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| This free digital greeting card made with Smilebox |
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Weeks 4 through 7
Approximately weeks 4 through 7 or more exactly dates December 5, 2011 through January 4, 2012.
Everyone
is FULL!
Branch President Honoridez brings in
the basket of rice – covered with banana tree leaves - for the branch Christmas party.
Temple Hong Kong ,
are there as invited guests also. Sister
Melona was working in Hong Kong at the
time. Her family was here. She missed them so very much.
Internet
problems have kept us from adding to our blog site for a number of weeks. Today we are in Cebu
and able to use the stronger internet connection at the mission office.
The
weekend of December 9th, we spent the night in the Marriott Hotel
in Cebu allowing us to participate in the Relief Society two day temple trip of
the Toledo Temple Complex
Click this link to see the Temple slideshow previously posted on the blog. http://granddovermissionaries.blogspot.com/2011/12/rs-temple-trip-smilebox.html
The
pancake breakfast we served in November was a great success. The Elders have been hoping for another one
before transfers. We set the date for
the last P-day before transfers, December 20th. All but one companionship were able to make
it.
Elder Dover
Second
pancake breakfast for Zone Elders. These are all amazingly dedicated and hard
working but fun loving young men. We love them all!
Elder
Herbst, from distant and mountainous Lomac, had asked if he could bring the two
branch missionaries staying with him.
His companion had completed his service and was on his way home for
Christmas. His new companion wouldn’t
arrive until transfer day later in the week.
He shared some pretty amazing pictures of helping members work their
rice fields.
Means of transportation and distribution of
goods continue to be interesting as they are so varied and creative. We actually rode in a trisikel to church one
Sunday when Elder Hardin had to use the car to take Elder Culala into Cebu for a medical emergency. The seats are not very long or wide and knee
room is restrictive, so it was a little tricky for Elder Dover to squeeze in
beside Sister Dover. The driver actually
started out before he had his right leg completely in. The driver stopped when the door fell off the
trisikel because it bumped Elder Dover’s leg. Elder Dover
Check out the Philippine traffic smilebox posted previously by clicking on this link.
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| Home of our neighbors two doors down |
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| On a clear day, 100 steps from our back door will open up this view of Negros, the Island just West of Cebu |
Thursday,
December 8th, we drove into Cebu
for a Christmas Devotional prepared by President and Sister Schmutz. On the way in, I had asked Elder Dover if he
felt at all
“Christmasy”.
He said,” No, do you?” I had to
admit that I did not. After the
Devotional reading of the Nativity Story from the Gospels and passages from
Isaiah chapter 53, after singing all the Christmas Carols in the hymn book,
after a lunch of pizza and several Christmas oriented games - one of which we
had been asked to prepare - we began to feel the spirit of Christmas and were
ready for Christmas to begin.
*The ordinary panyo, a colored handkerchief,
is carried by nearly everyone to wipe sweat from their faces, but the Cebu
Mission panyo is to remind of sacred experiences and tender feelings. It is to
remind of covenants, friendships and farewells.
It is to remind that the time will surely come when the Lord will bid
his faithful to come to the marriage supper of the Lamb and be “arrayed in fine
linen, clean and white, for the fine linens is the righteousness of the
Saints.” Revelation 19:7-9
With Sisters Mitzi and Marilyn, we made
second visits to the three families we mentioned in the previous blog entry. The first contact, the LacongLacong family,
received us warmly. Brother LacongLacong
was not at home this visit. He was working,
providing transportation for people with
his trisikad. Elder Dover
The Sister at the next home refused to
let us in. She turned her back on
us. I had brought a traditional
Philippine decoration that I love, a star, for the daughter. We left it hanging on the fence.
We were well received at the third
home. Brother Ubay has found temporary
work. Sister Ubay was at home with two
cute granddaughters.
We stopped at a third members home, the
Bacalso family’s home. They are
inactive. The older Sister suffers loss
of sight from advanced glaucoma. It rained hard while we were in their humble
home. Sister Bacalso requested a
blessing from Elder Dover. We sang “I am
a Child of God” together and offered a prayer before we left. There was a good
feeling, but they said that church was just too far away for them to attend.
