Our First Trip to Lingayen

We passed a lot of rice fields along the way to visit the missionaries of the Lingayen Zone. There are a few bumps in the fields like the one here, but otherwise it is flat. There are a lot of volcano craters in the Philippines, so maybe the bumps are fumaroles or something else associated with volcanoes.

Here the people are starting to plant their field. The clump of rice plant starts is in the middle of the field and they break that into smaller bundles and place them in rows in the field. Then the workers come and place each individual start into the mud. The workers get paid about 120 pesos ($2.76) for a day of work, about 10 hours in the mud. Food for a week for a family of four costs about 700-1,000 pesos. Sometimes they go without some meals, but they are always very generous and would make a meal for you even if it meant their family would go without food. We are very sensitive to that fact and have not compromised anyone's food for their family.

This is a rice field across the street from the missionaries apartment. When it rains the fields fill with water and overflow over the roads. The missionaries told us that last week when it rained hard they were working in knee deep water and they had wet shoes, socks and pants to prove it.

There is precious little shade around, so this patch of shade that looks out onto the rice field is special.

One of the missionary apartments is next door to a rice wholesaler. I wonder why the are having problems with mice in their apartment?

We stopped at a bakery along the way to get a loaf of their famous cheese bread. It was wonderful. I should have taken a picture, but the bread was gone before I thought of a picture. The bread was soft, moist and yellow, with a sweet cheesy sauce in the middle. That and a liter of water made for a nice lunch.

The zone leaders, Elders Smith and Frost, showed us around Lingayen. They were the perfect leaders to the missionaries and even though they are new zone leaders they accepted the responsibilities of leadership with great zeal.

We stopped to review one apartment at lunch time. I had to take a quick picture of a missionary lunch. Doesn't it bring back great memories!? Leftover rice scraped in with the new rice, chicken hot dogs and a bowl of hot vegetable soup and a liter or more of water.

Missionary clothes and shoes drying. The missionaries always look clean and fresh in their white shirts and ties. They also look hot and wet with their sweat clothes in hand, wiping their face and arms to stay dry.

Smiling faces of four missionaries at the door of their apartment.  They were in their apartment doing planning for the week when we arrived. They don't have to wear a tie in the apartment, but two of them were still committed to mission attire!

Sister Lindsay talked with the sister missionaries while the zone leaders and I reviewed the apartment. We found a few repairs that were needed and the zone leaders will take care of those issues with the landlord.

We went downtown Lingayen for a dinner at ChowKing... you can see their red and white CK sign towering above everything in the picture. After a dinner of chicken, rice, noodles, chicken noodle soup and apple dough balls. We needed a sweet treat, so we walked down the street to the Ice Cream House to satisfy our craving. Chocolate ice cream made from milk and not water hit the spot for me. Others enjoyed mango and a variety of fruit flavor treats. It was a great day with the missionaries in Lingayen.

Some of Our Special Friends

There are so many wonderful people and they each have their own story. We don't take pictures all the time, so we can only share a few of our experiences, but a few are better than none.

 Sister Datuin, Sister Lindsay and Sister Ramos

This is Sister Datuin.  She is the new Relief Society president in Mapandan.  She had worked in Primary for many years so when she was called to Relief Society, she read the Handbook to learn what she should do.  It said to visit the sisters and take their names so they could be remembered and nourished by the word. 

She asked the Branch clerk to give her a print out of the sisters on record in RS.  There were 300 names.  Only 29 come to church.  She has begun to visit all 300 on record to see what has happened to them.  Many have moved, a common occurrence here.  People move on the spur of the minute and no one knows if they will be coming back or not.  Some have died.  Some didn’t want to be members anymore.  On a Saturday, she and her sister, the Primary president went to a large neighborhood and tried to find 30 sisters.  It took them all day.  Two were found who want to come back.   Sister Datuin will continue until she has learned about all of them.

This is remarkable because Sis. Datuin works all week from 8:30 until 5:00.  She has four little children, the oldest just turned 8.  Her husband is in Saudi Arabia working.  He will be there for two years and they won’t see him until then.  He went because she had to have a gall bladder operation and it put them so far into debt that there was no way to get out.  They counseled together and decided it would be a terrible sacrifice, but it was the only way.  They told their daughter, “You are in first grade now.  Daddy won’t come home until you are in third grade.”  Sister Datuin said it is a sacrifice for all of them.

