Banaue -- First of Five Groups of Photos

The day after Christmas, when things were pretty much closed down at the Area Office for the holidays, we were given permission by the Area President to travel to Banaue, up north of Manila about 10 hours, up in the mountains. The Banaue Rice Terraces are one of the eight wonders of the ancient world. We left Manila on Wednesday and returned on Saturday, staying in Banaue three nights -- one day traveling up, one day traveling back, and two days looking at the scenery in the mountains. Here are some of the 200 or so photos we took. Enjoy.

Like Baguio, Banaue is in the mountains. The houses are stuck to the sides of the hills. And there are houses almost everywhere you look, in the smallest of openings, tucked away at the bottom of a river bed, perched on the side of a rock, right next to the road. They have no yards, just hills that fall deep down into the river below. The children play in the streets. You see people squatting there on the side of the road, just inches from the traffic.

When we stopped to take a couple of photos, these three little ole' ladies came over in their red T-shirt. They wrapped themselves with the native skirts and put on their fancy hats. For this show we gave them five or 10 pesos. There were folks like this whenever you stopped.

We went out to see the sights on Thursday and Friday. We hired a jeepney to take us because we didn't know where to go and because the roads were impossible -- muddy, twisty, bumpy, narrow, dangerous and whatever else you can imagine. At one point a couple of local guys jumped on the jeepney. One climbed up on top in the rain, but this fellow wanted to come in. We let him ride inside with us. He was chewing bettle nut and kept spitting out the back window opening. (Bettle nut is a mild narcotic. They somehow mix it with lime powder (a chemical) and chew it more or less like tabacco.) He could speak English fairly well, and we asked him a few questions about the local places. After about 15 or 20 minutes, he reached his destination and opened the door and jumped out. The driver didn't charge him -- after all, we had paid for the whole trip already.

The photo doesn't show the vertical depth. These terraces were way down there, probably a couple of thousand feet. You can see the road along the left side of the terraces. From where we were standing to take this picture it was a vertical drop. Of course, the fall wouldn't hurt much, it would be the sudden stop at the bottom.

Here you can see how the road was on the edge of the hillside and the drop along the side of the road. The fog came and went. Sometimes we were above the fog, sometimes below it.

Banaue -- Second of Five Groups

The ancient Filipinos started constructing these terraces some 2000 years ago, we were told. They likely came from China and brought the rice paddy industry with them, but had to adapt it to the mountainous terrain. So they took advantage of the abundant water springing in the mountains and the rich valcanic soil. The problem was finding level places to build the paddies. The terraces were the solution. Thousands and thousands of them stretch up and down the hillsides.

Here you can see the intricate patterns created by the terraces. Each paddy needs to be level to hold the water, so a rock wall is built and the area behind it was leveled. Sometimes the spot is only a few yards wide and a few yards long, but they took advantage of every square inch.

The season for planting was just beginning -- starts in January. So, some of the paddies looked dried up. The bright green sections are the seedlings. These will be dug up and moved to the flooded paddies, planted about six or eight inches apart. Although you can't see it here, occasionally there were red plants at the edges of the terraces here and there. We were told these red plants marked the boundaries showing which terraces belonged to whom. The terraces went for miles all up and down the hillside and down the valleys.

Sister Roundy with the terrances in the background -- just to prove "we were there." Lookin' good!

It was foggy and raining all the while we were in Banaue, and it was cool. We even wore our jackets at times. The fog would be in the bottom of the valley and rise up to the tops of the mountains. Just when you thought it might not raining any more, it would start again.

Banaue -- Third of Five Groups

Outside the hotel flower gardens were in bloom -- probably not as abundantly as they would have been in the warmer months, but nonetheless pretty. This is a poinsetta tree. We saw poinstta trees all over the place, simply growing wild it seemed. They grow on tall bushes, probably up to 12 feet high.

Another pretty red flower. We saw all kinds. Sister Roundy probably knows the names of them -- blue flowers, white flowers, yellow flowers, purple flowers. And butterflies here and there.

Banaue is built in the mountains. There is no flat places on which to build houses, so dwellings are perched on the side of the hill. This shows one house (and there were hundreds just like it) that is at least five stories with a sixth one to be added. And there is a terraced foundation below it. Most of the houses on the hillsides were made of concrete. There is not much lumber (just jungle plants -- bamboo) for building, so they use concrete. They never finish the house . . . because while it is under construction it is not taxed, so and unfinished building is not taxed.

This is the hotel where we stayed. This picture is taken from across the river gorge. From the picture you cannot tell the vertical depth of the gorge, but it is deep. And there are rice terraces all up and down the sides of the hills.

