June 15
Here’s an interesting blog on the subject. At this point I consider all of this hearsay or folklore.
14 years ago
Thursday, June 17, 2010
1 of 2: Iglesia Ng Kristo church: felix-manalo-and-mormons
June 15
This is a bit of interesting information regarding the Iglesia ni Kristo Church here in the Philippines. Pres. Balledos confirmed the information as follows to be the conventional story line for the subject.
Source: Newsletters
Newsletter of the District of Asia
Jan - Mar 2002
Some notes on Two Major Sects of the Philippines
by Fr. Manuel Piñon O.P. (1910-1997)
...
A) Iglesia ni Kristo (INK)
1. Nature and history
This sect is a Philippine version of the 'Mormon sect, whose official designation is "The Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints". The sect has also copied in part the latter designation, but translated it to Pilipino as "Iglesia ni Kristo" in order to officially distinguish itself from the Mormons. However, for the effect of legitimizing its claim to be the original Church founded by Christ, the Iglesia ni Kristo (INK) has also plagiarized the explanation originally coined by the Mormons for the same effect, to wit, that the original Church of Christ at the time of the Emperor Constantine I when, according to historians, the Roman Empire was Christianized, Christianity was in reality paganized from the absorption of pagan elements, and so the true Church of Christ disappeared from the earth until the time when God sent His messenger in the person of Joseph Smith, for the Mormons, or of Felix Manalo, for the Iglesia followers, to restore the true Church of Christ in their fold.
The INK was established by Felix Manalo (1886-1963), who started to preach his new religion at Punta, Sta. Ana some time in 1913. According to the Church elders the Iglesia was born in 1914, the year when World War I started. It was early in that year when Felix baptized the original twelve converts to his Church in a river at Sta. Ana, and admitted them into this Church.
2. The Founder, Felix Manalo (1886-1963) Born Roman Catholic, in his teen years he got interested in the Philippines Independent Church, then joined successively the Episcopalian Methodists, the Evangelical Christian and Missionary Alliance, the Presbyterians, the Seventh Day Adventists and finally the Mormons. Then he broke off with the Mormons and started his own religious group.
Closing Weekend of Dedication-Cebu City Temple
June 15
Today (Tuesday, yesterday was a holiday here) the Cebu membership of the church is all a buzz with excitement as they enthusiastically compare a multitude of notes regarding the events over the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) and reading about this in the attached articles.
Sunday morning I arose, pulled the blinds in our apartment to look out the window just as the Sun came up, and it seemed to me that the new light of this day was much brighter than all my prior mornings when I was out doing my daily 3 mile walk. This was a day to be remembered, a day of great promise. We arrived at the Patron House kitchen to help with breakfast at 6:00 a.m. for the Monson party. Beverly, with apron on, lovingly prepared oatmeal for Pres.’s Monson and Eyring, they never being fed as well, while the rest of us Senior Missionaries prepared breakfast burritos and papayas for the other members of the SLC group. We also worked on lunch. Bev and I then scurried across the parking lot to serve as usher, welcoming the droves of smiling/excited 9 a.m. dedication recommend holders into the Temple Complex Stake Center as we cleared their yellow tickets. We felt a pressured focus to check all recommends as they pressed on and past us, completing duty while badly needing to convey a “warm” welcome. All were in their seats by 8:30 a.m. and we joined them just before it started.
Some of the members without tickets wanted inside the building to use the CR (comfort room) and here we were faced with a dilemma. A number of elderly members showed up at the front door where we were busy checking recommends and we had to turn them away as they had been told only to come on the time shown on their ticket so that we wouldn’t have too many come to be seated. As I turned away one elderly women who came by herself from an off-island location, I immediately realized that she should be let in and with embarrassment ran and brought her back, circle the blacked out 9 a.m. and x’d out Noon. Here the heart needed to rule over the letter of the law. She did have a recommend and just needed us to grasp her situation quickly which we (I) didn’t.
A Temple still, quiet reverence filled the packed chapel and cultural hall, with all feeling the sacred presence of the Lord, a Holiness, as this Stake Center, for a few hours became an annex to the Temple as we viewed the proceedings via closed circuit TV, broadcast direct from the Celestial room. I experience once before this transformation of a chapel into a Temple annex in a dedicatory session in Houston. Pres. Eyring conducted and our ERC Manager, Stake Pres. John Balledos offered a tender opening prayer. Eyring spoke about the Cornerstone ceremony and how the Temple should be the cornerstone of our lives.
Pres. Monson and his party exited for the Cornerstone ceremony which was both interesting and entertaining. The Cornerstone Choir sang, then the Pres. proceeded to lay in mortar with a trowel along a seam of the granite exterior, with informal banter, inviting Eyring, Bishop Burton, Elder Oakes, wives, then children and other adults, and finally Gerry Avant with the Church News. I spoke to her later in the Temple in the dining room, complimented/kidded her on being the best with the mortar. I asked, if this was the first time he had asked her to do this. She replied, he often asks her to do this.
As Pres. Monson prepares to move back into the Temple for his sermon then dedicatory prayer, he stops, commends the young boy who accompanied the choir, then suddenly, he stops, sits down at the piano and plays some chop-stik type music, stops, with a big smile says: “That was terrible…” then continues along a bit, (see pix in Church News pg. 4 of 6 ). He said his piano teacher mother taught him and she said that he should never stop. He then moves on into the Temple. All of this we watched in the Stake Center big screen with smiles all around, learning of his great sense of humor and playful warmth.
Pres. and Sister Mortimer spoke, then Elder Oaks mentioned three things we can tell our non-member friends about the Temple, that we are (1) taught, (2) we make covenants, (3) that we are given a promise of blessings. In Pres. Monson’s talk, among other things, he thanked the Filipinos who served with the U.S. military in the Second World Ward, defeating the Japanese. He told all present that they should go and do the work for those Filipinos who died in this conflict.
It is rather humorous that part of what the local Sun Star newspaper reported about this event read: “Yesterday, the celebration started with the chanting of a choir. A short parade from the temple to the cornerstone on the southeast side of the temple then followed.” That sounded rather “Catholic.”
Elder and Sister Reed, over the Mission Office, were asked by the Area Presidency to prepare the meals for the Monson party and they called upon the Senior Temple Missionaries for help…we enthusiastically joined this group. Some dividends in doing this service, we enjoyed breakfast, lunch and dinners on the leftovers each day. Yesterday as we gathered to do all the clean-up and putting away, we again enjoyed good company, chatter and good food. A side part of this weekend was to meet the big burly security staff from SLC in action. Sunday afternoon we fed them and chatted with them. The highest risk city for Pres. Monson is….drum roll…SLC. Monday morning, Pres. Monson and part of his party flew out on the Huntsman jet to New Zealand.
A new dawn has risen upon the island of Cebu with the arrival of this new marvelous Temple.
Cultural Celebration Article I
Cultural Celebration Article II
News Coverage of the Cebu City Temple Events
June 11
Here’s some video and news coverage, mostly by Gerry Avant, but assisted by Ryan Morgenegg (I think he did his work in SLC and was not present in Cebu) from the Church News.
