Dicasalarin Cove Lighthouse Hike

While we were in Baler, thursday morning we were free to explore so we headed to the ultra arty lighthouse at Dicasalarin Cove.  The trip was so incredible that it's worth it's own blog. The road for the first 30 minutes followed the sea shore mixed with local dwellings sandwiched between the budget resorts.

Then the road headed up the mountain, following the mountain terrain with no cuts or fills. Fortunately they poured some concrete recently but workers are still building the curbs and runoff ditches.  The Toyota ground up the hills in first gear well.  We stopped on top of the point (probably 1,000 feet altitude) and visited the national weather station.  The guest log showed a couple people from Spain last month and no one from USA this year. Then we went back down the mountain on the dicasalarin bay toll road.  They called the toll a "use fee."  This road was a 10 foot wide strip of concrete with switch backs and hills that reminded me of four wheeling in southern Utah. 1st gear was a must both up and down. Here was our destination.

At the bottom of the road was the most incredible bay you'll ever see. Water perfect for swimming.  There is a picturesque resort at the bottom where people camp in gazebos.  They even had a wood fired pizza oven and offered 2 types of pizza. Not sure about the sanitation or how they keep things cold so we didn't order anything.  It would be a perfect family camp or scout camp for a couple days.

We headed across the beach to the lighthouse on the rock about a mile away. They poured concrete stairs from the beach to the top of the rock. Each tread and riser varied wildly to whatever worked (no building codes)  On top is the most unique lighthouse you'll ever see. Here are some pix of Dicasalarin Cove. There is a cave in the side of the rock if you walk around the back side.

A New Twist Every Week

Appliance Delivery

Tuesday we headed for Munoz to meet the delivery of new appliances and bed for the new Senior couple house.  Normally the drive takes 45 minutes but on this day, they were pouring concrete to widen the road through Talvera.  Of course the Redi-Mix truck just stops in the lane, maneuvers and blocks both lanes while it unloads.  In the meantime, traffic on both side gets antsy and soon the 2 lane road with shoulders is 4 lanes of stalled cars all heading in the same direction.  When the truck finishes the pour, no one can continue in either direction because there is no open lanes.  So a 45 minute drive became 2 1/2 hours.   Since the appliance delivery was going up the same road, we knew that they would be delayed as well.

Soon 2 trikes arrived.  One trike carried the queen size mattress, box spring, frame and headboard strapped on top.  The other had the refrigerator, stove and washer...plus wife and a 9 month old baby along for the rider.

These hard working delivery guys spend 4 hours round trip for a P 300 delivery charge.  That's about $3 each.  Since it was lunch time by then, they each received a significant tip on top of their fee.

Kalikid Branch Family Celebration

Friday night Kalidid Branch hosted a family celebration to wrap up Family Week.  Elder and Sister Dansie were the featured "lesson." But since it was really a party, we made the lesson fun.

First we talked about how every member of the family had a different responsibility and when we  work together, the  family makes beautiful music.   Only a few had ever head "row, row, row you boat," but they caught onto the round first tray and made beautiful music.

Next we talked about  how your family is always there for you even if you are not sitting next to them.  So we played musical chairs to mix thing up quickly.  The circle started with 50+ chairs and we but that to one in about 8 rounds of pulling 4 or 5 chairs each round.  That American game was new to everyone.

They played more games for a while then the  traditional dinner was ready.  The Relief Society had been outside cooking all kind of good food on charcoal grills and propane stoves.  The Relief Society knows how to put on a  good feed everywhere you go.

This was a traditional "family dinner."  First the tables were setup outside and covered with plastic. Then a layer of banana leaves.  Down the middle was a huge stripe of rice piled high. Every couple fee was a char grilled munk fish (whole of course.)  In between was piles of vegetables and a dish made with veggies and chicken.  And salted hard boiled eggs sprinkled throughout. 

Everyone lines up on each side of the table and eats with fingers.  We didn't get in place fast enough so we grabbed a bowl with noodles and butted in here and there to grab some veggies and fish.  They brough us both a plastic spoon as well.  Just like home, the food was gone in 10 minutes and the  table changed from a showpiece to a disaster.  After a couple  people gathered up the key scraps into plastic bags to take home to their dogs.  A quick roll up of the banana leaves and the party was over.

In Between

The rest of the week was filled with the normal routine--shopping and making some apartment repairs. Sister Dansie has had a cold and so while she slept all afternoon, Elder Dansie went visiting with the Kalikid Missionaries.  It's a wonderful experience to go out with them and meet so many nice people who are looking for the Gospel and the joy it brings.

One family we visited lives in Fort Magsaysay and about 8 Kilometers from the Church.  They expressed their difficulty in getting to Church regularly because with their family of 7 and no vehicle, it costs them more than P 600 to ride a Jeepnee to church and back. That may not sound like much money but in Philippine  buying power that would be about $50 a week to get to Church.  These rural branches face tremendouse transportation challenges. On Sunday tha parking lot will have maybe 2-3 cars, 5-6 Trikes and everyone else walked a long ways or hired a ride.

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Appliances You Won't Find in the USA

Here's a game for you.  Guess what each of these appliances does and the price.  The answers are at the end of the game.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

ANSWERS

A = Hot Dog grill plain or wrapped in Hot Cake batter $20

B = Skewer Barbeque $20

C = This isn't just a rice cooker, it cooks 62 cups at a time! $80

D = Electric dish dryer and storage cabinet (keeps the flies off) $100

E = Electric Skillet $30

F = Dual Burner Propane Stove $18

G = Manual Washing Machine with side spin dry tub ($80)

National Family Week

It's National Family Week in the Philippines and every takes it seriously.  The Stakes, Districts, Wards and Branches plan multiple events.  Saturday the Bongabon stake started at 7:00 am and the branches walked in a parade around Palayan each holding their own banner. After they spent the rest of the morning playing games and eating.  They passed out T Shirts but forgot that some of us American's need big sizes. No party is complete without Candy and so there was a lot of candy being thrown to the crows. The green "marbles" being used in one photo are actually a fruit like a key lime but tastes much sweeter.  They grow everywhere and served with meals to squeeze the juice on your food. We feel like celebrities because everyone wants a picture with the senior couple. When we left the party about noon, there was a very competitive game of basketball going on in the parking lot. Later there was a ward and mission baptism.

Sunday night, the Cabanatuan Stake held a Family Devotional at the their stake center and President and Sister Clark were the speakers. That stake is continuing the week with events every evening including a fashion show on Thursday.  Since the week just started, we'll see how much the rest of the community supports National Family Week.