The houses are clinging to the sides of the steep hills, up and down the mountain. There are not many roads into these places, so the people just walk in and out, up hundreds of steps and down again on the other side. We did see one swinging bridge and the men crossed over to the other side, bouncing and swaying back and forth.

Banaue -- Fourth of Five Groups

There are jeepneys everywhere, thousands of them in the cities, hundreds of them out here in the provinces. And they load them to the hilt. We counted at least 25 people in and on this jeepney.

As the jeepney goes by, people jump on. The driver sometimes slows down and sometimes doesn't. Then when the jeepney gets to where you want to get off, you either just jump off, or if you're inside, you thump on the roof of the jeepney and the driver stops and lets you out. No signals for the car behind the jeepney. Each driver just has to stay awake and be sure not to run over the disembarking passengers.

We saw a place where the landslide had come down the mountain and destroyed some of the terraces. They were repairing it. This shows how they pack the inside of the paddy with clay to make it waterproof. Eventually this will be filled in with top soil and then flooded with water.

This was an interesting old log out in one of the paddies. We thought the fungus growing on it was interesting and sort of pretty.

These are the work-horses of the Philippines -- the carabao (care-a-BOUGH). This one took a breather. This paddy was more or less dried out, waiting, we supposed, to be plowed up and flooded so the seedlings could be planted.

Banaue -- Last of Five Group

This is a typical house out in the mountains. It's made from natural materials. Some houses have corrugated tin roofs (to hear the rain in the night, probably). A women named Evelyn lived in this house with her four children. This house was right down next to the rice paddies at the bottom of the valley. We hiked down into the village. It was a long trip down and every step down had to be retaken on the way back up. Hard work for us old folks.

The rice is dried and thrashed (or is it thrushed?) by hand up in the mountains because there is no flat places to spread it out. This woman is cutting the rice grains from the stalks. The stalks are piled up and burned, so you often see small, smokey fires here and there.

As we left the mountain terraces and went down to the flat lands we saw field after field of rice paddies. The walls keep each section level to hold the water required to grow the rice. This man is preparing his paddy for planting. We were told they plant in January and harvest in April or May. Up in the mountains they can only get one crop each year (because of the short seasons there), but in the flat lands they can usually get two crops.

In the flat lands the farmers spread their rice on the roads to dry. You simply have to drive around it, but sometimes . . . . The husks are removed and it is cleaned before it is eaten, but still . . . . ????

When the rice is dried, it is swept up into long piles and then scooped up and put into bags. The bags are often left standing on the side of the road waiting to be loaded into carabao carts or into jeepneys. Sometimes you see a truck loaded with sacks of rice.

That was our trip to Banaue.

Christmas at the Orphanage

On Saturday, December 14, we joined several other missionary couples to take some Christmas gifts to an orphanage – “The Mango Tree” orphanage. There were 35 children there, mostly about 9 -12 or so.

There was one 21 year old girl and a very outgoing young man who was the obvious prince of the place. His name was Merlin. And he actually was bright and cute. Here is is (red shirt) with the 21-year old girl and his side-kick that followed him wherever he went.

Some of the senior missionaries donated money and we gave them a few things for the home – towels, dishes, blankets, a DVD player, etc. But the mission president’s wife had made a gift bag with each child’s name on it filled with sweet Christmas treats and a child’s toy or age-appropriate item selected for their gender. Thrilled.

Sister Roundy read them a reindeer story, about a reindeer who thought it could fly, but ended up needing Santa’s help. She read it in English and they were all ears. (Most of them could speak some English and obviously could understand much of what we said.)

Elder Roundy taught them a couple of songs. Right, you guessed it: one was the Eskimo Song. They all laughed and sang, and then Merlin (in the red shirt) jumped up and said they would teach us a song. He led the group while they sang about a shark attack, arm and hand movements and all. This particular scene is about "Grandpa Shark" who had no teeth.

We only stayed about a half hour or so. They all hugged us and told us “salamat po” and took our hand and touch the back of it with their forehead – which is a significant gesture of respect and gratitude (plus it allows some of our “wisdom” to flow into them).

‘T’was a great Christmas.

Up to Baguio . . .

President Edwards asked us to accompany the area presidency to a training meeting in the stakes around a place called Baguio (bah-GEE-oh, hard “g” like in guess). This is north of Manila, up in the top portion of Luzon. Baguio is in the mountains. These mountains are high and steep, not rocky, covered with jungle foliage. People told us we would need our coats when we went to Baguio.