We were appalled to discover that
Sister Marilyn had lost her cell phone somewhere during our visits. It had been
given to her several years ago by her mission President. She was so very
worried. Backtracking, after a prayer,
we were so pleased that we found it in a field where we had parked the
car.
Here is an interesting note about
visiting. When planning a time for the
first visit, I asked if we should call the families and make an
appointment. Sister Mitzi and Sister
Marilyn both gave me a funny look, but just said that such calls weren’t
necessary. When we arrived at the rural
homes where there is often no electricity and no phone service or cell phones, I understood the quizzical looks from Sister
Mitzi and Sister Marilyn. Set an appointment? How? To
just drop by and stand outside a home or fence politely calling “Hello” until
the door is opened is very common. Generally
people have no problem taking time to visit.
The single adults asked if they could
have their Christmas party at our place.
It was fun to host them. They are
a wonderful group of young people. Some
of the fun of the party is shared in the Our Christmas Smilebox in a previous post.
We prepared Noche Buena food baskets to
take to the LacongLacong and Ubay families.
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| Sisters Mitzie and Marllyn |
I wondered what Christmas message we
could leave give and suddenly it came to me that we should make small paper nativity
scenes and tell the Christmas story. The
children at the LacongLacong home were especially attentive. After the story was told and we let them know
that the figures were for them to keep.
One of the older children quickly gathered the figures in her arms, took
them inside and began retelling the story to the younger children. We told the Lacong2x family that Branch
President Honoridez would be contacting them about the new roof they
needed.
There are many words in Cebruano that
are repeated. When that happens a shortened
form of spelling can be used by writing out the first word and then placing 2x
next to it to show that the word is repeated, hence, LacongLacong can be
written Lacong2x.
Christmas in the Philippines Philippines
See our Christmas smilebox posted previously by clicking the following link.
Transfers on December 21st
brought us a companionship of Sisters, Sister Gumayao and Sister Hansen. They
will be the second companionship, but only sisters, in Balamban.
They were supposed to arrive in Toledo Cebu
until 8:30. It was suggest by the zone
leaders that they stay with us the first night and that we take them to
Balaman the next morning. We rushed out to buy a foam sleeping mat and
sheets for it and for the couch. It worked
out just fine. They were both very
tired. This was the second day in Cebu for Sister Hansen.
She was just out of the MTC.
Sister Gumayao is Pilipino and Sister Hansen is from Arizona Brescia
It is clear that they will be great
missionaries. They were up early getting
in their personal study time before breakfast.
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| Companion study and then a breakfast of pancakes and eggs of course |
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Relief Society President Melona Alec
and Alicia Honoridez organize food for the party.
Knowing that our internet would not be
reliable for family Christmas visits, we scheduled a room at the Marriott in Cebu to use their internet for the visits. All we wanted for Christmas was this time to
visit.
The missionaries wanted a Christmas Eve
get-together. They hoped to meet at our
place. Of course, they are welcome. We treated them to dinner, and participated
in what they call Shinning Moments when they pay tribute to other
missionaries. We read the Christmas
Story and sang a few hymns. Then the
zone leaders received a call that an Elder from Lutopan was experiencing what
might be appendicitis. They wanted to bring him to our place and then to a
hospital in Toledo Cebu for better care. We drove the Sisters back to Balamban because
it was a holiday and the buses had stopped running early. While we were gone, word was received that
indeed Elder Rebojo should go to Cebu for
care. All symptoms pointed to appendicitis.
When we got back from Balamban, we headed out to the hospital in Cebu with Elder Rebojo and his companion. The Cebu
hospital is a good hospital with a surgeon who is always requested by the
mission to care for the missionaries.
Traffic was heavy, but Elder Dover prayed before leaving that the way
would be cleared before him and that he would be alert for the drive. We
arrived shortly after midnight. Elder Rebojo who was in a great deal of pain
tried hard to ease everyone’s concern for him.
