On the Road  

We love these people!  They live in the most humble circumstances but are happy and hard working.  This was at a Family

Home Evening where it seemed the  whole neighborhood was invited!          

                                          Playing games are a big hit!  


Most are farmers and raise either feed corn or rice.  They are up before dawn to work when it is a little cooler.They plow behind caribou, their huge ox, through deep mud.  

They also have a sort of hand tractor called a kuliglig they use to plow their fields. It's kind of like a tiller but with really long handles.  They can also attach a trailer to it and it becomes transportation.  These are commonly seen on the roads where there are farms.  Many of our members ride to church on them.

The corn was being harvested when we arrived the first of May.  It took a few weeks to complete during which they harvest the corn, husk it, and then take the corn off the cob by hand.  They dry it on any piece of concrete they can spread it.  The side of the road works.  It is disconcerting to have to drive over the layers of drying corn kernels, but there is nothing else to do when there is crazy traffic.  Then they sweep it up into bags and hall them to market.  Since then the new crop has been planted and is already 3 or 4 feet high.  So much of the work is done by hand!  Most don’t own their land so profits go to landowners leaving small amounts for the farmers.

These are a crop of sunflowers with heads bowed.  Not sunny day!

We don’t have rice farmers here in Gamu but there are rice fields not too far away.  Those fields have just been planted in the last week or so and planting is still going on.  The fields are smaller rectangles, or terraces, bordered by mud edges to hold in the water.  The rice plants are hand planted as it has been done for centuries.  It is an amazing picture to see the rows of beautiful green fields being planted. It is backbreaking work done by men and women.   Sometimes they plant later in the day under umbrellas clustered together. 

This one has some terraces along the contours of the land.

This is more commonly seen in the flat lands around us.  Here they are, planting each plant by hand!

We took these pictures in the southern part of the mission near Solano.  This is higher country with hills and mountains surrounding valleys. 

Those little tufts out there are 

seedlings ready to be planted.

The reason why we were driving through this beautiful valley is we spoke at a Youth Conference at Banaue Resort. We had quite the adventure getting there having never been before. It's about 3 and a half hours from Gamu and part way there a big truck got stuck on the highway blocking both directions of traffic.  As usual everyone began "filling in the blanks" until it was just a big parking lot! Some cars and tricees seemed to be getting through so we followed one to a little dirt side road that took us over a narrow bridge and back out to the highway.  A huge bus was trying to take this little detour but we waved them back. No Way!! We got back to the highway where all the northbound traffic are waiting. Everyone is trying to pull as far to the side to make room for a flatbed truck with a back hoe to pull the truck out of the way.  Amazingly it finally got through with inches to spare!  We grabbed the opportunity immediately to head south before the corridor he had created filled in and with little traffic made great time arriving 10 minutes early instead of hours late for the concluding devotional we were to speak at!
It was a small miracle!

Our camera wasn't in focus sadly, but you can still get the idea.

Here are some of the vehicles you drive with when on the road. Tricees are motorcycles with a side car.  They hold people, inside, on the back of the motorcycle, even on top.  We wonder how their skinny tires and small axles handle the load!  Out on the highway they go about half the speed of larger vehicles so you have to go around them.  You signal, toot your horn, check all your mirrors for anyone else having the same idea, then hit the gas and go around.  Usually everyone is keeping an eye out and slows down a little or defers to the larger vehicle. Driving down the shoulder is common. 

In the city tricees rule.  They move constantly all around you like a school of fish.  This is a u-turn in Cauayan by the palengke (market). 3 lanes of tricees turn all at once.  The method of driving is you just start turning gradually into traffic and the vehicles eventually give way.
Besides tricees there are jeepneys on the road.  These are World War II jeep transport vehicles that have been "upgraded" and as you see decorated!  They are personalized like the tricees who also have names on them.

                                                 "Spider Man"












"Super Man"

People in other areas raise food crops to sell at the market called a palengke.  Here you can buy rice, eggs, potatoes, onions, apples, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbages, peppers, squash, jicama which they call sicama, carrots, green beans (they have one called sitaw that is more than a foot long), eggplant, their kind of sweet potato, grapes, . . . . .

 The bananas are amazing and taste delicious even when they look over ripe.  The pineapple is so juicy and sweet!  It is in season right now and we love it!  Mangoes are so sweet and soft. . . m,m,m,m. 

 Pretty good looking rooster and doesn't he know it!

Here are the various grades of rice you can buy.

   There is also “fresh” meat at the palengke which we don’t buy.   There are also tons of shops that have household items, clothes, you can get a haircut (scary!)  It’s a real bazaar!

Another trip to the Southern part of the mission which is a province called Nueva Viscaya.  The mountain valleys were so beautiful and the winding road going up a little exciting with big buses and trucks climbing up and speeding down.  There are villages along the road where people have hoses running and trucks stop by the side to wash their trucks.  I saw a little naked boy taking a morning bath at the hose.

We bought a few pineapples here

I had to take this picture.  It's a little nursery where the sign says "Forest for sale". 

