Typhoon JULY slipping away

           It has been a good week!      Tharon's younger brother, Elder Kevin Bell, and his wife, Sister Kathy Richards Bell (Yes ... Kathy Richards 'blast from the past' is a very special friend of mine from when I was growing up in Brigham City 10th Ward.      We were YW CAMP Buddies!!) spent the week with us as they prepared to leave from their 23 month Mission to the PHILIPPINES CEBU EAST MISSION.       They have served honorably, assisted in teaching and testifying, as well as strengthened countless members on the Island of BOHOL.    wow .... love these two Senior Missionaries.     It was a bit of a 'tough night' as we said our good-byes.   They fly out tomorrow A.M.     It was a bit of a comfort and comradery  to know that we had some members of our family that was only a phone call and perhaps 3 hours away.      (But it is also a comfort to know that President Doug Davies and his dear wife, Sister Barbara Kimber Davies (Mission President of the San Pablo Mission in Southern Luzon) are now just a phone call and some hours away.   Good Brigham City Friends.
      Here is a glimpse of some of the fun things we did this week.

Elder Bell wears his Missionary attire even out
'surfing the waves'!       Seriously, we spent a few hours in
the "Art In Island" interactive art museum ... great place
to have a 'wild' imagination.

SIR ELDER KEVIN BELL ... a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD
HOLDER ... 

Elder Tharon Bell and Elder Kevin Bell ... a force
to be reckoned with.

ahhhh .... caught the 2 of them in their shenanagans!    hahaha

Kevin & Kathy with the famous
Banaue Rice Terraces in the
background.   Absolutely amazing
technology taught 2,000 years ago.

A worker traveling among the Rice Terraces ... this
staircase wound up and around the terraces.  Rain was
moments away  ... or we would have been down there!!

Sister Bell and Sister Bell with the little native
dressed women at the Banaue Rice Terraces.
One of these little bent women is 90+ years old.

Yup ... rice terraces in the background and 2 people
who will definately need to go on a diet when they
finish their mission and can get away from RICE ...RICE ...
RICE.        I gorge when we have French Fries ... and
it is definately showing.    SAD WOMAN.

This is Mr & Mrs. Batton.    He was baptized into the LDS Church
back in the 1990's and served a Mission.   He is a very
skilled wood carver, and moved into the Ifugao area.   Here
he fell in love with this adorable little woman, and began
to raise a family.   There was no available LDS Church unit
to attend, and because he wanted his children to grow
up attending Church, he went to church with his wife.
4 children later, we come and begin conversations with him because
of our name-tags and the work that we are doing in the area.
He wants his family to be LDS, but we need to develop a Church
unit there so that there is a place to attend Church without
traveling 1 hour each way.  The cost is prohibitive.
We have an appointment to talk to this Mission President
in the coming weeks .... maybe we can begin to get some
Missionaries in the area and ignite some 'spiritual fires' in
open and ready hearts.        We are praying that we can assist
this Returned Missionary to be able to attend the Church that
he still has a strong testimony of.      ..... stay tuned ....

The vistas of these beautiful mountains are amazing.  This is
in the Ifugao Province in Northern Luzon.

This is in the bottoms of the Terrace farms .. a farming
techniques that is such a key
to the success for these indigenous people who are willing
to work the land and provide for their families in the
tops of these rugged mountains.

opps .... Sister Bell catching me taking a photo of her and
Elder Bell on the side of the mountain cliffs.

This photo of our GARMIN GPS
may not mean anything to you ... but it
shows just a glimpse of the
twisty-turny-switchback- steep
roads that we must travel as
we traverse the roads in our mission area.

We also took advantage of being in the tops of these mountains,
and traveled another 2 hours from BANAUE to a city named
SAGADA.    The LDS Charities had completed a water project
in this town in 2014, and we went and met with the local
leaders to evaluate the project and see if it was still functioning
well and blessing the lives of the residents of the city.   LDS Charities
had assisted in clearing the water source owned by the Patay
Barangay, and building the Source BOX and piping the
water down the mountain and into the Barangay area.
The local elementary school has been able to put in new CRs
(RestRooms) for the children, and 4 separate water spigots
have been placed around the Barangay neighborhood.   They
have formed a "Water Association" and are collecting a small
usage fee so that they can pay for the maintenance and upkeep
of the system.    It truly has blest lives and upgraded their sanitation and
availability of fresh, running water.     It is up to the municipality
if and when they will take the water right into the houses.... currently
they are using hoses to attach to the spigots to run water into
the homes.     

While in Sagada, we took advantage and hiked over to the cliffs
where the local indigenous tribes people will hang their deceased
persons' coffins on the side of the mountain.   Old legends
and traditions .... but still being done today.       We would
have hiked down the cliffs further .... but the rains had begun to
pelt our skins and threaten to turn our umbrellas inside out.
The edge of the Typhon had hit the area ..... it was time to get
in the truck and head off the tops of the mountains.
We drove through some pretty intense winds and the
waters on the roadway were 2 to 4 inches deep in places.   The
steep inclines were at times very treacherous ... but Elder
Tharon Bell handled the driving like a PRO!
We were very appreciative to get to BAGUIO this night.


Elder and Sister McIver have arrived in Manila and we will be training them this next week on wheelchairs and wheelchair partners.     It will be a good week .... and is one week closer to us being able to breathe a sigh of relief and get back to being able to fulfilling 'just one Mission', rather than spreading ourselves thin and serving two.     It has been a great blessing and a crazy adventure ... but there were many things that we loved and appreciated the privileage to be a part of.