Floating restaurant

We have been involved a little bit with a building program. The Filipino in the dark blue shirt on the left is Jerome Cacho.  A wonderful strong member of the church.  He is working with LDS Charities and the government trying to build homes for earthquake victims.  He ran into some terrible snags and we have been fasting and praying for him that things would work out.  Our prayers were answered and we think the project will be completed.  These homes are paid for by the church and are given to an area - they are not given to LDS people.  It is like a humanitarian project and hopefully a good missionary tool for the church. Jerome is talking to his workers and telling them they can go back on the job.

Lots of Carabaus on this island.

And this is the floating restaurant.  We drove forever to find this place.  Sister Tanner had checked it out.  She is amazing to find fun things to do.  I didn't have any idea that the Philippines could have such a nice place.  So out of character from what we see.  It was the most amazing restaurant I have ever been to - Sorry Maddox!   The food was delicious!!!!

This was taken while on the floating restaurant.  At first it looked like a smiling face.  The 2nd eye is kind of faded - you can barely see it.

There we are - hard at it.  We ordered one of everything and it was all delicious!  The couple across from Norm are from Australia.  You can see President and Sister Tanner.

The couple  on the right are the Robertsons and they leave this Saturday for Utah.  This is the 3rd Sr. couple that has gone home in the last two months.  That leaves Norm and I the only ones on Bohol.

It got dark on us we ate so much and so long!

This is one of the homes Jerome is building.  They are hoping to have 27 homes done in a month, by the end of May.  That will be nothing short of a miracle to me.

Don't you just love the ladder!!

This is the lady who will be living in this home.  They are the nicest people and so appreciative.

Couldn't resist taking a picture of Grandpa taking a picture of these cute kids.

The beginnings of another home replacing the one by it.

I love this picture.  So typical.  They most always have beautiful flowers and they always leave their shoes at the door.  They never wear shoes in their homes.

This cute lady will have this home.

Pretty cute don't you think?!?!

A very common sight,

Random photos

Another pig walk in front of our apartment.  He is quite the guy.

Sister Deliarte has been with us for 4 transfers and was just transferred.  She is the sweetest sister.  She is the one that was going to Cebu by herself - catching the ferry and a taxi and all and I told her I was worried about her and she said: "Don't worry Sister, I have the best companion of all, the Holy Ghost."  I will never forget that.  She is a lovely sister.

This is her companion that she has trained, Sister Cervantes.

A huge mango tree.  Hangs out over the road

They cover each mango.  I have no idea how they do that.  I have never seen them in operation.  I suppose they do that for protection so they can sell them.

Drying rice on our walk to church.  Right on the side of the road.  They do this a lot.  Sometimes it is right on the road.

We have a beautiful carnation bush in our yard.  They are not real smelly but they are pretty.  Some are coming and some are going as you can tell.

Looks like a tomato bush right by it but they are hard.  We haven't dared try one.

Went to eat after a zone/district meeting.  Elder Francom is the white Elder in front.  He use to be Jake's companion in Carmen when we first came here.  He is now a zone leader in our district.  Love having him here.  Someone we can talk to easily.  His brother just got a mission call to Madagascar and leaves two weeks before he gets home.

Can you imagine what 30 missionaries did to a small chicken cafe.  We were there for a LONG time for a piece of chicken and some rice.

Couldn't resist the picture.  Have no idea who the guy is but I want to be on Grandma Betty's team as well.

Awesome Van Dusen week

We have been blessed to have a wonderful week with the Van Dusen Family.  It was a spiritual experience to be able to share our mission with them.  Norm and I left early Thursday morning, April 2nd, and took the ferry to Cebu.  Sister Tanner met us at the port and took us to their beautiful home.  We cooked and had a fun time together.  The Tanners are so good to us.  They just open their hearts and their home to us.  They took their van and a truck to go to the airport and meet the Van Dusens and all the things they brought with them to give away to these dear people.

President and Sister Tanner also invited Jake and his companion to meet us at the airport - Jake's area is in the same area as the airport so that worked out really well.  We all arrived at the airport at the same time.  Just unreal that we could all be together in the Philippines.  It was a wonderful experience.

Jake is doing so well.  He is a wonderful missionary.  It is truly a privilege to be here serving with him.  A GREAT FAMILY REUNION IN THE PHILIPPINES !!!!!!

Jake and his companion took the Van Dusens on a Jeepney ride to the mission office.  I might mention that Leanna took tons of pictures and they are much better than mine.  She will put them on line for the family in the near future.

In front of the mission office.  So great to be together.  From there we went to the mission home and ate and Jake spent a couple hours with us.  The kids played the piano and sang, Jake's companion played the piano.  It was just fun to be with all of them.

Friday morning we made kitty pancakes for Eden's birthday which is coming in a couple days.  We sang and whooped and hollered.  I think we were shouting hurray here!  You know the song "You've had a birthday shout hurray"  :)

Grandpa enjoyed time in the pool with the kids.

