FATHER'S DAY ...to fathers everywhere

     We are celebrating FATHER'S DAY a day early because tomorrow is a 12 hour trip over top of mountain ranges.  
      Elder Bell will be driving a larger van because we are responsible to take all of the training materials up to the northern end of LUZON as we begin our 12 days of training assessors for wheelchair assessments for Cagayan Valley Medical Center in Tuguegarao.  (Someone has told us that if anyone ever tells us to "Go to Hell", we will be able to tell them, "we don't need to experience Hell, we have already spent time in Tuguegarao".     So we are preparing  that it is going to be a HOT experience.      (Closest part of the Philippines to the equator .... what am I expecting?))

  This past week was filled with meetings with our wheelchair partners and meetings with our Church Service Missionaries.   We have grown to love those with whom we work so closely with.     

Hot dogs, fried zucchini in garlic and onions, and root beer.
It may not sound like much, but Elder Bell appreciated the
Father's Day dinner.   (He actually chose the menu.   He calls
Hot Dogs "Tube Steaks".)     Hot dogs are a main part of our
staple meals here in the Philippines.

See!    He is licking his fingers in anticipation
of Hot Dogs with Onions and lots of mustard.
He is a simple man, but such a good man.  I will
keep him.    And he has been an amazing Father
and GrandFather in our family!!!

Here we are   ... de-crating the assessment tables
and other supplies to fit into the Van that we get to travel
the Mountain passes in.   We will leave at 3:00am so that
we arrive in Tuguegarao by 3:00pm for a meeting at
Cagayan Valley Medical Center.     Elder Bell drives like a
Filipino ..... when we get home I think that I will have to drive
until he can de-brief and de-stress; and be reminded that you
really are supposed to follow traffic rules.

A short story at the bottom of the blog about this little Filipino.
He touched all of our hearts as we learned of his situation and
we were very happy to see him receive a quad cane to assist his
walking.  

These are 3 others who received
a wheelchair from the Province
of BATAAN social work office.  These
are one of our Wheelchair
Partners and we are very
honored to be able to work with them.

I have just captured some photos of the stairs and path
ways cut or cemented in along the roadway as we
travel the mountains.   These steps will lead to a home
or a small collection of homes that live in the same
vicinity and belong to the same Barangay (neighborhood).

Steep steps leading up to homes and
many times a community living on the
side of the mountain.  

Here you can see that the residents up above must
be 'trike' drivers for a living for here they park their work
vehicle until it is time to go back to work for the day.
Actually, their 'trikes' usually double, not only for their
means to provide a living for their family, but also it
is their family vehicle.  This is how the entire family comes
to Church or goes into market.   They carry ALL of their
supplies on these little vehicles. 

This picture it is harder to see, but the hewn
stairs are out of dirt and the pathway disappears
into a groove of trees and thick undergrowth.

OK .... its a moment 'break time'.     These are the most common 'Fast Food' restaurant in the Philippines.
You can purchase Chicken JOY (a piece of Chicken and a cup of rice) for 79 pesos... about $1. 50.   They do have a hot dog or a hamburger, or plate of sweet spaghetti available, but if you don't specify, you get rice instead of french fries.            We stop at these often.    I trust the C.R.s (Rest Rooms) here, at McDonalds, and KFC.  Being on the road as much as we are ...... I am always on the look-out for the good 'Comfort Rooms'.

Here we have a slide off from rains.  We are encountering more and more of these in our travels.    Our Bishop of the Pacdal Ward, Baguio Stake, randomly came up to Elder Bell one day and asked him which was we travel to come up to Baguio.   Elder Bell told him that Kennon Road is our favorite way to come up the mountain.   Our Bishop strongly advised us to not travel Kennon Road any more.   It has proven to have many faults along its canyon walls, and there have been more and more boulders (huge boulders) coming down onto the roadway.    So we decided then and there that we will heed the advice of our Priesthood leader and travel the longer way ..... we know that if not - we would only have ourselves to blame if harm befell us.

Another set of stairs just cut along the side of the road.  We
know that it leads to someone's home or homes.