Beverly and I have been serving in the Stake Center shown in the second video, showing guests the 12 minute Temple video. A few of the persons shown in the videos are our friends here in Cebu. I’ve sat in on Temple Committee meetings with Ko and Perez presiding, joining and trying to help John Balledos, our Stake President and ERC Manager with his duties. Balledos worked under Perez and had responsibility for the Open House activities. So I have had a birds-eye view on all the unfolding, very interesting events. I have sat in a privileged seat as spectator of this historic event. Next week we will enter the dedicated temple to do some family names.
Perez is an area seventy over Seminaries and Institutes (S&I), a nice friendly man who can give a very effective sermon to Cebuanos. I’ve noticed that he uses the Book of Mormon effectively and has a style that is provoking. I guess I’ve heard three of his sermons so far, two in Cebu and one in Toledo (west coast District meeting last week, 1 ½ hr drive from Cebu).
We first saw Gerry Avant come thru the Open House tour and first thought she was a nun before we met her. I think she was suffering from Jet-lag as she wasn’t as friendly and vivacious as I thought she should be. She’s a senior silver haired lady who has seen tons of church history close up. You see her name probably weekly on Church News articles. She packs a camera like the Procters and is kind of quiet, not too engaging. You’d think a news reporter would be real outgoing. I didn’t see this with her…maybe it’s because she’s a Senior.
Philippines story, more to come
June 11
Last Saturday night we sat at the same table with the Procter’s, publishers of the Meridian Magazine, at the 10th year Gala Event for the Academy for Creating Enterprise (ACE) held at the Waterfront. I had proposed to them doing a feature on Kelvin Parrino, a young Return Missionary who had very recently completed the ACE 8 week program and won the Business Plan competition (I served as a mentor to him and had setup his business model in my appraiser Excel model, also helped him with his PowerPoint presentation, his presentation at ACE that I attended, he handled with real class) and an internship sponsored by ACE. They already had four feature stories that they were working on that you will shortly be able to read about. They want to focus on outcomes and Kelvin’s story about taking his ACE training and putting it to work is all future. You can expect a series of Meridian stories about ACE, but also about the Cultural Celebration, Open House and Dedication that we will attend on Sunday morning at 9 am. Also, we met Gerry with the Church News, who is here primarily to do a story on the Temple Open House, but they also had her over at the ACE Academy last Saturday afternoon, visiting the ACE National Convention.
Today and tomorrow are the big climaxes for the Cebu City Temple. Pres. Monson and party flew into to Cebu yesterday and are currently resident at the Mission Home, displacing the Mission President (Parke Hansen and wife) and his wife to the Patron House. Pres. Balledos, manager of the ERC (I have an office right next to his) and Cebu City Stake is one of the drivers for the Monson party, so we will hear his stories this next Tuesday about how it went. The Balledos family has its own very interesting story to tell, with a mother who made great sacrifices for her children who all went on missions and completed college.
This afternoon we will be going to the Coliseum for the Cultural Celebration, needing to be there by 2 pm for the 5 pm start. The Coliseum is a really run down venue owned by some Chinese investors, but the largest in town for this event. The Procter’s will be covering this event. Scott has a very nice camera, a professional photograph. We were able to visit with them at the Gala and had met them earlier.
PRELUDE TO CEBU: The Prophet on the side of the road in Gila Valley
June 10
This great little story below will likely not happen here in Cebu because this is a high density metro area with few really convenient places to pull off the road, but maybe something like this will happen at the Cultural Celebration and/or Dedication. In non-formal settings, Pres. Monson doesn’t believe in scripts nor worry too much about security when people are involved with him. Our Stake Pres. will be one of the drivers in the cars running from the airport and around town. So we shall see. We are excited to share the next few days with the Monson party which will show up tomorrow.
TRIP TO MOSCOW: ill-be-glad-a-personal-narrative
May 30
Below is an article by Cory Bushman from “The Mormon Worker” that I enjoyed reading and felt to share this with ya’ll. I found this website The Mormon Worker on Wikipedia while reading the United Order. At the end of this wiki, I had read: Since the death of Ezra Taft Benson, however, communism has become a less polemical topic in LDS discourse, such that scholars[who?] and activists[who?] (e.g., The Mormon Worker newspaper) have begun again to examine connections between the two topics. e.g., the writer had just cited the following:
An official Church statement on this subject stated:
"Communism and all other similar isms bear no relationship whatever to the United Order. They are merely the clumsy counterfeits which Satan always devises of the Gospel plan…etc.
Here’s The Mormon Worker
I find this web-journal to be sort of “interesting,” with just a slight smile on my face.
I’ll Be Glad: A Personal Narrative
UPDATE: Pre-dedication Cebu City Temple Photos2
April 16
Update. According to the news this morning, the "star" was the planet Venus. How sweet.
Pre-dedication Cebu City Temple Photos2
May 16
Attached is a collection of recent photos of the Cebu City Temple that I'd like to share. Tonight was a very unusual scene at the Temple complex as a less than quarter moon came up over the spire to the west and south-west with a single star above it. Many people in the temple complex were delighted at the beauty and uniqueness of such a sight. I was just leaving the Temple Committee meeting when I saw this and took photos. I'm also
including other day and evening time photos. I noticed that the position in the Temple complex was not right to catch both the complete moon, star and Temple in one photo, just the edge of the
temple. So I drove to the Waterfront Hotel to the east, took the elevator to the 18th floor, met a man who was a resident in the Hotel, plus hotel attendant who kindly took me up some stairs and around to a dark room with window that opened. I set the stage by telling them of the unusual position of the moon and star. The Temple out of this hotel window was glorious.
The attached photos do not do justice to the beauty of this stunning scene looking west to the Temple Compound.
Media Blitz for the Cebu City Temple
April 20
Attached is the subject article from the local Sun-Star newspaper. Similar articles have or are coming out in the local papers. This is ramp up time for our new Temple, exciting times.
Group to open, dedicate temple
Church wants public to see value of ‘house’
THE open house and dedication dates for the Cebu City, Philippines Temple were announced recently by The First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The public will be invited to visit the temple beginning Friday, May 21 and the open house will continue until June 5, except Sundays. The temple will formally be dedicated on June 13. Three dedicatory sessions will be held on that day to accommodate the members of the Church living in the area.
“We are excited to open the doors of the temple to our friends and neighbors,” said Cesar A. Perez, local temple committee chairman. “We hope this will give people a better understanding of why temples are special places of worship to Latter-day Saints and why it is an affirmation of our love for the Savior Jesus
Christ,” he added. Latter-day Saints consider temples as
“Houses of the Lord” and differ in their purpose from ordinary meetinghouses. Sacred ordinances that unite families for eternity, like marriages and sealings, are performed in the temple.
Purpose While there, Church members also learn about the purpose of life and strengthen their commitment to serve the
Lord Jesus Christ and their fellowmen. The construction of the Cebu City, Philippines Temple was first announced on April 18, 2006. operating temple in the world and the Ground was broken for the temple’s second in the Philippines. It will serve construction on Nov. 14, 2007. over 200,000 members living in the When completed, it will be the 133rd Visayas and Mindanao.