Sister Datuin asked if I would come with her to visit the new members.  She said she felt that she could take one hour after work to see two sisters.  She asked these sisters how they were doing, when was their birthday, what skills they had and told them that each month a sister would come to visit them.  She expressed delight in these sisters’ experiences.  One had been a chambermaid in Baguio and also packed peanut brittle.  Now she washes bottles for a warehouse close to their home so she doesn’t have to be in Baguio away from her family.  Sister Datuin thought perhaps she could teach the sisters how to make beds in a professional way.   She says when she is doing the dishes or working, she is thinking of the sisters and what can be done to help them.  She would like help teaching them to preserve food, to store it, to do useful things at home that will earn money for their families and to help them be faithful saints.

She has taken the names of the sisters and organized them by neighborhoods and she said now she is almost ready to make the visiting teaching assignments.  Sister Datuin doesn’t have counselors right now.  One moved away and another asked to be released.  She has  a quiet, lovely secretary though.   And she has the Lord and her Handbook.  She is a remarkable, faithful woman of God ministering to her sisters.

 We had district conference for the Mapandan District in our building and it was wonderful. We had a visiting general authority, Elder Sinamban. He shared many faith promoting stories and challenged the saints to walk to church if they didn't have money for a trike ride. His often quoted phrase, "Strong faith and strong feet." resonated in the hearts and minds of the saints. We invited the Jensens and Perkins to our home for dinner after the conference. It was a wet rainy day but the rains cooled it off. Marlene made a delicious chicken dinner in the crock pot and we had brownies and ice cream for dessert!

This is part of the Lalangan family. Pres Lalangan is the branch president of the Mapandan branch and is a wonderful leader there. We went to his home to demonstrate the FHE we are sharing with members to encourage them to have family prayer, read the scriptures daily and have FHE.

Getting to Know the Saints

We were prepared to do some leader training and attended a branch social last night. The leaders didn't show up so we were ready for the social . It was scheduled to start at 5:00... by 6:30 we had an opening prayer. We started with a hymn, two devotional messages and then into the games and some fun with the saints. The sisters had on sweaters and one had a jacket on, but it was not cool inside, about 85 and extremely stuffy. No one was bothered by the heat in the room but me. We had some fun together and got to know the saints better and they got to know us better.

 Sister Lindsay would ask questions of her group to discover the word written on the blackboard, "eraser". She was the first one and did it in about 90 seconds.

 Her team was delighted with their success.

 I was next. The phrase I was looking for was"name tag". I got my phrase in 87 seconds! Our team was ahead and elated.

Sister Lindsay started round two... a game like pictionary. She was drawing a "sacrament cup" and they got it in 9 seconds! Great job!

We had a nice evening and learned a lot about their families and lives in general. We enjoyed some rice treats and called it a night. The air was cooler than inside and we were refreshed. We got home to our drying clothes and the comforts of home and fixed a quick spaghetti dinner, checked email and did our scripture study and into bed by 10. Tomorrow is a big day with district conference with our mission president, President Jensen and a visiting general authority.

Where's the Rainbow?

We started getting rain and milder weather for Father's Day and it has continued all week and looks like it will continue into next week. I think the rainy season has started. I am so grateful for the cooler temps. The new challenge is being wet. We're learning how to handle an umberella much better. Getting in and out of the car, going through doors and gates. We're also learning the protocols of going into stores and leaving the umbrellas at a check box or by the door.

A look out our bedroom window at the back yard. The rains varied between a light mist and a heavy downpour all day. Maybe we'll see a rainbow at the end of the rainy season in October or November.

 There are new learnings beyond the obvious keeping your head dry. It may only take a couple of hours to wash clothes, but drying may take days! We've got a power drying system in our living room.

 We're still working on drying yesterdays wash. Nothing ever gets dry. Just dry enough to put away or put on.

 My socks get a dedicated fan and still take a day to dry.

 

We've got clean clothes and are ready to go out the door to district conference today. We start with leadership meetings at 1:00 and go into the evening. Sister Lindsay will do a 20 minute women's auxiliary training with Sister Jensen today. Wish I could be there. She does such a great job of teaching with the Spirit.

A Cool Father's Day Gift

We had a great Father's Day! We attended two branches and interviewed with three branch presidents and a couple of Relief Society presidents. We bear testimony, speak, train and laught with the saints and have a wonderful time with them. We have been to their homes, worshiped with them and heard their conversion stories. We love them for their faithfulness in the gospel despite many challenges. We'll have to get some of their stories posted. It was a great Father's Day here in the Philippines!

