Week 25-June 25
Monday - We spent the day in the office catching up on e-mails. We had a meeting about some literacy projects in the Philippines with Kenneth, Owen’s, McIver’s, and S. Grimshaw. We had a 4th of July picnic/bbq theme for Family Home Evening. We had sloppy joes, pulled chicken and pork on really nice slider buns, potato salad, deviled eggs, macaroni salad, raw vegetables, watermelon, and fruit. For treats we had cakes, a red white and blue truffle cake and pies. Kathy Skinner decorated the room in red white and blue tissue sparklers and flames. The McOmber’s and S. Lola presented, their topic was on the importance of music. Everyone enjoyed the evening and said goodbye to the Bowen’s.
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Teri McIver's Flag Cake (it was so good)
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It was so good to see the room decorated in red, white, and blue
The paper sparklers were aweseome (thanks Kathy)
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Tuesday - We left for the office at 7:30 with the McIver’s and met with the VW’s and headed up to Baguio. We arrived around 1:00 at the John Hay Lodge, it is a beautiful lodge that reminded me of the Sun Valley Lodge. Baguio is like the McCall of the Philippines. It is cooler up there and filled with pine trees. We had a nice lunch in the lodge and then went shopping at Narda’s a shop that also reminded me of a Sun Valley Gift Shop. We have a nice dinner at Mario’s with Tucker’s, McIver’s, Stinchfield’s, VW’s, and Connell’s. We all had on sweaters or sweatshirts, first cool evening in about 6 months.
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| The John Hay Lodge |
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| Beautiful landscaping |
Wednesday - Is was so nice to wake up in such a beautiful lodge and walk around the courtyard in the cool air. We drove to a park and enjoyed a massage in the park while everyone else rented a boat and rode around the lake. We went to Easter Weaver and got to watch them weave their famous cloths. We then went to go on a zip line in the beautiful forest of Baguio. There was a huge water break in between the second and first floor near our room. Our room got a bit flooded and all the water in the hotel was shut off for a few hours. We then had dinner at Vicky’s, we walked into the most beautiful home. Windows on all three sides with vaulted ceilings. We sat in a huge living room with big couches. The backyard was beautiful but we couldn’t see much of it because it was rainy and foggy. We started with appetizers and then sat down at a huge dining room table for an 8 course meal. Vicky came out with each course and explained each dish. It took 3 hours to eat and it was very delicious and quite an experience. There was a huge thunderstorm during most of the evening with lightning flashing all around us, it was really cool.
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| I question whether this scaffolding would pass OSHA standards? |
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| The woven fabrics are so beautiful and fascinating |
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Zip lining with McIver's and Tuckers
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| Me, Karen Tucker, Teri McIver |
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| Steve, Kent Tucker, Gary McIver |
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| The beauty of Baguio |
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The living room and dining area
Surrounded on three sides by windows
The lightning show while we were eating was so beautiful
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(the picture isn't very clear because it was rainy and stormy)
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Just a sample of our 8 course meal
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This is Vicky who provided this amazing dinner for us.
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Thursday - We got up and checked out the Girl Scout Lodge where we will be having our retreat in November with all the Service Missionaries in the Philippines. There will be 87 of us. It is a nice facility and I was relieved to know that there are 7 rooms for 2 people, pick me for one of those please... We drove home down the long and windy road and took a detour to Urdaneta and drove to the site where the temple will be. There is a semi-circle of some very interesting trees on the property. You could feel that it is a special location and will be greatly used by the people in that area. When we got back to Manila as we anticipated the traffic was crazy so we didn’t get home until 7:00.
We stopped at the mission home to visit with the
Mission president and his wife
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| Here it is, the site is perfect with a grove of trees surrounding it. |
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The church is making many improvements to the area for the Temple,
including finding a way to drain this swamp.