His companion, who had arrived from the MTC just two days before, was
having a bit of a hard time adjusting to the idea of spending Christmas Eve and
the next few days in the hospital with his trainer. He was trying to put on a good face, but it
was hard. The APs arrived and took
over. President Schmutz was out of town
but in touch by phone. We arrived back in Toledo Dover
Elder Rebojo had surgery Christmas
Day. He is doing well. We brought him back today for a checkup. That is actually why we are in Cebu . His
companion says there must be a reason for this experience for him also. However
he was transferred out a few days ago and yes, that meant another drive for us
to Cebu to bring him and Elder Rebojo in for
the transfer.
It was such a joy to find Sister Lacong
2x and the children at church on Christmas day. Elder Dover Cebu
again to prepare for phone calls and skyping with family. We enjoyed visiting from 6:30 am our December
26th to noon. It was Christmas evening back in the States.
We are about 14 hours ahead of Utah
Wednesday we drove back to Cebu to pick up Elder Rebojo after his surgery.
Thursday we made the drive one more
time to participate in the temple sealing of Lorena and Kenny Larosa. We were happy to make the drive again and
appreciated their invitation to join them on their special day.
Rosa, who washes for our landlady,
comes by our place every Thursday morning’s to do the ironing and to mop the
floors. This is a great help.
Sister Marilyn or Sister Mars, as she
prefers to be called, is coming two morning a week to shop, prepare a couple of
meals and tutor us in Cebuano. The first
time Sister Mars came, her fingers had sores from washing clothes. Because we do have a small washing machine I
lent her the Breathing Mobil Washer our daughter Mindy provided for us to use
when we thought we would be washing clothes by hand. She is anxious to see how well it works. Several of the single adults are waiting for
their turns to try it out also. There
may soon be a run on Breathing Mobil Washers.
One
morning recently I woke early, put my glasses on, stepped out of the bedroom
and turned the light on. I wondered if I
was having a serious eye problem. A
black spot kept moving in and out of my direct line of vision. Hastily I took my glasses off, rubbed my eye
and then looked at the glasses and noticed an ant was darting back and forth
across the lens. Actually we haven’t
been as troubled by ants. I’m wondering
if it because they don’t cohabitate with
termites. Yup, we are finding terminte sawdust in many and varied places
around the house every morning. However,
we understand that termites “just are” also.
One
final special event of 2011
President Honoridez coordinated the
effort with branch members and missionaries to give the Lacong2x family their
new roof. President Honoridez had the
nipa at the Lacong2x home several days in advance. By the time members and missionaries arrived
to help, Brother Lacong had the job half finished. He had worked hard. All he had needed was the materials.
It
was fun to watch as the Lacong2x children interacted with the
missionaries. They were so happy.
Brother Lacong2x was sick Sunday, but the rest
of the family was at church the second week in a row. We need to continue
exploring solutions to their other problems with President Honoridez. It did
not rain until the roof was finished. Prayers answered for sure.
We
left after serving lunch. We had to help
with some apartment problems some Elders were having. Sister Mars sent us the
following email later that day. Lacong2x so happy coz new year, new roof, new
life. Spirituallity reborn. Nice new year. So happy to have yu here in our
place.
We dropped back to the Lacong2x home after we
helped the Elders. We took a new table covering for their table. They were so
happy and appreciative.
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| Lacong2x home with inadequate tarp covering a large part of the roof |
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| Cooking area of kitchen will receive a new boards and a new tin roof to replace the charred boards that held rusted tin roofing in place. Cooking is done with an open fire and coals on this cement platform. |
This beautiful family consented to let me take their picture. I will be getting prints of it to them to keep. I do want to get one of the whole family, though. Brother LacongLacong. Sister LacongLacong holds Eddie Junior, Jefreld is next, then Charlyn, Nina May and Wenjelyn.
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| Bath for Edwin Jr. |
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| Details of the underside of a Nipa roof |
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| Lots of instruction from the ground for one experienced missionary worker, Elder Lenoy |
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| Elder Lenoy |
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| Removing the roof |
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| Back finished |
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| AND Front finished - Brother LacongLacong's trisikad sits in front of their home |
Happy
New Year Everyone!
News from Elder Dover
Several
weeks ago I was asked by the President Rago of the Toledo 2nd Branch
if I would accept a call as a counselor in the Branch President. I told him that if President Schmutz (the
Mission President) gave his OK, that I would be happy to serve with him. President Schmutz told me that it would be
OK, but apparently the District Presidency felt like they needed to get the
word directly from him. That finally
happened this past week. On New Years
Day I was called, sustained and set apart as the 2nd Counselor in
the Toldeo 2nd Branch.