Visit to Baguio 

We received permission from the Mission President to make a day trip to Baguio which is an hour outside of our mission and 3 hours from Cabanatuan (including 40 minutes of the wonderful toll road.)  Baguio is a totally different environment than the plains because it is built in the mountaintops at 5,000 feet. Trikes are outlawed so the streets were full of cars. The city runs up and down the hills kind of like San Francisco. The city grew from mining in the late 1800s and became the headquarters for the military leaders during WW II.  We went up a windy narrow road constructed in 1904 by American engineers, Filipino and Japanese laborers.  They blasted their way through rock and historically it was an engineering feat despite over 500 workers died building it. Today it's being repaired with sections under construction and so the 32 Kilometer drive up the canyon took an hour.

The temperatures were perfect 70 degrees. People were wearing long sleeves and sweaters. Baguio has one fertile valley that grows vegetables and strawberries so we prefer to buy veggies at Robinson's Supermarket since they feature Baguio vegetables. Since there is very little agriculture, the city looked more like a typical US city with colleges, office buildings, dozens of real sidewalk restaurants. 

We hired one of the 7,000 white SUV taxis for 2 hours to get a quick tour since the traffic was heavy. When we left we took a newer, wider road back down the mountain but found out that is the road for all the buses and trucks so it was still a long drive down the mountain with little chance to pass.  They don't have passing lanes. Since we were going to inspect/repair apartments in the Guima zone, we stayed overnight at a nice (?) hotel for $33. Breakfast was included in the morning....rice with either fried pork or fish. So we headed for Guimba and enjoyed hotcakes at Jolibees. (a low priced McDonalds)  Sister Dansie liked Baguio because we found a DQ Express in the SM Mall and a blizzard just like home. Here are pictures of Baguio.

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Faith Promoting Stories

We haven't been sharing many faith promoting stories but they happen every day. Here's two.

Story #1:

In our daily prayers, we ask that we may be guided to make a contribution to missionary work today. In Baguio, (unlike the rest of the mission) people were not very curious about who we were and as a result very few smiled or said hello. As we were walking through SM mall to get back to our parked car, a lady called out "Elder."  It was a Member with her mother and daughter who had moved to Baguio 6 weeks ago.  They had not been able to find out where to go to church. I explained that we had only been in Baguio for 3 hours but that Google should know. My phone battery was almost dead but it lasted long enough to locate a chapel on Google Maps within walking distance of where they were living.

Story #2:

Wednesday night I was packing the trunk with all our inspection & repair supplies and I had an impression to verify that the car did indeed have a spare tire with air and that the jack and wrenches were functional.

Our prayers Friday morning included a request that our car would get us safely through the Guimba mission as we marathon inspected 9 missionary apartments. We turned off the paved highway onto dirt to drive to San Antonio.  Crews had been laying some sections of concrete on top of the dirt road as a "road improvement" project.  The crews just pour 10" of concrete and don't bother to back fill the shoulders or build dirt ramps to get onto the concrete. So our right rear tire was gouged severely in the side wall by the sharp concrete.  We drove 2 more miles of dirt to San Antonio and inspected the damage when we got to the apartment.  The tire appeared to be holding air. After the house inspection we drove another 5 miles of dirt and concrete, then down broken bumpy crowded concrete another mile, onto the crazy main highway for a mile and swung into town to navigate through the trikes and traffic of Munoz for another mile until we stopped at the Sisters apartment on an unbelievably quiet street. (red gate in the photo) It had a sidewalk and gutters!  

While inspecting the house I ran out to the car to get some tools and the tire was flat and thunder rumbling overhead. The zone leaders were with us, so together we unloaded all the tools and supplies (ironing board, fan, toilet seats, light bulbs, tool box and more) onto the sidewalk and changed the tire.  Neither the zone leader nor assistant had changed a tire so they learned something new. We repacked the trunk just as the first raindrops fell. 15 minutes later the rain was coming down in buckets full.  Why did the tire hold air so long?  You know the answer.

Neighborhood Beautification

This week we added some plants on our balcony and in front of our gate.  It's not as elaborate as most houses, but it's a start. Best thing is that we don't need to water them ever!

Keeping Busy

This week featured Mission Transfer Day and apartment inspections in Gapan (Philippines.)

Transfer Day

On Tuesday,  transfer day, 9 missionaries finished their missions and 19 new arrived. So it was great that they could reopen 5 areas that haven't had missionaries for a while.  Everyone on the East Side of the mission gathers at Cabanatuan and the West Side gathers in Tarlac to switch companions.  17 were switching from East to West and 17 vice versa. So those 17 in Cabanatuan load on trikes and head to the bus depot as a group for the 2 hour ride to Tarlac. The Tarlac group did the same headed to Cabanatuan.  

Sometimes it's bittersweet for the departing Elders and Sisters to be leaving their companion who they have lived with 24/7 for the past few months. They've become lifelong friends. The arriving group reminds us of a group blind date.  New companions meet for the first time knowing that they won't be out of each others sight until one of them is transferred again.

It's a test of faith for some because they have investigators who are nearing baptism and they won't be around to follow up. But everyone accepts the divine guidance that the Mission President receives as the new assignments are made.  Typically a missionary will remain in an area for 2-4 transfers. Each transfer period is 6 weeks so they will be in the area for 12-14 weeks.

Last transfer in August, the Cabanatuan ward 1 was short a missionary and so a 17 year old young man in the stake was called for 6 weeks to be a full time companion.  This transfer he returned home and is expecting his full time mission call in a couple months when he's 18.

Elder and Sister Dansie's primary involvement is to have lunch ready for 40 people when the bus arrives around noon...Chips, P&J, tuna sandwiches and ding dong type cake for desert...and a bottle of water. Once the bus arrives and they meet their new companions, everyone grabs a quick lunch and head to their areas...some areas are still a 3-4 hour bus ride from Cabanatuan.  Some of the arriving Elders and Sisters just arrived in the mission the day before and so it's fun to greet them and reassure them that this be a rewarding experience for them (we are old timers now at 7 weeks!)

An Afternoon Diversion

Just after the bus to Tarlac left, someone discovered that the only key to the LaPaz apartment (by Tarlac) that was reopening was still in Cabanatuan.  Of course Elder and Sister Dansie were the logical ones---since we have a car---to deliver the key to LaPaz about an hour away.  The traffic was unusually lite and so the afternoon ride was easy after we cleaned up the lunch.

Apartment Inspections

Inspecting missionary apartments is a good way for us to see the country because missionaries are spread apart to be in all the villages and neighborhoods. The neighborhoods are called a Barangay.  We live in Barangay Caridid.  Sometimes apartments are newer and inspections go fast.  Other times, old houses have a lot of problems.  We have a tool box in the trunk and several plastic tubs full of replacement parts ranging from light bulbs to fire detectors to toilet parts and seats. We fix what we can and tell the missionaries to contact the landlord to fix the bigger issues.  The bigger issues seldom get fixed!