We left before noon on a Friday and traveled for about six hours, part of the way on the NLEX, but most of it on provincial roads – two narrow lanes. We had seven of us: the Edwards, the Kos, the Roundys, and Sister Millett. (Her husband had gone up a day earlier as part of his Church assignment.) Elder Edwards drove his van. He drives like he had taken lessons at the demolition derbies, and fast.

Along the way we stopped for lunch in Tarlac. This was a seafood Chinese restaurant. We had a large round table with a turning “Lazy Susan” in the center. We each ordered a dish of our choice and then shared, turning the Lazy Susan around and around. The Kos ordered a fish to eat, with head and all. No one but Elder Ko and Sister Kim (husband and wife) bothered with the fish. The rest of the fare was pretty good.

About an hour before dark we got to the base of the Baguio mountains. President Edwards had apparently taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way, so this road was one he had not been on before, but it was a delightful mistake. Up the winding mountain road we went, back and forth along the contours of the hillside, across narrow bridges between peaks and back and forth up the next summit. It had been raining and the road was wet. Water falls poured off the hillside, plunging down into the river below, terrace after terrace. The green leafs shining in the wet air. Rainbows glowing in the shafts of sunlight. The terrain looked like what often is seen in pictures of Peru and the high mountain villages in South America.

You could see the clouds rising up the mountainside, and eventually we worked our way up to them, then through them and on higher up the road. Looking back we could see the clouds below us, snuggling around the hills like a soft, wool fleece.

Baguio is built on the hillsides. There is not a flat place there. The houses are cascading down the side of the mountain and perched on the edges of the cliffs. No backyards to play in, lest you spill into the valley below. The roads wind through the city, back and forth, up and down. From here you could see the ocean coast off to the northwest – faintly through the haze.

We stayed at a place called Camp John Hay (named after one of President Lincoln's cabinet secretaries). This was a nice, almost ostentatious resort. The Travel Department had secured for us a place with two bathrooms, a living room, a bedroom, a kitchenette. The living room and kitchen was larger than our whole apartment in the Temple Housing. We stayed there Friday and Saturday nights. We had dinner with the others in the dining room. Again, this was a rather formal affair, at least the menu and service were.

On Saturday Elder Roundy went with President Edwards and the mission president, President Collado, back down the mountain to the stake center in San Fernando La Union (off the mountains somewhere north of Baguio) and attended the training meetings all day. Sister Roundy didn’t. She went shopping and site-seeing with the other sisters. The mission president’s wife had arranged to have someone guide them on a shopping tour of Baguio. She saw the military academy, the strawberry fields, a silk factory with live silk worms. She said she enjoyed the day -- a welcomed break from the computer. Elder Roundy attended six hours of meetings, not needing to say a single word (nor taking minutes either, it should be added).

On Sunday the group split up and went their separate ways. Elder Ko and his wife, Sister Kim, went to another stake to dedicate a new building. Brother and Sister Millett stayed at the hotel for an extra day of vacation, and the Roundys joined with the Edwardses to dedicate the new Naguillian chapel (nah-GOOee-lee-on).

Then it was dead-head back to Manila. Edwards deployed his driving skills and got us back in five hours (well, six and a half if you count the trip down the mountain from Baguio to Naguillian).

Wonderful adventure.

We've Been There . . .

Here you can see the deep valley. There is a river down there, fed by all the canyons and cliffs on all sides. The clouds cover the tops of the mountains and it is often foggy there. We went you through these clouds and above them.

We had to climb up from the valley floor. This picture does not show the magnitude of the height of the mountins compared to the deep valleys between them, but it was high.

The city literally covers the mountain tops. The houses are perched everywhere. The roads wind around through the dips and rises. You could look out and see the ocean far off in the west.

This is where we stayed -- Camp John Hay. We were told that when the US Army was in the Philippines during WWII, the officers looked for a cool place to go. They found this mountain area and then a guy named John Hay must have made a camp.

Gail went to these fields somewhere in the mountains. It must be the only flat place in the entire region.

Just in Case You Didn't Believe It . . .

PROOF that we were actually there.

This was taken on November 13, 2007. We had dinner with this group at Elder and Sister Edwards' apartment and then the next day we went to Cebu to the temple groundbreaking.

Who's who (from left to right): Brother and Sister Millett (he's the Director of Temporal Affairs in the Philippines Area -- the agent of the Presiding Bishopric); Elder and Sister Roundy, Area Executive Secretary; Elder and Sister Edwards, the Area President; Elder and Sister Oaks, from the Council of the Twelve; Elder and Sister Cook, from the Council of the Twelve; Elder Ko and Sister Kim (Korean name style), First Counselor in the Area Presidency; Elder and Sister Teh, Second Counselor in the Area Presidency.

