Around Cebu

It is so nice to be close enough to the Cebu temple that we can attend regularly. This group of young people were doing baptisms and want to take a picture with us. This is "walky, walky". When they want a funny picture they say walky which is kind of like wacky --I believe. We have gone  two firesides at the Stake Center. Elder Ward, a temple missionary, who was a seminary and institute teacher for 30 years talked on the Book of Revelations. Another time a ward did a "Music and the Spoken Word". The Stake President, Mission President, and Temple President spoke and the music was amazing.

This is the back of the temple grounds. It is quite a high density area but the temple complex (Stake Center,  patron house, missionary apartments, mission office, distribution center, mission president's home, temple president's home and temple) occupies 11.6 acres of land. The church owes more undeveloped land nearby. Brother Perez says that the Japanese had tunnels near by during the war so when JY mall was built the owner became quite wealthy because of the treasures left behind. When the mayor told Elder Oakes that the church may find treasures when they were doing an inspection Elder Oakes said" there will be treasures in heaven". Brother Jerez grew up nearby and says that people that once lived on the temple property had large snakes and crocodiles. On the way to school he would gather stray cats in a bag and sell them to the people for 5 pesos.  As children they loved to slide down the hills on coconut leaves. 

This is our walk home from the temple usually along Gorordo Ave.. Unusual to see a large animal as there is little open space. 

Bamboo is plentiful and this man is making furniture. All done by hand right there along the sidewalk. 

 

Laws here seem to be more of a suggestion than a rule. Some cars have homemade license plates. Stop lights are rare but not strictly followed. The little fellow on the walk sign literally runs--good idea. Pedestrians do not have the right of way.

 

Old church site--offices, patron space and Stake Center. It is empty now.

A wire hoop on a tree along a main sidewalk kept these young boys having fun. A little a little farther along there were several men crouched on the sidewalk playing checkers.

Tesda is doing a good service here trying to get corporate sponsors eg  Coca-Cola to work with them on training and job so that when students graduate they are able to find meaningful employment.

There are motorcycles everywhere

This dental office was along the way but I hope that I won't need there services



Then we get to downtown and the skyline changes.

This is  Ayala mall center court and a good place to stop and cool off.

The walk is about 5 km.

The mall is right across from the FGU building which is where we work on the fifth floor. Mind you because of superstition the building does not have a third or thirteenth floor. Taxis are plentiful and cheap. Most rides cost us about $2.50.

All boys seem to love basketball and I can never resist taking their picture. This is very close to our apartment. Also, the little boy and his brother below.

Along the way it is common to see skinny, stray cats and dogs. They never beg or follow you they just wander around looking for food,, I guess.

On the way to church we spotted some chickens. The cars didn't run over them because they were on a short tether.

I was actually admiring the flower when I saw the spider.

This little "place" is on the same street as our apartment. Sometimes there is someone sleeping on the bench or they may be selling food items.

This is on the way to SM mall which is another large shopping mall. I know that we look pretty pathetic but it is hot, humid and may rain suddenly. The young men on the truck below have T-shirt over their heads. This is actually quite common everywhere, and of course, it is necessary to have  cloth to mop the sweaty face.

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Motorcycles always go to the front of the traffic.

This is just a sidewalk overview. The first is very nice (one of the best), the second is quite common, the third is frequent and then there is none at all.

 

The jeepneys outside the mall are so colorful and cool. Security is always trying to find us a taxi because they think it is too far to walk.

Haven't eaten any fish, Sister Keller doesn't seem to like fish and sometimes the eye balls and the smell do turn you off a little. Produce does not seem to keep long here, even in the fridge it spoils quickly. We freeze a lot of things in our "little " fridge. Our rice had bugs in and we maybe had it a month.

 

People here seem to want lighter skin. Then  read in the paper that a lot of the creams have mercury in them.

 

 

 This canal was not pleasant smelling and was full of garbage. 

 

This is a squatters village. Very sad situation. 

 

Despite the huge construction and work going on in Cebu a lot of the work is very  labor intensive. To replace the portion of the sidewalk they chip out the old with a hammer and chisel, bag the rubble, carry it away, and mix cement by hand to make the repair.

This is the Balledos new home. They had a lot of us for supper and were leaving the next day. They have only been there for about seven weeks and now they are off to Salt Lake for training and then he will be the new mission president of the Baguio Mission.

Brother John was the manager of the ERC, But now Mary Ann Balen will take his place.

Very nice modern design with a lovely front door. There was a very large front entrance with the open stairs  --no clothes closet, of course.

 

The Perez family --both daughters were at BYU Hawaii and are now going on missions. One is going to Salt Lake and the other to the Baguio mission. The little fellow is 9 months old.

 

 To get there was a slow process through the people and streets.

 There is a touch beauty all around.

 

ERC and Bohol

The flowers are so pretty

This little gecho lizard was on our apartment wall. He may have been 2 inches long. The monitor lizard was in a cage over by the celebration.

It may have been a Catholic celebration, the guards at our apartment called it a disco and it looked like a very loud party which went on all night. They had big huge speakers blaring all night. When we left for the ferry at 4:45 AM they were still drumming and singing--very loud.

