November Was Wonderful

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NOVEMBER was a busy month. Probably the grandest thing was the Mission Presidents' Fall Seminar where all 16 mission presidents and their wives come together to meet with the Area Presidency and visiting authorities. This year we had Elder Quentin Cook (of The Twelve) and Elder Jay Jensen (of the Seven Presidents of Seventy). We took a bus ride south of Manila to a place called Tagaytay (tah-GUY-tie). This is where the Taal Volcano is. The Area Presidency chose this place to be out and away from the busy bustle of Manila. It was quiet, cool, and beautiful.

We stayed at the Taal Vista Hotel overlooking the volcano. Taal is a small volcano in the middle of the lake. Last February Elder and Sister Roundy went there and rode horses to the top and looked in.

We held our meetings in the hotel and we dined there. We had rooms in the Taal Vist Hotel for our three night stay.

Elder Roundy's work for the seminar was mainly over when the meetings began. His work took place before the fact. He did run a few errands back and forth from room to room for Elder Cook and Elder Jensen.

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Sister Roundy enjoyed the company. She always enjoys visiting with Sister Millet, the wife of the Director of Temporal Affairs in the Philippines Area. (Elder Won Yong Ko is in the background.)

The seminar began with a session at the Manila Temple. Then a three hour bus ride (about 35 miles, but you have to understand the traffic conditions here) to Tagaytay. On Sunday we held a sacrament meeting there in the hotel, then enjoyed being instructed by Elder Cook and Elder Jensen. On Monday we had training all day. Elders Cook and Jensen held individual interviews with the mission presidents during the afternoon, and the Area Presidency conducted the training for the mission presidents. Elder Roundy took each president and his wife, one couple at a time, to meet with the Elders.

On Monday evening the whole seminar got into some vans (eight or so in each) and rode for about a half hour to the "Taal Highlands." From here we could overlook the lake and Taal Volcano. This is where we were having dinner -- and a Family Home Evening program.

We were pleased to have Elder Cook and his wife, Mary, with us. Here they are talking to Elder Keith R. Edwards, President of the Philippines Area.

.... Elder Jay Jensen was also there, with his wife. (The lady in this picture is not his wife; she just stepped into the picture as it was being taken.)

It was was starting to be dusk when we arrived at the highlands. We had a half hour or so to enjoy the vista lookout. The view was wonderful.

And when the sun dipped behind the western hills, it soon became dark at Tagagtay.

On Tuesday, all the mission presidents and their wives, along with the Area Presidency, took a day tour of Corregidor Island. We got up at 4:30 and rode a bus from Tagaytay back to the Manila pier. Elder Cook and Elder Jensen and their wives did not come on this trip. They were on their way to New Zeland, so Elder Edwards took them back to the airport in Manila.

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We had reservations on a ferry boat to take us across the Manila Bay to the small island.

We enjoyed being with President and Sister Hansen. He is the president of the Cebu Mission (where the new temple is being built). President and Sister Hansen are from Las Vegas, in fact, they live in our ward there. He was a member of the Tule Spring Stake Presidency. Brother Millet was sitting with us.

President and Sister Hansen were relatively new to the Philippines. Here you see them talking with President and Sister Ho Ching, from the Quezon City Mission. Incidentally, we live in the Quezon City mission, so President Ho Ching is our ecclestical leader, although we are not assigned to work in his mission. President Ho Ching is from Samoa.

We got there nearly an hour early, so we all had to wait for the ferry to leave.

Corregidor is a relatively small island. The scenry is spectacular. The day we were there it was overcast and cool.

These mountains are across the bay on the Bataan pennisula. Beyond the mountains is Subic Bay and the city of Olongapo.

From Corregidor you can see the Manila vicinity in the East.

The island opens to the southwest to the China Sea.

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Much of what is on Corregidor are the skeletons of destroyed military buildings. Most of these were built before WWII as housing for soldiers and officers and all the needs of a well entrenched millitary base. These were bombed by the Japanese and then again by the Americans when the US retook Corregidor.

There are dozens of monuments on Corregidor. This is the most impressive. It is under a large dome structure which has a single hole in the top. Each year on a certain day in May (the day the island was liberated) at noon the sun shines directly through the hole and lights up the top of this monument. You read the poem and then want to sit and think about it all. (Click on the picture to make it large enough to read the poem clearly.)

Along the wall there are panels which remember various "famous" battles in the Philippines during WWII.

