These are pictures of our follow up CSP (Community Service Project).  After the corn was planted in Pres. Ramos' field, we went back a couple of weeks later to fertilize.  Notice that the method of fertilizing is to put a teaspoon of fertilizer on each plant.  Very labor intensive.  Good thing for Pres. Ramos the labor is free.

Sister Roisum "pushing" the kuligig along.

Elder Antoni and Elder Kaisor "spooning" on the fertilizer.

Yes Karen, this is Elder Tuifelesai in the hat you gave me.  Looks good don't you think.

This is Elder Weber on the Kuligig.  The back section can be removed and it is used to plow the fields.  Also used to haul things around, like bags of rice, your family, hogs to market, you get the idea.

This is Sister Weber on the Kuligig.

Elder Weber helping Pres. Ramos get the pump working to irrigate (flood) the field.

Our beautiful Sisters in the back of our truck.  We had them all come back to the house afterwards for lunch.  I fixed Filipino Spaghetti. 

We had a CSP (Community Service Project) last week.  A member of the District Presidency owns some land and it was time to plant his corn.  The missionaries offered to help. The last crop in this field was rice. No plowing is done and no furors are made.  The hole for the seed is made with the pole you see in the Elder's hands.  It is pushed into the ground then the corn seed is put in it and then covered over with dirt. A few Elders had blisters on their hands by the time we finished.  

A rope was stretched from one end of the row to the other so that the row would be straight.

Sister Bagano planting the corn seed.

Cute Sister Caoile who lives next door to us in her Camiling Zone T-shirt taking a much needed water brake.

Elder
Tajeda who serves in Bamban wearing my hat.

This is called a trike with a cart for a side care. They haul the family around, haul rice and other things in the cart.  They are an all round utility vehicle.  

Some more scenery pictures.

This is a farmer riding a carabao. Notice the sheath at his waist. This is his machete. All the farmers have one.  

I may have posted this picture before.  Mother duck with her chicks.  So cute.

Once in a while we see a really beautiful flower. Not sure what this is. It appears to be some type of vine.

Beautiful mountains with low clouds.  Getting ready to rain.

Notice the plants in the bags. They use these bags for many things from bagging rice to using them as a planter.  A whole new container gardening idea.

Rice being put through a threshing machine.  They cut the rice from the fields by hand and then put it through this machine.  If the fields are big enough, they will use a combine, but there are a lot of farmers whose fields are not big enough to use and combine.  These people work so hard.  Then the grass you see in the pile is used to feed their livestock.

These two pictures illustrate how some of the building is done here. They are mixing cement with a small cement mixer on the ground level and they hauling it up to the upper floors with buckets and pulleys.

November 3, 2014 - YSA activity

The Tarlac College of Agriculture LDSSA had an activity and we were asked to participate as panelists for a question and answer session after the activities which we agreed to.  I'm not sure if we could answer their questions but we wanted to help.  Then at the last minute one of the speakers was unable to attend so they asked Elder Weber to take is place.  The two speakers before him took most of the time (the were the District Presidents) so he was left with very little time but he did a good job with the limited amount of advance notice (5 minutes) and the lateness of the hour.

The following are the pictures we took of the games they were playing.  With very little the have a great time.

Don't ask me to explain the games because I couldn't understand much of what was said.  My Tagalog isn't any better than it was six months ago, but the games were suppose to encourage unity and cooperation as a group.

Filipino food was served at the end.  Some of the YSA's brought traditional Filipino food which included rice of course.


The Elders in Talavera asked us to help them move.  The city of Talavera is about 1 1/2 hrs from our home in Camiling.  We left at about 5 am to get there early.  When we arrived, the whole zone was going to help.  That meant about 8 other missionaries besides the 4 in Talavera.  We picked up the 8 at the Stake Center in Cabanatuan City and took them in our truck to Talavera, about a 20 minutes drive from Cabanatuan.  That mean 10 people in our Truck.  It was a little crowded.   These are pictures of the move.  Notice Elder Weber's yellow hard hat he has started wearing since he has knocked himself in the head several times.

This next picture I took is of some men that were unloading rice at the market near where the Elders were moving from.  They lift these 50 kilo bags of rice (110 lbs.) onto there head and carry them away. They unload a huge truck that way.  Unbelievable to watch them to this.  No wonder the average Filipino is short.