Missions can be really fun!

Now you may be wondering if we are just on vacation when you see some of these pictures but I assure you that Elder Anderson would not wear a white shirt & tie if we were; however, we have the opportunity to drive the coastal national highway the entire length of the mission on Negros Oriental one to two times each week as we attend zone meetings and district meetings and fix apartments & secure apartments & houses for incoming missionaries as well as attend sacrament meetings each Sunday in a different branch.  On one of our trips back to our home from a zone meeting in Siaton, we saw a boy leading this carabao down the national highway.  We immediately stopped as we are so interested in their lifestyle & how they live plus those who know Elder A very well knows how he loves animals!!  We asked the young boy if Elder A could sit on the carabao's back - the entire neighborhood came out to watch & laugh.  I do not think they spoke much English as there was a lot of gesturing going on but they nodded yes so Elder A crawled up for a picture.  We then tried to visit for a minute with the people but the language was a barrier.  I held the babies which immediately makes others feel like we are ok people.

The Filipino people love basketball - there are basketball courts in every town - some more elaborate than others so we are never surprised to find a court.  I posted this one so my sons could appreciate the work that was done to prepare it.  If you notice it has been dug out carefully so the court itself is very flat and relatively level for a dirt court.
The goal posts and the fence are all made of
bamboo.  This was just so classic with the laundry on the fence & the carabao cooling in a mudhole.  This was really unique because it was just along the road with no houses around.  In the background are the mountains and between the court and the mountains is farmland.

The wave of missionaries continues - the Cebu mission was split in July with about 130 missionaries here when we arrived in August.  We are expecting 60 in the next two transfers and only losing 15 over those transfers.  That gives us an additional 45 missionaries in the next 12 weeks who are assigned by Pres. Schmutz and if they are assigned to Negros Oriental island we have the responsibility to find them a house & make certain it has everything in it to survive.

Most of the homes come furnished which means a table & chairs to eat on, maybe a bed, and a couple of chairs in the living room.  No hot water or ac.  The mission has created a list of necessary items, such as a 6 cubic foot fridge, a two burner gas stove (no oven), a couple of fans, beds, etc.  I have done more shopping within the past 6 weeks than ever before in my life.  I am finally starting to think in pesos rather than dollars and not freak out when a fridge costs 11,500 pesos!!  Even Elder Anderson does not complain about the shopping.  We now know where most of the deals are & people seem excited when we show up to shop - they know we are going to spend a lot of money.

This picture does not do justice to what was happening.  The truck is loaded to the gills and we have one more mattress to get in - they are pushing with all of their might with the sweat literally pouring off of them especially Elder Anderson.

We know that this phase of the mission won't last forever but we also know how important it is for these young elders and sisters who mostly have never lived away from home to have a place that is clean, comfortable, and has some of the conveniences of life as they have known it.

I am going to include a few random pics just for fun!!

2 isolated homes along the national highway

The carabao Elder Anderson sat on - my skirt wasn't going to let that happen so I took a pic with the family instead.

Nuns in a boat - one of the attractions along the boulevard on the sea in Dumaguette.

A very loaded Jeepney.  The guy standing on just been standing on the side.  We road one from Dumaguette to Valencia for 12 pesos each.  (44 pesos = $1)  It is about a 20 minute drive.

The Beauty of Being Lost

While trying to find our way home one late afternoon, anxious to be getting home earlier than usual, we got lost.  We knew we were driving in the right direction but kept going to a higher & higher altitude soon to be between two mountains and it is starting to get dusk.  Asking for directions and being told, "Yes this is Valencia!"was not creating a happiness within me.  Finally, we were stopped at a checkpoint (one of the few places you will see policemen) and he waved us back the way we had come with a "Not far!  Not far!" waving his hands to go toward the right.  I just want to share a few pics of what we encountered on our way to being lost.  
We see these caribou tied all along the roads but this is the first we saw with a baby.  They seem to be extremely healthy grazing on the lush grasses.                                                                          

 We had just seen a group of school kids crossing this bridge and tried to get their picture but they were too quick.  This river is flowing pretty quickly - I thought it was quite scary going out on it & certainly didn't go all the way across.

 We didn't quite know we were lost when we stopped to take this picture.  It was just such a beautiful river that we couldn't resist taking a few moments to enjoy it's tranquility.