Afterwards he went back out with his ipad to take a few pictures and backed up one too many steps and fell in the pool - ipad and all.  The ipad never did recover.  No one was there to witness the occasion.  The next thing I knew he was standing at the door dripping wet.

Sister Tanner took us to walk around the temple on our way to the pier.

A light crowd at the pier because of Holy Week.  In fact we heard that the star craft wouldn't be running but we were glad it was.

First stop off the ferry is Mc Donalds.

Our landlord, Jon, has 3 apartments behind our apartment.  Two sets of sisters live in two of them and the one you see here is vacant so that is where the Van Dusens stayed.  It worked out so nicely.

After unloading we had to run to the market - Mike and Leanna had a goal to get their fill of mangoes and bananas.  We had to get started on it.

That night being Holy Week they had a HUGE parade in front of our house.  A mob of people came down - carrying candles and carrying statues of Christ and Mary etc.  We were about as big an attraction to them.  All these white people with blond hair standing at the side of the road.

The next day, Saturday, we left at 6:30 to go to Ubay to another baptism in the ocean.  5 were baptized.  That is always a very special experience.

On our way home we went to see where Jake served in Carmen, we went to his apartment and also to the church that he lined up.  Just loved being where he has served.

 We also saw the chocolate hills and Sagbayan Peak.

Sunday we went to the Calape Branch by us.  Even though it was Fast Sunday the kids sang a song "I Know My Savior Lives".  We loved being able to go to church together.

After church we went to see Sister Oncines, the sister Jake baptized and is struggling right now but she wasn't home.  We left her some goodies.  Hope her dog didn't eat them.  Then we stopped and visited a brother in our branch, Brother Kenneth, the kids sang for him.  We stopped to see Brother Gaspar who lives in a very interesting situation.  You follow a trail through other places where people live and there is a basketball game going on in the dirt.  The boys played a little with them.

We came home and got some candy and went back and shared candy with them. The kids were so friendly, they came running after our truck as we drove away.

Mike is working on his goal to eat as many mangoes as he could.

Our sweet Eden standing by her namesake store.

Couldn't believe Leanna spotted this sign as we were driving down the road.

Sister Palmieri was without a companion so she was companions with us for a few hours.  

She is a wonderful missionary.  They talked her into a card game.  I'm sure she hadn't done that for a while.

These bags were chucked full of things they brought for a school close by.  They had 3 of them.  There were 35 students and they made a packet for each one of them.  It was truly amazing.  They had a plastic folder which contained pencils, markers, erasers, scissors colored pencils, notebooks etc.
They also brought 2 other bags chuck full of clothes to give away.  They had to pay for 5 extra large bags on the airplane.  They were loaded.  This is in addition to their own luggage for 6 people.

We went to the school Monday morning at 9:00.  Mike could speak their language.  It was a great experience.  The kids also sang for them.

They also brought a sack of treats for each one.  The kids are handing them out.

Besides what they gave the kids, Leanna has sack of notebooks and crayons and extra things to leave with the teacher, Sister Amor, who is standing there in the white blouse.  She is a very good member of the church.  It is her father that has quit smoking after 61 years and he just loves Norm.  She always thanks us for coming on a mission.

They are holding their packets and saying goodbye.

President Saballa took them on a tricycle ride.

He is our District President - such a good man.  This is how he makes his living.  It was his house that Norm helped put in the cement floor.

We visited Brother and Sister Lanzaderas and Brother Villalon.  The kids sang at both their homes.  Brother Villalon has been offended and isn't coming back to church until the crows turn white.  I really think he was happy we stopped to see him.

We went on to Tagbilaran - bought Norm an ipad and Mike got him all fixed up again which we so appreciate.

Tuesday morning we left at 5:00 a.m. to go catch a boat at 6:00 to see if we could see any dolphins and we did - a lot of them.  That is our boat and boat people in the back.

They went snorkeling.  Eden and I elected to stay on the beach and she found a blue starfish. We  also went to another island which had a huge wonderful sandbar.  So fun.

After we got back to the truck we stopped at Garden Cafe and had a wonderful meal including Halo-Halo's.

On our way home we stopped at a Tarsiers Sanctuary and saw 4 Tarsiers.  Cute little things.

Wednesday morning we went to another investigators house and the girls gave their little girl a doll they had brought from home and a box of fruit loops.  We also went back to the basketball area and the boys had brought a frisbee which they played with a little and then left the frisbee with them.  The looks on their faces were so cute.

Then we drove out to Treasure Island about 15 minutes from our place and played a little bit on another sandy beach.  They had beautiful seashells here and sand dollars.

A wonderful privilege for us to be able to spend a few days with these dear people!  We so loved having them here!

Off to the ferry all too soon.  Such a fun fast week.  We did a lot and it was an amazing time together!

Aren't they just the cutest!  They went back on the ferry to Cebu and got a taxi to the airport.  Slept in a hotel close by because they had to leave at 4:00 a.m. to go to the airport.  Flight left at 5:55 a.m.  Such wonderful memories for us.  We so appreciate them coming to see us and share our mission together.