Dinner One Day and A Special Delivery the Next

President and Sister Jensen were so generous and invited the senior missionaries over for a clam chowder dinner. We gathered at the mission home and shared a bowl of chowder, salad and fresh baked rolls. It was a real treat to have a great dinner together with our friends. We also were treated to two great deserts, a fresh cherry cake and home-made brownies with thick chocolate frosting. Oh the blessings of a mission!

 The Perkins, the couple front right, work in the mission office, then us and on the other side of the table from us are Sisters Cooper and Walker, they serve at the Employment Resource Center in Dagupan. (They are often flooded in at the apartment.) Sister Jensen is next and President Jensen is taking the picture.

The new mission home. We're still waiting for the missionary department to officially approve the new name of the mission as the Philippines Urdaneta Mission. maybe the announcement will be made at the same time that the new temple site in Urdaneta is announced.

The next day after dinner at transfers - Sister Benvenuto and her new new missionary Sister Olila. They grew up together as friends in their schools and didn't know they were going to serve in the same mission. The president had no idea of their friendship but was inspired to bring them together, Sister Benvinuto as trainer of her dear friend. We gave them a ride to the bus stop and they were on their way for a two hour bus ride to their area.

We went back to the mission office and picked up three elders and drove them to their apartment in Basista. It was evening commuter traffic time, road construction and then a heavy thunder storm, so it was slow going. We found a McDonald's on the way and stopped for a burger and a sundae. We got the elders home and started for our home. We knew the way but it always looks different in the pitch black darkness of the Philippine countryside. We managed just fine until we got to the "flood". The waters had not subsided from the last typhoon three days ago, but we thought it wouldn't be bad because that was three days ago... wrong! We got going and found it was deeper then before and with a swift current flowing over the road. A buss pulled out from a stop and I followed it. I couldn't see the road under the water. The water was muddy and there was nothing on the sides to guide you, so I followed the bus. The water was coming over the headlights and the motor fan was stopped by the high water. We had no choice but to follow the bus. I couldn't see to turn around and felt I might be swept off the road into a rice field. We were the only car and bus on the road, but after what seemed like an hour (really 20 minutes) we made it! Delivered again! We got through the flooded lowlands and 35 minutes later we pulled into our driveway, hearts pounding from the adventure, but glad for the successful experience of delivering the missionaries and serving the Lord.

Riches

We have felt remarkable spiritual blessings come to us as we have been serving.  Our individual and companion study is bearing sweet fruit for us.  Dad finds that as he presides now in many meetings and is called to teach, train, interview and speak, scriptures will come to his mind that teach the principles that are needed.  He uses them to teach individuals and congregations and they bless him and those he teaches. Truly the Spirit can call all things to remembrance in the hour we need them.  As I have been asked to speak or share testimony on the spur of the moment, the scriptures and personal experiences and the witness of the Spirit will line up in my mind so that I feel confident and joyful in sharing, and feel that I am an instrument in the Lord’s hands.  These experiences increase our faith and give us courage to continue despite discouragement at times.  We have been deeply touched by Paul’s expression of his feelings as a missionary because they describe our own feelings:

Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

And our desire for you, our dear family, is what we desire for ourselves:

That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.  Ephesians 3:8, 16-19

Tight Squeeze

We got a call last week to plan to check a new apartment for the missionaries and have lunch together, so we were looking forward to the time with our missionaries.

Small Car + Big Elders = tight Squeeze... no matter, lots of smiles. This was nothing compared to their Jeep ride last night with over 30 people in and on a Jeep.

We had lunch at a members' canteen. Lots of rice and great food!

A quick trip up the street to check a new missionary apartment. All they need now is the parade, the bands, and the cheering crowds.

It was a nice time together, but the apartment was not up to standard... no kitchen, no bathroom and no water. Nope! Just won't work for my missionaries.

