Seeing the Countryside and Sad News!

 Field Trip to the Countryside

Several weeks ago a sister in the temple was telling me about a farm where her son used to work. She told me it was a Church owned farm and that they raised vegetables and fruits that they give the local schools to help the children have an healthier diet. When school is out for summer break, they donate their harvest to the community.  She asked if I would like to see the farm, I told her yes and she said she would make arrangements. Time went on and I kind of forgot about going to the farm until one day she said the arrangements had been made and we could go the following Monday. Her son drove her along with three other sisters from our temple shift in one car and the four US couples followed in our van. 

It was a 2 1/2 hour drive north which was fun because we had never traveled north before. We drove through small towns and along the seashore. It’s funny, we live on an island but rarely see the ocean because where we live is surrounded by skyscrapers that block the view.  Not the greatest pictures but it’s what I got from the van:

I love these houses with the woven mats on the outside

Beautiful Church

We eventually made it to the farm which is called “Rise and Rebuild”. We found out the church does not own it but it has made donations to the foundation that funds the farm and most of the employees that run the farm are members of the Church.  

It was created several years ago by a member of the Church who used to be a mission president in Cebu. I understand he is still on the board but because of his age, he no longer travels to the Philippines.

The farm is quite large and they grow a good variety of crops. Not only does it feed the children and sometimes the community but it also provides jobs and in some cases housing for many of the local people. The countryside is so beautiful and green and I loved seeing it.

Purple corn, they said the crop wasn’t very successful 

Papaya - they made us yummy shakes out of the papaya

Coconut Tree

Banana Trees

All packaged up and ready to be delivered

Green and Purple eggplant

They also have a project that is fairly new - they have begun grown various types of lettuce using the hydroponics method. They made a salad for us with our lunch and it was delicious.

After touring the farm they made us a lovely lunch. Our sweet husbands insisted all the women sit together at the table and there was just enough room for all of us. Usually I’m not a fan of Filipino food but what they made for us was really tasty.

We had a wonderful time and it was fun to get to know some of our sisters outside the temple. 

Dragon Fruit Farm

On the way home from Rise and Rebuild we took a little detour and went by a dragon fruit farm. I have seen dragon fruit in the grocery store but had never seen how it was grown or tasted it. It was very interesting to see how it grows on what looks like cactus.

I didn’t realize the fruit could be either this bright pink color or white inside. I didn’t think it had much taste but it supposedly had many health benefits.

I’m glad we took the time to stop by and see the dragon fruit farm, I learned a lot about it.

And Now for the Sad News

Last Saturday our sweet Sister Aban passed away in the temple. I have mentioned her in my letters before, she is the sweet sister who just turned 86 last month and had come to serve in the temple with her daughter and son-in-law. She had just finished her shift at the temple - her last assignment was the veil, she had gotten dressed and was waiting for her daughter so they could go home when she had a heart attack. It struck so suddenly and she was gone so quickly. They tried to revive her but she was gone, she had completed her work on the earth and she when to her Heavenly home. In such a short time she had gone from presenting at the veil to passing through the veil. I guess if it’s your time to go, the temple is the best place to be.

With Sister Cornilliz and Sister Aban in front of the temple

I’m so very thankful we took the time to take this picture just a few weeks ago. She has made a lasting impression on me and she was such an inspiration to me. As I walk through the temple I have so many memories of her. Sometime we would have our break at the same time and we would sit in the workers dressing room and have a snack. She would tell me about her family and one day she even brought her photo album to share with me. We had some really good talks and I will miss her so much. She is now with her husband and the four babies she lost and I am happy for her. All this week sisters and been sharing sweet memories they have of her and it has been healing for all of us.

We miss and love you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Love, Sister Beth/Mom

 

We Hit 5 Months - But Who’s Counting!!!

I Love to See the Temple!!!

It has been a busy few weeks for us here in the Philippines. Now that we work both shifts on Tuesdays, it feels like we have a lot less free time—which is kind of silly, since we don’t usually do much in the morning before our shifts anyway. Funny how things like that work. I thought working full days would be more difficult than it actually is, but we’re enjoying the extra time in the temple and getting to know more of the temple workers who serve in the morning shift.

I’m always in awe when I see a temple. They are all so beautiful and are usually situated in places where they can be seen from a distance. I love seeing the gold Moroni on top, and I’m a little sad that the tradition is mostly being done away with. It’s such a beautiful symbol of the Restoration of the gospel and the gathering of Israel in the latter days. Now that we live on the temple grounds, I’ve made it a goal to nurture that feeling of awe and not let seeing the temple become commonplace. So far, it’s worked—and every day I’m so thankful to live on these beautiful grounds that are dedicated to the Lord and the work of salvation.

Last week, I had a wonderful experience while serving in the temple. I had been assigned to be in the Celestial Room just as an endowment session was letting out. One of my responsibilities in the Celestial Room is to open the door as people enter from the other room. As I opened the door for a young woman, I noticed she was wearing a tag indicating she was going through the temple for the first time. When she reached the door, she paused, gasped, and covered her mouth with her hand. She began to cry. She was so overwhelmed by the beauty and grandeur of the room that she couldn’t move. I’m sure she had never seen anything like it in her life. Her escort soon came over, took her hand, and gently guided her in. As I watched her, she continued to look around the room with awe and wonder—her eyes still filled with tears and her face glowing with light. Her reaction deeply touched me, and my own eyes filled with tears.

