Week 21 - May 28
Monday - It was a day of catching up at the office. I set in motion plans for an Area Project for Fabella and Qurino Hospitals for new born kits. A few weeks ago I suggested that we have a few theme based potluck dinners for FHE. We had a very successful Mexican Bar evening that everyone seemed to enjoy. It was weird to walk into the cafeteria and have it smell like Café Ole'. Our presenter's were the Bowman’s, the Elliott’s and Sister Lola.
Wednesday - The ladies at the MRC (Medical Recovery Center) who normally take care of the singing and stories that we do at Mabuhay each week were gone so I made arrangements for some of us to go. It turned out well and I was so happy that we were able to do this for them. Aisa, Jackie Faith, and Nathalie were the only children there but the parents and care givers just love it when we come. They sing out the silly children’s song like they were preforming on Broadway. It’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever seen. I love it so much.
Thursday - We woke up to a flat tire. Poor Steve had to change it in our parking spot which is 4 floors down in the basement while I waited in our cool apartment. He was super sweaty when he finished. Willy and Mae Anne , our wonderful office helpers took us to Marikina to S&M so we could celebrate Mae Anne’s Birthday with lunch at Peri-Peri. We headed over to the Beehive Foundation for our Pathway Class on Reading Comprehension. We met a gentleman who was in from Salt Lake, he told us he was the 3rd generation in his family working for Beehive Clothing. He came to supervise and train the 21 new employee’s at Beehive. This gentleman helped create the fabric and design of the new garments. He and his crew will present at the Devotional next Tuesday.
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| Somedays the fun just never ends |
Friday - We had a meeting with the Owen’s, Sister Grimshaw, and Jairus. I continue to realize that a mission is just like real life with all it’s ebbs and flows. It was not a good day at all to say the least. It was a good day to put into practice all that we need to do when a mission, life, or any other trials come along. We then drove into Manila with Jairus to meet with Dr. Joey Baranda and other mental health advisors. They want us to continue to work in that area and they finally have a MOA for us to sign. When we got home and enjoyed our monthly mani-pedi to unwind from the day. We discovered around 10:30 that we had no power. After Steve did some investigating we learned that the power to the whole building was out. Many people had already set up camp in the lobby (thank heavens for generators) for the night and some went to check into a motel. Not us though we toughed it out, what a miserable night on the 22nd floor with no air-con and no fans.
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| Meeting in Manila with Dr, Joey Baranda and other health care providers |
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| They are getting ready to invite to come back and work with more recoveries, we will have a signed MOA soon |
Saturday - We lasted in our apartment until 6:00 a.m. and then headed into the office to cool off. We went back and forth to our apartment all day running errands trying to find places to stay cool. We took the Owen’s to Greenhill’s shopping and then had dinner at Outback with Owen's, Kaneen’s and McIver’s. We were hoping tthe power would be back on back on when we returned but no luck. We heard from McIver’s around 9:30 that they were heading to a motel. We were so happy when at 11:00 our lights came on and we were able to turn the air on. It’s the simple things that make all the difference.
Sunday - Fast Sunday. We had dinner at the Owen’s with the McIver’s. Sister Owen made turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans and dressing. We played a fun game afterward.
Week 22 - June 4
Monday - Spent the morning catching up on e-mails. Had a meeting in the conference room with the Owen’s and McIver’s to talk about Humanitarian needs. We had dinner at Friday’s and walked over to the fabric store so I could find fabric to make a skirt. If you can’t find what you are looking for you just need to make one, right??
Tuesday - Rainy DayThe raining season is here, and when they say rain they mean it. We drove into Manila to Intramuros with the McIver’s to meet with Physicians for Peace to discuss a possible eye vision project and wheelchair needs. We had a Filipino lunch afterward. We walked over to S&R for pizza for dinner. We got caught in a downpour without our umbrellas. We had to get creative walking home and were pretty successful to find a way through the mall almost to our apartment. No more going out without our umbrellas.
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| The Director of Physicians for Peace, Lynn (Filipino women are so beautiful) |
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| A Filipino lunch is not always our favorite but this one was not bad |
Wednesday - Rain. We had a MOA signing in the conference room with our Humanitarian crew. It was with Mabuhay Deseret to donate eye equipment. We always enjoy Melody, Franco, and Jimwell from Mabuhay. They are so wonderful and do such amazing work for the people of the Philippines. MaeAnne ordered in lunch from Kenny Rogers. We always like that because there is hardly anywhere to eat around our Area Office (unless of course you want to eat in the cafeteria, no thank you)
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We had some pastries from Purple Oven for our Mirianda (snack)
it usually included some kind of bread filled with mystery meats |
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| Jairus, Melody, Franco, Jimwell, McIver's, Ownen's, Sister Grimshaw and us |
Friday - Rain. Slow day in the office we had a goodbye dinner catered by 3rd floor for the Bell’s. We met their replacement Elder and Sister Robinson. They used to live in Meridian in the 3rd Ward so they were in our church building but we never knew them. They have big shoes to fill. We had dinner at the Pancake House for another goodbye to the Bell’s with about 10 missionary couples.