Harvest Season Begins

We were out driving around the countryside last week and could see that the seasonal harvest has begun. We see all kinds of vehicles loaded down with the harvest of sugar cane, corn and rice. The rice and corn is dried on the highways (A real safety hazard if you are going too fast... like driving through deep sand). Here is a sample of what we saw.

All vehicles need to fill up sometime. This is a good price for gas... about $5.00/gallon.

A trike loaded down. You can see the driver on this one. Sometimes there is 3-4X more load and the driver and wheels are all hidden.

Mug shot of the faces of the work crew.

This is a roto-tiller converted into a tractor. They go slow and cause some big traffic slowdowns in town.

This Jeep almost tipped over coming around the corner. It was all smiles by the time I got the camera out.

Remote control?

Drying the corn on the highway shoulder here. This grain is used for livestock feed. Keeps the roads clean and aids the digestion of the cows I'm sure.

No way around, just go right over it.

Rice in the field.

Not long and this rice will be ready for harvest too.

The 50 kilo (110 lbs.) bags of rice are sold to distributors and they sell them to the stores. You can see that rice sells for 28-34 pesos per kilo or 0.66 - 0.84 cents/2.2 lbs.

Here is where it ends up... on a missionaries dinner table. The missionaries in Lingayan invited us for lunch (the big meal of the day) at their apartment. Sister Lindsay made some rare chocolate chip laden brownies for dessert.

We love the rice harvest, but the best harvest is when we thrust in our sickle and reap the Lord's harvest of humble souls.

A Blessing and A Recovery

Boils are common around the Philippines and we see people with them often. One night we felt that we should go visit a brother in the branch that was not at church Sunday. We went to his home and he was so glad to see us. We talked with him and his children for a while and talked about a FHE with his wife on Skype. He is taking care of his children while his wife works abroad (A common situation. More money and jobs available internationally.) We talked more and learned that he had a large boil and some internal problems too, so I asked him if he would like a blessing. He said he would like a blessing, so I brought the branch president to his home and we gave him a blessing. In the blessing he was counseled to seek the care of a doctor immediately. He was fearful of the hospital and doctors because recently he had a member of his family and also a close friend die in the hospital. He gained faith and strength from the blessing and saw the doctor the next day. He was immediately hospitalized and they operated on him the next day. His boil was almost 4 inches in diameter and very close to the bone. If it had reached the bone he would have had a systemic infection and had a high risk of death. He also had his gallbladder removed. We visited him two days after his surgery and he looked so much better. He said he had no plans to see a doctor until he received the blessing. He said that the blessing saved his life. 

 

The blessings of the priesthood have bound our hearts and our lives together.

The hospital where he had his surgery.

Signs of Our Times

They give you fair warning that the bridge may collapse. There are no alternate routes, so we forge ahead ready to bail out if the bridge gives out.

 We should be OK... there is a motorcycle that made it across safely.

The crazy drivers are OK, but the road here is accident prone. Watch out drivers!

These signs are out in this area to slow traffic down during a school day. Traffic from only one direction can pass at a time.

Here is another accident prone area. I think you have to be careful of the carabao roaming the streets.

Maybe dogs... but maybe mosquitoes, snakes or spiders.

I guess you can buy a single ice cube here.

Ice is nice on a hot day like today.

When good roads go bad and even repair won't work...

They place the signs on the smoothest part of the road. There are pot holes here that eat buses. Driver beware!

The Jolly Roger Funeral Home.  It's run by somebody with a peg leg and a parrot on his shoulder.

Gotta hope, but if not....

it still turns out all right.

So typically kind and centered in God.

The gate leaving Dagupan City, a fishing center.  Mabuhay means "Live long"

I don't know... God can move pretty fast.

Think about it...

Sign to Alaminos where Tim and Marnie will be in January/February on a medical humanitarian project.

These signs are how we find all the chapels in the many cities we visit.

The sign by the old mission home in Baguio.  Taken when we had normal hair a long time ago.

The road to home sweet home.

It makes sense we would have to take Mango Street to get home.  God does bless our way!