Some of the toilets suffer from aging hard water stains that won't clean off with normal toilet bowl cleaner. So we now carry muratic acid and we can turn an aging toilet and stained basin into a near new look.  Any apartment over 1 year old needs a muratic acid refresh.  It's also amazing how many toilet tank levers breaks so that the handle won't flush.  Since many toilets don't have tanks, missionaries just use the dump a bucket of water into the bowl to flush.  But once we replace a broken lever and adjust the workings, most missionaries are very appreciative for the repair. As you can guess, some of the issue are electrical so I went to the hardware store and bought a pair of wire strippers and voltage tester!

Wards, Branches, Groups

Some areas are so geographically spread apart that members cannot practically get to a ward house. Remember very few own cars and it costs a lot of money for a family of 6 to take Jeepnees or trikes to the next village to church.  So this week, we inspected 2 areas that have "groups" which is a portion of a ward.  In both cases, they rent a house for the meeting house and call a group president to preside.  Once the group gets larger then it becomes an official branch. When a branch has an average attendance of 120+ for a year, a new church building will be constructed for them.  In the meantime, groups start with a small house, graduate to an upstairs in a store or whatever it takes to hold the congregation.  The spirit and enthusiasm of the Members is just as great in sacrament meeting in the living room as in the newest chapel. The Gospel is the same everywhere in the world because it's the Gospel of our Father in Heaven.

Food

Food this week ranged from normal to interesting.  The Stake President told us about a great local restaurant. Since we were on our way back from Gapan late afternoon we decided to stop. We could not read anything on the menu and the waitress's English was a about as good as our Tagalog. So we tried a couple of things just for fun.  Sister Dansie had Pork Dinaguan. When it arrived it was in a dark chocolate looking sauce.  We later found out the Dinaguan is a rare delicacy because the sauce is made from pigs blood. Another lunch we ended up with tripe. Never again are we going "authentic" unless someone is with us to read the menu!

Fortunately we had a great meal at Kenny Rogers Roaster in SM City Mall. The rib eye steak was char grilled and very good, even though it was only 3/8" thick. The big Mac's and whoppers are pretty good too. He also found Edna's cakes....world famous bakery products with long lines.

Another Event Filled Week

The last week was another event filled week.

Zone Bowling P-Day Activity

Remember when we used to find an old bowling alley where the pinsetters setup the pins? Welcome to 2016 in the Philippines.  The Cabanatuan zone went bowling for P-Day activity. The pins are about 1/3 height.  The balls the size of softballs. Paper for scorecards. You get 3 balls per frame--never did figure out how you track spares, strikes or the third ball. But who wants to keep score.  Sometimes the balls would hit a ridge in the alley flooring and bounce or head in the different direction. Reminds us of playing croquet on the bumpy lawn. But it was a fun outing.

San Jose Trip

We were inspecting 8 apartments in San Jose on Thursday so we decided to go wednesday afternoon and stay overnight to get started early.  It's between 1.5-2 hours drive. We stayed at a fun little Farm House Hotel and Cafe for $34 with breakfast.  It even had hot water and TV. The breakfast was the usual hot dog, garlic rice and runny egg so we went to McDonalds. They have an egg McMuffin on a sweet bread roll that is very good for only 49 pecos.

 

Christmas Comes in September

Starting September 1, the stores are decorating, selling Christmas decoration and playing Christmas Music. Even Christmas songs at church. I guess they don't have halloween or Thanksgiving so why not start Christmas early.

Police

Marked police cars are pretty non existent. We're only seen one person getting a ticket and that was because of an accident. Anyone can have flashing lights. Even trikes often have flashing red and blue lights. Today I was followed by a white vehicle, flashing red/blue lights, hazards and even an electronic siren. Should I pull over?  They passed me and it was just some kids in a pickup with a couple in back who wanted to get through the traffic faster.

Hair Cuts

Sister Dansie decided to get her hair cut so Elder Dansie did too. Cost $4.50 each.

A New Experience: Food & Shopping

This is a special edition about food and shopping.

Eating 

Eating is very efficient. You use a spoon in your right hand and a fork in the left above your plate at all times.  The spoon doubles as a knife. There are no knives.  

Many local restaurants keep the silverware in a rack full of very hot water. So when you take your utensils, you are assured of them being clean. 

Typical Meal

Typical meal consists of rice (usually covered with crushed garlic), fried pork or chicken and a fried egg with yoke uncooked. For breakfast they often substitute a hot dog in place of the meat. The hot dogs are soaked in red dye so that they are red on the surface and part way in.  

One specialty is a Soapia, which is a soft  spongee rice roll with a sweet pork filling and a sesame sauce packet.  They can sit on your shelf un-refrigeratored for days and very good. 7 Eleven keeps them in a steam cabinet for 40 pecos ($.90) The more you pay, the more filling you get.

Eggs

All eggs are straight from the farm and still have natures coating on them so they don't need to be refrigerated.  You buy then on shelves at the grocery or in the public markets. Yes, they continue to incubate in the heat so we wash ours and put in the refrigerator to stop the growth. You can buy "salted eggs" which are cooked in salted water and dyed red...so ready to eat hard boiled. One of the local delicacies are eggs after the embryo has begun to form into a baby chicken. They boil and enjoy. No, we have not tried nor will we try eating these.

Public Markets

Every town has a public market where all the vendors sell their stuff.  In Cabanatuan there is the main one and a couple of farmer's markets as well. Many people do not have refrigerators so they need to shop the markets every couple days for fresh food.

We strolled a very rural public market in Palayan and was amazed to find that the bakery booth practiced full western sanitation.  The bread was raising in plexiglass enclosures to keep the flies off. They baked it in the booth and moved the finished cookies and breads into plexiglass display counters, again enclosed to keep the bugs out.  We bought some cookies and the clerk used disposable plastic gloves to pick up our cookies and put in a plastic bag. The cookies were very good.

Humidity vs Food vs Conservation

The food industry has adapted to the high humidity and lack of refrigeration. Sauces and food comes in tin foil pouches. (Spaghetti sauce is sweet.) Milk is packed in boxes that don't need refrigeration. Breads and cookies come packaged in small sealed sub packs. Baked goods recipes are modified to last longer in the heat. Baked goods typically are not raised so they don't have the airy texture America loves. Also, items aren't sugar sweet. Sister Dansie is missing the huge cinnamon rolls from the Maverick stores. However, the Coconut Macaroons from Goldilocks bakery are the best in the entire world.

Everyone is conservation conscience. You put all your wet garbage in a plastic bag and hand it on the gate so the cats and dogs don't tear it up. Dry waste goes in plastic bags or many people reuse the large bags rice comes in.  The garbage truck has 2-3 guys inside who are sorting as they go removing plastic bottles, metal, etc.  Napkins are 1/4 size. All paper is super thin, even writing paper in notebooks.  Plastic cups are so thin that you need to double up to be able to pickup the glass. You put usable stuff on the ground by the garbage and someone will pick it up.  We put an old 2 burner cooktop that didn't work at one missionary apartment outside by their gate and a trike pulled up and asked for it within seconds.