The monument below was erected by the Philippine government to give tribute to the brave Japanese fighters. It is a Buddha, but if you notice, the Catholics carefully crafted it so Madonna is holding the Infant.

This monument is featured as the main point of the island.

This pillar is erected at the location of Japanese cemetery. This place was lost until about 25 or so years ago when the site where many Japanese soldiers had been buried was identified. (Japan then took the bodies back home and cremated them, as is their custom.) The site memorializes their valor. (Incidentally, our guide, Armond, explained to us that he gives an entirely different tour lecture when Japanese guests are on the tour.)

This monument is in a panorama of panels describing the struggles the Filipinos have had over the centuries -- being been conquered by other nations -- Spain, Japan, US, etc. This simple depiction is gripping.

There are all kinds of big guns. Some of these were brought here to defend the island from the Japanese. Others were installed way back in the early 1900s when the Philippines were given to the US as part of the settlement of the Spanish-American war.

We were impressed at the size of the big shells. These were set upright to show the various sizes.

Sister Roundy and a mission president's wife are standing at the back end of one of the gigantic guns. This gun could throw those enormous shells 15 miles or more out into the ocean. Corrigedor had been the main defensive island for the Philippines for Spain, then American, then Japan, then America. Now it is an historical momument.

These are anti-aircraft guns used in WWII. They probably weren't situated here during the battles; just here now on display.

This is one of the big guns installed back in the 1920s. Actually there were two similar guns. When one was fired, it would be lowered down one story to be reloaded and made ready. (That's what these missionaries are looking at, the counter weights used to raise and lower the gun.) Then while the one gun was down, the other was raised and fired.

There were guns all over the place. Some with pok marks where they had been hit by bombs and airplane fire.

Some More November

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A couple of times each month the couple missionaries get together for a Family Home Evening (we call it). We take turns giving the lesson and providing the treats. (Actually, we're assigned by the "zone leader.") On Monday, November 24, it turned out the Roundys were assigned the treats, and the Alexanders were assigned the lesson. But the Alexanders had to leave town (he's the mission doctor), so we did both the lesson and the treat. Elder Roundy had the lesson and Sister Roundy had the treat. She got a big cake--a wedding cake. That was because November 24 was our 43rd wedding anniversary.

The lesson was good; the treat was wonderful. The senior missionaries did not eat all of the cake, so Sister Roundy took it to the office on Tuesday. It lasted maybe a half hour.

November Friends

Here are a couple of our friends: Kermit the Frog and Susannah the Snail. Kermit is about as big as a man's both fists together; Susannah is about the size of one fist.

We don't see a lot of frog, once in a while. One day on the path to the garbage dumpster there was a giant one, about the size of a football. And he looked hungry.

We see snails all the time. Sometimes we have 10 or 15 of them climbing up the outside of the apartment wall. They don't bother much, fairly quiet.

There are quit a few "house cats" running around. They are not really tame, but they hang around. Hence, seldom is seen a mouse or other scampering rodent. The cats, however, don't look all the plump.

A Lincoln County Friend . . .

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On Wednesday, October 22, we were invited to join the Area Presidency at a dinner with Elder Richard G. Hinckley and Sister Hinckley. (Yes, he is the son of Gordon B. Hinckley, former president of the Church.) Elder Hinckley was in the Philippines to check on the Missionary Training Center (MTC), which needs to be enlarged, and to visit the Cebu Temple site.

The MTC receives new missionaries not only from the Philippines, but from much of Southern and Eastern Asia – Pakistan, Mongolia, India, some from Hong Kong, and on and on. It is barely large enough to handle the 60 or 70 missionaries from the Philippines, so when others come, extra room is scarce. A remodeling was contemplated even before we came. Now we think it will actually start.

Visitors always like to see what is happening at the Cebu Temple. We have not been there since the ground breaking a year ago, but we have heard that it is progressing nicely. The contractor runs two working shifts.

But, back to the dinner. It turned out that Elder Edwards, the president of the Philippines Area, didn’t come because Sister Edwards was not feeling well. That left our group to only four couples. Elder Ko took charge (as typical), assigning who would sit where. When all the places were assigned, it turned out that Sister Roundy was next to Elder Hinckley, on his left, Sister Hinckley on his right.

