Corregidor Island

This was the day we went to Corregidor, the island off Mariveles, Bataan. Its where the US had built what they thought would be a saving place for troops forced out by the Japanese. But the bombing of Pearl Harbor stopped the Navy from forming any rescue. We went over in three of these boats. The trip took about half hour. Pictured is the group that made the trip, its Pday for the Missionaries, so they got to go. That's Sister Bulanon modeling Pday attire. There is a lot to see of the history, like this memorial. The tunnel that MacArthur holed up in is still there, and a tour takes you through it, complete with sound effects of the bombing outside. The large bombed-out building is a barracks built for the troops.This is one of the big guns of Corregidor, it could lob shells clear to Mariveles, but couldn't help do anything about the Death March, for fear of killing POWs, both American and Filipino.

New Calling

If you speak in Conference here they give you a flower to were, all most makes it worth it. The second picture is of Elder Kimberlin who is a part of this new Branch Presidency. President Lambino is in the middle, he speaks some English and the Brother on the right is Brother Centeno he speaks a few works of English. Communication is one of our biggest problems here.

Work Project

We love our Sister Missionaries ! Sister Drio and Sister DeGusman

Work projects are the best for getting to know everyone. Elder Kimberlin was so happy to get to use his big bolo knife, and he didn't have to see any snakes. They cleared bamboo and trees.






Yum, fish with their heads still on.

Cooking with the Ladies

Brother Navarro is really a good cook. The people that live in the house cook this way everyday,this is their stove.

Baptism in The South China Sea

This is our first baptism to watch being done in the Sea. It was a beautiful day with, with lots of nice people and good food.

Elder Teh

We should have told you about this a while back, Elder Teh came to visit. He was a great guy ! After our meeting we all went and had pizza , we all , meaning the couples. Elder Teh is what we in the church call a General Authority, a member of the 1st quorum of the 70's. At dinner we asked what the difference was in the 1st quorum and the 2nd quorum ? He said if you are called to the 1st quorum, it is a call that lasts until you are seventy years old, and the 2nd quorum is a 3 year call. He told us about his call and how he felt, it was great. He is such a nice person, and dinner was a fun time, kind of like if you had just played a softball game and you all went out for pizza and just talked about everything, he was just one of the players,only he is a really good player.

Back to The Hard Pioneer Days

We had no idea that people still had coal burning irons. We visited this Sister and she was using one. She said that you put the hot coals in the top and iron the Levi's first and then as the iron cools you use it on the more delicate clothing. Not everyone has electricity where we are and a lot of people do not have running water. If they do have electricity it may be hanging wires with one light bulb. Some have more , many have TVs.

Happy New Year 2008

Happy New Year !! We know it's going to be a great year with lots of new learning experience.
We hope to do better with our blog... We didn't know we would be so busy.




This is the pig that Brother Catalogo cooked for the Branch Christmas Party.





For 2007 these are two of our favorite people. Brother and Sister Catalogo. Bro. Catalogo takes care of the whole compound here, he fixes everything, and he always has the smile. Sis. Catalogo is very shy, she cleans our apartment and washes our clothes and I hope she is coming with us when we come home,because I have never seen everything so clean.They have three daughters and one granddaughter. They are very faithful people and add a lot of strength to the branch.



This is Elder Kimberlin's News Years Eve toy, the shorter guy in the picture, Rommel, made it for him. It's a sulibong. Cans taped together, with holes in the cans, then you put alcohol in one end and light it. It makes a bomb like sound and blue flame shoots out the end. Great, New Years Eve toy ! On the spiritual side of the story about Rommel and his family, we love visiting them and getting to know them. They come to church every Sunday and Rommel now passes the sacrament, it always makes us think of Austin and Weston doing the same thing in Utah each Sunday.
Next blog I am going to tell you about "NQR" It was taped to my office door when I arrived, I'm not sure how long it has been here, maybe years. It's what we refer to when things are not as we thought they should be or different from what we are use to, we meaning Americans. It stands for " Not Quite Right"