Incredible-images-of-iceland-volcano-from-just-a-few-kilometers-away
April 18
Two Sisters Byrd and Kimber, scheduled to arrive in Cebu yesterday to begin service in our ERC office had their flight cancelled due to the “ash cloud” problem with the airlines. I understand and have read that such is also causing economic problems in Europe. Strange times.
"Rosalind Sighting"
April 12
Bev (Sister Luke) and I were dining at Café Georg on Friday, April 9th with another senior couple, the Reeds from Boise. I happened to catch a glimpse out of my eye to my left of what I thought was a Rosalind look-alike, walking into the restaurant. I did a double take, and the lady was instantly gone, passed on by. I wasn’t expecting such a look-a-like and didn’t try to get a clearer view until I realized how unusual such a moment was. I do remember that the look-a-like was just about Rosalind’s most recent age. This was not a full, clearly distinguishable view, just a quick impression view. And I just passed it off as kind of fluky.
But I kind of liked this quick kind of a reminder experience as it made me think of her, now as it’s clear we are close to the one year mark since we celebrated her funeral on Saturday, May 2nd, 2009. I checked the internet sites and couldn’t find her date of parting. Can anyone please update me with the date. I left all my family history stuff at home. I was also disappointed that her music site is apparently down and not available, can anyone explain this?
I do miss her but believe that she is fully involved with family activities in the world of the spirits, along with Mom and all the others who have passed on and she probably looks in on us more often than we might expect. I fully believe that she could have paid Bev and I a visit at Georg, a French restaurant, a place that she would like. We found the food there to probably be the best in Cebu. So that might have brought her there. J We ate at a branch of this Café in the Ayala Mall tonight. But I will just leave this little story just as I have told it without further speculation or embellishment.
My hat goes off to this truly great woman that I deeply love. I’m deeply grateful that I’m blessed to be on her team as a brother forever. These sentiments equally apply to my/our awesome Mother. We will all join them some day, for some of us, that time may not be that far off.
Loved General Conference. We watched it over this recent weekend as time zones are different such that it was recorded, then rebroadcast one week later. It was still a sweet moment with moving sermons and music. We, Bev and I, are so deeply grateful for our church and the profound hope in the resurrection and the eternal extension of our family ties. We are so deeply grateful for the family ties we have with each of you and send along our love and prayers.
Gifford Nielsen, called as Area Seventy
April 6
FYI, here’s news from the weekend General Conference of interest to our family and perhaps known to other members of our extended family and friends.
Wendy and Gifford Nielsen were members of our Sugar Land Ward in Texas and friends of ours for all the years (23) we were Houston. We are excited for “Giff”, Wendy and family. He is and will be outstanding in this new calling.
3 Months in the Philippines
March 22
Mom said:
Dear Friends,
Today marks 3 months we’ve been in the Philippines and it seems like we’ve been here forever. We’re even getting some of the voice intonations down that the local people use, and are pretty comfortable with the driving situation. Noel does a really good job of negotiating the traffic. It’s wild……no one pays attention to driving lanes, right of way, etc. This is the land of MOTORCYCLES and it is the family vehicle for most of the people. It’s not uncommon to see a family of 5 stradled on with the kids of all ages.
We left Phoenix November 16th after our house funded and stayed with my mother in Sun City West til November 23rd, when we left for Clinton, Utah where our youngest child, Belinda, lives with her family. We stayed with her and visited til Dec. 4 at which time we went to Midway in Heber Valley, Utah and stayed with Noel’s sister, Merilyn, til Dec. 7 when we entered the Mission Training Center. They were kind enough to shuttle us down the canyon in snowy, icy roads to the MTC on that Monday morning.
Roger, Merilyn’s husband is Father Christmas every year at the local Swiss Christmas and Merilyn is Mother Christmas. Merilyn made them some spectacular costumes several years ago with wigs and the whole thing and they truly look the part. We got to participate in that with them which means that Noel drove big, ole, red Cadillac convertible with the top down in some unheard of temperature about 3 miles from their house to the Community Center, honkin the horn all the way, where he was met with squeels and screams from the kids and adults. Roger sat up on the back seat so we had to go pretty slow; it was FREEZING and the stocking cap that Noel wore and fur hat that I had on just didn’t quite cut the cold. Roger promised the kids that if THEY WERE REALLLLLY GOOD, just maybe Father Christmas could arrange to bring them what they want; Merilyn passed out candy canes to the little darlings. After 2 hours, we picked them up and brought them home to disrobe and to rest. Part of the entertainment scheduled for the day was Jennifer’s singing group that sang medley’s of Chistmas carols, traditional faves, and hymns and THEY ARE REALLY GOOD!! And we got to meet Kimball’s cute wife for a few minutes only as they were the stage crew and we chatted in between moving the risers, clearing the stage, etc.
As always there are visitors at M & R’s and this trip we got to see Gordon, Sue, and Ashton who had been staying there for the past several months. They had found a cute little house just down the road from Merilyn’s and were moving things over while we were there. Cute Nathan and his fiancé came down from Salt Lake to say hi with their docile dog and stayed not long enough; the snow started and weather reports had them on the way home sooner then expected. Carla Cook drove down Sunday morning and stayed the day and left late in the evening. Anyway….it was great fun and we had a wonderful time – as always – just visiting and staying up too late talking, learning things about each other that we didn’t know, etc.
After church on Sunday we went to the Stake Center to view an unequaled display of Christmas Creche’s from literally all over the world. The whole church building in just about every room and the hallway was decorated in a professional manner that would rival New York’s department store window designers during Chistmas time. I can’t even describe it all; it was breathtaking. One of the featured performances for that day was Merilyn’s Bell ringer group that she plays in. It was fascinating and they looked so cute in their Swiss costumes. Merilyn actually did one of the arrangements and it was lovely. I never knew there were so many kinds and shapes of bells. We wrapped up Sunday with a lovely Roger special pot roast dinner with scrumptious veggies served on some wonderful, festive, Christmas dinnerware with special candles for each of our plates and all this shared with Gordon, and Fam, & Carla, and we all “licked the plate clean!”
The MTC was something that we’ll never forget. For as many times that we sang CALLED TO SERVE I never failed to get choked up, and even as I’m writing this , I’m a little blurry just humming the tune in my mind. The teaching was intense and every day for every hour it was filled to overflowing with the Spirit emphasizing to each of us, specific to our understanding, the efficacy of what we about to embark upon. Much of our training was by returned missionaries; our son in law, Belinda’s husband Adam, taught there for quite a while after his mission, so I felt a special bond to those who were teaching us. We were separated into groups specific to our assignments, ours being Welfare Missionaries. We stayed with our group of 5 couples plus us for most of the time until the end when we were separated due to language requirements. One couple went to Ethiopia, another to India, another to Louisiana, another to Tennessee, and another to Jkarta and us to Philippines. We will all do similar things, but we were the only ones that would do the Career Workshop big time at a professional center.