 We also traveled to the Northern most part of the mission to Tuguegarao the largest city.  There are many more tricees here.  They are definitely king of the road in this city.  We learned that this is the hottest city in the Philippines!  We live in the hottest mission in the Philippines!  That was not what we were expecting, but it is true!  
Again, the road trip was spectacular with mountains in the background and beautiful green fields  and trees everywhere you looked.

First Two Weeks in Philippines:

We left from SLC airport about 7:00 pm on a Monday night April 30^th, and flew to LA where we experienced a five hour layover and we then flew to Hong Kong which was about a 14 to 15 hour flight.  We had a layover in Hong Kong for about two hours and then we flew into Manila.  In total about 20 to 25 hours of travel.  We were driven to a little hotel late that afternoon where we crashed from jet lag and had a meal.  We enjoyed our traveling companions, Elder and Sister Gottfredson,  a senior couple also from Salt Lake traveling to our same mission.  The next morning we were picked up early in order to get our driver’s license processed. . .a very interesting experience.  We were given an eye exam and blood pressure test.  They took our urine specimen in an unusual manner.  We paid money at five different locations.  Finally we were licensed to drive in the Philippines! (We are grateful we don’t have to drive in Manila!)

Getting fingerprinted etc. for our driver's license

 The Manila Temple is across the street from
the Manila MTC and the mission offices there
in Quezon City.

The intense rays of the sun and the high humidity were daunting.  In the afternoon we were able to visit a newly dedicated MTC center immediately across from the Manila temple.  President Taylor, the MTC president, gave us a very nice tour.  Turns out he was an old school mate of Mignon.  We then went across the street and participated in some initiatory work and an endowment session.  It would be our last temple visit for two years.  I received some strong impressions that our mission president would be inspired in our assignment and that we would have some help in the language.  The temple is beautiful, but small.  We were the only Caucasians on the session.  It was a tender experience.

We went to the hotel to sleep and woke up in the morning to catch our flight to Cauayan, our mission head quarters. I sat next to a young Philippino man on the plane that was also going to Cauayan.  He had been married for just a year and just had a little baby.  He gave me phone and address info in order to have missionaries deliver a Book of Mormon to him. 

 Waiting for us at the Cauayan Airport was an enthusiastic welcoming group consisting of President and Sister Carlos, 3 other senior missionary couples and the APs.  They were kind, enthusiastic and welcoming. 

Sister Carlos taking a picture of me taking her picture.
They had been waiting in the heat for over 30 minutes to greet us!

Elder & Sister Laker and Elder & Sister Shaner

 We went to the mission home and spent some time with the President and his wife and the other senior couples getting better acquainted.  

Elder and Sister Russell.  They leave us in July to go home.

We enjoyed a delicious meal and then President Carlos took time to interview each of the two new couples and give them our assignments.  Mignon and I were deeply touched at the spiritual sensitivity and power of this interview.  As he explained his philosophy of missionary work, Mignon and I smiled with a few tears in our eyes for it was all about change of heart and coming unto Christ.  It was clear that the assignment that he gave us was not the original he had intended.  He explained as he looked into our eyes that he felt impressed to have us serve in a little branch called Gamu.  It had really been struggling, possibly the weakest in the mission.  After helping the saints in Gamu, he wanted us to expand our efforts to their district, Burgos, which was possibly the weakest district. 

President and Sister Carlos have taken care of us since we first received our call through emails, skype,
and now with their arms around us.  We love them!

We were staying in the mission home that night since our little cottage was not yet fully completed.  We stayed in the GA bedroom (the guest room they put General Authorities in when they visit).  As we prepared to move into our little cottage, we found out that we had been issued a defective debit card which was to be our source of obtaining access to our funds.  President Carlos was kind enough to allow us to obtain an advance from the office while we worked this problem out.  It took about a week and a half before it arrived even with our son Craig rushing the process through. 

Our little cottage in Gamu is in the midst of a farming community.  Most of the residents work in the fields raising corn and rice.  We live in a little walled compound with our landlord, Ray, his wife Josie, and their 8 year old daughter, Jade.  Ray is from the UK and his wife from the Philippines.  Inside our compound there are several families of chickens that are following around by their little chicks.  There are in the neighborhood ducks, goats, dogs, cats, pigs, and  many large water buffalo that are use to pull carts and plow the fields.  If you thought a cow pie was big it is nothing compared to a water buffalo dropping.  They are huge! 

Our little cottage is very nice.  We have a little living room, a large kitchen, a bathroom with a shower, and a good sized bedroom.  It is better than we would have anticipated.  

 

 Don't you like our kitchen? That's the water
purification system hooked to the sink
faucet.  Our little gas stove/oven works on
propane.  I am trying to get used to baking
at this altitude with gas and only getting top 
or bottom heat, not at the same time, so 
uneven. 

           

The bathroom is great and spacious, but no
electrical plugs so I have to dry and style
my hair in the kitchen!