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Friday - It was only the 4th day we have been in the office in two weeks so time to catch up on e-mails. We had a meeting with the Robinson’s, McIver’s, Owen’s, Kenneth, Willy, and MaeAnne to approve Benson Scholarships. We had dinner at Friday’s, a dilly bar from Dairy Queen, and our monthly mani-pedi to round out our Friday evening.
Saturday - Started the day with a 4 mile run around Eastwood and spent the morning talking to family and friends at home. Spent the afternoon watching Martha Stewart, someday I’ll be home and have a nice kitchen to work in and will need some baking skills right ???
Sunday - Quiet day, made two chicken pot pies for Book Club. Watched lots of TV, what can I say some days have more purpose than others.....
Week 26 - July 2
Monday - I was successful at making a batch of no-bake cookies and they were eaten quickly. I am missing baking for my swimmers. We had our first Book Club Meeting. We read the book “Ghost Soldiers” a book about the rescue of some 500 forgotten soldiers from the Bataan Death March. Kathy Skinner was our presenter and she did an amazing job of talking about the author and all his research and then showed a few You-Tube clips from actual soldiers who survived the POW camps. 12 women showed up, we ate the chicken pot pies I made, had a great cheese ball and crackers, fruit, and really good bread. We had a really good discussion about the Bataan Death march, some of the ladies had relatives who were in the march. My take away was that even though it’s difficult to read what these men endured it is important to study history. “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it”.
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Book Club was held at the MRC living room area
(Thanks Elliott's for letting us gather there)
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We read Ghost Soldiers which was hard to read about
"Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
Best Book Club discussion I've ever been to.
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Tuesday - We left at 7:30 in the morning to travel to Muntinlupa with the McIver’s and Sister Grimshaw. The Mendoza’s are a wonderful service missionary couple who have many ties to community leaders. They invited us to come down so we could talk with the Mayor about some ways that LDS Charities could help in their area. When we walked into the municipal building Grace came up and introduced herself to us and told us her ex-boyfriend was parking the car. At first I thought that was a bit strange and then she flashed us one of those beautiful Filipino smiles and added “my exboyfriend is my husband (aren’t they all). After waiting in the building for an hour it was determined that the Mayor would not have time for us. Grace and Rodel are very connected so she made some phone calls and we drove to Paronaque to met with the OIC (officer in charge). We walked into his office and visited with some ideas of ways we could help and he was very receptive and anxious to have us help. He then took us in to get our picture taken with the Mayor. The room was quite crowded but they all parted like the “Red Sea” when we walked in. The were escorted straight to the front of the room to get our pictures taken while about 4 or 5 men with cameras were taking many pictures. Yet another example of feeing like a celebrity, it’s quite a deal. After that we went to get something to eat. Really the only place to eat in these towns is McDonald’s. We found one but as usual there was no parking. Right by McDonald’s there was a parking structure. Steve drove the van over there to see if we could park. The gentlemen were talking to Grace and telling her that we were no allowed to park there. She told them “we just came from the mayor and she holds up here phone to show him the picture”. He motions for us to come in and park for free. Only in the Philippines.
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| Don't they know Steve can drop that van in on a dime? |
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| The Paranaque City Hall |
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Meeting with the city administrator to offer help
from LDS Charities for their community.
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Wednesday - It was meeting day. We had a 9:00 meeting to visit about a couple upcoming Saturday Conferences where 6 stakes will be invited to each so we can teach the members about Self-Reliance, Addiction Recovery, and the Welfare Program.We had an afternoon meeting with our favorite service missionaries the Soleta’s and Sister Bausing about finding ways to move the ARP program forward. It’s going very slowly here in the Philippines. There were Fireworks going off for the 4th in Eastwood but we mostly just heard them. There are so many tall buildings that you can’t see unless you are down in the mall. We figured they would be over by the time we got down there. I’m not sure why they shot of fireworks but many Filipino’s wished us a happy 4th of July.