We ran in to the adopted son of a widowed mother from our ward in Texas in the cafeteria; he was going to Tempe, Arizona, Spanish speaking. It was wonderful..his parents had waited for years to have children and never did, so they ventured to the adoption process. We were present when Robbin and Joe got Geordan and then Annie Laurie, less than a year after. When Annie Laurie was an infant, Joe was diagnosed with a brain tumor the size of a grapefruit that grew til the pressure was so great it took his life. Robbin’s mothercame to live with them and to hep raise the hyoung, fatherless family and now, Geordan is on a mission! Great Story!!
We left the MTC Sunday evening about 9pm for a flight from Salt Lake to Los Angeles. We arrived about 20 minutes late which wasn’t enough time, we thought, to catch our connecting flight to Hong Kong. Because of the late hour in LA the airport was empty practically, no shuttles, and after asking questions frantically were told that we had to catch a bus to the next terminal. We found the bus stop, waited about 10 minutes, got dropped off at the Cathey Pacific terminal which was under construction, and literally RAN as fast as we could to the terminal only to be told that the plane was loaded and the door was closed. We told them we had reservations and please check again, which they did, and we were right……..they sent one of their staff to RUN ahead for us and we followed, RUNNING AGAIN, to the gate; we got on, they closed the door, and the plane taxied away. Miracle?.........I think so. I kept telling the Lord in my silent, pleading prayers, “…..you’re in charge….if you want us to go on this mission, you have to help us.” He did. 15 hours later we landed in Hong Kong, we didn’t know we had no boarding pass, so after RUNNING to the gate and they told us to go back to the airlines to get a boarding pass. We RAN ALL THE WAY to the airlines booth and discovered that we had misplaced our luggage tags that they needed to track our luggage. I didn’t think they gave us them, but discovered during the flight to Cebu that I had them. SO…………STILL RUNNING back to the gate to catch the flight to Cebu, it was the same song, 2nd verse, get on the plane, get seated, take off. Because they couldn’t track our luggage, the luggage didn’t arrive with us. Cathey Pacific was waiting for us and knew of our plight so they took our found luggage tags, located our luggage in Hong Kong, and put it on the next plane to Cebu, which we picked up the next afternoon.
Prior to coming, we had been invited to stay at the Mission Home the night that we arrived, so we packed a set of clean clothing for the next day in our carry on luggage so we wouldn’t have to dig through our larger bags. It was a good thing, or we wouldn’t have had any clean clothing at all with us. As it turned out the Mission President was in the hospital and had been for 10 days due to a staph infection that they couldn’t get the infection under control. He was pretty sick. So…..we went straight to our apartment and the Senior Couple that we replaced were kind enough to loan us their extra set of sheets, towels, soap, etc. and everything that we needed to get by for the night. The Watkins were wonderful to us – they were patient to drive us to the all everyday and stay with us as we shopped until we got everything we needed. I was grateful for the time we had to do it, with the Center closed.
Our apartment has 2 bedrooms with and 2 large wardrobes for closets, and 2 full bathrooms and hot water that is adjustable with an attached heater at the top of the shower,. The floors are all slick, white, ceramic tile and attract the dust like crazy. Our kitchen has a 2 burner stove with an oven,& a small fridge. The laundry room has a washer which holds the equivalent of our small loads; we fill it with the water, (no hot running water; only cold and we don’t ingest the tap water. We have a filter that is attached to the kitchen sink and we also have a water cooler), time it and then manually turn the knob to drain it. We refill it again for the rinse cycle, drain it again, and then manually lift the wet clothes out of the waster to the cylinder receptacle next to the wash tub into the spinner. We turn on the spinner and it goes for about 1 minute til the water is out, at which time we pull the stuff out of the spinner and hang the damp clothes on a rack to dry. We have a lovely round table with a turn table in the middle – a very Chinese style thing. Our land lady is Chinese and she is on the same 3rd floor that we are. She sends down muffins, cake, and the other day, a bunch of bananas – all at 6:30AM!! We are up though and she is nice to share with us. Her building is lovely with lots of grand Chinese artifacts on each floor. We feel very safe here; she hires some cute young security men who are on call 24 hours; they swing open the gates for us to come and go and are very pleasant. When we come home with a trunk load of groceries, they quickly run over to the car and get as many bags as they can and sprint up those 3 stories and deposit the bags by the front door. Nice.
Because the ERC (Employment Resource Center) was closed Dec. 22 – January 4 the Senior Couples (5 of us) made reservations at a lovely Bed n’ Breakfast on the beach called Las Flores. You can check it out at Lasflorescebu.com and it’s the one that is called Country Cottage, I think. We spent 2 nights and 3 days there just relaxing, visiting, sleeping, reading, hiking, long walks searching for shells, playing some clever yard games while waiting for the next meal, and anything we wanted. It was no pressure and was a wonderful way to get acquainted. Actually, the other couples didn’t know each other very well, so it was nice for ALL of us to get to know each other, not just us “new kids on the block”. It’s actually owned by a local Filipina woman and her British husband – a very classy place with great attention to detail. The food and service was impeccable and delicious and we had a special Christmas Day menu with special little treats from the owners. We were the only ones staying there, but others dropped when we were there for a meal. We feel like we made some friends with the owners and may go by again; it was a very comfortable place. They couldn’t do enough for us. Because the Filipinos are big on fireworks, those who were here last year said that it sounded like they were coming through the wall and couldn’t sleep all night. So………we all made reservations at the Marriott for New year’s Eve night to avoid the noise. It was super cheap, only $85 for the night including a wonderful buffet breakfast.
Real life got us back on track and we started in January 4 getting acquainted with “the Center”. It’s a wonderful facility, and we’re on the 5th floor of a prestigious office building. Across the street is the Ayala Mall which is a lovely HUGE mall of 4 stories and is circular in design. It has lots of eating places and many that we’re familiar i.e. KFC, Shakeys, Sbarros, TGIF, Pizza Hut, and some others, many of them that are Thai. We especially love the Banana Leaf which uses real Banana leafs for a plate – takes some getting used to. Eating out here is pretty cheap and we do it a lot. There’s really nothing to go home for every night, so quite often we go to the mall, eat dinner, and then go home. We’re pretty tired from dealing with people all day so that’s about our life.
We can find most everything here that we are familiar with i.e. cosmetics, hygiene items, toothpaste, etc. There are 2 grocery stores in the mall, opposite each other. We can’t take the carts out of the store so they will follow us to the car regardless of where it is parked and unload the basket for us. Many things are outrageously expensive i.e. milk and cereal – at least twice or three times the price of the states. We also have a Toyota Camry with all the bells and whistles for about $50 per month rental, and $50 per month for gas.
Interesting local and pretty common names that we’ve run across are: Bong, Gold, Epiphinia, Dandy, Blinky, Wynkee, Jupiter, Divine, Ding Dong, Dum Dum,(these last 2 are family names and NO ONE laughs at them)! The people here are so friendly and accepting of us. They don’t complain but just go about doing their thing. Some interesting things about “stuff” here are: the malls are kept IMMACULATE by “moppers”, that is to say guys that are constantly cruising throughout the mall mopping the tile floors. Whenever we’re stopped in traffic, whether it be by red light or just stopped, it is a sure thing that we’ll have from 2-5 different vendors wanting us to buy their limes, potatoes, hammocks, dust rags, cigarettes, lighters, or sunglasses and then there are the little kids that come up to your window and begging by putting their fingers to their mouths with sad eyes hoping for a piece of candy or money.