Malls

Malls come in all sizes and shapes.  The largest are the SM City Malls built by a Chinese company. These are a mixture of SM grocery store, SM department store, dozens of high end clothing, Ace Hardware and dozens of restaurants. Shakey's pizza, Pancake House, McDonalds, Etc.  One of Sister Dansie's favorites is North West Pacific Mall anchored by Robinsons grocery, Robinsons Department Store and Bodega grocery store at the other end.  In between is an interesting collection of high end shops (guess, etc) and flee market down the middle and tucked into every corner. If we are at the south end of town late afternoon, we'll stop in SM for an early dinner. Our favorite restaurants are  Geary's (local food. We went with the Whittings and total bill for 4 people was $26), Kenny Rodgers, French Bakery and Yellow Cab Pizza (Small pizza is $9 so not a great bargain.)  All of the fast food chains feature deep fried chicken with rice or spaghetti. Burger King does have an authentic Whopper and McDonalds keeps the Big Mac true to form....along with all the chicken, rice and spaghetti.

Ice Cream

We have not found any ice cream that compares to Gelato or Tillamonk Mud Slide. McDonald's soft ice cream is a world formula.  All the local brands are lacking cream or even milk so we're not buying much ice cream....except Magnum Bars are imported from someplace good.

Malls Are the Community Center

Every weekend, the malls are full of people coming to AC and hang out. They stage elaborate events every weekend, like school performing groups, dance recitals and a lot of talent contests sponsored by schools.  Last weekend SM City Mall have a combination drink mixing and fruit carvings sponsored by the hospitality/tourism university. Always the music is mega-loud with the bass maxed out.  

Movies

The movie theaters are only in the Malls in the larger cities. No stand alone theaters. They run the sound so loud that Sister Dansie takes ear plugs to the movies. (Senior Missionaries have liberal privileges.) The sound might be 5:1 but video projectors are pretty poor resolution. Since the theaters are 4-6 screens, movies seldom stay beyond 1 week.  We saw "Sully" 2 days before it opened in the US! Popcorn come in plain, garlic, nacho, cheese and quasi carmel.  No buttered!

Electronics

Everyone has a smart phone but always the least expensive and fancy cases. About 2% of the electronic stores sell computers.  Audio gear is minimal and usually elaborate boom boxes or retro looking speakers next to your flat screen TV.  The Mall have dedicated areas for phone stores.  "Cyberzone" in SM city and "Cluster Shops" in Robinsons.  We're not sure how they all stay in business when most sell only phone accessories and "load cards." Iphones and tablets are pretty scarce. Most people buy "load cards" for 50-500 Pecos.  You load the credit in your account and then buy the package you want with your credits.  Most packages are 1-3 days for a weekend of texting and surfing.  Elder Dansie buys 30 days of unlimited texting to all networks and 180 minutes of talk time for 250 pecos ($5.50) and a Surf Max 30 day package of 800 Mb/day for 900 Pecos ($20.)  Everyone communicates by text and many people don't buy any voice time.Just text and social networks (separate from general surfing.)  I've yet to find locals who have or use email. 

You can't get a "postpaid" account unless you have 2 forms of picture ID and prove that you are a resident for at least one year. Then it costs more than the $25 / month load packages. So while food and housing is very affordable, electronics is about the same or more as in the US. An iPhone 6 would cost about $900 USD in the Philippines.

Guards

Every store has a security guard or two or three....even seven eleven.  They open the doors and are also very polite to we senior missionaries.  They all wear the exact same uniform spotlessly clean and pressed. The guards at banks are usually one outside and 2 inside and carry shotguns with no stock. Since this is a cash society, the money trucks look more steel boxes on wheels. Stores have package check and all purses and bags are inspected.  Many mall entrances have a separate male and female line with male and female security who check your bags and you for suicide vests.  The SM malls parking entrances check under your car with mirrors and inside the trunk.  You often pay when you enter to park and have to surrender your ticket when you leave.  Once day we lost the ticket and they didn't know what to do.  We got out and searched the car for 5 minutes, holding up the traffic until they finally gave up and let us out shaking their heads at the Americans.

White is the New Look

"White" is the new look in the Philippines. All the spas and salons feature a variety of skin lightening and hair straightening. All the local advertising features very light skinned models.  Even personal care products like soap, shampoo and creams advertising whitening formulas.

Never a Dull Moment in the Mission Field

The past couple weeks have been busy in a semi-normal way.  Monday August 22, we picked up 8 pizza's from Shakey's in Cabanatuan at 10:30 am and delivered them to a zone party in San Jose at 11:57 am.. (There is a huge crossover of spanish names a a carryover from when the Spanish controlled the philippines a long time ago.  City names, street names, even family names.)

That week was four combined zone meetings strategically located in geographical areas.  We attended the meetings on Wednesday in San Jose and Friday in Cabanatuan.  Both times enjoyed a Filoppino lunch catered by local catering.

The following week we attended a special zone leader/district leader training in Tarlac on Tuesday.  The Mission president implemented some new programs. with the drive it ends up being a leave by 7:30 am and back at 6:30 pm.  The zone leaders then put on separate zone training of the new materials on Thursday. Here are some pix of training, apartment inspections and other fun with the Missionaries.

Friday we went to Tarlac again for a senior missionary get together and training.  We decided to let Google map us a shorter route via a "farm road."  Never again do we trust google.  It was about 20 kilometers of skinny overgrown trail that ran through the landfill, past squatter shacks, goats and more. The people in the fields looked at us in unbelief.  The car needs a good buffing because of all the grasses and bushes that rubbed the doors. I suspect that is the first and only car that has traveled the road. Usually trikes, motorcycles and tractors.

After the Tarlac luncheon at the mission home, we all headed off to S&R in San Fernando.  We went because it is a chance to drive for 45 minutes on a toll road and regain some feeling of driving on a real road again.  S&R used to be Costco but sold to  a local company.  It was possible to buy real milk (instead of the reconstituted powdered milk) and other American  styled stuff. Once we finished at S&R it was 45 minutes of toll road and 2 hours of traffic again to get back to our apartment.

In between all that, we completed more house inspections and helped find a new apartment for the Santa Rosa Elders.  Our inspection in Santa Anna pointed out serious mold in their existing apartment and declared it unsafe.

After leaving another apartment inspection the road curved and we found ourselves in the middle of the public market.  It took 15 minutes to get our car through the crates, carts and produce.  This is typical driving in that you never know what to expect and when you find out, it's too late to do anything about it but wait.

When we were at North pacific mall, we stopped for a spa/pedicure haha.  Cold water and no electrical to make the spa swirl.  Good thing it was only $6.00!

