Thursday, June 19, 2014

Boys will be boys wherever they live!!

 It doesn't matter where you live, you can find little naked boys playing in water.  And it always brings a smile to our faces.  This first little guy is one of our grandsons in his backyard in Oklahoma where sometimes playing in the water is the only way to cool off.
Look at that smile enjoying himself staying cool!!!
Love this boy!


These next two pics were taken on our way home after a long, hot day of working with sweat pouring off of us - our clothes were damp with the constant perspiration.  We wanted to join in their fun to cool off.
Don't know what the other two are waiting on!!  

And he is readying himself for the plunge!!

Boys will definitely be boys wher'er  they live!!!!

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Bringing in the sheaves takes on new meaning.

Sugar cane and rice seem to be the industry on this part of Negros island.  Everywhere we drive the fields are either in the process of being planted, growing, burning or being harvested.  As we have watched this process it brings new meaning to "bringing in the sheaves" and it's application to missionary work.  At the crack of dawn, many men, with machetes in hand, converge upon the cane fields to be harvested where they first cut the cane, then strip the cane of the green part of the plant, bundle it and walk it up very small ladders into the semi cane trucks.  It looks to be exhausting work as they handle the cane one by one. 
Sugar cane harvest 

Notice the small ladder and the load of cane he is carrying on his shoulder.
Some use their carabou with a handmade trailer to haul to the semi

There are a few tractors here used in the harvest for hauling.
It is over 100 F. here - notice the kinds of clothes they are wearing.

As you might imagine it gets quite hot here with the sun blistering down on them.  Most wear long sleeves with t-shirts tied on their heads to protect them from the sun.  They even make shelters to protect them from the sun during their lunch hour and break time.
Cane shelters from the sun.  Notice the man sleeping under the one with the shirt hanging for additional shade.
And sometimes the trucks stack the harvest too high, go too fast, and fail to use the side of the road that is flat!  Luckily
no one was hurt but the wind shield was gone and it took hours to reload the cane costing all of the workers time not paid.
The elders say they see this frequently!


 As a child raised in the Baptist church, one of my favorite songs was "Bringing in the sheaves".
Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness,
Sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve;
Waiting for the harvest, and the time of reaping,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.
      Refrain:
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves,
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.
Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows,
Fearing neither clouds nor winter’s chilling breeze;
By and by the harvest, and the labor ended,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.
      Refrain
Going forth with weeping, sowing for the Master
Though the loss sustained our spirit often grieves;
When our weeping’s over, He will bid us welcome,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.
Refrain

 As we serve here in a land "white already to harvest" we are seeing the sheaves literally and figuratively being harvested.  What a blessing to serve in such a country as this where the elect are ready and waiting to hear about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and where we are witnessing this marvelous harvest.
Look at all of the missionaries supporting Sister A. at her baptism.

Siquijor island baptism in the ocean.  What a treat.  We actually could hardly witness it - low tide so they were
way out there.  Some brave soul carried his camera out to get this picture.

This brother and his wife are deaf and were taught by our sister missionaries as well as ASL missionaries
serving in Washington DC.  A recent convert, Brother D., helped us learn to teach him using text
and the ipad when the skype with the ASL missionaries didn't work.  What a blessing to be part of.











Transferred? Seniors don't get transfers

Just as we were getting comfortable and making lots of friends in the Dumaguete District, our mission was expanded to serve two districts north on the same island, Negros, which are Cebuano speaking.  Don't know why exactly the districts were assigned to our mission  - the previous mission, Bacolod, is an Ilongo speaking mission  and their missionaries had to learn another language when they served here.  But we are excited to serve in this part of the Lord's vineyard that looks like a National Geographic documentary!!
We have 38 missionaries here serving in two zones.  
The area is much more "bukid" or mountainous than our area in Dumaguete although some of that is bukid as well.
We have elders serving and living up in the mountains.  One companionship lives in the house where the church meets - the living area is where sacrament is held.  The elders live upstairs and only use the downstairs for the kitchen and comfort room.  It is a beautiful place and much cooler temperatures at that altitude.  These first three pics are from that area called Cabangtasang.
Area where the elders took us to meet members and teach investigators very near their home.

Caribou on rice terraces at Cabangtasang

Flooded rice terraces.
The rice terraces are hundreds of years old here.  We see them drying the rice on tarps laying along the road.