They
had scheduled a PEC meeting that evening, which I attended, but did not really
contribute anything because they spoke only Cebuano, which I do not
understand. I was beginning to wonder
what function I could serve in the Branch Presidency if I can’t speak the
language. President Rago asked me to
stay for a few minutes afterwards to meet with him and his 1st Counselor. In that meeting he told me that there could
be many times in different meetings when they would ask me for help based on my
experience in past callings. But he said
that he had a special task for me that was to be my main responsibility. He asked me to sit down with his Branch Clerk
(who is also the 1st Counselor) and get all of the Branch records
straightened out. There are lots of
problems in their records and they don’t know how to fix them. I think this is very perceptive of President
Rago – not everyone in his situation would be worried about the records. Many would just like to ignore the problem
and hope it goes away. This will work
out very well for me because the 2nd Branch meets first this year,
so I can go to work with the Clerk right after the first block while Sister
Dover attends the 1st Branch meetings.
Interestingly
enough, President Schmutz had previously asked me to serve as a sort of
“unofficial” mission auditor. There are
problems all over the mission in virtually every branch, particularly in the
financial records. He is going to be
talking to the Area Presidency in Manila to get
their approval, and then plans to send us to Manila Philippines Manila Toledo
Monday, December 26, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
First Post from the Philippines - MTC through December 4th
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| Here's where we are headed |
We entered the MTC on Monday the 7th of November. We were happy that the first couple we met were the Cardons who would be serving with our friends, the Kennedy’s, in Bolivia. Kennedy's had asked us to watch for them.
The MTC was amazing in that we found ourselves mingling with thousands who would eventually spread around the world to bring hope, light and service. How marvelous, inspiring, and a little intimidating to be among them. The Elders and Sisters there are representative of those pressing forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope and a love of God and of all men, feasting upon the word of Christ. (II Nephi 31:20) These words are from the scripture we had put on our missionary plaque in the Cody 2nd Ward.
The week was a whirlwind of study with Preach My Gospel as the focus. We learned to invite, testify and receive commitments to pray, study and seek promised blessings of our Father in Heaven through acceptance of the restored Gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. (PMG page 1)
The most joyous moment was when Ron, the wonderful husband of our Granddaughter Auna, found us. We only had a few minutes to talk, but it was great! We are confident he must be the best teacher at the MTC!
We enjoyed a bonus weekend after the MTC and got to see Greg and Natalie and Meghan and Jeff and their families. A snow storm kept Parrishes and us from attending the children’s sacrament meeting presentation in Evanston, but we did manage to get there later in the day.
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| Bags are packed and loaded - Meghan and Bodee to take us to the airport! |
Our flight left Salt Lake City on Monday the 14th of November. We arrived in Cebu City on Wednesday at 11:45. Brother and Sister Ernstrom, the office mission couple, were at the airport to pick us up. President and Sister Schumtz were out of town but had invited us to use the mission home on the temple complex Wednesday night. We were told that the zone leaders from Toledo would be coming early on Thursday morning. They had received directions from President Schmutz to “get the Dovers settled in”. Our four bags and two carry-ons had been packed to meet the 50 pound and 17 pound flight weight limits respectively, so we spent some time compacting our luggage, emptying and flattening several bags so that we would be able to get our luggage, the Elders and ourselves into the car for the drive to Toledo.
We have been very blessed to have had the help of the zone leaders, Elder Hardin from Utah and Elder Culala from the Manila area. Elder Hardin and Elder Culala left Toledo around 6 am that Thursday morning to be able to meet us at the temple complex in Cebu by nine and ride back with us to Toledo. Elder Hardin suggested that Elder Dover let him drive. It would give Elder Dover a chance to observe the techniques of driving here. Elder Dover reluctantly agreed. He had been ready to jump in and go for it!
The Elders shopped with us Thursday afternoon and Friday as we found the appliances the house needed and became familiar with the town. On Saturday morning they came, with the other two Elders in Toledo, Elder Payo and Elder Serrano, and helped clean the house. Dad and I had used our last ounce of energy the previous evening to get the mops, buckets etc. that we would need to take advantage of their help. These Elders absolutely kept us from despair. I spent my time changing water and giving directions. They were amazing.