Elder Millet set his delayed time camera and then slipped into the group before the camera clicked.

A couple of interesting items:

Elder Millett is from Tropic, Utah (a place about the size of Alton). He grew up with my cousins who lived there. He was the president and CEO of Deseret Book Company and was called as a mission president in Virginia. When he came back the Church hired him to be the DTA in the Philippines. That means he does in the Philippines what the Presiding Bishopric does world-wide.

Elder Edwards and his wife, Judy, we knew from about the time we moved to Las Vegas back in the 60s. The last we had significant contact with them was when he was the Assistant Recorder in the Las Vegas Temple and she was an ordinance worker. He's a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy.

Elder Dallin and Sister Kristen Oaks . . . she knew a number of the Clark County School District administrators when she was a representative for a book publishing company. She also knows President and Sister Tew, of the Lone Mountain Stake in Las Vegas.

Elder Quentin and Sister Mary Cook. No significant information to pass along. We did not know anything about them previously. Sister Roundy visited with her a bit and gave her some hair spray when the airport security confiscated her spray can.

Elder Won Yong Ko and Sister Eun Hee Kim. In Korea the married women keep their original name. He's a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy.

Elder Michael-John U. and Sister Grace Teh. He's a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. He's Filipino, but has Chinese ancestry. Sister Teh knew our son-in-law, Dan Martin, when he served a mission in the Philippines back in the 80s.

A Few Photos . . .

This is the canyon where the Wa-Wa Dam is. You can see where the water now spills over the top of the dam. The lake is nearly full of sediment. The dam was built in 1909 and is only used now as a water fall. This is the canyon where the Japanese held out the longest in WWII. In fact, several

Japanese soldiers were still hiding out some 20 years after the end of the war. They had to fly in a Japanese commander of some sort and he ordered them to lay down their arms. To surrender is almost unforgiveable to the Japanese, we were told.

We ran into a couple of our distant cousins up in Olongapo.

Gail snapped this from the bus window. These are the only monkeys we've seen . . . so far.

Here a a few shots. I've not figured out how to make these pictures work in the blog, so keep your fingers crossed that they turn out. This sidewise one is the cross at the top of Bataan where the American surrendered to the Japanese in WWII. Here the Bataan Death March began. (That's Elder Roundy at the top right.)

A Splendid Week . . .

The week of November 10 -17, 2007 was a special week in the Philippines. Many things happened that we will remember long.

The week started on Sunday as usual but with a mission presidents’ seminar. All the 15 mission presidents and their wives, and the MTC presidents and his wife joined the Area Presidency (three general authorities) in a three-day seminar. It was held at an elegant hotel, Shangri-La. It was Elder Roundy’s job to get all this organized. He didn’t do it all himself, certainly, but he had the task of ensuring everything went together as expected. The mission presidents stayed in the hotel for these three or four nights. The rest of us returned to our own apartments.
We ate at the hotel – lunch and dinner, and at each break there was what the Filipinos call a “merianda” or snack. Those were almost as scrumptious as the meals. Later on we found out that when the room is rented, the cost of the food has already been included, so eat up.

On Monday evening two apostles, Elder Dallin H. Oaks and Elder Quentin R. Cook and their wives came, and we had a dinner with them. On Tuesday, both of them were the seminar speakers throughout the day. The wives went with the sisters for a couple of hours into another room. That evening we joined with the Oaks and Cooks at President Edwards’ apartment with the other two members of the area presidency, Elder Ko and Elder Teh, and their wives, and Brother and Sister Millett, the Area DTA. We had a nice dinner, then sat and chatted. Elder and Sister Oaks told us about their meeting (she is his second wife). As also did Elder and Sister Cook. This was a very folksy, casual after-dinner visit. Elder Oaks is loud and almost bombastic, but kind. Elder Cook is reserved and laconic, and pleasant. We stayed at the apartment for a couple of hours or more, but we had to eventually leave because all of us had to catch a plane early the next morning.

On Wednesday we were driven to the Manila Domestic Airport to catch a flight to Cebu. Wednesday was to be the groundbreaking for the Cebu Temple. We rode with the Millett’s (his driver took us) and with President Earle Monson and his wife. He is president of the Manila Temple. On the plane we were again with all the same folks who had been at dinner the night before, plus the Monsons. We rode in the first-class upper deck section. An hour later we landed in Cebu. A bus met us and we were driven to the hotel, another Shangri-La. There was a light lunch, but Elder Round skipped that to go with Elder Ko to check out the sports center where the evening devotional was to be held and to go to the Cebu Temple site to see how the arrangements there were progressing. Elder Roundy had minimum to do because Elder Ko is the classic “take charge guy.”