Parade on our way home from working in Cabangtasang.
 These next pictures are from another mountainous branch called Macasilao where the branch meets under these canopies.  The benches are made from long lengths of very straight bamboo.  Really quite comfortable.  The Sunday we attended this branch the attendance totaled 98.  Amazing!!
The elders do not live on this mountain due to no phone service - they live in a nearby town near the beach but travel daily on hable-hable (only transportation available) to work their area.  Their hours are 8 am to 5 pm with their studies in the evening.  They carry all of their food and water with them for the day.  They love this area.


Many sat under the shade of the tree and in an area in front of the house on the right with bamboo seats.

One of the cute sights we see while traveling throughout our area.  The boy was on the carabou as well but when he saw me hop out to take the picture, he jumped off and smiled!


Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Hospital experience - hope it's the only one!!

One of our Elders had abdominal pain with difficulty urinating and called our mission president’s wife, which is the protocol here. The next day the mission doc, who lives in Manilla, began treatment for a urinary tract infection.  WE had zone interview training just a few days after and the Elder didn't look very good but had just begun the meds.  Two days later he looked even worse according to the mission president’s wife who was in town with the president for interviews.  He went to the best hospital here called Silliman founded by an American many years ago.  It is also a University - very well known in the Philippines.  Elder had a ruptured appendix which had been encapsulated by his bowel to contain all of the infection (pus).  They opened him from his rib cage down to his pubic bone.  Surgery started at midnight and lasted a couple of hours.  We heard about it Sunday morning and rushed there after church to find him in a ward of 8 other people, a man whose face had been traumatized by some kind of hook while he was drunk, small children with high fevers, an old woman coughing up nasty stuff, and others who were extremely sick.  No AC so all were lying there without covers and only partially dressed.   It looked like a scene from an old movie. Families surrounded the beds and missionaries surrounded Elder’s bed.  His companion, a Tongan from Australia who is brand new, was staying with him that night.  He said he didn't dare sleep when he saw a 14 inch rat (sure he was exaggerating!) slither out of the food cart and another running along the floor against the wall.   The nurses go from patient to patient and rarely washing their hands.  Mission rules are that we only have private rooms but none were available until the next morning.
Elder Anderson and I spent several hours each day with him sometimes spelling the elders for a few hours so they could get some work done.  They loved showering in the private room since it had hot water!!  The private room was clean with an excellent bathroom (or comfort room as it is called in the Philippines), had a hard chair and a small hard bed for the elders to sleep on. 

 Let me list just a few of the interesting things different from what we are accustomed:
    no silverware on food trays – it was given upon check-in and had to be washed by the patient or family after each meal.
    no water delivered to the room daily
    we received a daily hand written prescription for the meds for the day and had to go purchase them each morning ourselves.  If we didn't get it done, the meds were not given.  The hospital pharmacy had only a few of the meds – Elder Anderson went outside the hospital to a local pharmacy or two daily to pick up others paying the 6000-9000 pesos in cash, usually, to obtain them.
    glass IV bottles
    IV tubing never changed until I requested it - (demanded may be the more appropriate term since they didn't seem to respond quickly to this request)
    IV site not changed, even though I requested, until his fever spiked and the doctor thought it might be the cause of new infection.  (It wasn't but sites should be changed every 3 days)
    Elder was not gotten out of bed by staff and we were told he was to stay in bed.  Elder A and I got him up each day and they were horrified that we walked him down the hall.  It caused a real stir at the nurses's station.  When his fever spiked, the dr. said it was the third day so he should probably get out of bed more - that he had ordered it but the nursing staff said he had been refusing to get up.  I very nicely said, "He doesn't refuse anything!  He is so good to do whatever is asked.  We have had him out of bed while we are here."
    The IV pump is the first pump I ever used almost 40 years ago.
    Nursing staff only does what they are in the orders written by the doctors.  Certainly are not encouraged to think and act for themselves. 
    Intake and Output not measured even though the docs were concerned about his urine output once the catheter came out.
    On the final bill which must be settled prior to leaving, we noticed they charged for the ice used in the ice pack, for a gown change after he soaked it with sweat when his fever broke, change of pillow case, any gloves used (they didn't use gloves to change his dressing or empty the drain that was inserted into his abdomen.)
    hospital bed was manual - had to turn a lever at the foot of the bed to raise and lower his head.
    no call button for the nurses station
    major surgery and a week in the hospital cost about $4,000 US.  What would that have cost had it been in the US?

