As our Mission is drawing to a close, we continue to have more adventures in both the mission work and living in this society.
Zone Conferences
It's been zone conferences again. They are always a spiritual and learning experience. This time the mission was divided into three areas and held conferences Wednesday in Cabanatuan, Thursday in Tarlac and Friday in Munoz.
We were asked to present a workshop on apartment maintenance and cleanliness. Sister Dansie recited a modified story about Cinderella as Cinderellas' Fairy God Mother. It was complete with angel wings and magic wand. After Sister Dansie we talked about rats and mice, mold and toilets.
Zone conferences are always fun to see all the missionaries that we've met as they shuffle around the mission. It's impressive also to recognize those who have met their goals and receive recognition. One of the recognition goes to missionaries who baptize weekly for the entire month.
Lunch is catered by local catering. The caterers in Tarlac are five star outstanding in both their menu and their presentation. After lunch, the group signs a fun song thanking the caterers for lunch. Here's a short video of most of the song.
Pied Piper?
Everywhere we go, we large white american's (and LouAnn's blonde hair) attracts a young fan club. Many young children follow a custom where they take the right hand of the elderly person and press it against their forehead as a sign of respect. Elder Dansie also gets the high fives as well.
Festivals
Every Barangay (neighborhood) has an annual festival. The one in our neighbor centered behind our apartment. They put colorful flags and strings of wire with plastic strips tied on them from tree to tree. The festival day began with Video Karaoke at 7:00 am. Anything and anybody give it a try. They only have one volume in the Philippines...as loud as it will go. Distortion is OK.
Since the weather is so pleasant all the windows are open so the noise echos through the neighborhood. About 10:00 am paraded the marching band. More band music every hour or so which gave us a break from Karaoke. At night another candlelight parade and more Karaoke. Next morning 6:30 am...more Karaoke.
Corrigedor
The Senior Missionary took another trip this week to Corrigedor, an island off the Bataan Peninsula. The US military fortified the island in the early 1900's to defend Manila Bay. During the 2nd world war it was the last holdout as the Japanese took over the Philippines. After the surrender of the US and Philippine forces on Bataan, the US forced held onto Corrigedor for 28 more days before running out of food and ammunition and were forced to surrender also.
Since the primary defense was outfitted with long range mortar and guns to defend the harbor, there were useless against the Japanese bombers in 1942. Only 2 of the 23 huge mortar batteries were ever fired. The huge long gun which fired a 4,000 lb shell 17 miles (remember this was early 1900s) was only fired one day.
The US bombed the island in 1945 to retake it. By then the island was entirely bare of vegetation and most of the concrete buildings damaged.
We drove to the bottom of the Bataan Peninsula and boarded a 45 passenger long boat/ferry at 9:30 am. The trip across the bay was uneventful. After the tour and lunch, the seas were so rough that the Coast Guard banded all small boats from crossing back to the mainland. So we sat around and waited. The island manager was working on plan B. The only small hotel is being renovated so they couldn't offer rooms for the night. So instead, plan B was a single hostel room where they were prepared to pull in extra mattresses and organize sleeping for 20 people in one big room. (our group of 10 plus other tourists also stuck.) Sister Dansie and I were eyeing 2 hammocks near the dock. Cutoff was 5:00 pm because the boat has no lights and had to ferry over and back before dark. About 4:50 pm we were cleared to leave and we piled in the boat, tightened life jackets and had a fun, wet ride across the channel. It wasn't quite like the movie "Perfect Storm" but there were times that those of us in front could see a wall of water about 15 feet high in front of us. The captain and all the mates were in the back staying dry.
This video doesn't do it justice but take a look anyway.
After the Corrigedor trip, we stayed overnight in Clark City (Valentines Day) at a very nice business hotel. Hot Water. Quiet AirCon (AC) and nice staff. Then fought the traffic to the huge SM Mall and had incredible pizza at the New York Pizza restaurant.
WWII Museum
The next morning, we drove an hour to visit the best WW II museum on Bataan. It was located in Balanga, the site that the surrender was signed. The highlight of the museum was one of the tour guides. She was 7 years old when the Bataan death march occurred. She told us about her family watching the 80,000 soldiers walk by. When they tried to give the soldiers food or help them, the Japanese would push them back. She talked about the horrors of the war that she and her family suffered through during the Japanese occupation. When the US returned their bombs destroyed most of the city. The museum is a "no picture" zone but we did get photo of the statues outside representing the signing of the surrender.
The museum and statues are inside of an elementary school compound because that is where the signing occurred and later became the headquarters for the Japanese Army in the area.
We spent the rest of the day at museums in Clark City and then the long drive back to Cabanatuan. The drive was super fun for us because part of it was on the toll road where you can drive 110 KPH!
18th Birthday Party
Girls enjoy a "coming of age" party when they turn 18. Boys get nothing at 18. The scope of the event depends on how much the family wants to spend. We were fortunate to be invited to one cute girls' party. The party was held in a local hotel and set for 100+ dinner guests. Every detail was immaculate. The family had assembled a really fun setting and spent many man-hours decorating. The band had a serious sound system with road cases stacked high. 2 still and 2 videoographers (1 on steadycam) covered the event with thousands of photos and continuous video. It reminded me of "The Bachelorette" on TV because she danced with a long line of boys from school, each delivering her a rose.
Until next blog, take care.
Elder and Sister Dansie