October 1, 2014

This past week was Family Week in the Philippines.  The two Districts here in Camiling had a Fun Walk which we participated in and they following the Fun Walk they had a "blood letting".  Bet you didn't know that blood letting was still being practiced in the world.  It was really a blood drive.  Anyway we thought it was kind of funny to hear it referred to as a blood letting.  Here are a few pictures from the Fun Walk.

This is President Carino.  He is the Branch President of the Camiling Branch 4, the Branch that our home is in here in Camiling.

The taller gentleman is President Tabelisma.  He is President of the San Clamente Branch.  We had a police escort and they stopped the traffic as we crossed each intersection.  There are no stop lights or stop signs at intersections.  It is just a free for all at each intersection. 

These are members of Camiling Branch 4, our home Branch.

Trying to get lined up to  go.  The Walk was supposed to begin at 6 am.  At 6:10 we woke up and wondered if we could still make it in time to walk.  We decided to get ready and go and see if they were still at the Chapel.  We got there about 30 minutes late and as you can see from the pictures, they had not started yet.  We thought that might be the case judging from other events we have been to.  There are three time elements here.  The announced time, Filipino time which is whenever they get ready to start, and Mission Time which is 10 minutes is on time, on time is late. 

I am not in any of the pictures because I am taking the pictures, but here is Elder Weber with some members and the signs that some of the members had made to carry in the Walk.

The Sister on the left is Lisa, the Branch Presidents wife and also the Sister who does our laundry.  The sister in the pink hat is Tina (don't know her last name).  She sells pork in the palanke (market).  They are both in our Branch 4.  The truck on the right in the background is our truck.

We attended a couple of baptisms on Saturday, October 20, 2014.  These are some pictures from the baptism.

The tall Elder in the back is Elder Horsburg. He is from Australia.  He served in Cabaluyan Branch. He was transferred at the last transfer.  This is a very difficult area.  They do not have a Chapel, just a rented house where they meet.  They really struggle with having active Priesthood holders.  The Sisters are Sister Brady (who was also transferred) and Sister Lamera who serve in the San Clemente Branch. All of these children are over the age of nine so they are considered convert baptisms.  The Elder next to Elder Horsburg is Elder Daplin who kids all the time that he is only 12 years old, and that is really what he looks like.  But he is really a hard working missionary.

This is Elder Kisor and Bro. Puyat (who is a short term missionary).  They were serving in the Birbira Branch. Bro Puyat does not have his call yet so he is Brother and Elder and has since gone home at the last transfer.  The mission often uses short term missionaries who are preparing to go on missions and is a means of giving them some training and an idea of what serving a mission will be like.  These short term missionaries are really an asset because sometimes for one reason or another we do not have enough missionaries to keep all the areas open.  Elder Kisor has a beautiful tenor voice and sings for us frequently.  He is from the Cincinnati area,

This is Sister Anderson who was transferred last week and her companion Sister Batican.  They had been teaching these children for about six months and their baptism was moved up to Tuesday so that Sister Anderson who felt she would be transferred could be here for it. Sister Anderson and Sister Batican live next door to us.  The little girl who was baptized is the cousin of the little girl pictured below.

This is Gwynth.  She is nine years old.  We made friends when we first got here.  She was at the Chapel and is one of the few children who speak English and speaks especially fluently.  We have become quite good friends.  She tells me that her father works in Afghanistan and is only home a few weeks each year.  This is very common here in the Philippines.  It is one of the reasons why enough Priesthood in the Church is such a problem.  Many fathers and husbands work abroad somewhere to earn money and send it home to their families.  One family in Branch 1 has a mother works on another Philippine island a long ways away from here.  There are 10 children in that family, mostly males.  Several have served missions, one just left to serve and another is preparing to serve.  One of their boys served in the Salt Lake City Mission and now he wants to go back to the US but he is need to help support his family and also he doesn't have the money to go.  These families make great sacrifices for each other.  I'm not sure how a marriage works when you are separated so much from your spouse.