I snapped this one just a second too fast.     There is a wooden
ladder that is just around this corner that leads up to the top of
the rock wall, and then you can see the pathway cutting up
through the bushes to a cluster of homes.    If a Filipino needs
to find a way to get himself and his family to their home .... he
does whatever it takes.   These wonderful people are so resilient ...
so 'water-proof'.

Right in the middle of one of the tight curves going down the mountain.   This stairway leads
up to the Barangay elementary school.   Can I just tell you that most Filipinos' have strong legs.

Another wash along the roadway with boulders needing to be cleared.   There is always some construction or some clearing along the roadways.          But you have to admit ...... beautiful scenery.


The picture of the little Filipino man has a touching story behind it.     This little 59 year old man left Mindanao (The island where all of the Marshal Law and fighting the terrorists is going on ....Marawi City) early this year because of the unrest.   He left everything and traveled to LUZON and ended up in BATAAN ... out towards the West from Manila Bay.      He came with only meager supplies.   His family had abandoned him and he was left to take care of himself.     His eyesight is degenerating and he will often fall and hurt himself, because he can not see well.     He has been going to the local market place and begging for food, and sleeping where he can find a place to stay.                A kindly widow had noticed him for a few weeks, and finally approached him and asked him what is his story and why was he there alone.     He shyly told her about being abandoned by family on Mindanao, and his journey to a more safe place in the Philippines.   He had no money and could not work because of his eye condition.      She has a 'garden hut' out to the rear of her home, and so she took him there and that is where he sleeps.   She is providing him enough food to survive and he attempts to help her.    She brought him to the BATAAN Social Work Office because she knew that they could provide wheelchairs and assistive devices for mobility and disabilities.          He was assessed and given a quad cane to help him be able to maintain his balance.   When he received his cane, he quietly asked how much he owed.  Our assessor told him that he owed nothing .... it was his.   Silent tears coursed down his cheeks.  We kept trying to wipe away the tears, but they flowed.   Our assessor looked again at his personal information, and advised this kindly woman that the gentleman turned 60 next month and could go into the office for the Elderly and receive his PHIL Health card .... which give him access to insurance to take care of his eyes and can also provide a place for him to live.   This little Filipino was so humbled, so grateful, he couldn't speak a word, but you seen it shine from his eyes.        BECAUSE SOMEONE TOOK THE TIME TO CARE ... TO REACH OUT .... TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.   

We love the work that we are involved in ...... but the bigger picture is the little everyday acts of kindness that we all can reach out with and show to others.    A smile, a hand to lift up someone who has fallen and has not the strength to get up, a listening ear and helping hand to a woman whose husband has left her and her little ones, a kind ride for the motorcyclist whose motorcycle is out of gas, a smile for the child who is ahead of us in the grocery line,  ............ so many ways.            
Thank you for caring enough to allow us to share our experiences.     We want you to know that we know that true and lasting joy comes from following the teachings of our Savior, Jesus Christ.     He lives.   He listens to the humble and sincere prayers.    He knows .... He knows.

tidbits of the week

    It has been a full week of being in Manila area and fulfilling activities involved with the Latter Day Saints Charities Wheelchair program and an interesting visit we paid a Dump Site 2 weeks ago.     We continue to see the great need for wheelchairs and other medical needs in the Philippines.    The non-regulations over the years in regards to Mining and the pollutants in the air and in their water supplies have truly taken a toll on the health of the Filipinos.    The Government is trying to get regulations in place and attempting to cleaning up water supplies and air quality .... but everything takes time and huge amounts of money.  The population of the Philippines continues to grow, and density increases which adds to the problems.    We are humbled and grateful that we have the opportunity to be here serving these good-hearted and resilient people.   We have a great love for the Filipino people.

