Clean Sweep, Newborns in the Sun, & Sunset

We left our home exactly six months ago today to start our service as missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I can’t believe it!  Time is flying by.  

On Tuesday, we meet with several members of the Naguilian Branch to clean-up one of the elementary schools.  We did know what we would be doing, so we put on some old clothes and packed the car with work gloves, a long handle broom, garbage bags, and water.  I emphasize ‘long handle broom’ because the traditional Filipino broom has a very short handle and you must bend over to use it. 

one of our guards demonstrating the walis tambo

The ‘walis tambo’ is the inside broom made from grass and the ‘walis ting-ting’ is a broom for the outdoors made from the rib of coconut fronds. 

walis ting-ting or coconut broom

We were asked to clean up leaves, fallen fruit, and other debris on the school grounds.  I wish we could have had some tools from home that I take for granted such as a blower, shop broom, metal rake, and leaf rake.  We worked for 2 hours and filled several large bags. 

Afterward, the Branch President took everyone to eat at a little neighborhood place.  Every street you travel on will have several little stores (tindahan) or eateries in the front of the owner’s home.  They cook the food over a charcoal fire and serve it fresh.  They served seasoned pancit noodles (they look like Ramen) with vegetables, meat and a boiled egg cut in half.  - Sister Roberts

The outdoor kitchen at the little neighborhood eatery. Notice the 'self serve' sign

The rest of the week in pictures:

a plant that the Mission President & gardener grew from a pineapple

newborn babies getting some early morning sun in front of a hospital on our walking route

Family Home Evening game of cards.  

Spectacular Cauayan Sunset captured by our Mission President's wife on her cell phone.

Shout out to our Beautiful Granddaughter, Katelyn for graduating from High School.  We are proud of you!

You Never Know What to Expect!

District Youth Conference at PLT Mountain Resort

This week Sister Roberts and I attended a portion of a District Youth Conference (DYC).  We were impressed at how well organized it was.  It was held at a beautiful resort near Solano, about a 2-hour drive from the Mission Home.  It had several large swimming pools, dormitory sleeping for the youth and “matrimonial’ rooms for the adults.  In the Philippines ‘Matrimonial’ means a full-size bed.  When we checked in, the desk clerk seemed concerned and wanted to make very sure that we were aware we were staying in a ‘matrimonial’ room.  For some reason, she had doubts that that is what we really wanted.

That night, the youth had a dance & dance contest.  We were told, in advance, that we would ‘judge’ the dance contest but no details were given.  As the evening began, we were told that each of the seven Branches had prepared a dance presentation and that one couple from each Branch was to get an award and we needed to select the categories.  This was no small request since we did not know any of their names.  All we could do was make notes to ourselves like ‘short girl with peach skirt’ and ‘tall boy with turquoise suspenders’.  As the dance presentations progressed, one branch decided to sing instead of dance and another didn’t do anything at all.  You can only imagine how awkward it felt to be judging this ‘competition’.  In the end, we decided to point out one outstanding quality for each group and then tap one boy and one girl in the group as recipients’ of a prize without any regard as to whether they danced as a couple or not.  I’m not sure what we accomplished, but we were just glad it was over.

The evening actually began with open dancing to 60’s and 70’s music.  The hall was decorated accordingly, and we learned that youth are the same all around the world when it comes to dancing.  They were more interest in posing and taking pictures of each other than actually dancing.  Sister Roberts and I were just sitting enjoying the music when the MC announced, “Now, 'Couple Roberts' will show us how to do the TWIST.”  It had to be the most pathetic demonstration of TWIST since the dance was invented.  Nevertheless, it had the desired effect of getting some of the youth out on the dance floor.

Last week, two of the Elders we work with told us that the mother of a man we were teaching had died just prior to Mothers Day.  We went to visit him and express our condolences.  Late Friday afternoon, he came by the Mission Office, with his nephew, to invite us to the funeral the next morning.  Funerals in the Philippines usually involve a walking procession from their home to the church.  He asked us to follow him to the place where they would begin the procession so we would know how to get there, and, that we would need to be there at 5:30 Saturday morning.  Fortunately for us, it was not a terribly long walk.  As we left our apartment, Sister Roberts said, “I think they are going to ask you to offer a prayer”.  I said, “Where did you get that idea?  Nobody said anything to me!”  Well, she was right.  They ushered us into the room with the open casket and everybody bowed their head.  I guess everyone knew but me.  There was an awkward silence and I leaned over to the son and said: “Do you want me to pray?”  “Yes, Yes” was the reply.  I guess it was equivalent to the ‘family prayer’ we have at LDS funerals.

