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.

What ... Another Holiday?

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We sometimes can’t get our work done because of all the holidays. Monday, August 25, was declared a city holiday by her excellency, the major of Quezon City. Because the PAO (our office) is in Quezon City, all the Filipino employees were entitled to the day off. The office was closed, The air conditioner was turned off. What should we do?

And another thing ... in Metro-Manila, there is a “color code” for cars. It is nothing to do with color, but that's what it's called. This is how it works: on Monday, cars with license plates that end in 0 or 1 cannot be on the streets; on Tuesday, those with 2 or 3; Wednesday 4 or 5, etc. through Friday. Our car ends in the number 171. Humph! Can’t go anywhere. But ... we knew this was coming and we made plans.

Some senior missionaries, four couples, and President and Sister Edwards took off on an adventure. We heard of the Pagsanjan (pahg-SAN-on) Falls. We headed there; off at 6:30. This place is about 60 miles south east of Quezon City. Took two hours to drive there. Two vans. (The top yellow punch pin on the map shows where we live; the one in the lower right shows where we went. Click on the map to make it larger.)

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Can you believe it? Sister Roundy persuaded Elder Roundy (who is nearly 70 years old and can’t swim a stroke) to climb into one of these long, narrow canoes. He felt pretty safe, though, with his helmet on. (He didn't know that helmet had some sort of radio active brain penetrating diode in it that dulled his senses. Notice Sister Roundy is not wearing hers.) (The resort photographer took these next two pictures and then sold them to us when we returned down the river.)
...

Each canoe had two boatmen ... one in front and one in back. This is Ronald (we think). Donald was in the front. (Ronald said they were twins. They may have been, but it was obvisous they were not twins to one another.)

When everyone was load up, they linked us together in a long chain with a motor boat on the front hauling us upriver.
The river is wide and slow. Eventually the motor boats unhooked, and Ron and Don took over.

And the river took over, too. They told us there were 16 rapids on the river that we would have to cross.

The boat men had to get out and drag us over the rocks. (This isn't us, however.)

The Pagsanjan Gorge is long and deep.

Along the way there were lots of hanging vines. We could hear jungle sounds — birds and monkeys.

There were a lot of water falls tumbling down the sides of the canyon.

Some were short and loud. Others were long and lacy.

It took those two stripling Filipinos about an hour to take us up the river. Some of the time they could paddle along, but much of it was hard work, dodging rocks and dragging fat Americans over the rapids. Eventually we could see the Pagsanjan Falls up ahead. Notice how high the sides of the canyon are.

When we got closer it was loud. It had rained the night before, so there was a lot of water rushing through the rocks.

Part of the fun ... well, fun is not the right word ... say, part of the full experience when you arrived at the falls was then to exchange the canoe for a raft. This was one of the raft men.

So we climbed onto the raft and a couple of men pulled the raft hand over hand away from the comfort and certain safety of the slippery, jagged, moss-covered, wet, and slimy rocks into the chasm of the roaring waves.

Right across the river we went, directly to the falls.

There was no turning back. Elder Roundy said he was glad he had just recently renewed his life insurance so his family would have something to remember him by.

Under. Heavy water pounding on your head. A fierce updraft of wind blowing the water all around you.

Behind the falls, looking back. Loud, ringing, roaring din. But we're still alive. There's hope! But wait... Now we had to go right back through the dang thing to get out of there. We were wet from tip to toe, drenched.

Going back down the river was half of the journey, but was way less than half the experience. The boatmen easily paddled through the calms waters and expertly guided us across the rocks and rapids, gliding across the flowing river.

Luckily, our forward-looking plans had included some dry clothes to change into. This was way too much fun!

[We have to acknowledge that we did not take all these pictures. Some we borrowed from others, and some we found elsewhere.]

A Week Filled with Good ...

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August 15 through 20 was a week of goodness. Good things happened. Mostly it was because Elder David A. Bednar of the Council of Twelve Apostles came to visit the Philippines. He was accompanied by his wife.

They came first to Cebu, where the new temple is being built. He presided at a stake conference there on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday evening he flew to Manila. And that’s where the whirlwind of good things began.

Sunday evening was a leadership meeting for the Church leaders in Manila and nearby. On Monday was a meeting with members from three stakes. (We really wanted to have all the members in Metro-Manila come, but we couldn't find a meeting place large enough.) Monday afternoon he held a meeting with missionaries from two missions, Manila and Angeles. (One of his friends from BYU-Idaho is the president of the Angeles Mission.)

Monday early evening there was a meeting at the Manila Temple for all temple workers. This was followed by a dinner at the Edwards’ apartment. Because Elder and Sister Edwards were accompanying Elder and Sister Bednar at the temple, Sister Roundy and Sister Millett (wife of the Philippines Area Director of Temporal Affairs) and their lazy husbands went to the Edwards’ apartment to prepare the dinner. Sister Edwards had it all planned out and laid out. The women cooked the food that she had ready. Sister Roundy had prepared and brought a salad (one requested by Sister Edwards). Sister Millet brought vegetables. Sister Teh was bringing the deserts. About 6:30, the Edwards and Bednars came. So did the Kos. They brought their daughter. The Tehs brought their four children. So we had a large group at the table. Elder Roundy had been instructed to carefully study the etiquette for serving food (serve with the right hand over the diner’s right shoulder; remove from the left). It was a splendid, easy, and special dinner.

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Elder and Sister Bednar are easy to talk to, chatty and friendly. They told us some of the experiences they had as they traveled across the world. One particularly interesting report was about Slovakia. Elder Bednar’s grandparents came from there, and they met some of their relatives. He told us considerable and special information about this country, but he carefully asked us not to email it out (because, he said, most people who read it would think it should be spread out to their friends and family, and overnight it would be altogether a different version of the truth). So ... ask us when we come home.

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The Group. Back row left: Elder Teh, Elder Ko, Elder Edwards, Elder Bednar, Brother Millett, Elder Roundy, Adam Teh. Second row left: Sister Kim (Ko), Sister Edwards, Sister Bednar, Sister Millett, Sister Roundy. Front row left: Hy Wong Ko, Colisa Teh, Alysium Teh, Sister Teh.

On Tuesday we held another missionary meeting with the missionaries in the Quezon City Mission (where we are assigned). Elder Ko and Sister Kim (husband and wife) took them on a tour of some historical places in Manila. Then a meeting at the Missionary Training Center where all the new missionaries were being taught.

On Wednesday there was a meeting with all the employees at the Philippines Area Office. The Bednars then came up to our office and wished us all good-bye. Off they went to Korea.

What’s next? Wait until November ..., just you wait.