Thursday - We left for Intramuros with S. Grimshaw, the commute into Manila is always a wild ride but I’m getting use to it. We met with the gentleman who organized our Senior Outing Tour there in June. His name is John Hoc and he runs a school for underprivileged children. He has been running this school for 15 years. It started with a one week Bible Study but after that week was over the children wanted to come back so he has been providing and education for them ever since. We brain stormed about some ways that LDS Charities could help them out. Stay tuned, we are hopeful for a project there. We went to Lesson 11 for Pathways. Our wonderful students are going to help us make 2,400 infant hats for the infant kits we are working on. They are so happy to be able to help. I love that I can walk into the Beehive Factory and know many of the workers and they are always so happy to see us.
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| The children in class at the Kiddie Joy School |
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Jon Hoc and his helper Natalie, we are discussing ways
LDS Charities could help him with his work.
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These computers were donated by LDS Charities a year ago.
(Dave and Kristin Stroud headed up this project)
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| Dedicated college students studying. |
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The Joy Christian Fellowship at the school in Intramuros
It is on the other side of the elementary school, college students
come there to study where it is quiet.
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Friday - Very slow day at the office. We have a lot to do but getting our projects going is very slow and we are waiting to hear back from about 4 of our projects before we can go forward. (I hope it doesn’t all break loose at once). We spent a quiet afternoon in the apartment working on organizing our Google Photo’s. We had dinner at Denny’s and introduced the Grimshaw’s to “Moons over MyHammy”, our favorite sandwich in the Philippines.
Saturday - We started our morning with a run, walk, and some yoga. We called Morgan to wish her a Happy Birthday. She showed us all her birthday treasures and was looking forward to a bike ride on the Greenbelt with here friends. Kimberlee and Steve made Grandma Browne’s homemade raspberry ice-cream (we missed out). We picked up S. Grimshaw and headed to S&R for a grocery stock up trip. On the way home we hit Lander’s (both stores similar to Costco) and got a veggie pizza and the only decent hot dog you can get over here. After a quiet afternoon in our apartment we met our friends at Outback for a 4th of July celebration. We walked home in a downpour and watched the fireworks. They shoot them off the roof of one of the high rises. Very cool.
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4th of July banner at the foot of our aparment
It made me smile |
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| Fireworks in Eastwood |
Sunday - Fast Sunday, it was a special meeting as President Haynie blessed the sacrament. It’s not everyday you get a general authority blessing the sacrament. We spent the afternoon in our very small kitchen trying to make dinner and some food for lunches. We are getting tired of all the food in Eastwood and near the Area Office so we are trying to plan ahead. A chicken salad and cabbage salad feels like home.
Week 27 - July 9
Monday - We drove to Quirino Hospital to pick up a Kanga Tube that the hospital has requested we make for infant care. The skin to skin contact is so helpful especially since they don’t have many incubators. We also discussed with Kenneth a way to get local Stake and Ward members involved in making the Kanga Tubes so they can be a part of the project. FHE was presented by the Kaneen’s and Gabrielsen’s, we all sent in our baby photo’s and had to guess who was who, that was hard (everyone guessed Steve’s, not many people guessed mine. Really people how many women in this room do you think could do the splits when they were 5?)
Tuesday - I went to the Women’s Bazaar at Mall of Asia. I found some skirts and a dress, the clothes are so cheap and no doubt I’m getting sick of the ones I have. I arranged to have an office lunch. Since the Soleta’s brought me some pinto beans from the U.S. and since they were going to be there at noon I made a pot of re-fried beans and spanish rice, S. Grimshaw brought in beefed up salsa and chips, and S. Owen brought banana bread. Our Mexican lunch was a big hit with our Filipino co-workers. We walked up to Haidi’s office (our public relationship representataive) to share some ideas we have about some children’s choir’s for Christmas. We have 2 more months and then the festivities begin. We walked over to the temple to get my recommend activated. It’s the first time we’ve been in the temple, it is really nice over there. We will be back next week when the Bair’s come to visit us.