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| Cleaning Up! Elders Hardin, Culala, Serrano and Payo |
FLOW: It does not matter where the lines on a road are painted, or how many official lanes there are—flow with the traffic. If there are only two painted lanes for traffic, but there are four lanes of vehicles, don’t worry about it – flow.
PICK: Whichever driver can pick (place) any portion of his vehicle in front of another vehicle, the successful (first) picker has the right of way. The slow learner who waits in a queue for a break in traffic is bound to spend much of his traffic life in queues. All it takes is a little courage coupled with a small portion of bumper or fender picked in front of another vehicle, and you have right of way. Of course it works both ways.
PICK AND FLASH: This applies when you face another vehicle head-on with room only for one lane of traffic. As two vehicles approach each other and it is not sure who can win the race to the one lane, the “pick” is won by the car that flashes its headlights first.
THE NO-SEE-CHICKEN: This is similar to the not too smart, Western,teenage automobile game of “Chicken”. I don’t even want to go there with Dick Sturgis’s explanation. Elder Dover has been doing great driving. Even the young Elders have been impressed by his “pick” skills. However, we daily make “safe driving” a serious part of our prayers.
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| This most common form of transportation and our car are generally the only vehicles in the church parking lot on Sunday. Eight missionaries are know to pile into and onto one of these and ride several miles for 7 pesos each (about 17 cents ). |
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| Elder Dover picks his way through traffic very effectively and carefully |
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| This vehicle transports people back and forth from Balamban and Toledo for a fee |
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| A great place to hang wash! |
Our outdoor washing machine - it's small but it's a WASHING MACHINE!
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| Thank goodness for the safe, inexpensive and good food – including all you can eat rice – at Inasal |
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| First tropical fruit purchases – mangos and papaya are about 50 cents each |
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| Washing fruit in a Clorox solution for safe eating |
We have learned that the luck involved with the“black” ants is that we are lucky they are not red. Red ants bite. So now we understand. We are learning to live with them.
Sunday was a marathon. Why do people run marathons and love them? Probably a true answer to that question would explain a little why we have decided to offer support to both branch one and two in Toledo City. The people are wonderful and excited for a Sister and Elder to be in their branch. How can we attend only one? We were at the church from 8:45 am to 7:30pm. This included choir practice for next weeks district conference and meeting with President Honoridez, of branch one.
Our first Sunday in Toledo, we were given the opportunity to share testimonies in both sacrament meetings. This week we sang a duet in Sunday School. We received this invitation just prior to Sacrament meeting. It actually went well. An older couple, Brother and Sister Dela Cruz, sang “Because We Have Been Given Much,” later in the lesson. They sang with all their hearts. It was a joy to hear.
Monday, November 26th, we drove with Elder Hardin and Elder Culala to a district meeting in Pungamungajon. Elder Santia gave the study lesson. He has never given a lesson in English before but spoke in English just for us. He gave a wonderful lesson on involving the ward or branch in missionary work. Afterwards Elder Hardin told us that he is a wonderful and dedicated missionary. It really showed. The 30 minute drive there took us on less traveled roads and along the coast. It was very pretty.
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| Reporting successes at a district meeting - getting us settled in that first week was a large part of the success reported by Elders Culala and Hardin |
It is P Day for the Elders Wednesday and we are having them over for an all-you-can-eat rice and pancake breakfast. Elder Hardin is especially excited about it. We will dedicate the house after.
While in Cebu last week, I picked up a keyboard that had been returned. I offered to play this week for the Primary of branch one. They are learning “He Sent his Son” to sing in church, but it has been hard using just a CD. They have a very capable Primary president who is also teaching the music. The second branch has a new Primary President, she is the wife to the branch President. I had someone ask her if she would like help with music in their branch. I didn’t want to ask myself, because I was afraid she would feel obligated to say “yes” if I were standing there. I will begin teaching music to the children during sharing time in two weeks. She seemed very excited about it. Apparently she told the children that Sister Dover would teach them music and they were very excited. They all certainly gave us bright smiles when we greeted them in the hall.