Sunday (sep 4), we left at 7:15 am and drove to Gabaldon for Church at 9:00 am and met that wonderful branch. On the way back we stopped in Palayan and went home teaching with a couple of Brothers until 4:00.   So it was another long day with alot of driving. Here's a bunch of photos just to look at. Sister Dansie is getting out of the car at the Gabaldon Branch who meets above the feed store. About 100 in attendance.

We're still struggling with Sister Dansie and BYU games.  The first game was played at 10:30 AM PHP time Sunday.  It's recorded on her Dish DVR but we don't have enough bandwidth in the evenings to get playback.  She's hoping that she can get a good stream later tonight or Monday Morning.  Please to not email her comments on the game until she's had a chance to view the recording :)

Until next time...

Mahal Ko Kayo

Elder and Sister Dansie

Oh My. The Week Went Fast.

The first part of the week was fairly routine with apartment inspections, repairs and meetings. Then we hit the Road Thursday for a marathon 3 day trip. 

Started thusday morning by doing some home teaching in Kalikid with Brother Nulud as our guide and translator. The visits took us into the homes of some faithful members. Everyone wanted to feed us with little chocolate cakes individually wrapped like Hostess ding dongs and also soda.. Coke and Orange.

Then we took a back road for one hour to Gabaldon to miss the traffic.  It passes through Fort Magesaysay army reservation and there were a bunch of troops in camouflage sneaking along the road.  People spread their rice out on the road to dry.  Yes dogs, chickens and motorcycles run over it.

We complete the inspection of the Gabaldon apartment and then went visiting with the missionaries to members and recent converts. First house was thatched roof, dirt floor covered with plastic table clothes for flooring. We were sitting in another partially finished home (concrete block, bamboo lattice windows, cloth doors and dirt floors when a big rain swept by. The rain on the tin roof was so loud that we could barely talk.

Then on to visit another delightful couple, the husband is a furniture maker. I toured his outdoor shop where everything was powered by a single table saw motor. His workmanship was incredible. They live in a Barangay (village) across the river.  For years they would ride a trike to the river, pay 20 pecos to ferry across the river in a rubber life raft, then trike to the church. 18 months ago a bridge was built but it washed out a couple months later in a storm.  The current bridge we drove across has been standing for about a year.

That night we found a one of a kind resort called Valley Breeze Resort by Gabaldon.  The owners started it as a family farm, home and guest house but so many relatives wanted to stay that they turned it into a business.  It's off season so we negotiated a great rate for a little villa with dinner and breakfast.  The service was incredible, like the Grand America and the facility would be probably rate a 4-5 stars (Filipino stars.) Total cost was about $70. For $10 more we could have had hot water and TV which is a rarity in Philippines. The Owner was a delightful lady. She is an RN and her husband a civil engineer who works in Micronesia most of the time.

Friday we drove to the ocean in Dingalon and checked out a couple a "hotels" in case we decide to stay sometime.  We decided we won't stay in Dingalon:) Then inspected the missionary house and took them to lunch.  In case you wonder, we are very careful about eating in the public markets and little restaurants.  Most, even the public market, have large 5 gallon jugs of purified water for their guests.  Not sure about how they clean their plates and silverware however.  We also select something that is cooked to order so we get it hot and steaming.  Of course that day we had rice for every meal. Typical is rice with crushed garlic on top.  We scrape of the garlic and enjoy the rice. What's funny is that there is no soy sauce in sight, only banana catsup.

Then we hurried back up the road to Bongabon.  Restrooms are virtually non existent in the rural towns. Everyone uses a bush or tree. So we arranged with the owner at Valley Breeze to let us stop for a pit stop as we passed by.

Bongabon was another amazing experience visiting with the missionaries. One of the stops the mother was home, dirt floors, cloth doors and windows. The street was filled with kids playing after school. Two large Americans cause quite a stir and we must have said hi and shook hands with 50 kids at least. Even having a 2012 corolla had curious kids looking in the windows like it was an auto show. Another visit took us down a small windy alley pasted several families.  While we were sitting in a gazebo talking to grandpa, a grandson brought in a calf and tied it to the pole next to us.  I'd love to take photos, but it seems inappropriate to photograph their privacy.

Basketball is the only national sport. No football. Not even soccer. There are hoops everywhere in fields and most are home made. This little boy was amazed that I made a lucky shot without knocking off the backboard.

After visiting we ran in a restaurant for dinner with the Missionaries. Within seconds the rain was coming down and blowing sideways.  We ate slowly until it subsided as our umbrellas were in the car a block away. Then we started down the street to the car and found the first 60 feet flooded.  The highly polluted gutters had overflowed and we had to walk through 5 inches of who knows what to get to the car.

It was super dark, raining and difficult driving.  The rural roads are still full of people walking, trikes with no lights and the farm tractors pulling a load home with no lights.  So we decided to try a hotel in Palayan.  It's a classic landmark for weddings and big events. The floors are polished.  Again it was off season and there were 5 people to help us to our room.  We were the third guest to register for the night.

Take a look at the photo and first glance it's impressive. But there were somebody elses cloths still in the closet.  The old flat screen TV didn't work. They said it had hot water but LouAnn couldn't make it work.  I finally found the flash water heater under the sink and turn it on but it was leaking so much that I turned it off.  Side note, all bathrooms are "wet bathrooms." There are usually a couple of floor drains and it's expected to always be wet from leaks, bucket showers and toilets that you flush by pour a bucket of water into them.  Notice the nice packet of amenities they gave us. Also no toilet seat. They knocked on the door after 10 minutes bringing us a roll of toilet paper. AC hummed pretty bad but took the humidity out of the air

Saturday morning we attended the Bongabon District (like a stake) Primary Birthday activity.  LouAnn gave a short speech with Translator. Preschool kids know very little english. Since very few people have cars, the branches arrived in Jeepnees and the entire branch primary along with young women, mothers and babies came as a group in one Jeepnee.  Reminds the Dansie Family of the Ford Van that we used to pack full of kids for a ride to primary.  The activity was fun.  Then we strolled the public market while we waited for the Palayan missionary to return home for their inspection.  

So we finally made it home saturday late afternoon and then ran down to Shakeys pizza at the other end of town just before they closed to order 8 pizzas for Monday Morning. We will pickup pizzas at 10:30 am and deliver them to San Jose for a Zone Party.  Google says 1 hour and 9 minutes on back roads to miss the traffic.

The first part of the week was 4-5 rain showers a day.  The humidity one night was super-satured so that the car windshield had to wipe the condensation constantly instead of the rain. I bucket washed the car saturday night because it was pretty dirty from the dirt roads we took.  Since the washing, it has had 4-5 rinses in the rain.

Sunday was just church and Elder Dansie worked on training workshop he's giving on Saturday at a priesthood leaders training.

