gated community. He had his driver take us safely back to our motel and made sure he pulled into a small desert shop to buy us a really good ice-cream, graham cracker, fruit filled treat. It was probably the best day yet here in the Philippines. So nice to be out in beautiful coastal country with professionals dedicating their life and skills to help their own people.
Saturday - We attended an eye screening for retired school teachers and did some shopping in
Bacolod.
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Waiting for the Service Missionaries to show up
One minute they are playing basketball the next a
net goes up and they are playing volleyball (with the same ball) |
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| Walking to the church |
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This woman felt sorry for us so she walked us to the church
(in her pajamas) |
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| Cute Baby! |
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| Eye screening for retired school teachers |
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| Dr. Sarabia |
Week 11 -March 19
Monday -We left early in the morning with the Strouds to travel for 3 hours to deliver 350 slippers (flip-flops) to children in a remote area where they attend elementary school. They put on a program for us that was so cute. Afterwards the faculty treated us to a lunch with organic vegetables and rice they had grown. They were so happy and proud to share with us.
What an adventure you are having! You are truly making a difference in the lives of so many. They seem so grateful to have you there.
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