In about a half hour it was time for the groundbreaking, or nearly so. The two apostles and others, including Sister Roundy, came to the site on a coaster (a small bus). The site had been all cleaned up, a couple of high tents had been raised, and nearly 300 chairs were set out. A choir section was provided. Elder Oaks presided. He had the ceremony delayed because the mayor had not arrived. Later on we heard he had told President Teh they should wait another 10 minutes to start. Almost on cue the mayor came, just shortly after the program had started, but just as it was time for him to give his welcome. Then he left.

Elder Oaks gave the dedication prayer. The day was overcast, the wind was mild, the temperature comfortable (nearly). It had rained hard the night before, but not rain on the groundbreaking day. The temple is to be built on a hill nearly downtown. When completed, it will be a prominent feature on the skyline. The hill sits on was one of the last holdouts for the Japanese during World War II. It was explained that the hill was full of tunnels left by them. It was also said, even by the mayor, that the rumor is there is buried gold beneath the hill. Elder Oaks told him when he had to leave early that he could come back later and dig as deeply as he wanted.

We returned for a private dinner in the hotel with the general authorities and their wives. While riding the bus back, Sister Oaks learned (apparently from the Edwards) that Elder Roundy had a school named for him. She sat on the seat just in front of us and turned and asked us a lot of questions about that. She knew some of the people from the school district because she had perhaps 15 years ago attended the BYU doctoral program with some of them. She said they liked to come to Las Vegas and visit her friend, the Tews (who live in the stake just across the freeway from us in Las Vegas). We told her when she comes, to remember we live nearby.

Up in the morning early on Thursday for a quick breakfast, again with the visiting authorities, then back to the airport. We flew back to Manila with all these folks, The Oaks and Cooks were scheduled to go on to Hong Kong.
It was raining hard in Manila. Brother Millett’s driver, Benny, picked both of us up and took us home. After a short break at the apartment, we went to the office and back to work. Then on Friday, a full day of Area Presidency meeting.

That’s a week of our mission, a splendid week.

This is sunrise in Cebu. We took this from the veranda of our hotel room where we stayed.

One Week in October . . .

This last week was an especially busy week for Elder Roundy. First of all, this was the first week the Area Presidents were back from General Conference and full of ideas and answers to many questions they have had. One question was the pending event for the Philippines – the groundbreaking for the Cebu Temple (November 14th – more about that in another chapter).

The Presidents don’t come to the office on Monday because they usually are occupied each weekend at a stake conference or on a mission tour or something that keeps them busy through Saturday and Sunday. So Tuesday was a get-ready day for Wednesday which was when they held the first Area Presidency meeting since mid-September. And it was a long one (as most of them are. We go into a room and stay there from about 9:00 to 5:00. Sometimes they stop and go home for lunch, sometimes not. This week they did, but Elder Roundy went straight to his computer to catch up on the material they asked for or to prepare a letter or a report.

Because a Area Council was scheduled for Thursday the next day, we planned that. The Area Council is when all the Area Seventies come to meet with the three General Authorities (Area Presidents). There are seven Area Seventies in the Philippines. Because the presidency had not been together for nearly a month, we had to plan and prepare on Wednesday for the Area Council meeting on Thursday. This system ended up having Elder Roundy staying at the office putting things together (agenda, handouts, etc.) until nearly 8:00 pm. He emailed copies of all this to the Area Presidents for them to read on their Blackberries, and they in turn sent changes and additions back.

So Thursday morning bright and early the office lights were on and Elder Roundy finished up the preparations for the 8:00 am Area Council. It was a well designed meeting even if it ended at 4:30 in the afternoon. Those are powerful leaders – three General Authorities (Seventies) and seven Area Seventies. Lots of things happening in the Philippines.

On Friday, all the things talked about, planned, decided, and considered had to be finalized. So Elder Roundy spent the day doing that. He never did get the minutes for the two meetings typed up in the computer, so Monday will be the day for that.

Saturday the Roundys went shopping, as if we had never done that before, but we spent nearly the whole day doing it. We first started out to find some sort of special lotion (Clinque) that Sister Roundy uses, but after three trips back and forth, we still didn’t find it. That’s because neither one of us knew where she remembered (?) seeing the shop. Was it at the HyperMart, or the Eastland Mall, or at the ShopWise? She’s still needing to find it, but we did get a little computer desk. Our friends (the Fullers) left a printer for us (color, no less), and the laptop we have, so we needed a place to set it all up. Now we have a cute little tri-level computer desk and it only cost 1995.00 pesos ($42.87), but, don’t complain; the computer chair was free. So now we don’t have to hold the laptop on our lap or have it on a table where your knees won’t go under.