As I pondered her experience, I thought about what it might be like when my time comes to pass through the veil of this life into the next. I’m sure it will be more wonderful and amazing than anything we can imagine—and maybe even a little overwhelming. But just like this young woman, we will be greeted by our Heavenly Parents, the Savior, and our loved ones who have gone before us as they welcome us home.

Here is a link to photos of the Cebu Philippines Temple:

Photos of Cebu Philippines Temple

I had an interesting and touching experience one day as I was heading to initiatory. When I arrived, I noticed three sisters waiting for their turn. As I approached them, one of the sisters suddenly lit up with excitement when she saw me. She came right over, took my hand, and said, “I’m so happy to see you! I know you—we’re friends!” Then she added, “We were good friends in the pre-existence. I remember you.”

She sat next to me for a while, still holding my hand, and continued to express how glad she was that we could meet again. She was very sweet, and I truly enjoyed our conversation. It was a tender moment that left a lasting impression on me.

Saying Goodbye to Missionary Couples Going Home

Several of the missionary couples that we have met and interacted with will be completing their missions in the next few weeks so we will be saying goodbye to them. It seems that is a big part of being on a mission - meeting wonderful people, getting to know them and then having to say goodbye to them. So before they left our wonderful humanitarian missionary couples arranged an activity for all of us.  It started in the afternoon with a service project at a local elementary school. It turned out to be kind of interesting - a sister in our ward is a teacher there and said she would make the arrangements for us. Well, when we showed up she was the only one who knew we were coming. There really wasn’t a lot for us to do and the principal told us there would be a professional cleaning company coming in to clean in a couple days. So we cleaned a classroom, a stairwell and swept some of the common areas. the classroom are small and old with no air conditioning. We wished we could have done more, but we did what we could.

This is the floor of the classroom. :(

Our next activity was a group picture with all the missionary couples from the Cebu City Mission, the Cebu City East Mission and the Temple Missionaries.  We will miss so many of these wonderful couples. 

Following our group picture, we went back to our apartment and grabbed our pot luck dish and met up for dinner in the dinning room of the patron house. We played a fun get to know you game and had dinner together. It was a fun activity and it was great to get together with such wonderful and faithful people. We are sure going to miss them when they go home but we will also be getting a new group to replace them and we will enjoy getting to know the new missionaries. 

Love you all and miss you like crazy. Write when you can, we love hearing about what’s going on at home. 

This and That

Always Room for One More

This past week brought a change for us—we will now be working all day on Tuesdays. The temple presidency asked if anyone was willing to switch to mornings on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, since they needed workers in the morning on those days and had too many in the afternoon. We thought it would be nice to have at least one morning shift, as that would give us a free afternoon to get things done. But instead, they signed us up for mornings and kept us in the afternoons as well. I’m sure it will all work out.

Our afternoon shifts are truly overcrowded with female workers. In our preparation room, there are two rows of five chairs for the women and two rows of four chairs for the men. There are also eleven chairs across the back where most of the couples sit. Sometimes we have as many as 37 women on our shift. If you do the math, you can see there isn’t enough room to accommodate all the women. But as the women arrive, we squeeze together and make room for each one who enters—sometimes there are as many as eight or nine women sitting on just five chairs.

Every time one more woman squeezes in, I am reminded of the parable in Luke 14 about the banquet—where the Lord sends His servants out to gather people to the feast. He tells them to go out to the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in, that His house may be filled. We have workers who come from the highways and the hedges—other islands and distant cities—and they are truly filling the Lord’s house and feasting at His banquet. Everyone is welcome and there is always room for one more. I love this so much!

Transportation in the Philippines 

There are a few unique ways of transportation in the Philippines. I thought I would share a few pictures I’ve taken of different ways to get around.

Filipino Tricycle - they are not allowed in the area where we live, probably because of so much traffic but 

we see them everywhere when we travel around the smaller cities.

Jeepney - a modified, elongated Jeep originally made from surplus U.S military jeeps left in the Philippines after World War II. They are usually brightly painted and you enter them from an opening in the back. Very popular and they have routes that go everywhere.

Motorcycles - they are everywhere! Motorcycle drivers are crazy, at least some of them are!!! When we come to a stop light they will all drive up to the crosswalk on every side so they can get a jump on things when the light turns green. There are taxi motorcycles and delivery motorcycles and sometimes I have seen families of 4 all riding on one motorcycle. 

We have a 12 passenger van that is here just for the temple missionaries. We usually only use it when we all go someplace together, otherwise we use a taxi which is nice because driving here is way different than at home.

Meeting Bethany’s Mission Companion

This week I was able to have a nice visit with one of Bethany’s former missionary companions. She was Bethany’s second companion. I met her once before but this time we were able to get a picture and have a nice chat. She was in the waiting room with here two little girls waiting for her husband who is the bishop of the ward and was with the youth doing baptisms and I was assigned as the waiting room attendant.  I believe there are no coincidences in the temple. We look forward to seeing her again when Bethany comes to visit next year. 

Lunch Invitation

On Monday we were invited to go with the temple presidency and two of the sisters who work in the office to go to Talisay City and have lunch with the Millers who work in the temple on Saturday mornings. She is from the Philippines and he is from the US. They lived in Texas for a while but moved back to the Philippines so Sister Miller could be close to her grandkids. It was so sweet of them to invite us over and she made so much yummy food. We had a great time and enjoyed seeing more of Cebu and getting to know them better.

All in all it was a good week, and as always went by fast. We hope all of you had a good week.  I’m so thankful for modern technology that allows me to keep in touch with my family and see your wonderful faces. I love you all so much and always look forward to our visits.  Write if you can we miss you all so much.