On our way home, after all our visits, it started to cool off and rain. We have had hot humid weather since we arrived, so we thought that was the way it was going to be for 18 months, but we received a heavenly gift on Father's Day and today... cool weather! It got down to 77 degrees and we slept with the windows open. It's still humid and sticky, but it's not hot.

A tropical storm was passing by the north of the Philippines and we got clouds and some rain out of the storm. When we have clouds we have cooler weather.

 It's great... I get two Father's Days! One here in the Philippines and another the next morning on the computer and phone during the US Sunday too. It was great seeing and talking with family today. Thank you for your prayers and support.

JUNE 2011 TRANSFERS

Transfer day is always hard and exciting. Hard to leave your comfort zone of friendships and the memories of dedicated service to go forward and make new friends, have new experiences and learn how to get around in a new town. The elders are notified on at a zone meeting on Wednesday that they are going to be transferred and arrive at a central chapel where all transferring missionaries from the mission will attend a devotional with the mission president and receive their new companion assignment. 

The missionaries arrive early to meet and greet one another for an hour or two before the devotional starts. The devotional begins at 11:00 am and if completed by 1:00. Jeepneys are lined up in the parking lot with identifying zone banners on each one so they know which one to load their bags on. The zone leaders accompany the missionaries to their new area on the Jeepney and then return home when all are safely delivered to their new companion.

Here are a few pictures of the transfer day today.

Missionary gathering in the air conditioned chapel after hours of visiting in the other parts of the building.

This may be the last time many of these missionaries sing the Baguio Mission song. We thing the mission will become the Urdaneta Mission on July 18, 2011. It is always stirring to hear them sing the mission song, that talks about what they do and many of the challenges they face. Check back, I'll insert the words to the song soon.

The missionaries came on these Jeepneys from their current area and will return to their new area on a different Jeepney, so there is a mass change of luggage after the devotional.

I think most of the Jeepney drivers are frustrated Formula One drivers. Notice the decals on the side of this one.

There were nine Jeepneys all lined up... one from each zone in the mission.

The drivers and missionaries unloaded the bags before the devotional and set them on the ground for easy access to load them onto another Jeepney after the devotional.

Thank goodness we won't get a new companion or be moving every few months.

Great ride for the missionaries!

Office elders.

After the devotional there is a lot of moving bags around, good-byes, pictures and a few tears shed.

The elders are eager to help the sisters move and load their luggage.

Put your shoulder to the luggage!

New missionaries get a new pillow as well as a new companion and a whole new life in the ministry.

Happy reunions with former companions and the joy of seeing each other growing in faith and testimony. (Alma 17:2)

Elder Hales is the zone leader in our zone and got transferred to a different zone. We'll see him again on apartment checks, district conferences and zone conferences.

Lots of excitement and anxiety brings about a lot of chatter, hugs and gathering of friends. Courage brethren and sisters, onward! Nothing can stop the work of the Lord!

I think we have a princess in our group of transferees today.

Last good-byes through the windows of the Jeepneys... 'til we meet again!

A new zone starts the bonding process all over again.

Away they go again. Off to a new area of labor to thrust in their scicles again to reap the harvest.

Remember this Jeepney with the elder on the back step.

It's lunch time so pull out whatever you have to snack on. No time to stop for lunch now. We're on the Lord's errand today.

We left the chapel about 15 minutes after the Jeepneys left and we caught up with one of them going down the highway we were on. Remember that elder on the back step... he is still there!

Missionaries are always glad to have a free ride, even if you have to sit on the floor. Those shoes look like they have seen a few kilometers and will last him through his mission.

 We received a text message from other elders that they found a new apartment and needed our review and approval to move forward with a contract, so we traveled directly to their apartment... after a quick stop at the Urdaneta, Shakey's Pizza.

We joined President and Sister Perkins and two of the office elders for lunch. Chocolate shakes, pizza, salads, soup and pasta... Shakey's is a welcome break from rice and ulam.

We had a map and found our way to meet the bishop that found the apartment. We reviewed the apartment and approved it. A quick down payment and the deal was complete for 30 days. The mission office will draft the annual contract and sign up for the utilities. It was a small villa with an 8 foot wall around it and a caretaker to attend to the yard work. This will be the apartment all elders in the mission will dream of living in... marble floors, separate shower from bathroom (CR-comfort room), 4 bedrooms and private garden (back yard). Now a quick stop to get some supplies for our projects next week and we'll be on our way home. We should get home about 9:00 tonight and we'll sleep well. It was a great day... we were delivered again!