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| The Owen's, Jairus, and E. Grimshaw |
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| We were so happy they liked our Mexican Feast! |
Wednesday - We started the morning with a conference call with the Gunther’s. They are the new eye specialists’s from Salt Lake City who will be working with us on the Major Eye Initiatives that we are in charge of (when I say we I mean Steve he is doing most of the eye care work as it is well over my head, you’d think Steve was an ophthalmologist the way he is handling things). In the afternoon we had training with Dara another member of the Public Relation (PR) team for some training. Now that we have some projects we are working on we need to know all the protocol for wrapping them up. We had a late dinner in Eastwood that the Owen’s invited us to. Three ladies that are active in the community of Binuan wanted to visit with us about some possible projects. There is so much need for nutrition, literature, and ARP some of the areas we provide help in.
Thursday - We started the day like most Thursday’s in a committee meeting going over our proposed projects. I had to excuse myself to visit with Kimberlee and her Laurels to show them some of the items we are putting in our infant care kits. The girls hope to be involved in helping make blankets. We went to Beehive for Lesson 12 of Pathways, it was a lesson on mental health issues. Many shared their stories, it’s sad to listen to how hard life can be for many of them. We really love our Pathways students and will miss them, they are getting ready to graduate. They are helping us with the infant hats we are putting into our care packages, there have fast sewing skills and fabulous machines.
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Tessie using her spare time to sew our infant hats for us.
(She can sew them in a fraction of the time we can)
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Laying out the fabric to prepare to cut into garments
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Friday - It was a quite and slow day in the office as it usually is on Friday’s. Steve helped S. Grimshaw and I put together a Power Point for our proposal to get some sewing machines for our infants projects. We left around 2:30 to come home and missed a visit from President and Sister Haynie. They made cookies and came to say goodbye, I was so sad we missed them. We had another Friday night Dinner with the Grimshaw’s at Denny’s and then went into Eastwood to Automatic Center where we were scouting out some sewing machines.
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We hope to make 2,500 Kanga Care Tubes
for Quirino and Fabella Hospitals
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We are working to put together 2,400 infant care kits to be
delivered to these two public hospitals over the next 12 months.
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The infant hats we make, our friends at Beehive have been helping us with these
They can cut out around 80 at a time.
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Saturday - We left early with the Grimshaw’s for the Novaliches chapel for a 6 Stake and Ward Leadership training of Self Reliance, Welfare, and ARP. It was quite a commute to get there. Elder Grimshaw represents our Legal Counsel so he is not out and about as much as we are. He was taking in all the sights and sounds traveling through metro-Manila, it really leaves you speachless. There were over 300 people in attendance to this meeting eager to learn, you just never tire of the kindness of the Filipino’s. We had a late lunch at Friday’s but barely as they often close on Saturday afternoons for little kids birthday parties.
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There were over 300 leaders learning about Self-Reliance,
Member Welfare Projects, and ARP |
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Break time at our Self Reliance Conference
(snack was cold spaghetti, unfortunately I don't care for it)
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Sunday - I drove to church today for the first time. It’s kind of cheating because the traffic was so light but it’s the best time to practice. Like anything once you do it it’s not so bad. We had a quiet day in the apartment, grilled cheese sandwiches and oven baked fries is comfort food to us on a Sunday so far from home. I made chocolate pixie cookies (chocolate crinkles). My mom used to make them all the time but I have never had much luck with them. This time they turned out great, all ready for another Manic Monday at the office.
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| Driving in the Philippines requires a whole new set of skills. |
Week 28 - July 16
Monday - It was quiet in the office. The chocolate cookies were a hit at the office. I am ready for the McIver’s to come back. Our new boss Mary Ann arrived today from Cebu, we are so excited to have her. She is going to be wonderful.
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| Mary Ann Balen |
Tuesday - We brought Sloppy Joes into the office and had a nice lunch. Most of our managers were out of town. We left the office around 3:30 and then returned to wait for the Bair’s arrival. We have been looking forward to this visit from friends for two months. We finally hooked up with them around 9:00 and after they got their people from Myanmar settled we brought them to our apartment to turn in for the day.