So we'll see what this week brings.

Mahal Ka Kokita

Elder and Sister Dansie

Wrapping up a Fun Week in the Mission

It's "P" day here in the Philippines. "P" stand for preparation day where all the missionaries wash clothes, clean apartment, shop, fill out reports and email home.  This blog is our email home.

This is rainy season. It rains about 6-8 times a day. All the roofs are metal and so we can tell how hard the rain buy the noise.  Really hard rain drowns out even the window AC noise. (We'll never complain about the noisy AC at cheap motels anymore. We have 2 noisy ACs and appreciate them both)

For our P-Day we changed and washed sheets (will take 2 days to dry in the humidity,) straightened then Sister Dansie went shopping with 2 sister missionaries for skirts. When they couldn't find any appropriately long skirts they headed for a huge fabric warehouse and bought cloth. Next P day they will take it to a tailor who is a member to get them made. With the rain, lack of parking and traffic, buying fabric only took 3.5 hours.

We invited the local Zone leaders over for dinner since they will be departing soon but Elder Dansie didn't want to cook so we went to Yellow Cab pizza instead. It was P-day and Elder Fillmore's Birthday.

Last Sunday we attended the Palayan Branch for Church. What a wonder experience meeting the small congregation.  It's been a long time since there has been senior missionaries in this area and we were treated like royalty.  The chapel is being repainted and was spotless inside.  The members take great pride in their building.

Yesterday Sunday we attended the Kalikid Branch for Church. Another gracious ward with wonderful members. Again, we were treated very special and felt totally at home within minutes. Before we left, we had assignments to do Home/Visiting teaching to less active members and Sister Dansie assigned to give a talk at the district primary activity next saturday in Palayan.

We had an opportunity to go visiting with the young Elder missionaries one afternoon, attended a baptism for 2 converts, replaced the deadbolt on an apartment where 4 Sister missionaries live, buy and deliver an ironing board, rice cooker and other stuff to some Elders who just moved in and dealt with some accounting stuff. Friday we were scheduled to go visiting with missionaries in Bongabon but that was superseded with the rush trip to Dingalan to transfer a missionary to Tarlac. (see another blog)  Plus we smiled and talked to alot of people everywhere we went.

Last night (Sunday) we attended the Cabantuan Stake Institute/Young Single Adult fireside. Mission President Clark spoke.  We shook another 100 hands and made many new friends.

It was a fun week in the Mission. The Gospel is the same all over the world.

Elder and Sister Dansie

What Do Senior Missionaries Do?

Senior couple missionaries provide support to the mission, missionaries and wards. We do not proselyte.  Young missionaries work 16 hours a day studying, planning and proselyting.  Our assignment is "Member and Leader Support."  Here are some things we do:

Member Support

We are temporary members of the Palayan and Kalidid Branches. (A "branch" is a congregation that is too small to be a "ward.") We attend their Sunday meetings and other activities. All of the areas have very nice chapels.

Most of the residents understand english but prefer Tagalog when they speak. So Church meetings tend to start in English for our benefit but switch to Tagalog after a few sentences. We are picking up some Tagalog words but will not become proficient during our stay here..

We are also figuring out how to do some "home teaching" where we visit members in their homes. Since it's so difficult to find homes (addresses are not well defined) we accompany the missionaries and are trying to go with other members who know their way around. Palayan is 40 minutes drive and Kalikid 30 minutes from our apartment in Cabanatuan.

Both branches are part of the Palayan "District." (This kind of "district" is the forerunner of a"stake" and will become a stake once the membership and leadership builds.)  The Palayan Mission "Zone" is the same geography as the congregations. We support the missionary zone by attending their key events including baptisms.  We've become lifelong friends with the 10 young Elders assigned to the Palayan Zone. This photo was before "transfer day" and 2 missionaries have since changed. It's amazing being taught by these young Elders and hear their testimony of Jesus Christ and the work they are doing 16 hours a day.

We also attend our local Cabanatuan ward 3 and support their events. The Cabanatuan Stake is large with 4 chapels and 7 wards and we are meeting folks from the entire stake. They are all great people and receive us with big welcomes.

Missionary Apartments

We are starting to inspect and make small repairs in missionary apartments in Cabanatuan and Palayan Zones.  Sometimes the repairs are simple, like replace a broken fan. So we are getting to know where the best hardware stores are for replacement parts. Major repairs are the responsibility of the landlord.

Be Ambassadors for the Church

Whenever we go out in public, we wear our official missionary dress and name tags.  Being Caucasian, tall (large) and Sister Dansie's blonde hair is a curiosity, especially with the Children. Everyone we smile at returns the smile.  Children want to shake hands and talk.  We've helped several new to the area members find a ward and answered many questions about why we are here. Hopefully our presence is positive.

Support the Mission

We also support the mission office and zone leaders with mission needs, such as providing food for transfer day. (see another blog)

As you can guess our schedule varies from day to day. Being here helps us appreciate the blessings we receive every day.  We know that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are watching over us and all the missionaries every day. 

Love to all  (Mahal Ko Kayo)

Elder and Sister Dansie

A Typical Day in the Mission?

We had the day planned to visit members in Bongabon with the Elders when we receive an urgent message from Sister Clark. She doubles as the president's wife, nurse, hostess and everything else in the mission.  Her request:

Please go to Pharmacy and pickup some antibiotics for an Elder, then pickup the Elder (2 hours away) and get him back to Cabanatuan and on a bus so he could be in Tarlac (mission office) by dark where there is better healthcare. The quest was on.

We picked up the prescription and  headed to Dingalan...a beautiful seaside town just 60 miles away. But 60 miles in this country is 2+ hours passing at least 50 trikes, 50 slow moving vehicles and 20+ school zones. School zones are constructed in a way that it's impossible to speed through. 

The drive was beautiful in the rain and will be incredible next time in the sunshine. Charming Bryongys (little villages) all the way We had time for a quick lunch at the local public market and back to the bus station in Cabanatuan.  

Since Missionaries must be with a companion at all times, Elder Pulu had the privilege of riding back to Cabanatuan with us. In the meantime, his new transfer companion rode the bus from Tarlac. We arrived at the Cabanatuan bus station at 3:30 PM. Put one elder on the bus to Tarlac at 3:45 pm. Met the new companion getting off the bus from Tarlac at 3:55 pm and by 4:03 pm Elder Pulu and his new companion were on the last bus back to Dingalan. Unfortunately it was standing room only so they probably sat on the new companions suitcase in the aisles until someone got off. So while the Elders rode long bus rides, we went to Burger King for dinner. 

With the time difference, this all happened while you slept in the US.  

What did you do interesting today?

Getting Around in the Philippines

Public transportation is actually very efficient and convenient in the Philippines thanks to the private entrepreneurs that make it work.