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| Good Bye lunch in our Conference Room |
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| We will miss the Bell's they did amazing work up in Baguio with member Welfare Projects |
Saturday - Rain. We were invited to go to Antipolo to teach Water Safety to the Busay Zion Emergency and Disaster Rescue Unit. It was a pretty nice resort and I worked with 8 Team Leaders. It poured rain most of the time, I was in the water for 3 hours until my feet started cramping and I was out of gas. These gentlemen were so cooperative, nice, and thankful. They really made some good progress. I wouldn’t mind helping again if I were asked. We drove home in the pouring rain. When it rains really hard around here the windows fog up and you can’t see unless you roll them down. It’s so crazy dodging jeepney's, motorcycles, and tricycles. I was glad to be home and chill for the rest of the rainy day. We went to dinner at Friday’s and just before they served us our salad the electricity went out. I got PTSD from the Saturday before but thankfully the lights went back on after our candlelight dinner.
Sunday - Rain. We left church early with Teri McIver to get things ready for our 3rd farewell dinner for the Bell’s. We find any excuse to spend time and to eat together.
Week 23 - June 11
Tuesday - Rain. It was Independence Day in the Philippines so we had the day off. We had our normal breakfast at Denny’s with the Tucker’s, McIver’s, Owen’s, Gabrielson, Grimshaw and Kaneen’s. We went to the Area Office and I spent a couple hours alone in the MRC sewing a skirt. I can now finally get Pandora music so I played my 70’s station and even got to hear Boise ad’s, it was really a great way to spend the afternoon. Steve worked on our projects while I was sewing. We came home and watched some Blue Bloods while I hemmed my skirts and then I topped off the day by baking some sugar cookies. I’ve found an audience in the office for my baking. It was a good day, I felt like me.
Wednesday - Day 200 Rain. We had a devotional at the MTC with Elder D. Todd Christofferson. He is in the country for about 10 days. I went with the ladies to Mabuhay and we did a Father’s Day Activity. I continue to be amazed at how much the adults like it when we come, they sing and smile and play the games. We were told we are the most consistent group that comes in to entertain.
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| Two Devotionals at the MTC in two weeks |
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| Elder Christofferson spoke on the Temple |
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| We were able to pass through and shake their hands afterward |
Thursday- Overcast. We started the day with a committee meeting. There were 18 in the meeting and we mostly discussed Member Welfare Projects. The Robinson’s, the Vermillion’s and the Hunt’s talked about their piggeries, chicken and goat raising projects. These wonderful missionaries work in remote provinces where the members of the church are extremely poor. They work to teach self-reliance and skills raising animals so they can sustain their families. Teri and I then went to Greenhill’s shopping and returned to the Area Office in time to head to Beehive Foundation for our Pathway’s class Lesson 8. We are halfway through this semester so we celebrated with a lunch from Kenny Rogers. First chance to walk in the evening in almost 2 weeks because it’s always raining.
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Our Welfare Meeting, the Vermillions were wonderful missionaries
They are being replaced by the Hunt's |
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| Our mid-semester lunch celebration with our Pathways students |
Friday - Afternoon and Evening Rain. We had another holiday today, Muslim Recognition. We went to the office so I could sew another skirt but this time the sewing machine wasn’t working so my skirt did not turn out. I really miss my sewing machine. We had dinner at Friday’s to celebrate Elder Kaneen’s birthday, there were 17 of us so we had to sit at two different tables. We know most of the workers at Friday’s because we all eat there so much and they are so nice to us.
Sunday - We went to the Owen’s for a Father’s Day Dinner with McIver’s, Tucker’s, Grimshaw’s, and Kaneen’s. We had a good pot luck with BBQ chicken, rolls, salad, stir-fry, baked potato and chocolate cake. All the Elder’s got aprons for a Father’s Day Gift.
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| Randy Grimshaw, Kent Tucker, Steve,Chuck Owen, Karl Kaneen, Gary McIver |
Week 24 - June 18
Monday - Went to the Women’s Bazaar that is held at Mall of Asia once a month. I spent the afternoon in the office and then we went to Steveston’s in Corinthian Gardens for pizza with Kaneen’s and Grimshaw’s. It is always so nice to have dinner over there because it is so beautifully landscaped, there are no parks anywhere to enjoy a walk with foliage or anything that resembles home.