There are two lovely young adults (Noriene and Adalie) who have decided to become our adopted daughters. They came by for the second time last night. With us, they are members of the branch one choir. One is a recent convert. I asked if they would like me to get out the keyboard. They were excited to do so. We all sang a few songs together. They have nice voices. To hear them sing “I am a Child of God” with the Cebuano accent and the purity of their testimony in their hearts was so very touching.
I will also be giving piano lessons to the Magbago Family. President Magbago is a counselor in the District presidency. He and his family were among those who helped to paint the outside of the house before we arrived. He sought us out and welcomed us the first week we were here.
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| The Magbagos, President Rainier Magbago, his wife Norene, daughter Keana and son Kennan |
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| A gift from the Magbago's for teaching piano - it was in a very nicely flavored sauce - President Magbago even cracked it for us |
No more negative commentary on where WE are living (the following descriptions of the living conditions of the three families will explain why).
The first family lives in a traditional style Philippine hut. It is one small room with a small porch and is on stilts. The floor is bamboo strips with half inch spaces between them. I was afraid to have all of us pull ourselves up to the porch. I really thought it would collapse. The thatched roof is badly in need of repair. The roof was covered in 2003 by missionaries. The entire hut stands in need of repair. The father daily pedals a badly, worn rented trisikad. He rents the trisikad for 30 pesos a day. He brings home – on a good day – about 100 pesos. That is about $2.50. There are five children. The oldest daughter was turning 14, but there would be no celebration or special gifts for her. The youngest child is a baby of two months. This family would like to come to church but have no money to do so. They live quite a ways from the chapel. They have no electricity and could not afford to use it if they did.
The second family has a concrete home. They seem to be doing alright, but they have a 29 year old daughter with some serious health problems resulting they think from trauma to the head when she was little.
The third family faces many of the challenges of the first one. They live in a larger hut. It is ground level but dark. The parents and two older girls are currently all unemployed. The girls were working at a bar fairly close to our home. It is the source of the drums and singing we vaguely hear at night. The girls would like to get work in a store in Cebu City, but lack funds necessary to submit government forms required for such applications. The father works with cement but can not find jobs. These are, we believe,typical of challenges faced by many members of the church here and are not easily resolved. We are prayerfully considering some ideas that may be of help to these families.
Today, December the 4th, was District Conference. The Toledo first Branch choir had been invited to present three musical numbers. These brothers and sisters have been so dedicated. We have never before attended several three hour long choir practices. They sang with spirit. I could not help but be touched with the rendition of “With Faith in Every Footstep.” This choir represented the evidence of the spread of the gospel that the song celebrates and our forefathers worked to assist in bringing to pass. I especially enjoyed the talks given by the Area Authority presiding over the conference, Elder Perez. He is an amazing and gifted teacher, teaching with scripture, humor and inspiration of the Holy Ghost. However, President Schmutz’s talks were equally inspiring. President Schmutz has a wonderful way of simplifying English so that his very entertaining stories seemed to be understood by all. Yet he wasn’t talking down. Perhaps, it was his prayers that the people would understand through the Holy Spirit that made that understanding happen.
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| Front row left to right: Kent Lebumfacil, Elder Realubit, Elder Serrano, Melora H. Alec, Noriene M. Cabatuan, Bless Alec, Mitzi Honoridez, Marilyn Prajes, Roquelyn Paje, Lovely Canilla and Beverly Dela Cruz Second row: Elder Dover, Elder Payo, Gilbert Dela Cruz, Laura Dela Cruz, Elyira Nillas, Adalei Pacquiao, Sister Dover and Anacorita D. Marcapobre Top row: Elder Hardin, Elder Abbott, Elder Culala |
Melora H. Alec serves as Relief Society President of the Toledo 1st Branch.
Gilbert Dela Cruz helped accompany the choir as did his sister Beverly. He is getting ready to submit mission papers.
Mitzi Honoridez and Marilyn Prajes visited three inactive families with us. They are both return missionaries. Mitzie thinks Ron Doria, our grandson-in-law, was in her mission.
Tomorrow is December 5th. Elder Dover and I have some planning to do as we enter our third week in Toledo.
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