Tricycles

Cabanatuan is the trike capital of the world.  Tricycles are usually 100 CC honda motorcycles with a side car bolted on.  Most have little cabs for small people to squeeze in. They carry plenty of rope and tie everything on the back rack and top. When the cab runs out of room, one or two riders sit side saddle on the motorcycle and two can stand on the bumpers in back.  Top speed is about 30 KPH so if you fell off, it's little more than walking speed.  Yes, on rural roads you pass them every chance you get--left or right, whatever works.

Jeepnees

Jeepnees are small buses than run regular routes to suburbs and clearly marked.  You jump on whenever on comes by and get off whenever you want.  Jeepnees travel the main roads about 500 feet apart so your wait is pretty short.  In town, most are privately owned and the owners get very creative with their designs and trim. Jeepnees were invented after WWII built upon the famous WWII jeep chassis. Many of them today look that old too. However, you don't mess with Jeepnees on the road. Jeepnee drivers are not polite :)

Buses

Larger buses make the longer runs to distance cities.  They come in 2 styles. Air Conditioned and non air conditioned.  Non AC costs less.  These buses typically leave from multiple terminals around the city.

Tractors

The rice farmers have a universal tractor that they use for everything. They may be out in the rice paddies plowing the muddy fields. An hour later they are pulling a cart on the highway transporting people and goods at 3 kph.  Licensing doesn't seem to be an issue on rural vehicles.

The Most Polite Drivers Anywhere.

In Cabanatuan there are only 2 intersections with stoplights even though the main road is the trans philippine highway.  1 of the 2 only works at night.  There are no rules, stop signs or lanes.  Everyone just goes. If you need to change lanes, just signal and the vehicle next to you (unless it's a jeepnee) usually holds back making a small opening. If you don't move into it, it will close in 2 seconds.  Same for left turns. Just signal, stop and within 30 seconds you can cut across 2-3 lanes of vehicles.  At first, it was formable driving. But now, it's pretty efficient.

Here's a video highlight of Sister Dansie's excellent driving from Walter Mart shopping center to our house about 3 Salt Lake blocks away.

Road Sizes

Most of the side roads were originally built for walking.  Trikes are OK but cars?  And many are dead end with no way to turn around. We've found more than one dead end already. This road leads to one of the Missionary apartments. They couldn't understand why we parked and walked instead of driving our Corolla to their house.

Our First Ride in a Tricycle

Today we decided to take a ride in a Tricycle.  Only problem is that these tricycles are built for people much smaller than us.  We asked the driver to take us to the SM Megamall which is .5 miles away from our house. 

Sister Dansie jumped in first.  I squashed in 2nd, half hanging out.  It was raining and so the driver had put on the plastic rain cocoon around us. Talk about claustrophobia combined with bent over, squish. The trikes squeeze through the traffic smoothly and so we were there in probably 6 long minutes.

Coming back, I jumped in first and LouAnn sort of sat on my lap. Still raining and wrapped with plastic.  I tried to shoot some video but all you can see is the inside and hearing us both groaning.

We'll try again on a non rainy day and probably take separate rides.  It's 10 PHP (pecos) per person so the cost for 2 rides will be the same....or 21 cents per person in US dollars.

Water, Water Everywhere!

This is rainy season in the Philippines.  Rain is the lifeblood of agriculture and so rain doesn't stop progress, it just slows everything down.  The tricycle drivers whip out plastic covers and the open air trikes become claustrophobic cocoons in seconds. Planters in the rice paddies get cooled down and a shower at the same time.

The storms are typically very heavy.  You can tell how heavy because of the tin roofs with no insulation underneath.  A heavy rain and it's difficult to talk inside.

Houses only have one tap.  Water.  It's not hot and not cold. It's just water. 

SHOWERS

The missionary apartments enjoy the cool water to shower----if they are lucky enough to have a shower head.  Most bathrooms are fully tiled with a shower area and a single tap to fill your bucket.  Those are called a "bucket" shower. 

Senior Missionaries have the luxury of a flash water heater on one shower. On a hot day, it's pleasant showering without any heat. 

Our shower has a divider on the floor to separate the shower from the rest of the bathroom.  It also has a pipe running through the divider next to the drain (dah.) So every shower also drains water into the other side.  Sister Dansie  invented a solution to adjust the shower curtain over the opening  and push it into the hole to plug it as you shower.

WATER TO DRINK

The cities do have an official water system. As for the sanitary sewer side of things, we don't want to know.)  The water is from wells and generally clean. But because of the unknowns, every missionary apartment is equipped with a 3 stage water filter. The filters are changed every 3 months even if they are not worn out.  We only drink bottled water or refill our bottles from our filter.  The restaurants in the malls all have water filters on their water. We always ask about filtered water and filtered ice before we drink it.

Sister Dansie's tip of the day:  Fill a water bottle 1/3 full and freeze it. When we head out, fill it the rest of the way and you have cold water for about an hour. We keep 8 bottles in the freezer since on a hot day we drink 4-8 bottles of water.

Making a House a Home!

We thought you would enjoy seeing a tour of our new home (middle unit.) But first we thank Elder & Sister Whiting (Office couple), zone leaders, missionaries and unknown helpers who worked to get it setup before we arrived. The logistics of buying appliances and getting internet installed took incredible effort. They spent many hot hours cleaning and preparing.  We now truly appreciate their efforts of making our  home comfortable for  us. 

Living Room: The mission crew brought a couch for the living room out of their storage but it was too big so they suggested that we find something.  It's so hot/humid that we don't plan on spending  much  time in the living room so we are not going beyond a couple of folding chairs.  Now that we are starting apartment inspections, the living room is turning into a store room with spare critical parts...such as a toilet seat, spare fan, etc. 

The Kitchen: Not exactly outfitted for big parties. We do have 6 chairs however so 4 can come for dinner. Elder Dansie purchased a one plate induction cook top to eliminate the heat of the propane stove burning. So between the microwave and the induction, we eat well. (Especially since the Malls have dozens of restaurants)

Laundry:  Behind the kitchen is a laundry and a 2nd bathroom.  The Laundry has high openings (no glass) with bars and mosquito screen.  All missionary apartments must be fully screened. It's not exactly a lanai instead more of a steam bath.  Between the washing machine and clothes drying on the clothes line, the humidity is intense.  Check out the story of our first day with the washer in another article.

The ceilings on the main floor are 10 feet so it's quit a climb upstairs but good exercise.

The Bedroom is air conditioned and comfy.

We turned the other room on the top floor into our office and installed another air conditioner and a reading chair. The chair is a folding chaise lounge because (1) had to fit in our Corolla and (2) had to carry up the narrow stairs:)

The most  tedious thing about living here is that you have to keep everything locked all the time. So every time we leave we have to unlock two padlocks, open both gates, back the car out then close and re-lock the gates.