Sunday we were off to our assigned branch, Minuyen. We took the route we had explored last week and arrive just in time. (We took the new doctor and his wife with us because they have not yet figured out how to get to their assigned branch.) On the return trip right after the toll booth, somehow God (some more devious being) had move the world so instead of turning south back to Manila, we ended up going north to San Simeon. The compass clearly said we were going north, but Elder Roundy knew the compass must be stuck because he could easily tell we were going south because the sun was setting on the right (which he figured was West. He kept flicking the compass with his finger to make it work. But in his geographical analysis he didn’t calculate the fact the clouds could be hiding the setting sun sinking in the West (?) and he only considered the bright lights on the left (his East) were just a break in the clouds. So after it got dark and none of the landmarks showed up, and some 50 kilometers down the road, he decided (almost by himself, with almost no helpful persuasion) that he should stop and ask for direction. We were on the North Luzon Expressway, so you couldn’t just pull over and ask someone. You had to go and go until there was an exit. Well, those guys there said Manila was the other direction. (Huh? What do they know?) The compass was not fibbing. The darned thing was telling the truth. We were going north.

We learned how to find an overpass (1 more klm down the freeway). We paid another 72 pesos to cross the bridge to get back on the south-bound expressway and happily headed for Manila. When we got back to nearly the place were we made the wrong turn, we had to pay another 110 pesos toll to stay on the NLEX. The gate attendant kindly encouraged us to continue because we were sure to find Manila down there somewhere. Eventually we found another toll both for the South-bound travelers. The pretty girl there took our 110 pesos and said we were on the right road home.

Have we ever mentioned the EDSA? It is the busiest thoroughfare in Manila. We had to get on it and look for the Ortigas exit. We didn’t find it. No left turns off the EDSA. You gotta go until you find a U-turn slot. The rain decided to help out, so there we were, headed into Manila on the EDSA, bright lights glowing from every direction, buses honking and blocking lanes, rain pounding on the windshield, and us sweet young Mormon Missionaries looking for the U-turn slot to go home. Being an orphan isn’t fun.

We got home at 7:30. We probably could have been home and finished watching a good TV program in all the time we were lost.

Elder Roundy solemnly promises not to complain about the traffic in the Philippines. If he ever mentions it again, keep track and he’ll pay you a bright, new centimo (about 1 half penny) for each instance you find.

Thanks for caring.

AVenture to Minuyan

Every once in a while there is a national holiday in the Philippines. So far we haven’t figured out the schedule for these, but sooner or later we hear about another one coming up. We heard the president changed all the non-religious holidays to happen on Monday, but the religious celebrations must occur whenever. On Friday, October 12, 2007, we observed the end of Ramadan (a Muslin holy event). The office was closed and we had the day to ourselves.

However, Friday is the day our cleaning lady comes to spruce up our apartment, so we had to find something to do that would take us out of the house for several hours. We came up with a good solution. We have been reassigned to attend a branch of the Church that is north of Quezon City, probably some 35 or so kilometers (about 25 miles). We went up there a week ago, following another missionary couple, zigging and zagging through the maze of roads and by-ways, across the fields, through the villages, around the jungle. We were sure we’d never find it again. They told us this was a long way to go and that there was a shorter way, but the roads were not all that good. So on this Friday we decided to use their landmark map, showing the odometer readings from point to point and see if we could find our way to Minuyen on the shorter route.

Off we went. On the itinerary was marked so many kilometers to a given landmark, then so many more to a certain turn off. A whole page of this. One of the items was a tollbooth. We paid our 38 pesos, and, wa-la! There we were on a very decent freeway, three or four lanes, traffic moving at perhaps 100 klm per hour (abut 65 mph). It’s called the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX). We followed this for maybe 10 miles and then turned off onto a provincial roadway. Talk about pothole village. Stretch after stretch of two-way road, one lane closed, the open lane nothing but potholes and ruts. Tricycles, trucks, cars, vans, Jeepnies.

Following the landmark guidebook, going through small village and across narrow bridges, we eventually made it all the way to our destination, the Minuyen Branch chapel. And we only had to backtrack once – where the schedule had a big dark dingy Catholic basilica and then said turn right. What it meant was turn left first and then turn right. We figured that out when we turned around and found San Miguel street (which was no easy task because few of the streets have name signs, but this one did).