    We have just put a few pictures together to give you a flavor of the week.    Next Sunday we will be in Tuguegarao in Northern Luzon as we prepare for 3 sessions of 3 day training in connection with a new Partner with LDS Charities in placing wheelchairs out to those in need.  ( We will be training the assessors the proper way to fit and interview the potential recipients.   One of the main concepts that the LDS Charities Wheelchair program emphasizes is that the wheelchair must be properly fit so as to 'do no harm' to those recipients of chairs.   We don't want to see injuries or pressure sores because of a wheelchair which we provided.)             So it may be a week or two before we are able to be in a place where we can Post the BLOG.

Cloud formation on the trip into
Manila last Sunday.  

The beautiful. fluffy cumulus clouds are amazing to see
here in the Philippine's sky.    They are a constant reminder
to us that we are living on an island out in the ocean.
During June, July, and August, we are seeing more and
more of these as we watch the rain storms develop and prepare
to drench the island in nourishing rain.

Sometimes we can capture the depth of the clouds in the picture and give you
a sense of their enormity and their magesty.

We spent one morning in the warehouse
in which LDSC stores the wheelchairs.
This warehouse services 9 partners who
provides wheelchairs throughout the
Philippines.

This is one of two vans that was being loaded for a
wheelchair distribution in Northern Luzon.  They needed to fit
37 wheelchairs in 2 vans.   They did a pretty good job.
There is a long story about this distribution.   I ended up having
an Area Seventy call me on the phone and it was not a
'warm & fuzzy' situation that warranted the call.   Ask me about it
some day, if you are interested.

This is a passenger Bus sent to pickup wheelchairs from
the University of Northern Philippines in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.
Elder Bell and I was amazed at how many they were able to fit
into the bus.    The big square boxes are the new "tri-cycle' chairs
designed to add a quadriplegic or amputee to be able to
get around town or possibly even use it in a self-employed situation where
they could sell things out on the street.   (Street vendors are huge in
the Philippines.   Many traveling salesmen like back in the early
1800 times in rural America.)

This is one of the assessors at NAVOTAS CITY , a partner that we work
with in the Manila area.    She is demonstrating the "Tri-cycle" wheel chair and it's
maneuverability.     You push the steering wheel back and forth to
propel the unit.   It will give the recipient a good 'arm and back' work-out.

Participants of a 1 day training which we
arranged and conducted for NAVOTAS
City.  These are Barangay (Neighborhood)
Health Care workers being given
information about the Wheelchairs.

The benefit of this Barangay worker training is
that it helps the people who are home bound or
need a wheel chair to have a contact person who
knows all of the people living in the Barangay and
can help them get the resources they need.   39
participants from 14 barangays.   Great day of
training for them and a good step forward for
this wheelchair partner.

On the way back from Manila, we stopped into the
Tarlac Member Welfare Project site and visited the
Piggery.   It is feeding time and the piglets are very
anxious to feed their ravenous bellies.

The feed is prepared and the gate is opened.  They
race to find the perfect spot to eat and eat and
eat.  They are about 5 weeks old now.

This is Riza Nacpil and her husband, Benito.  They have
become very dear to our hearts.   Elder Bell plans to take a day
to work with President Nacpil in building a chicken coop designed
to increase hatchings of the chicken eggs.    I will spend the day in the kitchen with Riza as I share recipes for Banana Bread, Zucchine
bread, and carrot cake.    They have been given the opportunity to
run the Elementary school Canteen (there are no school lunches
provided by government) and they are trying to put together
low cost, nutritious meals for the children, as well as provide
employment opportunities for some of the ward members who
are struggling to find employment.     

I have tried for 2 months to have my camera in my hand when we saw one of the men who have a business to provide drinks and such for the public.     I caught him as he was preparing to go out and sell his pineapple and mango juice for the day.  

This is exactly what it looks like.   A garbage Dump.   We visited this site just off the north end of Baguio.  It has been an active dump site for 20+ years and was just closed a few years ago.    Now there are hundreds of families that have established homes amidst, around, and inside of this area.  People who are so poor, they have no where to live, but can put together enough materials and hollow-block pieces that they can live in what they call their 'home'.   Their source of income is possibly a 'trike driver' (remember the motorcycle with the side care) or a hired out manual laborer.  Most of the people living here are surviving by digging through each bag of trash and methodically separating out recyclable items.  The recyclables can be cleaned and bagged up and sold for a minimal price by the kilo.   This gives these people barely enough to put rice on their tables.   The fortunate ones are the ones who are willing to scrimp and save up enough (or fortunate enough that someone will give them) to purchase a chicken.    They have the chicken hatch the eggs they don't consume, and then raise the little chicks up for meals and more hens or roosters.     