We decided to put up more clothes line outside. Good idea huh? This is rainy season.  We hung some towels, left and they got a second rinse.  They were almost dry and it rained again and blew 2 on the  ground. 4 folding chairs make a great tent to dry sheets. So today we bought a small folding drying  rack for the laundry room to increase capacity  until rainy season is over.

Water: Houses only have one water tap. The  temperature is moderate. We heat water on our fast induction plate to rinse dishes. Senior Missionaries also get a flash hot water unit on their shower. Although with the temperature being so warm, a cool shower is delightful.

Our First Transfer Day

There are 21 missions in the Philippines.  We are assigned to the Angeles Philippines Mission, just north of Manila.  Our mission is divided into 20 geographical zones.  Each zone is supervised by two Elders called Zone Leaders. They are responsible for all of the missionaries within their zone. Missionaries always live and work with a companion of the same gender. 

Every 6 weeks, Mission President Clark changes some of the companionships. This gives missionaries an opportunity to work with new companions and in a new location. To make the logistics easier, all of the companionships effected by the transfers gather in Cabanatuan (east side of mission) or Tarlac (west side.) Missionaries cannot be or travel alone even during transfers. Therefore companionships assemble at the two gathering points.

(1) If the transfer is within that side, the companions meet up and head back to their areas back to work or (2) If the transfer crosses sides, the entire transfer group rides a bus between Tarlac>Cabanatuan or vice versa to meet up.  That bus ride takes from 1.5 to 2.5 hours.

So on transfer day, we arrived at the stake center around 8:00 am. Transfer is scheduled for 9:00 am. This photo is of the dedicated enthusiastic missionaries on the Cabanatuan side. Some of them started with 4 hour bus ride already to make the 9:00 am appointment. Others arrived the night before and sleep at the Zone leaders apartment (they have plenty of mattresses for the floor.)

A quick hymn, prayer, instruction and everyone is off.  Sometimes the parting is very emotional as deep friendships develop between companions working side by side.  About 20 Elders and Sisters were switching sides.  A contingency of Trikes stacked piled their bags high and off to the bus depot. The same event was happening at Tarlac Stake Center simultaneously.

Brother Allan of Ward 3 was watching over the bus loading and discovered one bag still on the ground after the bus left for Tarlac. He brought it back to the Stake Center where we were all waiting. We assemble a plan. Dansie's transferred it to Elder and Sister Pugh the following day. They live in the Camiling zone near the Elder.  24 hours later, the Elder had his bag again. Remember that everything you own is in 2 suitcases and shoulder bag. So losing a bag can a devastating. 

Our primary assignment was to have lunch ready for the 20 new arrivals plus their 20 waiting companions when the switching group arrived around noon. The buffet consisted of P&J sandwiches, Tuna Fish sandwiches, chips, cookies and bottled water.  Everything was popular as there was nothing left over. Bread in the Philippines is sliced thinner and smaller size than in America so one sandwich doesn't always fill you up. Those with long bus rides back to the areas could pack a spare to eat on the road. 

We started at 8:00 am and finished cleanup around 1:30 pm.  It was an incredible way being with so many Sisters and Elders during the transfer. The  Sisters and Elders radiate with a countenance that creates instant friendships.

First Day In Our New Home

Saturday morning was most interesting.  We loaded the little mini clothes washer but it wouldn't drain into the sink.  After reading the instructions, it has no water pump and so the drain hose must lay flat on the floor and let gravity do the draining. The "laundy" is in a little back screened open air room with tile floors (All floors are tile) and  a drain. The water is really soft so Sister Dansie found that even a little tide is too much tide.  Once we got it running, the local missionaries showed up to see how we were getting along.  Then we noticed that the washer had emptied but the floor drain wasn't working and so the back room had about 2 inches of soapy wash water.  The missionaries pitched in and while we were moving the washer into the 2nd bathroom, one of the missionaries worked the drain with a plunger for 5 minutes and go it flowing again. So the washing is solved.  We dry on a clothes line and bought a small drying rack in that back room.  The room has barred and screened windows so it's sort of open air all the time.

Bucket Showers

Later Elder Dansie was in the upstairs shower covered with soap and the water pressure dropped to zero.  Many of the missionary apartments have shower areas with a tap instead of a shower head---hence the term bucket shower.  Sister Dansie filled a bucket from downstairs and brought up so he could finish.  Fortunately the water pressure has been better since and not needed a bucket.

Mega Malls

In contrast to thousands of roadside stands selling anything and everything, there are four big malls in town.  Walter Mart, Robinsons, SM Megacenter and SM City.  SM is a huge chain built by the Chinese in most larger cities.  They are as nice as any mall around and include many restaurants and food. Quit a change from the tin shacks next door where many people live.

More AC

We decided to buy a second air conditioner and put in a weird hole in the wall in the 2nd upstairs room.  So now we have an AC bedroom and AC office, we are in heaven. That and buying several hooks, bins and cheap shelving and we finally are settled in. In another blog we'll give you a tour of the house and it's wonderful features.

 

 

Day 4: Cabanatuan We're Here

We grabbed our little Toyota Corolla at the Mission office and headed for Cabanatuan where we will be living. Cabanatuan is a sizable city on the east side of the mission and acts as the gathering point for the rural areas to the east.  Elder and Sister Whiting (Mission office couple) lead the way in their car.

When we arrived President and Sister Clark drove to Cabanatuan and hosted a great dinner for us and the leadership of the Bongabon District where we are going to spend much of our time. President Clark lead the way from the stake center, took a wrong turn down a one way street and soon our little caravan of three cars was totally gridlocked by tricycles and motorcycles and unhappy Filipinos pointing the other way.  

But we did make the restaurant and the food sampled about 8 items including rice:)  My favorite was the squid. LouAnn (Sister Dansie) liked the sweet and sour fish best. After dinner the Clarks and Whittings had an almost 2 hour drive back to Tarlac in the dark.  Dark roads include people walking, tricycles with no tailights, dogs and more so night driving is not fun.
 

We spent our first night in the townhouse we will call home for many months. It will only take a few days and we'll make the house our home.

Day 2: Orientation in Tarlac

When we slowly left Manila, the driver jumped on a Japanese built toll road and we cruised at 90 kph towards Tarlac.  What a delight until we got off.  The main road through every large town is chaos. There are no rules, but everyone is polite.  Tarlac doesn't have any functioning  traffic lights and no stop signs so when there is a cross road it's an amazing feat of weaving cars, Jeepnees (little buses) motor cycles and tricycles (Motorcycles with sidecars.)  We spent two nights as President and Sister Clarks guests at the Mission Home.  It's going to be a great experience under their leadership here in the mission.  During the day we received orientation at the mission office plus sat in on several training  meetings with missionaries.  Then we headed to our assignment in Cabanatuan.