Church is special with the majority of the meetings in Cebuano and with a smattering of English thrown in. When we shake hands in the states, we always do three shakes; here they do one BIG shake! Their testimonies are wonderful; new converts sound like they’ve been members all their lives. The children know the hymns by heart – just about every verse. And they are on the same lessons that we are. While we don’t know what they’re saying in the meetings, we’ve read the lessons so we can feel the spirit of the lesson. They read from the scriptures in English so we usually get to participate then. Our Relief Society President is the ward pianist, the Family History coordinator, on the committee to translate the hymn book and the Primary Children’s Hymn book in Cebuano, teaches school full time, and is always happy. So when you think you’ve got too much to do, think of our Emi. She has become the sole breadwinner in the family this last year when her husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease; his medicine eats up most of their $$.
President Hansen has given us an opportunity to visit 3 branches which are in the mountains, sometimes referred to as “the jungle”. They are about 2 hours away from us, so we leave bout 6:45am on Sunday morning, pack a picnic lunch to eat on the way back, and get home about 2 or 3pm. The drive is beautiful on windy roads, and that time in the morning is especially pretty. The mountains are so green and lush and big; the variety of foliage is awesome. This is where the REAL experience of getting to know the culture is. The branches are my favorite places to be on Sunday; the people are so humble and are so loving and happy to have us. The smallest one is my favorite one and I’ll tell you about that and some of the others another time. We visit the first 3 weeks of the month, and the 4th and 5th weeks we are in our home ward where we attend a Welfare Meeting as the Ward Employment Specialists. There is a ward social the first Friday of every month without fail; sometimes nothing is planned and we just visit; other times there are games, and dancing and singing to karaoke music; they don’t care – they just love being together and we love being with them. The Youth are terrific – most of them come along as they are the only members, or they are from an inactive family, or a part member family but they come to everything and visit with the adults and us, and are so cute; I just love them to pieces.
We’re so busy here and have to look for opportunities to do REAL missionary work. It feels sometimes like we’re doing what we did at home i.e. church work all the time with diversion for work, ward activities, shopping, etc. But there are lots of non members who take advantage of the Center here and every now and then the spirit lets me know that I’ve shared a sacred moment with one of them; I’m grateful for that time because I didn’t look upon the moment as a testimony. Sometimes because I’ve helped someone correct their resume and helped them to word something in a better way, they gravitate to me another time when they come in i.e. they will ask about my family, ask my advise on something, etc. Usually them come in, do their stuff on the computer and then leave, so I’m always happy when they feel comfortable enough to want to chat and linger around a little longer. I surprise them as I slip a tootsie roll next to their computer and their face just beams and they’re shy and say “…thank you sister Luke!” I just love it when they come in and say they passed their interview; they talk so soft and get excited when they’ve achieved something by using something they’ve learned in the Career Workshop.
I never bore my testimony at home; it is such a personal thing for me and I get all choked up and emotional, but I’m always called on someplace every week it seems to do so, so I’m not quite as emotional. I know that Christ didn’t leave us without a support and help when he left the earth, and so He provided the Holy Ghost to be with us always; he also didn’t leave us without a written reference to go to and to be reminded and instructed on a level that we could understand - even the Book of Mormon. The parallels in that book are identical to what we go through today in our personal lives. The more I become knowledgeable about the contents and use it I can see where I fit in and where it fits in to my everyday life. It is TRULY a book for our times and I know that it is a true record brought forth for our benefit. I’m so grateful for the sacrifices that Joseph Smith made at the expense of his family and even his life and for the example of obedience that he always demonstrated as he honored the promises he made to the Savior.
Well, I’m sure there are other things that I’ve forgotten, but that’s it for a start. Sorry this is so long and I won’t feel bad if you just toss it. Would love to hear from all of you sometime.
A Family in the Mountains
March 24
I want to introduce you to a little family that lives in the mountains - one of the Branches that we visit once a month. We'll take pictures when we visit their home - it sounds like the kitchen is similar to what you had in the DR.....a covered concrete counter
with a wood fire to heat the pots; an extension cord hooked to her sister's house - one of about 5 extension cords - and no running water, washing clothes down by the water pipes, and hauling water up to the house to bathe. When no money for food they eat rice (with every meal) papayas from their tree (they mash them with milk), and pick green leaves and boil them – sorta like spinach they said. When they have money they have fried eggs, veggies, and hardly ever meat. Cake is never since it's too expensive. I'm going to make a chocolate cake or cupcakes and take them next time that we go. I just love her.....her name is Eva and she has a 15 year old son, 9 year old son, and 6 year old daughter. They travel for 2 hours to get down to her office here and Daddy is helping her husband with his resume. They are so
grateful for the help and can't stop saying thank you. When they all travel together, they put all 5 of them on the motor cycle and make the trip together. I'm just rambling on....more about them and the other branches we visit. We're having some touching missionary experiences every now and then, the spirit lets me know when they are; sometimes I'm so dense I miss them, but luckily I pick up on some of the.
The Buffet…
March 10
Mom said:
This was after a really busy day starting with Zone Conference for 5 hours where an Area Authority spoke – like a mini General Conference so we look kinda washed out.
We took the Chinese girl (our Asst. Manager) and her husband to dinner. He is a seaman and is leaving next week and will be gone for 1 year without coming home. He and his wife, Mary Ann, have a cute little son, Jarl, who is 3 and is fun and very bright. She thinks she is pregnant. ANYWAY…….it was our gift to him, sort of the “last supper” since they hardly go out especially to nice places like this.
The buffet was wonderful – about $13 each and their specialty is roast duck with a wonderful sauce. They had delicious make your own lettuce wraps with minced pork; also a soup station where you start with a soothing broth and then add whatever you want from a choice of about 24 items to add i.e. 3 different kinds of noodles, different greens, meats, sprouts, and lots of other things. Also wonderful fresh fruits i.e. watermelon that is so sweet and juicy, pineapple, papaya, mango, apples, and some other local delicacies, sweet and sour pork, breaded fried chicken stuffed with melted cheese, Cajun shrimp, a wonderful mild steamed and seasoned fish, fresh wasabi that will make your eyes bung out, and so much other stuff that I can’t remember it all. The raw salmon and tuna everyone said was to die for – I didn’t want to take the chance to find out so I passed over it.
They have Gelato for dessert – about 8 different flavors with your choice of cones or in a bowl with about 12 other stuff to add to it. The hot fudge was a welcome sight, but the funny thing is that as soon as it hit the ice cream it turned hard – kind of like Dairy Queen’s cones. We all had a mess on our hands because we ALL heaped it on. Even so, it was delicious.