 

We bought our tickets down at peer one and caught the 5:30 AM vessel. Cost of the ferry was 205 pesos ($5.00) and there were a couple times that we had to pay a boarding fee of 5 or 10 pesos.

 

There were a lot of boats--many fishing vessels.

 

This is Tubigan on the island of Bohol

Erwin was our driver and all four of us made the trip to the church. The trike ride cost us 25 pesos (about 50 cents).

This is called jack fruit. It is the largest fruit in the world and can actually grow to weigh as much as 80 pounds.

This banana tree has bananas and banana heart below. 

 

This was amazing to see the man plowing the rice paddy with the water buffalo. This is right beside the church building.

So many beautiful flowers

 

We sat and waited for the Branch President to arrive so that we could get in the church building. It doesn't have air conditioning but the fans felt good.

 

A lot of bamboo used in construction. The island is very lovely, maybe because there is a lot more open space.

 

The girl on the left is a recent convert and the one on the right is saving money to go on a mission. She is artist in the family and her sister makes bracelets.

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Journey home. There seem to be a lot of little pontoon boats on the water

 Cebu landscape--arrived home at about 3:30 PM

 

 

The FGU building (right across from Ayala mall) where the ERC is on the fifth floor.

 

"Brother John" was the manager of the ERC, now he is Mission President of the new mission in .Baguio

 

 

Mary Ann Balen is the new manager--very organized and capable lady.

May is on of the OJTs (on the job training)



 

Aljane the other OJT.  Both these young ladies are a delight and keep the office full of fun and laughter. 

Brother Jairus Perez is the Area Welfare person he looks after areas that have had typhoon damage or other disasters. He is also looking after a water project.

 



The Johns will be going home from their mission in August.

Sister Keller is sitting next to me.

This was our group at the area meeting.



Food seems to be a big part of Philippino culture--every event needs food. The top item is calipay--sort of like caramel. The other is ramboton--quite a tasty little fruit.

 

 

 

The really great part about a mission is the wonderful and "amazing" people that we work with and teach every day. These are our first two Career Workshop classes. They are truly a delightful, polite, gracious and humble group. This is a two day class.

 

After the class two young men came back (three times because they missed us twice) to thank us for the help. They apologized for missing the last class but said that they got a job and what they learned helped them so much. When we finished the American Accent class each of the young men got up and thanked us for the help. These are all non members. However the other day James did ask if I knew who Jess Smith was. I had an opportunity to talk to him about Joseph Smith, gave him a Book of  Mormon and set up an interview with the missionaries.

 

The young man, Bibam, on the right is Hindu and an avid basketball player. He has a degree and wants a call center job. He asked if his brother could come. The fellow on the other end has been a security guard for 17 years but he wants to improve his situation. After age 35 it is hard to get a job here as most job advertisements will say age 18-35 years.

The girl on the right front is 37 years old and has two school age children. She needs work to support them. Ninieta next to her is a teacher but the job that she did have did not pay her enough to make it worthwhile. Daryl on the left is looking for a call center job. Joko,next to him, works all night as a chicken dresser and then ties to make it to our American Accent class as well. He is a member of the church and wants to go on a mission. James or Roy whichever you prefer, is in the middle. He teaches English as a second language to Korean and Japanese students. Right now he is between jobs because most are short contracts. Dally in the back third from the right is 26 and looks after her parents and the home. She is a lovely girl and tears came to her eyes when I said "you really care about your family don't you?" She said that they were very poor and there were eight children. One older brother has no job and the younger only earns a little. Her father is not well and she feels so responsible.

 

These are our first two graduates from the  American Accent class. Both Jefrey (on left)  and Arjie were very hesitant at first but their confidence improved immensely greatly. Call center jobs and a lot of other jobs require good oral English. They have a pre-screening test before they even get an interview. They can write and read quite well because they learn this at school. This course goes for 4 weeks, twice a week and then we start over at lesson one. To graduate you must do eight lessons, practice an hour English only at home (they use a mix of languages) and do some homework.

 

Recently we toured this all girl school (Banilad Center for Professional Development) which is quite close to us. The campus is quite nice considering where it is in the barangay. They go out into the rural communities and accept girls from some of the poorest farming areas and they train for one or two years to work in hotels or restaurants. So, many of these girls are very young because up until this year students finished regular school at age sixteen. They start by teaching them how to walk, sit and greet people. They said many of these girls do not know what a bathroom is, never used cutlery, don't know how to use a knife. So, they start with the basics eg. walking with a book on your head for 30 minutes). They were very proud of their students and the awards that some of them had won. Several years they had received gold medals competing in a "cook off". They compete with much older students in a fourth year college program and  usually win. They have 30 minutes to cook and present the food in a 5 star restaurant situation. The ladies emphasized that they don't have a generous budget like the others so they have to borrow the cutlery and dishes. The desks in the school were old and wooden and the class rooms very crowded by our standards. But, the young women seemed happy and friendly.

 

Those really are flowers on the tree--beautiful!!