Thursday - We took Lyle and Leslie back to the office so they could spend some more time in the temple with friends. We had a department meeting and Steve and I (along with S. Grimshaw) presented a proposal for two sewing machines and two sergers. We have some projects for infant kits and Kanga tube top coming up so we need these sewing machines. We then went into a MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) signing with Purple Centers. This an elementary school up in Tondo (the dump site district) to supply them with rice for the children for their lunches. It’s always so wonderful to meet with the people in this country who do so much for children in need. Of course a 3rd Floor catering lunch is always good. We went on a tour of the MTC. We have been here since January and have never been inside the MTC. It was fascinating to see what they have over there, reminiscent of our Provo MTC experience back in November. At 2:30 we headed over to Beehive for our Pathways class. Lyle and Leslie got to tour the factory and meet our friends over there. It was nice to have Leslie there to help us grade their essay’s. We topped the day off with a diner at Italianio’s and then took the Bair’s to Robinson’s Grocery Store. We about lost them both, it was like kids in a candy store. There arms were packed with ziploc bags, bullion cubes and seasoning. The best treat of all was when Lyle found the tootsie rolls, he could hardly contain himself (he had to settle for only 3 bags but he would have liked more). They had to buy a backpack to take all their treasures home in.
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Jairus and Iris signing the MOA for Purple Centers
(Memorandum of Agreement)
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| LDS Charities provides rice to the children at Purple Centers |
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| Third Floor Catering is the best!! |
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Lyle and Leslie correcting our students essays,
you have to love Lyle... |
Friday - Steve got up early to take the Bair’s to the office to catch their driver and head for the airport. It was so nice to see them and spend time together. It’s amazing what a boost to our spirits that was. We had to spend the morning catching up from our play time on Wednesday and Thursday. We headed back to the temple around 2:30 with some friends. We were privileged to witness a young Filipino couple get sealed to each other and then their adorable 10 month old son. We had a quiet evening at home gearing up for a busy weekend.
Saturday - Steve drove me to the Aurora Chapel for another Self-Reliance Conference while he went to the office to get ready for our trip to Mindanoa (more fun adventures next week). We held an additional meeting to recruit group leaders for ARP. It was a long day and we were both ready to go home and chill. After a dinner at Outback I went to “Mamma Mia” with S. Duncan. I loved it......
***Sunday - A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS. Somedays the fun never ends!! You just never know some days how things will turn out. This day will go down as one never to be forgotten. We got up early and traveled about 1.5 hours to Noveleta, Cavite. The Soleta’s invited us to church and then to dinner. Weren’t we surprised when after the sacrament was passed they introduced us and asked us to speak. It's not too much to worry about, we only speak English. When church was over and we were walking to the Sunday School class these two adorable girls that were dressed alike in green tops and orange skirts came up and asked Steve if they could have their picture taken with us. We put our arms around these girls and started to smile and pose when soon it became apparent that many others wanted in on the action. First there were the four of us, then six, eight, on and on until eventually there were over 20 people in the picture. Filipino’s love to do this and I was laughing so hard my picture looks ridiculous. You can not believe how wonderful Filipiono’s are. Then in Sunday School we could hear the rain coming down so hard you could hardly understand anything being said including the barking dog that was in class. After church we followed Dani and Evelyn to their home where they had prepared a wonderful dinner for us. They were so kind to choose roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, the best vegetables we have had in 6 months, a mango salad and desert. It was all so nice but everyone was getting nervous that we needed to get on the road because the rain was coming down so hard. We said our goodbyes and got in our car. This is where everything went south and very quickly. We didn’t think the car started because you could only hear the pounding rain. After several attempts Dani went and found some jumper cables. Of course we all thought the car would start and we would be on our way. No luck, after all kinds of attempts including discussing our problem with security and fleet, Dani decided to have us take his car home. No problem, Evelyn