After we passed the mountainous cliff above we saw signs that said watch out for the steam.   A woman in this family of 5 on a motorcycle lost her shoe just as we were entering the steam.  We stopped for her shoe & I snapped a pic of them and the steam.  This is naturally occurring and produces the electricity for the island of Negros as well as for most of Cebu.  A fascinating phenomena.

A large dump that doubles as a school bus - they were so excited that we took their picture.

 Couldn't resist including including the mud bathing caribou mom with her baby.  It was funny watching her plop down to roll in the mud.

We Hit the Road Running!!

We had grand plans about how to begin our experience here in Valencia - the place to be our home for the next 17 1/2 months but like we had learned in the MTC, flexibility is the key to being successful missionaries.  Our plan had been to get our things (what few clothes we had brought) hung up, get the lay of the land, stock our cabinets and fridge that is only 6 cubic feet, meet the missionaries and then begin work.  Getting the lay of the land was not easy at first as most streets are not marked and directions are given by waving one's hand in the general direction of where you want to be with them stating, "Not far, not far!  That way, that way!"  It took us a few days to be on time to the Dumaguete church buildings for the various meetings we attended and now we are able to take short cuts, recognize landmarks, and sometimes find the "Not far!"
We have now been here two weeks, experienced one transfer, attended baptisms, and I have had the opportunity to assist the sisters with a service project for a sister who needed her laundry done and by that I mean hand washed in a tub outside.  The young Pilipina sisters have done this their whole lives so they were adept - by the time we were finished with the washing my knuckles were bleeding from the abrasive soap and the scrubbing.  Each piece is then rinsed 5 times.  The elders and sisters here do their own laundry in this manner except for the few who have washers in their apartments.  (I know of one who has a nice washer and another who has one that is filled for the washing and refilled a couple of times for the drying).  Clothes are hung, draped on lines and fences along the road, between houses or anywhere they can be dried.  The sister we served was expecting her 7th baby and I was privileged to take a pic with her little boy when he awoke from his nap.

The first week we were here was spent trying to fix as many problems with the young missionaries' houses as we could get to and just trying to meet as many as possible.  Most days we were gone from home about 10 hours and so tired when we returned we sometimes were in bed by 8:30.  This is probably the time I should talk about the traffic.  For those who know us well, you know that I have always been the driver of our family and while we both got our Pilipino driver's licenses, I choose for Elder Anderson to drive.  It is very stressful and exhausting for both of us and I am doing my best to not be  too "white-knuckled" all the time.  I am not sure why they paint any lines in the streets as no one seems to understand that they divide the traffic.  Motorcycles, tricycles (a motorcycle with a covered side car), jeepneys, cars, trucks, large buses, semis all ignore the lines while pedestrians, including small children, walk along the side of the road with no apparent concern for the traffic.  Much of the time at night vehicles drive with no headlights.  IT IS TERRIFYING!!

Did I mention that there are no stop signs at the intersections?  The principle here is to go with the flow which somehow works.
Elder Anderson and I had our first ride on a tricycle and jeepney as we loaned our truck to a zone leader so they could more easily make transfers to and from the ferry late at night.  Quite the experience.


Our second Sunday here was district(stake) conference which was incredibly wonderful.  The chapel and cultural hall were packed including the stage.  The church is the same worldwide except for the air conditioning.  In the district building there is AC in the chapel & cultural hall which works well but the rest of the building is not.
We had Elder Pajarro from Manilla, a 70 who is the area President, I think, came with his wife.  They were both great speakers & teachers.  Equally as important was the opportunity to hear from Pres. and Sister Schmutz on a couple of occasions that weekend - we had some new missionary training on Friday followed by conference on Saturday & Sunday - a sweet tender mercy to be taught by our President that all love so much and now we were given the opportunity to come to love him & his wife as well.  They are incredible people who love the Lord and are helping these young missionaries to come closer to our Savior.
A word about the music - two branches were assigned to sing Saturday nite and there was a district choir on Sunday- absolutely beautiful.  They all wear matching something.  The brethren all have the same tie while the sisters either have matching scarves or blouses.  The Spirit was strong and they sang from memory.  There were 54 in the district choir.
Because the mission for us now is so much fixing and repairing and because it is difficult for us to always find what we need such as new refrigerator shelves, we have felt the hand of the Lord directing us with ideas & trashed materials that we can use to create some of the things we need.  We are seeing miracles daily as we watch these young missionaries and visit with their new converts & investigators.  We are truly blessed to be here.