This is a shot down an alleyway that you can walk in which you fill find many of the homes back interwoven among the sacks of garbage.   The sacks you see here in the front are bags of recyclable items that are awaiting a larger truck to come and purchase them to take to a recycling factory.          These people are doing the best they can at whatever they can find to do.
LDS Charities have one project with an organization which works with these people to assist them in their needs.   One of the projects going is a workshop in which the women of the community will bring in items such as 'pop-tops' off of soda pop & beer cans (& meat, tuna fish, vegetables, soups cans) and learn how to crochet purses that are durable and can sell in the marketplace.   They also make other decorative items and jewelry which can be sold at market.     This organization is also providing access to a school for the children from this area.    In order to qualify to go to the school (they only can handle so many children because of their limited space and finances) the child must have symptoms of lung disease.   The child will then be given the chance to enter the school system and will stay in the system through all grades.    At the school they will provide a lunch meal of rice and vegetables and fruits, (this and the medicines are another part of where the LDSC donation monies are being used).    It gives the kids 1 decent, fairly nutritious meal a day.   The school also provides medicines to help the children with the diseases that are prevalant, and the lung problems.   They have found that they can reverse the lung damage over a period of a few years with the medicine, the improved nutrition provided, and getting the kids out of working in the actual dump site.  (Chemical fumes, etc and the pollution from the mining activities are extremely caustic to the child's developing lungs.)        It breaks your heart to see all of this .... but everything takes so much time, so much money, so many changes needed ............. and not enough resources or manpower to accomplish it all.    This is why every little bit helps.  Every penny or dollar that is donated to LDS Humanitarian work goes to help in situations like the wheelchairs and survival needs like this.  
We may be able to post other pictures, but right now we are under obligation to protect identity of those involved.  There is so much 'child trafficing' etc ... and so the organization must screen any photos that we use and give us permission .   These of the actual dump site are OK ... but not many of the others without permission.     You may get to see more of the story.       

This is one  project we are currently
putting together.   School chairs are in
great demand.  This school took us into
their classrooms and showed us the
desks/chairs that their students are having
to use.  Many are beyond repair.  

Many of the schools have to have the children just sit on
overturned 5 gallon buckets or rough benches made out of
a log that has been cut in half.     LDS Charities have brought
in over 2000 chairs to go into the schools in desperate need
of the chairs.   We are responding to this school in our
area to see if we can continue to provide more .

ART & ARTSY THINGS .... beauty all around!

This past 2 weeks have been fulled with lots of time in Manila and working on finishing up Wheelchair Project Reports and Month end reports.    I am finding that I am not an 'office girl'.     My anxiety rises and my OCDness kicks in and I think I become somewhat of a bear.     

    Having said that ..... this BLOG POST is going to share a few of the 'fun art things' that we have noticed in the past month and weeks. 

      

Beautiful handbags/purses created from stuff recycled from
an area previously used as a dump.   We have visited
an organization that is working with the people who are living
next to and amiss the old dump.   This organization is working
to assist these people to find ways to earn enough money to put
food on their tables and clothes on their backs.   These items
can be sold at local bazaars and markets.   These handbags are
made from the old 'flip-tops' that we would break off of the
soda cans.   Crocheted together, it becomes a very
stylish bag.

These beautiful necklaces are some of
the handiwork of some dedicated and
amazing women who are trying their
hardest to find ways to provide food and
needs for their families.