As the dinner went on, and as you would expect, Elder Hinckley politely asked Sister Roundy where she was from. When she told him Pioche his face lit up, and he said that he knew about Pioche. He said he had cousins in Panaca and that he would visit with them almost every summer. (We knew he had cousins there because her best friend in high school, Terry Wadsworth – now Bleak, is President Hinckley’s niece.)

Elder Hinckley talked all about Panaca, whom he knew there, whom he could remember, and asked about many of them. When she said her name was Horlacher, he said, “Oh, I know that name . . . let me think.” Then he remembered the Horlacher Stop and Shop in Pioche. He remembered going to the store. (All of this would have been back in the late ‘50s, when he was a teenager.) He and Sister Roundy talked all about the neighborhood and the neighbors he remembered, people they both knew. He said he could remember the name “Tommy Horlacher,” but, unfortunately, he couldn't remember the face. He seemed to be elated that he had found someone who could share some memories of his younger-day. He and Sister Roundy turned out to be the best of friends. Elder Roundy was pleased too because Elder Hinckley mentioned several times that he knew some Roundys who were descendants of Shadrach Roundy. (Shadrach Roundy, of early Mormom Church fame, is Elder Roundy's third great grandfather.)

Elder Hinckley and Sister Hinckley told us about his father and mother and how they raised the kids. They talked about how they met and how President Hinckley often told jokes, how he was constantly remodeling the house. Sister Hinckley said her own father was not a member when then got married, but eventually was baptized – when he was something like 87 years old. President Hinckley told her father, “Well, you eventually made it, but it took you nearly a hundred years to do it.”

They told us how Sister Hinckley, his mother, made Christmas so special for all the grandkids. They told us about the many travels his parents had made. He told us that he once accompanied his father to the Swiss Temple when they were preparing it for dedication. They talked about how lonesome his father was after his mother passed away. They shared with us about the day President Hinckley died.

The dinner was a pleasant two hours. Unfortunately, none of us brought a camera, so no pictures. We'll cherish the memories.

Volcanoes in the Neighborhood …

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This blog is especially for Alexis, our 4-year old granddaughter who told us she was learning about volcanoes. We told her we would send some pictures of volcanoes that are in our country, the Philippines. Everyone is welcome to see it, but this blog is especially for Alexis

There is a big volcano named Mayon (my-OWN). Some people say it is the most beautiful volcano in the world. That is because it is so nicely shaped like a big cone. It looks really pretty against the blue sky. Usually is nice and quiet, almost like it is asleep. It's high up into the clouds. Sometimes the clouds look like smoke, but they are just clouds hugging the tops of the volcano. We haven't been to this volcano, but we did fly over it one day when we were in an airplane.

But years ago, probably 40 or more, it started to wake up. (That was even before your daddy was born.) Smoke started coming out of the top. The magma beneath was beginning to rise.

The smoke began to bellow out and the fire began to blaze at the top. The city was nearby and they could see that Mayon had awakened. Something big was going to happen.

Fire started to come out of the cone and hot lava began to flow down the sides of the volcano. Smoke was in the air everywhere.

The police came and told everyone to leave before the big eruption came.

More smoke came out. The wind began to blow the smoke across the country side.

It wasn’t long until the whole mountain was covered with thick smoke and grey ash which began to fall on the villages.

At night the fire was blazing from the top and the red-hot lava ran down the sides of the volcano.

The villages close by were in danger and the people had to hurry to leave. Some climbed into boats to get away from the land.

More and more fire and lava. More and more ash. It lasted for many days.

But … it finally fell asleep again. It is still sleeping, but every once in a while it give a cough and out comes a whiff of smoke. So by that you can tell it will wake up again some day, and it will fill the sky with smoke and fire. But don’t you worry about us. We’re safe and sound, and we’re a long way away from the volcano, so we’re in no danger at all.

One day we went to another old volcano, one that is asleep. It is just a small volcano, out in a lake. So we had to ride in some boats to get there. You can see in the picture that where the fire and lava came out is now peaceful and quiet.

This little volcano in the lake is called Taal (ta-All). It’s pretty to see. In November we are going to go there again, but this time we won’t go on the boats over to the volcano. We’ll just stay on the shore of the lake and look at the volcano across the water.

There are a lot of volcanoes in the Philippines, but Mayon and Taal are the volcanoes closest to us. But, really, they are not close at all, in fact, Mayon is on a whole different island from the one we are on, and Taal is fast asleep. Thanks for learning about volcanoes.