yelled at us on our way out to get some gas. We pulled in to the first gas station we found but all theses tricycles were parked in the gas bays to get out of the rain. We went on to Plan B and pulled into a Shell station. Dani happened to be there because he was moving his pickup to high ground. He looked at us and said “You missed your turn”, we told him no that we were just getting gas. So he stayed and made sure we got the gassed up and then we were off. We had a hard time getting out of the Shell Station because traffic was baking up but soon we were on the road and made our turn. I looked down the street and said “Oh dear that looks bad we better drive fast”. A gentleman stopped us and said the road is not safe and closed for travel. So we just hoped Waze would direct us another way but very quickly we could tell we were in trouble and all the streets heading for the S-LEX were under water. We crossed the bridge and the water was moving very swiftly carrying lots of debris. We thought it would be best to go back to Dani and Evelyn’s but who knew where that was we didn’t have an address plugged into Waze because we followed them home from church earlier in the day. We had no idea which direction was safe and Dani wasn’t answering his phone so we just started to drive. You could start to feel the panic in the people as they were rushing through the streets carrying their children. Miracle of miracle’s I looked up and Dani was standing in the middle to the street holding his umbrella. He said “You missed your turn again”, we told him there was no getting out. We parked his car on high ground and starting walking back for his home. You should have seen me walking through the streets of Novaleta in my pencil skirt and high heeled sandals with my feet sliding all around. We had to walk fast as the streets were filling with water. We have been told not to walk through flood water with open sores because of the disease it carries from the rats. Awesome, good thing we didn’t have open sores. Anyway we got back home and in about 10 minutes the street in front of their home where our car was parked was a river with fast moving water. We went inside to wait it out. Steve went into the bathroom, the floor was wet and when he turned on the light he got shocked and a piece of the light switch flew across the room. The rain continued to pour down until around 8:00. The Soleta’s have had many floods even waist high water in their home before. We were all relieved when the rain finally started to subside but Dani said it would be hours before it was safe to drive. We went to sleep (sort of) and Dani woke us up at 5:00 and said it was safe to travel. We had a bit of a dicey commute out of town. Thankfully there was a car a head of us leading the way, several times we thought the water would come into the car but it didn’t. It was smooth sailing once we got out of town. We are so thankful for Dani, Evelyn, and Edith for there warm hospitality and safe care of us, they are the best. They have a daughter Ella who is 25 ( don’t tell here she wants to stay 23). Ella has special needs but took time to give me a massage during our wait. Thanks Ella.
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This is the picture that was taken before,
the crowd grew to twice this size.
Filipino's are the best, we love them.
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| Our dinner at the Soleta's and their lovely home. |
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| Dani is checking the water, hoping it will not come into his home |
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| They learn to enjoy the flooding |
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They put their children in a tub and float them down the street, it's crazy.
"It's more fun in the Philippines" |
Week 28 - July 23
Monday - We got home from Cavite around 7:00 and had to hit the ground running. We are turning some eye equipment over to an eye clinic in Marawi which is down south in Mindinao. It is not safe for American’s to travel to Marawi but we get to go as far as Cagayan de Oro to turn this equipment over. Cagayan de Oro is the site where the new temple in the Philippines was announced in April Conference. This equipment will be used to help many with eye problems in that area. Steve has worked for months to get this ready. It involved a Deed of Donation, a ceremony and all the right partners to be there (there are many moving parts). Our plane was 2 hours late which can be typical getting out of Manila. We were picked up at the airport by Pres Cotejo, 2nd Councilor in the Cagayan de Oro Central Stake Presidency. We then drove to the hospital to pick up Dr. Saavedra who is a pathologist for three hospitals in the area and also an area Seventy. They drove us to our hotel and reassured us over and over that we would be safe. We walked around to find a place to eat and ended up trying our first Yellow Cab pizza (it was really good). We went back to our room and ordered up a massage (Bryan and Michele you taught us well). It was heavenly.