**Wednesday - Afternoon Rain. We woke up at 3:30 in the morning and headed for the airport at 4:30 with McIver’s and Tucker’s. We flew to Cauayan where our driver Ryan picked us up and drove us 4 hours up a very windy road to Banaue. We toured some of the rice fields and then went back to settle in at the Banaue Hotel where we were staying. We were greeted immediately by a large cockroach in the bathroom (and can I just say we saw many more). We took a walk along a path and stopped at a sari -sari store. As we were looking around Teri McIver kept walking (she loves to explore and she takes the best pictures). I began to follow her and then Karen followed me. We started walking down these stairs to what appeared to be a very remote village. About 3/4 of the way down this young woman came up to greet us. Her name was Shirley and she invited us to come down so she could show us around. When we got to the bottom she took us over to this hut where two women came out and started taking to us. They were so excited to show us great, great, grandpa. One of them walked into the hut and brought out a bundle wrapped in several layers of blankets. You could hear the bones rattling around in the bag. When she was finished unwrapping she put the bag on the ground and sure enough there he was! Skull, arms and leg bones, vertebrae, and ribs. She started picking up the ribs and organizing them like pick up sticks. They were telling us all about how when an ancestor dies they put them in a coffin for three years then go back and dig the bones up and preserve them. They take them out and clean them often and make sure no roaches or bugs get in to eat the bones. I was just staring at all this and pretty soon I started to giggle. I turned around to look at Karen and then I just couldn’t help it and I really started laughing. It was no laughing matter these women were very serious and proud of their grandpa and very eager to show him off. In the end Shirley took us further down to see the rice. We paid them both generously for their time and walked back out. It truly was such a great experience. We ate dinner in the hotel and played cards before turning in.
**Thursday - Afternoon Rain. We ate breakfast in the hotel lobby where rice, mystery meats, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, fruits, and other strange items were on the buffet table for us. The same table that the night before I saw a million ants crawling all over, I thought the table was going to move because there were so many of them. Don’t worry the waitress stands over the food with a fan to swat the nat’s away. Oh dear.. Our driver then drove us up a very windy steep road until we got to Batad. We hired an 18 year old guide to take us on a hike to the water falls. We saw a t-shirt that read “I survived Batad”, we had no idea at the time what that meant. The hike down was long, steep, slippery, and beyond beautiful among the rice terraces. We felt like we were in Jurassic Park. There were many sari-sari stores along the way thank heaven because we needed to hydrate a lot. We saw an elementary school along the way and many other fascinating things. Beautiful gardens and plants, people washing clothes and making road mix and other items to sale. The water falls were beautiful but we knew what goes down must come up. It was a hard walk out, Teri got sick and Kent Tucker’s legs cramped up very badly. We were not sure how we would make it out but we did and just in time, on the way home it started pouring rain. It would have been almost impossible to hike out in the rain. Everyone was so sweaty and exhausted when we got back to the hotel we just ate and turned in early. It truly was two days never to be forgotten.
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| The villages along the way |
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| Batad Elementary School |
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| We felt like we were in Jurasic Park |
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| One of the sari-sari stores we stopped at |
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| The elementary school children |
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Our guide Heidi was 18 years old
She skipped down and up this trail like it was nothing |
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| This was the view on all four sides |
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Just a sample of the many, many steps we climbed down to get to the falls
Very few hand rails, we relied a lot on our walking sticks |
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| Proof that we made it with our guide Heidi |
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| The Batad Waterfall |
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| Rice that is drying |
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| One of our many breaks hiking out of the canyon |
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We love Gary McIver, he is the best sport and has a great sense of humor
He bought a t-shirt at a sari-sari store along to way
It has multiple uses, it keeps the sweat from rolling into your eyes,
it keeps the sun off your face and neck,
and it's super attractive!! |
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Victory!! We made it back alive
We can proudly wear out T-Shirts
"We Survived Batad" |
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The Jeepney's going up and down this windy road carried many travelers on top
Only in the Philippines |
Friday - Evening Rain. We headed back down the long and windy road. It was great this time as our driver played 70”s music all the way down. He was so delightful, his name is Ryan and he had the best Filipino smile you’ve ever seen. We treated him very well so on the way home he stopped to buy a coconut pie for his family. An unexpected treat I am sure. We flew home and arrived to the airport at 3:00 but by the time we stopped to shop at S&R we didn’t get home until 7:00. The traffic on a Friday evening is so bad.
Saturday - We needed to recover from our trip so we spent a quiet day in our apartment. We watched for a second time "The Great Raid" which is based on the book "Ghost "Soldiers" that we are reading for our first Book Club Book. It is the story of a rescue of some of the Bataan Death March survivors. We went to dinner at Outback with the Gabrielson's (from Caldwell), they are the Self-Reliance missionaries, we wanted to know more about their work. The Self-Reliance program in the church is really helping a lot of people in the Philippines.
Sunday - Worked on getting this blog out. Enjoy...
