Sunday, December 30, 2012

We began celebrating Christmas in September, but for us "foreigners", celebrating Christmas began after Thanksgiving.  We had several Zone and District Christmas Conferences.  Some were held here in Naga, and others Conferences and parties were held in cities north and south of Naga.  We did a lot of traveling to be able to be part of  the festivities with all of the Elders and Sisters in the mission.  It is hard to really get in the mood for Christmas with the temperature in the 90's.  Christmas just isn't Christmas without the cold snow.                                        There are no pine trees for Christmas,                                                                                                  so this is the closest we could find.

 

 

            
This picture was taken in the Mission Home.                    Here's what our little 2 foot tree looked like



 

 



A new year is about to begin.  Thinking of the 2012 year, we wonder just what new adventures will  be coming our way.  It will be hard to top 2012, but somehow, whatever comes during the 2013 year will surely be wonderful and most likely a challenge or two, just to keep it interesting.

With the announcement by the Prophet that the ages for Elders and Sisters are being changed to eighteen for Elders and nineteen for the Sisters, our Mission President, President Bliesner announced that we are looking to receive 19 new missionaries in April, 2013, 15 of which will be Sisters - all from the United States and 4 Elders - also from the United States.  At the present time, we have a total of 16 Sisters serving, of which 2 are from the United States, one from Srilanka, one from New Zealand and the rest are from the Philippines.  We have 156 missionaries serving right now, and we've been told that we will have 250 by the end of 2013.  This means ever so much more work for Elder Campbell, and hopefully, more Baptism/Confirmation Records for Sister Campbell to record and send to Salt Lake City so that they will become members of record of the Church.

We have been kept busy in our travels throughout the mission, and are continuing to see new sights.  We are always looking for things to enlighten our day.

A typhoon brushed by us and "only" brought torrential rains.  It rained heavily for 24 hours.  As soon as the rain quit coming down so heavily, we drove to a city about 100 kilometers south (or a 2 1/2 hour drive).  We encountered moderate rain most of the way, and even some areas that were flooded, including the roads. 

 

This is a section of the highway with on-coming cars.  At one point, we were floating with the currents.  On each side of the highway are rice fields that look like lakes.

This is in the middle of one of the towns we were passing through on our way back to Naga.  This lady does not seem at all humored about us taking her picture.

 

 

We've looked and looked for a place that could be rented, just in case we had family or friends visit.  We found the "perfect" place.  You would love it.  It has lots of natural light, all the air conditioning you would ever want or need, and it's totally reasonably priced.  Check it out.  Oh, and by the way, the SM shopping mall is close, as well as a hospital. The train is nearby, so no need to rent a car to get around. 

 

 

 

 

We've enlarged the "for rent" sign, just in case someone may be interested.

We're only joking, of course, but it makes one wonder if the owners of this structure REALLY think someone will rent it from them.

 

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, and hope this coming year will be all you want it to be.

 

Love to you,

 

Elder and Sister Campbell







Sunday, November 25, 2012

Thanksgiving day found us attending a Naga/Goa Zone Conference.  We spent five hours of training and instruction followed by a totally untraditonal Thanksgiving lunch.  Above is a picture of all of the Sisters from the Naga/Goa Zone with the Assistants to the President in the background.  Can you find Carol?    She's the "tall" one (not to mention the white hair) standing in back of the Sisters.  She loves being with these sweet Sisters.

Following this Zone Conference, Carol and I had our own "non-traditional" Thanksgiving dinner.  We went to Shakey's Pizza and had a Mediterranean Pizza and Caesar salad, topped off with a piece of fresh pineapple pie.  How much more "non-traditional" can you get.  But, without access to a turkey, dressing, fresh baked homemade hot rolls, sweet potatoes and of course pumpkin pie, this meal was absolutely delicious and satisfying. 

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SUPPLY MANAGER

We visited another of the Elders apartments that we had not been to before. It is in Pasacao and is close to the ocean and was an amazing experience.  We had to park our van right on the ocean edge and then walk several meters to their apartment.  Below is a picture of the harbor, taken while standing in front of our van (if you look closely, you can see the front grill of our van).  Then a picture of where the missionaries live - down a narrow alleyway and up some steep stairs.

 

From the street, we had to open a tiny metal gate that you had to bend down and turn sideways to get through, and then walk down a long distance through an alley between two buildings.  This is a wide alley compared to others we've seen.We were at their apartment to repair one of the beds.  As you can see, Elder Vogelsberg is carrying a drill and Elder Bartleson has a few tools in hand to help Elder Campbell accomplish his task. 

 

 

After fixing the bed for Elder Vogelsberg, they accompanied us to the apartment of a couple of Sisters in Libmanan, whose water system was not working properly.  Below is a picture or two of the walk we had to take to get to their apartment that is out in the center of some rice fields.

 

 

 



It is fun to see people who love life as much as the Filipinos.  This Padyak is the common mode of transportation here in Libmanan.  None of the paths are wide enough for vehicles such as our van, so this is the most convenient way to travel in this small community.  Notice the rice field that the path is built through.  We had to walk about a half mile through areas like this to get to the Sisters apartment.  Elder Bartleson is carrying the new water filtration system that Elder Campbell will be installing in the apartment.