Tuesday - President Saavedra and his driver picked us up and we drove over to the church to get ready for the turn over ceremony of the eye equipment. We had two pieces of portable eye surgery equipment and several miscellaneous pieces of medical hardware donated by the Mabuhay Deseret Foundation. Soon the room was filling up with some church leaders, doctors, public affairs, Mabuhay representatives and of course the media. Steve put together a nice ceremony and then everyone stayed afterwards for pictures and a merienda (light lunch). Our guests from Marawi were so kind and thankful. Then to our surprise Elder /Doctor Saavedra cleared his calendar so he could show us around the area. First we went to a museum that honors General Douglas McArther, we then headed to the Del Monte pineapple fields. On the way up he had his driver pull over to a road side stand so he could grab some corn. The corn is still on the cob still in its husk. I was a pit skeptical but after Steve got the black husk pulled down and we starting eating it became apparent from the first bite that this was the best corn I have ever eaten. We were then taken to an amusement park to walk through and were treated to our first Filipino cinnamon role. It was good but mine are better. We had to head back to the airport to catch our flight home. It was such a wonderful day, I hope we get to go back.
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| Our turn over ceremony |
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The surgical equipment
Signing the Deed of Donation |
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The wonderful Dr's of Marawi who will use the eye equipment
LDS Charities contributed |
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As if it were perfectly normal to husk an
ear of corn in the car and then just start eating it.
It really was sooo good. |
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| General Douglas McArthur's Hat |
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| The Del Monte Pineapple Plantation |
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| The climbing wall at the amusement park. |
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| Feeding the fish |
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| The Hippo |
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The employees of Del Monte live in these homes
They are built on stilts to avoid flooding
Many of them are painted bright colors so when the men come
home from an evening at the bar they know which house is theirs. |
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The tricycles in Cagayon de Oro are different than any we have seen
They seat about 8 or 9 travelers |
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This is a special piece of land
I can't say why, but..... it won't look like this in a few years. |
Wednesday - I took a mental health day and it was such a good decision. I got caught up on e-mail, phone calls, laundry and quiet/alone time. We got invited to go to dinner at Friday's with 7 other couples. We have a new couple going down to Cebu to take over for the Zorn's, and we got to meet Heidi McSweeney who came in from Utah with her dad to check out neonatal care in the Philippines.
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| Our dinner at Friday's |
Thursday - Catch up day in the office and a trip to Beehive for our last Pathway class. Our student graduate on August 14, we will miss them.
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| Elder Grimshaw sharing some thoughts with our Pathways students |
Friday - When we got into the office it was a bit chaotic. Mae Anne and Willy were trying to figure out if we could go with Willy up to the Bataan and Tarlac area to help build and distribute food bags for those affected by the floods. In the end we didn't end up going but it will be a busy weekend for Mormon Helping Hands. Willy drove his van up with the bags and then he will meet with the vendor's to pick up the rice, sardines, and chipped beef that will go in the food kits. We went to dinner with S. Duncan and then treated ourselves to our monthly mani-pedi, she loved it.
Saturday -The area where the Bataan Death March ended was proclaimed as "Capas National Shrine" on December 7, 1991. We also went to visit the San Guillermo Parish Church, this church was originally built in 1576 in 1880 the church was destroyed by an earthquake and was re-built in 1886. In 1991 a volcano erupted which buried the church at half it's 39 foot height.
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Monument Wall with the names of Filipinos
who were in the Death March |
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Each boxcar could hold 50 prisoners but 100 were crammed in
Many died where they stood |
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| Tribute Wall |
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| What can I say, us and Jesus |
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| This is half the church the other half is buried in lava |
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| Inside the chapel |
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| Learning about the church |
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Stinchfield's, Gunnel's, Kaneen's, Beck's, Browne's,
Elliot's, Grimshaw's, Owen's, Gabrielson's, and S. Ibanez, and Duncan |