This beautiful handbag is woven from Hibiscus and Water Lily
reeds/ stems that are harvested from Laguna Lake in the Southern
part of Luzon.     The families will gather the stems and dry them.
Then this livelihood center is teaching the local woman patterns
and how to weave them into these crafts.    They have found
a market and are now filling orders for these handmade, beautiful
handbags and woven mats.    I am so impressed with the diligence
of these people, attempting to be gainfully employed in a
country of MILLIONS of people.

A few of the workers, the leaders of the Humanitarian
Organization that we work with, and Elder Bell .... showing the
woven items that these women have woven.   The reeds are drying
in the background.    Amazing .... time consuming ... humbling.

She is demonstrating to me the intricacies of the weaves.  I
appreciated the end result much deeper after having learned the
process to produce it ... where the reeds come from ... how many
reeds it takes to weave the baskets .... and mostly how this livelihood
center is allowing these workers to provide for their families.    

This starts the art of 'The Jeepneys'.    These are the
left over World War II vehicles used here in the Islands.  They
now are produced here and is a Main source of public transport
in all of the cities and towns.    The most interesting part of
this is the ART WORK that is demonstrated on them.   Each of the
Jeepneys are privately owned, and the owner and driver is able to
show his personality by the art work or decorations that he uses
on his Jeepney.      Our days are always filled with color and
fun as we see the different Jeepneys across the Philippines.

An older one ... but I loved the bright
blue on it.

Many are a representation of
patriotism from America.   Most Filipinos are
very intrigued with America.

Had to throw this in.   I think it is artwork!    The salad was made from
edible flowers on top of a bed of lettuce.    It was really a tasty and very
'eye' appealing meal.

Many of the Jeepneys have names on the front and
center section.   This one must belong to 'HANY".     We have seen
quite a few that have a scripture reference on this area, also.   They are very
faithful people and love God and the Scriptures.

This was an old one that caught my
eye.  The artwork is on the tailgate.

Some are creepy ... but very good artwork.   They must have shops
where there are talented people with the airbrush.     The sight of the
amazing and colorful Jeepneys bring some color into our many hours and
kilometers of travel.

We took Amy and Carter to this Art Center in Manila and spent the afternoon.     I hope that you enjoy the photos as much as we did in the posing and watching others 'insert themselves' into the artwork.     Alot of fun.     Interesting adventure.

I thought this one turned out really good and was
fun to capture.   Usually it is Elder Bell who is behind the
Camera, but I convinced him that this was his big chance to
'tame a lion'.

I couldn't pass up a chance to be this close to
this Painting ... even if it is not the real one.

Amy and I having fun.    It was such a joy
and happy week to spend with them.   She is
really a jewel.

Carter is my guy to be in Cahoots with.    We had alot of fun on
this adventure.

Here we are .... back at work.   This is a Memorandum of Agreement
Signing with the new Partner, "Cagauyan Valley Medical Center'" in
Northern Luzon.     LDS Charities has just entered into an agreement with
them to provide them wheelchairs as they reach out to serve the people
with Disabilities and the needy in the northern Island area.    We will
spend 2 weeks doing training to train their assessors so that all of the
wheelchairs delivered free of charge to people will be the proper
wheelchair with the proper fit.      The stories of many of the recipients
of the wheelchairs are very precious and tender to my heart.    I have to
admit that I love this work.

Life is busy and so many days I feel overwhelmed, but we get through them.

We continue to be richly blest.   Elder Bell drives like a pro amongst the chaos of the roads here.   Manila still makes him sweat bullets.   

We pray that we will be found worthy of the continued influence and whisperings of the Holy Spirit as we strive to find the right projects to assist in bringing some of these people the blessings they need.     We continue to deliver the Baby Receiving Blankets from home.     Tears of thanksgiving are shed by many young mothers, and by the nurses who assist us in making sure that each new mother has a blanket to bring her newborn home in.    

We pray that we will be given the enlightenment that will find ways that we can be the instruments in the Lord's hands to answer the prayers of the poor and those in desperate need.  

The Gospel has been restored in these Latter Days by the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr.    We live in a glorious time.    We pray that all of us can live worthy of the blessings that we have been given.

Love to each of you.     Thank you for your letters of encouragement and your comments to brighten our days.