The other Senior couple with us are the Pecks from St. George and their assignment is in Public Affairs. His specific assignment now is to work with the local community and coordinate various aspects for the temple open house; he was a cop for 40 years in SLC. They married when she was 16 and he was 18 and have 8 kids, all pretty close in age. They’re fun and he has a great laugh. He has started a contest on who can submit the ugliest dog picture contest. The poor dogs are pathetic, full of disease and puny. They share an office with us. The cute little unidentified lady is the wife of our Office Manager (who is also our Stake President). They have 5 children, the oldest just turned 16 last week.
ANYWAY AGAIN……thought you might like to see some pictures. I have a bad hair day EVERYDAY since it is so humid and I’m in baaaad need of a perm; I’ve been cutting my own hair since December and I need to find someone to clean up the mess I made. But it’s not so bad; no one knows that it doesn’t really always look this bad; still, I hate to look in the mirror. Beauty Parlors here are not like in the states; they really only wet your hair, cut it, and partially blow it dry before you leave. It is not part of their routine to shampoo, cut, blow dry, and use the curling iron. Thus, it’s hard to find someone to do the whole shot and so I’m holding out til I absolutely can’t STAND it anymore and don’t care what I look like when they’re done with me.
Well enough of this dribble; I know you guys probably aren’t interested in the details of the buffet, but I KNOW that the women are.
Zone Conference
March 9
Mom said:
Just go back from a Zone Conference where Pres. Edwards, the Area authority conducted training for about 3 hours. It was wonderful…..almost like a General Conference. This is his annual visit to all the zones and it was very inspiring. His wife spoke and some of the things she said were right on target for me. She talked about discouragement, and not being at peace with yourself. Of course, she gave a very personal story and touched me. She spoke about the chapter from Nephi, where he was feeling, “……..O wretched man that I am………” and “……….awake my soul…..”. I’m not discouraged but haven’t quite found my niche yet re: REAL missionary work. There are great things happening in the ERC but it doesn’t feel like a mission should feel. The Zone Conference was a great pick me up.
CT Nomination: Noel & Beverly Luke
March 1
Today we, Sister Luke and myself, earned some at-a-boys. Here are seven reasons why we are loving our mission and we have so much yet to do. Not bragging:
Noel Luke & Beverly Luke
RISE and SHINE & CELEBRATE INNOVATION
They are both willing to know Filipino culture and not only that they see to it that they understand the Filipino culture to better help our Filipino members. They go out of their way to innovate things for the members’ benefit in the center. They communicate with members even when they don’t speak English that much. They see to it that our work is constantly improving. They always give out their best in everything they do. The center’s image and services improve tremendously. For example:
1. Our bulletin board is now always updated by Sister Luke.
2. We have online Sunday classified ads set up by Elder Luke.
3. We have power point presentations of all Career Workshop modules created by Elder Luke.
4. We have ready handout (contains schedule, policies, & guidelines) for clients who would like to attend the workshop maintained by Sister Luke.
5. Resume coaching & new website registration are getting easier since I now have helpmates.
6. Elder Luke is constantly doing some researches for future reference (such as Philippines salary, Philippines articles, job market, etc.)
7. Sister Luke is constantly conducting surveys of the center and our services.
Regards,
Mary Ann C. Balen
Associate Manager
What if he is right? Ummm. or What if someone was just pulling your chain :-)
February 28
From wiki we can read:
In April 2009, an essay comparing Barack Obama to the rise of the Third Reich was wrongly [1] attributed to Kaiser; Snopes.com [2] traced the essay to an anonymous commenter on Pat Dollard's blog.
Seems these things are always a setup, toying with right-wing sentiments. You can see the sly smile on the true author as he or she watches the clever myth being circulated like lightening around the globe.
I Love Cebu, the Temple
February 27
Graced by moonlight, last night we attended a Lahug Ward Temple devotional on the edge of the Temple site. While the announced time for the event was 6:30 p.m., working on Filipino time, folks casually arrived at about 7:20 p.m. We sat outside on plastic brown chairs, placed on a rock covered pad between two construction buildings about 200 yards to the north of the beautifully lit structure, like a great rocket reaching to Heaven, ready for launching. One of two huge K-Line red steel shipping containers (50’X15’X10’) was being lowered into place as we arrived, filled with furniture shipped from Salt Lake. These two huge containers framed our view, with the view of the Temple positioned between them and a 6’ chain-link fence was immediately before us, blocking our entry into the complex. Inside the fence to our left was a huge pile of sand used for making concrete. To the right we could see the still under construction, the Patron’s Resident for off-island members who will have a place to stay during their more than one day visit to the Temple. Workers on the site were busy completing their evening construction duties as we gazed up the gradual slope to the elevated Temple. Large lights lit up the site for the workers.
Two senior couple missionaries (husbands, over TFH & Public Affairs), the Elders Quorum, High Priest Group leader and finally the Bishop were our speakers for the evening. A couple of locals sang “Come, Come Ye Saints” accompanied by a harmonica. In my mind’s eye I saw g-g-grand Father William Luke, sitting with fellow-travelers around a camp fire on the great American plains on his covered wagon journey to Utah. Here sat members of the Cebuano religious pioneer movement on the verge of entering their spiritual promised land.One speaker spoke of very poor members from Mindanao who sold their caribou, their most important plodder used in their fields, to finance their Temple trip to Manila. Now Central Visayas members of the LDS community would be relieved of this great sacrifice.
Halfway through the devotional we sang, “I Love Cebu, the Temple” (with lyrical changes done by a local member) accompanied by a man on a violin, no Paganini, but I enjoyed the color and simplicity of the musical experience.
I love Cebu, the temple
I'm going there some day
To feel the Holy Spirit, to listen and to pray
Cebu temple is a house of God
A place of love and beauty
I'll prepare myself while I am young
This is my sacred duty
I love Cebu, the temple
I'll go inside some day
I'll covenant with my father,
I'll promise to obey
Cebu temple is a holy place
Where we are sealed together
As a child of God I've learned this truth
A family is forever
As I thought thru the lyrics I remembered working with a beautiful young lady yesterday on her “Flight Attendant” resume, and the struggle she had to get the English right. On the sheet handed out last night with the words to this song, I immediately moved the word “the” to the left, thus changing the opening line to read “I Love the Cebu Temple.” Yes, better…but then I said…no, too conventional, just leave it alone! It wouldn’t have the flavor of this culture without the lead, “I Love Cebu.” You can buy tee shirts here with that phrase and there are local romantic songs with this short lyrical phrase. I do Love Cebu, the Temple, I’m going in there, in a few months, to feel the Holy Spirit, to listen and to pray. While this region is wracked with poverty and much of it run-down neighborhoods, I find Cebu to have a certain romantic aspect to it, can’t exactly pin it down for you. But right now, with the Temple, love is preeminent.
Our evening was very sweet just to sit there and enjoy the beauty and moving spirit of that brand new building, with a bright moon over head, listening to the devotional comments of the senior missionaries and the faith-filled Filipino church leaders. My expectations are high for the coming months. I rejoice,…I rejoice at the great blessing this marvelous Temple Complex is to my Cebuano friends, followers of our Everlasting, Eternal Savior and His Beloved Father.
I said to my senior friends, I wondered “if the Owner of this majestic residence was home tonight.” The interior lights were on and a wondrous glow resonated from out the windows. Yes, He’s Home.