This list could go on and on.  It was a blessing that we could be there to get the meds, walk him and just offer support.  The drs. were both very nice and when the decision was made to send him to Manilla for recovery (the church has a medical recuperation center there) upon his discharge, one of the docs said he was flying there on Sunday and would escort him if we could get the ticket.  We did and the doc met us at the entrance to the passenger only area that afternoon.
Our surgeons.  The doctor on the left accompanied Elder to Manilla.

So much of the equipment reminded me of my early practice as a nurse – 40 years ago!! 
Elder has recuperated although he lost a lot of weight and it has taken him a good month to fully regain his strength. 





One of Elder's many nurses.  There were many male nurses here.

Elder and his companion who is brand new to the mission

The missionaries had taken Elder's clothes home and we had purchased this T-shirt and shorts for him to walk in so his backside was covered.  All he had to wear for the ride home.  Also did not have a razor there to shave!!

Elder and Elder Anderson relaxing while I prepared lunch after sacrament meeting prior to him flying to Manilla.
While the facilities and equipment is a few years behind what is current in the US and even in Manilla, he received good care.  We loved the doctors who operated on him and all of the nursing staff were very nice and eager to please and accommodate our desires within their bounds.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Christmas away from home





Our Christmas sunset!!

This was our tree for the holidays.  We purchased the bare white barked limbs which were bundled together along the national highway for 20 pesos (about 50 cents) and then as you can see purchased orange flowers bulbs and cloth.  We did not see any living trees in homes but several people used artificial trees and many were displayed outside.
Part of our Christmas day was spent with this young mother and her son.  What a treat for us!!




 Every community displays a tree of their own style.  This one was in the center of Dumaguete.





Our local community of Valencia decorates very well.  This is incredible taking several days to complete.







This beauty was at the Robinson's mall - a favorite place for the missionaries to eat after district meetings as there are several places in the food court that they think are delicious, inexpensive and fast!  I rarely eat there due to the horrific amounts of MSG used in the fast food places.  Elder, on the other hand, loves it all!!

And this one at one of our favorite grocery and department stores.  While the towns were decorated and people were busy preparing their food and homes for the Christmas season, we were out teaching the gospel with the missionaries.   One of the people we have been privileged to teach and baptize is an American who has been working here for a few years.  He knew I wanted a picture of a Nipa hut so he drew one for me for Christmas - one of my all time favorite gifts!! He captured it beautifully. 
Thank you, Daniel!!

.
Christmas Day was very different from our normal.  We fed 22 missionaries a big breakfast - not easy with little kitchen equipment and a very small stove and oven and only a couple of pans.  But they all seemed to enjoy their time together here in our small apartment - seemed just a little like home.  They were all anxious to make their calls and skype home.  In the afternoon we delivered a box of fruit to a family of 7 living in a nipa hut where we saw no evidence of what we think of as a traditional Christmas and came home to skype with our children to watch our grandkids open their gifts - a very difficult transition from a nipa hut to a tree laden with presents beneath.

We are still enjoying our time serving as missionaries - a time to watch up close and personal the Lord hastening His work.  We love Him whose birth and life we celebrate at Christmas time and always.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The Lord is Hastening His Work



I am attaching a map so you can get an idea of where we work and live.  We live on the island of Negros in the town of Valencia which is considered up the mountain from Dumaguete.  We serve in 5 branches, Sibulan, Dumaguete 1, 2, & 3, Valencia, and on the island of Siquijor with an informal group which is under the Priesthood leadership of Dumaguete 2 (D2).  In March of 2013, an informal group began meeting with our zone leaders going over each Sunday and usually once during the week to teach investigators.  Travel there is about 2 hours by ferry and costs about 3500 pesos roundtrip with a van/truck - about $81.  Elder A began going with the elders a couple of months after we arrived.  He loves it there.  The mountains come right down to the beach which are white sand and beautiful.  It is a quiet and laid back place.

In October 2013, the D2 branch presidency with the approval and support of our mission president and the Dumaguete District president, started what is known as the Siquijor project.  He developed a plan where RM's would rotate a month at a time accompanied by young men who were awaiting their calls to serve as branch missionaries there working full time teaching the gospel.  They attended our missionary district and zone meetings and worked with our zone leaders.  An apartment was rented and furnished with table, chairs, beds, water and lots of rice.  The local District supported the Project financially or in kind with food and supplies.  Cost was estimated to be about 10,000 pesos/month or $231.