We were lucky, because when we pulled up in front of the chapel, we were hoping we could go inside for a CR break (comfort room break – restroom). It so happened there was a brother walking around the chapel. We asked him, and he unlocked the gate, unlocked the building doors and let us in. He said his name was Brother Rodriguez and that he had seen us there the week earlier even though he did not belong to the Minuyen Branch. He was a member of the branch presidency which met in the morning schedule. We chatted just a few minutes as best we could and then started back to Manila.

That’s when we turned left when the schedule meant for us to go down the road a ways and then turn left. But we shortly figured it out and returned to the chapel so we could actually restart our trip odometer at zero. The instructions said we would have to go through the market place. It meant what it said. (A couple of pictures of the market place are posted here.)

Now in order to miss much of the pothole road, the landmark list gave us a detour. This was a very small winding road through individual farm country. Twisting and serpentining this way and that. Eventually we came out near the tollbooth. Now we were back on the NLEX and on our way back to Quezon City.

But we missed the fly over on Ortigas street, and therefore had to go 11 klms on down the EDSA to find a U-turn. And it was a holiday, so everyone was out on the EDSA. Eventually we made it home again, fully confident we could now make it to Minuyen next Sunday to go to Church.

We spent the rest of the day taking Elder and Sister Alexander down to the Mega Mall. They wanted to sign up for the internet in their apartment. They bought us lunch at an Italian Restaurant, and we wandered through the mall for a while. This mall (Mega Mall) is a mega-mall, two towers with five levels of stores.

When we got home, Sister Roundy decided we actually now needed to go grocery shopping so she could get the ingredients for her potluck dish she was making for the group lunch between conference sessions on Saturday and Sunday. Back out onto the streets of Manila. Home after dark.

The Manila Hotel . . .

On Friday evening, a bunch of senior missionaries (that means couples) got together for a social. We do that two or three times a month, mostly to have something to do with others who speak our language well and who have the same desires and longings and who all want to talk about their cute grandkids. This time we went to the Manila Hotel. But on the way we stopped at a university (there's a number of them) to see a dance program. It was interesting, but short . . . that was the good part.

The Manila Hotel is where General MacArthur spent much of his time after WWII when he returned to the Philippines. It's ostentatious – almost gaudy, 1940s genre. The menu is in French, served as formal courses -- first the soup, then the salad, then a pallet cleaner (sorbet). Then comes the main dish, followed by desert, with a plate of chocolates, milk and dark. We didn’t all order each course, so those who didn’t order a particular course had to wait while those who did got theirs and finished it, one course at a time. We ordered a sort of mushroom salad and Sister Roundy took the salmon and Elder Roundy dined on a veal fillet with small round potatos with shredded carrots (as fine as thread). The waiters unfold your napkin and put it on your lap. They take up all the silverware between each course and bring a new setting for the next. Each sip of water is momentarily replaced.

Six musicians were playing in the background (violins, guitar, piano, bass violin). Golden Oldies. Dad had to laugh at one violinist. He didn’t put the violin under his chin the right way and held the bow like it was a whip. But the music was tolerable; not always in tune. After a short break, the musicians came down by the tables and took requests. (Well, the piano player stayed on the stage.) They seemed to be able to play whatever was requested. They did a half dozen or so tunes. They didn’t come up by our end of the table, so we didn’t request a tune. We were going to see if they knew “When the Saints Come Marching In” or “If You Knew Susie.”

We use the valet parking, for 100 pesos. So all in all, it was an eloquent evening. But . . .

Elder Roundy had to drive there, taking with him the AMA (Area Medical Advisor – the new doctor) and his wife (both who had been in the Philippines for only four days). Elder Roundy had never been there before, and the place is clear across town – probably 20 miles. And the route went down EDSA. EDSA is the name of the major cross-town freeway. And it is always a mess. The traffic and driving are simply indescribable. Nothing you can say will actually give the full story. There is nothing like it in the USA. Can you imagine downtown Manhattan with no stop lights, no left turns, lanes that end without warning, six lanes of cars crowed in the three marked lanes, intersections that go hither and thither? Horns, buses, taxis, motorbikes, Jeepnies, pedestrians. And the driving rules you learned in America to pass your driver’s license tend to interfere. Most people use their own rules, made up on the spot.

All of this traffic plus it was raining, so the windows fogged up, and the mirrors were wet and hard to see with. Going down was bad for the first hour or so, but then it got dark. Coming home was a catastrophe. Never been there, don’t know which way’s which. Rain. Passengers in the back seat recent arrivals from San Diego squealing and gasping at the slightest traffic hitch. Too dark to read the map. Thinking left when you know it's supposed to be turn right.

And you realize you’re still an orphan; Mom can’t help. “Miles to go before I sleep.” Eventually we made it home, around 11:00 pm.

Will one ever get some sleep?

All is Well . . .