Cebu ERC Stuff
February 24
NEWS FLASH - Filipino Driver's License in Hand
This afternoon at about 1:15 p.m. we arrived at the Lapu Lapu Land Transportation Office. The way had been cleared by my male escort contacting various well placed church members who have contacts in the city office. Again, after a short wait, we were ushered into a glass-enclosed Aircon office and visited with a very nice motherly, wisdom-filled woman, the Director. After clearing a few, what appeared to be, game stopping hurdles, she approved our application and shortly I was again outside for a digital photo and e-signature.
Back in the office, interspersed over maybe 30 minutes, this very nice woman asked, explored with us: do you Mormon’s believe in God? Are you Mormon’s Christian? I showed her my badge that has the name of the Church. Do you believe in the Bible? As we waited for the paperwork to clear, several times my very wise guide asked the lady if she would like us to step outside, she said, no stay here, it is okay. She was assured by all our answers, most being very discreetly handled by my local escort, including an invitation to come and visit the Cebu City Temple Open House. She told us that she has scripture study with her family each day. After my escort complimented her on how orderly her office was run (implied, he didn’t mention this to her: in striking contrast to the Mandaue LTO) she volunteered that she has folks outside who don’t like her. She does not allow the fixers to come into this office. Coming and going from this office we were warmly greeted by members of the church that happened to be there at the time. My escort called to the lady’s attention several LDS members on her staff or that work in this area that are known to her.
Bottom line, the rejection of our applications in the other two locations somehow opened the door for us to relieve this sweet lady of some very normal misconceptions about the church. So, interestingly, my quest for a Filipino License ended in a very natural discussion about the church, a somewhat unusual-meaningful missionary moment.
.S. As we returned to our van to leave back to the office we found ourselves hemmed in by a “parking lot” of cars on each side and back. My escort hopped out, sized up the situation, then asked several self-appointed young men behind us, who “manage” the parking outside the LTO: “come on boys, let’s move the small truck that blocks our ‘back-out’ exit.” They literally lifted it up a step at a time and moved it forward about 4 foot, enough for us to back out. Cost: P20.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Be my "Green" Valentine Pictures
February 23
Well,…hum…I guess Seniors can dance while on a mission. Would you agree? We attended a banquet last Saturday night hosted as a fund raiser by local businessmen with a focus on cleaning up the evil plastic bags that litter the landscape and pollute the landfills. As we ate our dinner of halibut we watched a video on garbage dumps and plastic bags as litter on roadsides, with intense portent loaded music, etc.
I wondered what impact it might have if the attached photos found their way into the local newspapers …”Mormon Missionaries break the rules and dance on their mission.” Like Adam (in Genesis), I can honestly say that Sister Luke forcefully compelled me onto the dance floor as I protested, and the Pecks followed with glee. She (Sister Luke) regretted that little diversion after we got home when I jumped her case on that. In case you look at the photos and are wondering, I stuck the red evening’s program in the back of my pants, not knowing that a local photographer would record our transgression. This photo op was at the end of the evening and the Asian Troubadours were playing their last music sets. This event was at the Marriott Hotel with a beautiful, romantic post-Valentine setting, a very nice evening. We were guests along with two Filipino couples, with husbands that are counselors to our Stake President. One of the wives is on the local committee that sponsored the event and invited us to join them.
A somewhat humorous thing, they had a drawing, giving away gifts based on whether your ticket number was pulled out of a hat. One member of the Stake Presidency won a very nice silver Swiss Pocket knife. Pretty soon they announce the giving away of a bottle of wine. I immediately prophetically commented: “I bet someone in our group’s likely to win this one.” Earlier we had to wave off the waiter with an alcoholic toasting beverage and tea. Of course, a few got their caffeine fix from pepsi. But sure enough, very quickly, my number, 350 was pulled out of the hat…laughing, I thought, hum, do I go get the bottle of wine in front of everyone? I fetched the bottle, smiling all the way, brought the bottle back to our table and gave it to Elder Peck. Being the Public Affairs Senior Couple guy, he took it over and presented it as a gift to the publisher, Eileen Mangubat, publisher of the Cebu Daily Newspaper. Elder Peck, a really funny guy, with a big smile, kneeled at her side and said: “You know us Mormons, we don’t like this stuff.” She received it graciously.
Loving our mission
P.S. I know. Such events noted above are not the highlight of our mission experience this week. But hey, things happen.
Drivers License Theatre, who's the real fixer?
February 23
By Elder Noel D. Luke
Thought ya’ll might find interesting my subject story. Last Friday I and two other church helpers drove to the Mandaue Land Transportation Office (LTO) to obtain a Filipino drivers license. J Foreign licenses are only good for 60 days and my Arizona license would not be good after March 22. As we turned the corner, heading to the LTO, a man tried to flag us down, pull us over, but the members counseled, keep driving. The area around the LTO was busy, with people coming and going. A good number of street people were doing some kind of “business.” I noticed a sign on the fence of the LTO: “Beware of Fixers.” I now understood that the guy flagging us down wanted to help us to get the “fix” for a license.
The narrow street at the LTO didn’t have a safe place to park, with the number of people on the street, coming and going. My escorts directed me into a side court and we parked for P20 in a protected area. We first went to a “Doctor’s” office across from the LTO. The “Doctor” checked off all the boxes on the medical form, not asking me any questions. I was given a small jar and asked for a urine sample, paid P260. While waiting for the urine test results, I noticed a man rearranging, delicately handling (in ritual form) a bunch of icons (religious) up on a shelf behind a barrier. The “MD” finished up the medical paper work and we headed across the street to the LTO.
At the gate into the LTO a guard asked us what we wanted. We got the same quiz at the entry door to the LTO. Inside, the entry room was packed with patrons seeking licenses and I thought, hum, ½ a day. My escorts spoke to a person and we were ushered into a side glass enclosed office. An officious man examined my paper work, asked how long I planned to be in the country, 23 months, do you have proof, then said, sorry, come back on Monday, the decision maker is out of the office. Price: P700. On LTO’s website, the price for a non-professional license is P180.
Yesterday I and my two escorts returned to the LTO, only to learn that Xerox copies of my passport and mission call letter (showing our 23 mos. plan for residence) were not acceptable, we would need “certified” copies. We walked back across the street to the “Doctor’s” office and were ushered into the “Doctor’s” wife’s office. The wife had a 1950’s grungy typewriter on a secretarial desk by the door, probably never used it, while a secretary sat at a higher desk towards the back, busy working on a new T-Apple laptop. My escorts asked the wife what we could do, with discussions ensuing in Cebuano. Pretty soon the secretary at the back knocks firmly on the wall behind her and shortly a late twenties light, thin bearded man with a slick hat appears at the door and more Cebuano conversation ensues with him.