After 2 weeks we finally got our bookshelf, coffee table
and end table to complete our living room

The all purpose bedroom/ office (the room with the aircon)

We aren't kidding about creativity in getting
internet access!

Our next challenge was internet access.  This is the main reason that we have been so slow in updating you.  After much pain and suffering, investigating all avenues, we have access that most of the time is adequate.  




We are stared at wherever we go.  We have found that roosters do not wait until sunrise to crow but rather begin about 2:20 am.  The pigs begin a little later and the dogs seem to communicate whenever they want.

We moved in late Saturday night so we could attend our little Gamu branch in the morning.  The next Sunday morning Mignon went into a very small primary room that had about 25 children in it.  The primary president had to work in the fields  because of the corn harvest and they had no teachers.  Mignon brought in a little extra key board that they had and did music.  She was great.  I could hear loud children’s voices singing primary songs in English all the way in Gospel doctrine.  Mignon looked like she had taken a sauna when she came out. The building is a beautiful new chapel without air conditioning.  I was asked to give the opening prayer in gospel doctrine.  This branch does not understand English.  I am glad they kept their heads bowed as I glanced at a few prayer phrases that we had learned in the MTC.  We were asked to go up and bear our testimonies since we were new to the branch.  Again, we referred to a simple testimony that we had learned in the MTC.  We loved the spirit in this little branch.  We knew that we were exactly where the Lord wanted us to be. 

Gamu Chapel

After the block of meetings we attended a two hour branch council meeting.  After this meeting the missionaries asked if they could join us for dinner.  I told them that would be fine if they were ok with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  After dinner we went out visiting less actives with the missionaries.  The heat and humidity is incredible.

That evening we drove about 45 minutes to the mission home where we have a weekly meeting with the mission president, his wife, and the other couple missionaries.  We had a wonderful meal for this one and then shared and coordinated.  We were invited to be the concluding speakers for a devotional at one of the stakes at the conclusion of a 3 day youth conferences.  It was to be a one hour speaking assignment at the conclusion of their testimony meeting.  We were told to expect about 150 youth.  It turned out to be a tender experience after a little stressful preparation. 

We have done a lot of visiting of less actives with our missionaries.  The elders are amazing.  They are extremely hardworking and very effective at helping individuals experience a change of heart through the Book of Mormon.  Mignon and I feel like little babies due to the language constraint.  I hope it will come sooner rather than later.  Our mission president assures us that the language of the spirit and love will compensate for our weakness in the language. 

Monday night we participated in a family home evening in the home of a partially active and partially inactive family.  It was a very humble little home with one light bulb in the house and a concrete floor.  We prayed, we sang, a lesson was given, we played and we ate.  In the Philippines you do not just have refreshments rather they prepare a meal.  Neighbors feel comfortable dropping in.  I had to be careful not to look too distracted as three little lizards kept darting after each other on the ceiling.

Saturday we participated in a branch mission day.  We met at the branch at 10:00 am after which the missionaries provided training as to what might be said at the homes of the less active that we were to visit.  They taught that we were not to focus on inviting them to come back to church rather we were to remind them of the Gospel and what they had felt when they joined the church.  After the training we again had a meal together.  A very interesting experience.  Rice was prepared.  Mignon brought a shrimp pasta salad.  A number of the members expressed that they had never tasted shrimp before.  We are in an inland city.  One individual brought half dozen fish that he had caught.  They were put into water with the heads on and boiled.  The broth from the boiled fish was poured on to the rice and some drank the broth.  We learn two things from this branch meal.  Bring your own utensils and get to the front of the line.  Individuals were eating from everything from cups to dish covers and were sharing from the same vessel.  You eat with your fingers which is a little uncomfortable without a napkin handy.  

Overall it was a wonderful activity.  Our area consists of three little township which are separated with some distance.  We were divided into three groups.  Each group had some teenagers, a member of the Relief Society Presidency, and another couple of members.  We were given specific less actives to contact and teach the gospel.  Each group was assigned about five families.  We left about 1:00 pm and were asked to report back at the church at 5:00 pm.  The sun was scorching and the humidity was very high.  I was astonished at the perseverance and fortitude of these members and missionaries.  It was so hot that Mignon asked to be taken home to get some relief from the sun after visiting several hours.  We bore testimony and read passages from the Book of Mormon.  We prayed.  I could see the spirit working already on less actives that we had visited just a few days prior.  These humble Philippino people seem to have a natural inclination to feel the spirit and understand quickly their relationship to Jesus Christ.  They comprehend quickly a change of heart.  Some live far from the meeting house and have money to just provide food for themselves from day to day.  I do not think I have seen harder working missionaries or members anywhere.  It took all our strength to try to keep up with them.  

A tall American Elder from Utah riding the Jeepney to district meeting.

Our Gamu elders, Elder Needs and Elder Ballentos

We did enjoy some district meetings with missionaries and our first fireside for departing missionaries and our first change meeting for new assignments.  I will share these experiences in our next blog.  We love the people, the missionaries, and our mission president already.  We literally crash at night from fatigue, but it is a good feeling.