At least as far as we know.

We’re not including pictures with this update. That’s simply because the updater has not yet mastered how to make them go where they should be on the blog page, and the updater doesn’t have time to sit and tinker. Eventually . . .

Things go at a quick clip around here most of the time, but then comes conference time. All three of the General Authorities are in Salt Lake City to attend the conference. They left last week, have stayed all this week, and then will return next week, mid-week. It gives a chance for some of the fast-paced tasks to be finally completed. We think they’ll have lots of things to do, however, when they return, so the hiatus will be short-lived.

There are a couple of things on the horizon . . . In mid-November Elder Dallin Oaks and Elder Quentin Cook will be in the Philippines for a mission presidents’ seminar. We have been told these are considered big events, so we have been busily planning their stay. This means arranging for plane flights, hotels, meeting rooms, entertainment, etc. Of course, the Executive Secretary does not have to do all this running around, but he is responsible to see that those who should be running around are. Actually, they are all dependable and capable and usually have things done before needing to be asked. There will later, we expect, be an announcement from Church headquarters about another event in the Philippines, but that for now is on the back burner, so don’t ask. All in due time.

We attended our last Sunday at our provincial branch, Tanay. Our assignment is changed every six months, but because we came in the middle of the term, so to speak, we only had three months. After conference, we will go to another branch up north – Manuyen. Don’t ask about it yet, because we’ve never been there. We’re going to ride up this Sunday with Elder and Sister Dixon, who are assigned there now, so we’ll learn the route. Actually, we aren’t riding with them, but we will follow them. We are taking with us the new medical advisor who replaced Elder and Sister Fuller. They will be assigned somewhere up there also, but, as we understand it, they will attend in the morning schedule and we will go in the afternoon. They’re new, just this week, so they still have to get adjusted to the unstructured bewilderment we lived in every day for three or four weeks. We’re just now beginning to think we have our wits about us. Really . . . you can’t understand it until you come look at it. The working environment is fine, super, but the outer world is a mass of confusion.

We’re taking Elder and Sister Alexander (the new medical couple) to the Mega Mall on our Saturday. That will be an experience. The mall is a big, two-tower building in downtown Quezon City. It’s an adventure and a half to get there and twice as much fun to come home again because you have to use a different route coming and going. We’ve done it a couple of times, so we think we can. What will really be the test is that on Friday night (tonight for us) we are taking them to the University to see a dance performance and then to a classy hotel (The Manila Hotel) for dinner. The “ex-patriots” (USA senior missionaries) are going to have another social. We’ve never been there, so we may end up lost and never be heard from again. Stay tuned . . .

Sister Roundy has gone to the municipal bazaar a couple of times. She enjoys that. All the sisters (couple missionary sisters that is) go in a van to shop at the bazaar. They hire a driver. She has picked up a few things that sparkle up the apartment – pictures, kitchen items, etc. She says there are nice things there and she intends to invest in some things later on to ship home. Oh my!

This is an interesting missionary experience. We aren’t really proselyting. We rarely encounter people to discuss the Church or the Gospel. We do, however, wear our missionary badges whenever we leave the apartment and we dress in our missionary uniforms (white shirt and dark pants, blouse and skirt).

Diligent effort will be given to work out the picture posting so you can see a little more of the world we live in, but for now . . . so long. All is well . . .

Sunday, September 23

This what we see when we step out our front door. Our apartment is on the side of the hill on which the temple is built. We climb up some stairs to reach the temple grounds.
There are four or five sets of steps, each with six or seven steps. This shows the white corridor we walk in when we leave our apartment. The fence is at the edge of the temple grounds. The corridor splits into two sections, one going right and one going left (as you descend). It depends on which building you're going to. We can take either one because we are in the middle building.

This picture shows the terraced hillside between our apartment and the temple grounds. The whole yard is full of this sort of greenery -- palm trees, flowering trees, bushes, flowers. There is a trickling water fall with a fish pond at the bottom. In it are several big goldfish. (I tried to get a picture of that, but you can't see what it really looks like. Besides, it started to rain.)

At one end of the front entrance, we can see some of the buildings in down-town Manila. Manila is just one part of the scene. We live in Quezon (KAY-zone) City. Then there is Merekita, Pasig, San Juan, and a bunch more. All this is just referred to as "Metro-Manila."




The Fullers came to dinner on Sunday. They are the missionary couple who returned the furniture. Elder and Sister Fuller are sophisticated couple, but they decided to dramatize this shot. See the soft leather sofa. They just had to sit on it one more time.

This is Gail's nursery class. Our camera batteries went dead when we got this shot, so we didn't get to do any others.