 The group started with 5 in attendance in March and by October had as many as 10.                            On January 5, 2014 Siquijor was opened for full time missionary work with 4 incredible missionaries, Elder Wilding, Elder Magbaleta, Elder Villamater, and Elder Lawrence.  Two of these elders are brand new to the field and are amazing!! The other two are seasoned missionaries who know how to work hard, be obedient and are self starters.  Included in this picture is Brother Yano (a nickname) who did outstanding work in preaching the gospel to the elect and assisting the members.
The church meets on the open air third floor of an office and apartment building that is really noisy with all the motorcycles driving through town and a carpenter who lives downstairs sanding with a belt sander.  
This meeting on January 5, 2014 had 37 in attendance with 6 investigators, 3 of whom have baptismal dates set.  It is an exciting time for the members who have lived there for years with no church to attend, not having the opportunity each week to partake of the sacrament.
A sweet sister, Mary, who is about my age getting baptized this month.  She is the mother of 5 kids all of whom have a college education. 
Mary lives in one of these homes by the pier and sells small cupcakes out front.  She also makes the sacrament bread each week.   


Elder A and I had the opportunity to teach Bro. Elmer, whose wife and son are already members, on one of our previous trips to Siquijor.  They traveled to Dumaguete to be baptized in D2 at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning.  They have an inviting, well cared for home where the spirit is strong.
We visited with this sister who lives right on the most beautiful spot on the beach.  She is still taking the lessons but her husband is not interested right now so she will not join without him yet.  

This is the view from the rear of her home.  Their boats have bamboo outriggers.

Below is the home of one of her neighbors.
We are watching this flood of missionaries come during this time and seeing areas opened that have not had full time missionaries.  We currently have 232 missionaries in the Cebu mission.  The last transfer divided our zone into two zones giving us 32 missionaries that we work with directly.  Negros Oriental has 86 missionaries here which includes the 3 Senior Couples.  
We are privileged to see the Lord's hand in this work and experience the conversion process with those we teach and work.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true.  Making and keeping His covenants is the only way to happiness in this life and the only way to spend the eternities with our families.  I will always be eternally grateful for the missionaries who taught us and the joy, happiness, and peace it has brought us.

LECHON BABOY

Pigs are a staple food here and are available for purchase live "on the hoof" to be prepared as lechon baboy for special occasions.  As many know, Elder A and I are Kansas City certified BBQ judges so we were anxious to try this often eaten delicacy and Elder A wanted to try his hand at the cooking.  We found a member who is a meat inspector who assisted us in securing a pig - about 50 kgs - to be delivered to the slaughter house early the next morning and ready for our pick up at 8 am.
This is what we found when we arrived at the slaughterhouse.
As we were entering the slaughterhouse grounds, we drove through a pool of water which was supposed to disinfect our tires; however, the water was smelly and full of mud or "other debris".  We were met by a security guard who said, "Elder?" with us never introducing ourselves.  They pointed us in the direction to drive, made a turn and saw the above pig lying on a stainless table with an inspection stamp on him.  As you can see the flies were loving our pig, too.




The pig was marked with the word ELDER in all caps to make certain we would get the right pig.  The funny part was there were no another slaughtered animals there.  Oh a side note - it cost 87 pesos for slaughter and inspection - about $2


This man and the security guard immediately began washing the pig and scraping the extra hair off of him.  He was then thrown into the back of our truck for delivery to a member's home for cooking.
They carried him right into the kitchen and plopped him down on the table while they prepared the cooking frame and fires.  The sisters had requested that we make certain to bring the intestines and internal organs with us.
They also thought it would be a good experience for me to thoroughly clean the intestine and organs which I did with a smile using leaves we picked from outside.  This was quite the process as we went through three sets of leaves.  After the third cleaning, one sister picked up the stuff, putting it under my nose - literally almost touching my nose  - and saying,  "You did it.  No more smell!"
Now to cook lunch which consists of rice with intestines, thinly sliced, liver and heart.  Elder and I had somewhere we had to be at lunch time - very convenient!!!
Lechon baboy is usually cooked on a bamboo skewer but this pig was so large they used a pipe.  It is hand turned for 3-5 hours depending on the size of the pig.  The coveted portions of the pig are the skin, ears, and tail.  Because it is cooked over hot heat pretty quickly, it is tougher than I prefer.
The finished product and being prepared for eating at one of our branches' Christmas social which lasted from 6-10:30.  The social was held on the outside basketball court and people would have stayed all night, I think, but they finally took the music and turned out the lights.  We were able to attend 3 branch Christmas socials - all of which were well attended and people stayed until the lights went out!!