He disappears then reappears, bottom line, fast track processing can be arranged, price P2,200. We would need to bring in the P2,200 and certified copies of my mission call, passport that includes arrival date. All mission passports are mailed to the Church office in Manila for safe keeping. In the afternoon, my male escort took my payment and paperwork back to the LTO and was told that they required that I file after 5 months. He replied, Elder Luke has to drive and his foreign license expires in March. What is he to do? The man replied, our office is being renovated and he could not really help us. My helper then went to the regional LTO office in downtown Cebu City, shopping my application around, with no success. Today he will go over to the Lapu Lapu LTO office by the airport to seek approval.
This whole process, where a governmental agency is in a position of control, seems to reveal a pattern of corruption that exists in the Filipino system at any point where money is exchanged. As I understand it, the fixers are both on the outside and the inside.
Who knows, we might be consigned to riding Jeepney’s and Taxi’s for the rest of our mission after March 22nd! I feel the embarrassment of my friends who are trying to help me. I’ll let you know how this story ends.
Elder Luke
P.S. I taught Module I of the Church’s career workshop in the morning, 8 non-members and 2 members present. I hope and prayer that this teaching opportunity will make a difference for the attendees.
Incredible-images-of-iceland-volcano-from-just-a-few-kilometers-away
April 18
Two Sisters Byrd and Kimber, scheduled to arrive in Cebu yesterday to begin service in our ERC office had their flight cancelled due to the “ash cloud” problem with the airlines. I understand and have read that such is also causing economic problems in Europe. Strange times.
ACE
February 19
Earlier this week I had the privilege of visiting the subject educational institution with Bros. Checkett (tall haole) and Mahaya (Maori) from BYU-H.You can learn more about this great institution by visiting their website and listening to their videos and reading their story. One unique aspect of ACE is that it only accepts return missionaries from the Church as students.
Creating Enterprise
Academy for Creating Enterprise
When we drove into the compound, the students attending the center were standing on the porch (see photos) and singing "Called to Serve," a very moving introduction to this center. Enjoy the attached pictures.
Cebu City, Philippines Temple
February 17
Attached are stills of the subject. The aerial video found on YouTube was shot using the remote control helicopter shown in the attached. This helicopter was rented from a local company by the church. Also of interest, notice the change in the name of the temple,
From: Cebu Philippines Temple
To: Cebu City Philippines Temple
Pres. Ko told the members of the Cebu City stakes that the name change was made consistent with the practice in the U.S. We don’t have SLC 1 Temple, SLC 2 Temple…etc. We have Bountiful, Draper, Provo, etc. Cebu is the name of the total Island and Province. The Temple is located in “Cebu City.”
Teaching FHE & Church up in the Hills
February 17
We've got to teach FHE Monday night at the Mission Home to 22 Zone Leaders and think I'll serve 7 layer bars and some Rice Crispy Treats; most are Filipinos so maybe it will be a new thing for them to eat. They ask the Sr. Missionaries to periodically teach a FHE to the Elders when they are "in house"; some have never experienced a FHE; thought we start off with "Popcorn on the Apricot Tree" - that should be different for the Filipino missionarys.
(In reference to clothes Tiff sent…) Your "cast off clothes" are boo tea full! I'm sure I'll find a good home for them. We will be visiting 2 branches every month up in the hills; we visited one last week for the first time; pretty humble people. I'm sure you saw even more humble circumstances than that, though (to Tiff). At least we had a building to meet in with separate rooms for Primary, P'hood, and YW/YM. We were told that it is pretty typical to be asked to speak and/or bear your testimony when you go, and sure enough, that's what happened. Daddy spoke and I bore my testimony. The Assistants to the President went with us and will continue to do so for a few weeks to guide us and show u s the way til we can find our own way; they were also asked to speak. I wonder what they had planned to do if we didn't show up. In our Mabolo Ward where we go when we aren't traveling, the bishopric doesn't ask people to speak. They DECIDE who is to speak, pass out to them in RS, or whatever class they will be in, a half sheet of paper with the person's name who is to speak, the topic they will speak on and when they will speak. When the RS door opens just a crack and the Bishopric member slides in the paper to the RS Pres. to pass it on, everyone cringes and laughs at the same time. But no one quibbles....they show up and do a good job.
The Food in Cebu
February 16
Mom said:
We have PAPAYAs nearly every morning.....actually we each have 1 / 4 of one since they are so large. We squeeze some lemon or lime juice in the middle. They cost about 45 cents. I'm told that the locals mash them with a little sugar and pour milk over them. Most of their fruit is pretty good except I'm dying for a CRISP apple....they're all pretty mushy but I get them anyway.
Their Pad Thai here is WONDERFUL.....it's served not like any I've had in the States. When we go to dinner with Jana at Lemon Grass I'll ask what their dressing is......it's a pale pink and almost a subtle floral but not really taste. I'll also take notice of what I can see that may be different than in the States. They also have a WONDERFUL lemonade - there are slices of cucumber, oranges, and I think lemon slices in it but I'll probe a little further.
Temple conversations, etc…
February 16
Following is the subject link of interest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVwNsyiMTMI
This event happened a while back, before we arrived in December. This video reminds me of the Sacramento Temple video that we all previously shared. In this video, note the new Stake center, walled complex and patron’s quarters. The mission president and wife will have a new mission office on this complex as well as offices for family history.
Everyone in Cebu knows about the Temple. I met a neighbor on my daily walk who commented, “your church bought the most expensive property in town for your Temple.” The perception by the typical Filipino is that the LDS Church is very rich. I’m inclined to counter that the Catholic Church, with 85% of the Cebu Province is much, much more rich, but that would be in poor taste. In company with Bro. Checkett and Mayhaw, from BYU-Hawaii, we visited with Louie Punzalan, SVD, MA, Presidential Assistant for External Affairs for the University of San Carlos (USC). Louie commented, my gosh, your temple looks like it was build to withstand a nuclear blast. These good brethren were visiting USC to explore partnering relationships. BYU-H doesn’t have any post-graduate programs and are having Philippine students who don’t return to their home country. To head this off, Checkett and party are exploring options for LDS students to return to their home country with BYU credits that would be transferable to USC. We had a very interesting visit with Louie, quite an entertaining may. We also visited the Academy for Creative Enterprise (ACE) and as we entered their complex were met with all the returned missionary students standing on the entry singing “Called to Serve.” ACE has an entrepreneurial program funded by LDS contributors living in the U.S.
Today I’m teaching the Career Workshop to 12 missionaries who are home bound, having served honorable missions.
More Shangri-La…
February 15
(These are repeats but I believe they were sent twice in emails only this post has more detail to the pics)
Jen, our landlady painted this picture. Sorry it is a little blurred, auto focus didn't work right. This picture reminded us a little of Max. :-) 
As you can see, the entry up our stairs has a steel mesh and bar gate with a guard that sits at the desk to Bev's right, one being there 24 hours per day (two young me share the duty and receive pay they are happy to have, but in our world, very small compensation). 
Notice the windshield wipers on our car are in an up position. That is the signal from the young man, who is a worker for Jen, that he has washed our car. He does it any time it needs it. This morning I paid him P300 (pesos, i.e., he receives from us $6/month). He's happy with that pay even though to us it would be about what one car wash would cost in the U.S. Notice the clothes line. No one has driers here but hand out the wash. We
have a clothes rack in our apartment.
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