Family of the deceased.  Her husband is the older man standing near the front, not wearing white.

Bless, Bless.  This is the gathering prior to the procession to the church.

We proceeded to OUR LADY OF THE PILLARS Catholic Church where Sister Roberts enjoyed her first MASS.  I was surprised that the service was actually for 6 deceased persons.  Five more caskets were rolled in followed by family mourners.

Canoes, Caves and Packages

On Saturday we took our first Senior Couples trip with our Mission President and his wife.  We loaded up in his 9 passenger van and departed for Governors’ Rapids. Upon arrival, we obtained passage for our canoe tour and were outfitted in fluorescent orange life vest which was one size fits all. 

The canoe was so heavy with the weight of us and our 3 Filipino guides that it barely floated above the waterline.  The couple sitting in the back was constantly bailing out water with a scoop made from an empty plastic container.  The rock formations, rain forest, and clouds in the sky were uniquely beautiful. 

We stopped to explore a cave. Elder Roberts and I with the President were the only ones who wanted to crawl through the narrow entrance. It was a challenging cave to enter and exit with very narrow passages and low hanging rocks, but worth the effort! Inside was a spectacular 20-25 foot waterfall.

On the way home, we went to the drive-thru ‘Jolly Bee’ and had a yummy peach mango pie, kind of like an apple pie from MacDonald’s.

The rest of the week in photos:

Monday- we received a huge package from our children!  It was like Christmas!

Tuesday - 5 missionaries returning home, one of which is from my hometown in Arizona

Wednesday - 11 new missionaries arrived

Training new missionaries

A tribute to my Beautiful, loving mother.  She was the best listener, best cook and the best mother for me.  I am forever grateful for her love and nurturing.  She departed from this earthly life 11 years ago and I miss her more than ever.  I am grateful that families can be together forever.  I love you, mom! -Sister Roberts

MORE FUN IN THE PHILIPPINES!

Learning to Contact using Inspired Questions

Guardians of the Zone Conference!

This has been a wonderful week.  Zone Conferences are always special because we get to see every Missionary in the mission and feel their spirit and find out how they are doing.  

Almost, without exception, we found them in good spirits and working hard in their teaching areas.  

Unfortunately, there seemed to be a lot of Missionaries who had lost their cell phones or they were no longer working.  It was excellent timing for the Mission President to announce that they may be getting ‘Smart’ phones before the end of the year.  

You could tell there was a ‘buzz’ of excitement.  I successfully killed the buzz by telling some of them that ‘now we can tell when you’re hanging around your apartment too long’.  I don’t know if it’s true or not; I just never miss an opportunity to kill someone else’s excitement.

JUST KIDDING!

On Wednesday we attended a young woman’s 18^th birthday celebration.  It’s a pretty big deal here when a girl “transitions from a girl to a woman”.  It was held at a Barangay Community Center and the weather was steamy hot.  The family hired a decorator, a caterer and a DJ who played the music so loud it made your teeth rattle.  The young woman was presented in a beautiful gown and escorted down a red carpet run to her seat on the stage.  There were lots of entertainment and well wishes, but the highlight, for me, was a waltz that she performed with 6-8 other young couples.  I never thought of the hymn “If you could Hie to Kolob” as a waltz tune before, but they pulled it off beautifully.

 



 On Saturday we went to teach a family with the Sister Missionaries in our branch. While we sat under shade, in front of their home, the Sisters taught the family about Repentance. At the same time and a naked 4-5-year-old boy filled a small bucket with water and gave himself a refreshing bath.  I thought the Sisters missed a real opportunity to use him as an example of how Repentance ‘washes’ us clean.

Four Baptisms.

We started our Fast early on Saturday because we were invited to go with the Elders to visit a family, they were teaching, for Lunch Sunday afternoon.  After church, we discovered that we had two invitations for lunch.  Not wanting to offend anyone, we agreed to come to both.  

The food was good, but the second appointment included a violin recital from their 10-year-old daughter that was absolutely inspiring.  I wanted to jump out of my seat and give her a great big hug!  But that’s not allowed, so I settled for cheers and “BRAVO!”.  After the entertainment, the father asked me if I would ‘bless’ his new well.  During a prior visit, we had watched them working on it, and today he finished connecting the pipe and started the electric pump.  I must confess, I got a little choked up to think that he wanted me to do that.  I thought about what an important thing it is to have a reliable source of water, and how much we take that for granted in the US.  I offered a short prayer of thanks. -ElderRoberts