 

 

 

Mission accomplished - filtered water at last!

 

 

Mission complete - time to go back to Naga!

One of the Sisters asked Carol if she would work with her to learn to speak English properly.  She comes over to the apartment once a week and they work on language skills (reading, pronunciations, using words and phrases in sentences, etc.)  It's fun to have her and her companion who is from Sri Lanka visit us and share their sweet Spirits with us.

Here's a picture of how they mow the lawns in the Philippines.  Weed whackers are used for lawns as well as keeping all of the foliage cut short along all of the roadways.

And one last picture.  This was taken in the Pure Gold Market where we do a lot of our shopping for food.  As we were standing at the register, waiting to get checked out, Christmas music began and all of these fun-loving employees at the market joined together in doing some sort of line-dancing.  It was so much fun to watch, it was hard to get our groceries and leave for home.  Christmas is such a BIG event here, especially since they start celebrating and preparing for it from September 1st.  It was so interesting to see the Christmas trees, decorations and music playing in all of the stores at that time.  Then, around the first of October, they put out all of their Halloween decorations and candy - right next to the Christmas trees and Christmas decorations.

I said that this was the last picture, but I just HAVE to show you a bridge that is used to cross over a canal.   We visited the apartment of the Buhi Elders. As we stepped out on the deck of the top floor of their apartment, we could see a bamboo bridge.

It is hard to believe that another month has gone by and we're still discovering new areas of our mission.  It is such a wonderful blessing to have been called to serve a mission for our Heavenly Father in the Philippines.   Since we've been here, we've had the opportunity to meet Quinton L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Tad R. Callister of the Presidency of the Seventy, Elder Ardern who is a councilor to Elder Tei who is the Area Preisident of the Seventies, Elder Tei, Elder Meim, another Area Seventy.  Each of them have presided in Zone Meetings where they and their wives shared inspirational stories and their testimonies of the Gospel. 

We appreciate all of our family and friends who give us such wonderful support and encouragement.  Even though we don't proselyte, our callings are very important to the functioning of our mission area, and we look forward each day to being able to help in some way to make life easier and more comfortable for those we are here to help.  Carol's calling as a Recorded is a very vital part of helping those who have been baptized become members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Without their baptism and confirmation information being recorded and sent to Salt Lake City, via the Internet, those who have been baptized are not members, and thus cannot advance in the Priesthood, go to the temple to be sealed as families for time and all eternity, etc.  So, her role is a vital part of the work.

Until next time, Salamat for everything.

October 27, 2012

The Naga Mission adventures continue with each day.  We "think" we know what we are going to be doing each day, but before we know it, we're driving somewhere to help with some crisis in the lives of our Elders and Sisters.  It is so wonderful to be "needed"!  Actually, we ARE LOVING serving the Lord and doing what we are called on to do.  No two days are the same - we are learning new things all of the time and hope that one day we'll actually know where we are going without having to refer to the road maps and having to call on the Zone Leaders to lead the way to the different apartments.

Every six weeks we have a Zone Activity.  On Monday, October 22nd, the Ligao District planned a trip to Kawa Kawa, which is a sort of a shrine area.  We climbed a very steep trail which zig-zagged up a mountain.  There were fourteen different life-sized dioramas depicting the events of Jesus's life from the Last Supper through His crucifixion.  They celebrate His death, but not His resurrection, which we find a little strange.  One of the senior couples who was there with us, said before we got to the Kawa Kawa area that "it really isn't that steep or difficult to climb.  We run to the top and back twice a week.  You should be able to make it just fine".  We got there, looked at the mountain and the trail we were to climb and thought to ourselves, "He has got to be kidding!  They must be a lot younger than us".  We made it to the top - finally, and the view was spectacular!  In the distance we could see rolling mountains, and in the valleys there were countless rice fields with workers harvesting the rice.  On each side of the trail - at the top, there were several pineapple groves with pineapples still in the growing stage.

Once we made it back to the bottom of the trail, we met some children who were selling trinkets, rosaries, seashell items, etc.  Jerry, being the softy that he is, could not resist the eagerness of the children and of course bought several pieces of their wares.

 

This is one of the dioramas depicting the Last Supper.  The sculptures were done so well, and really gave a feeling of being "real".

This needs no explanation.  The expressions on the faces of all of the people in the scenes bring out a sense of what was really taking place at that time.

 

 

If you look very close, you can see a few "baby" pineapples.

 

 

 

These are the children with their trays of trinkets.  Everything on these trays were made from seashells, and they sold for about 25 cents each, or 10 pesos.

 



On one of our MANY trips, we drove up the coast road by Sorsogon.  This is just one of the areas with small boats and fishermen fishing for their daily food.

 

These tall plants are Sugar Cane plants - once again, alongside the road we were driving on.



As we were waiting in the parking lot of the Daet Stake Center for a couple Sister Missionaries, we took this picture of a pretty modern looking home.  Notice, there is no lawn.  There are some homes throughout this area that are very large and beautiful.

We could not believe that once they harvest their rice, they spread it out on the road to cure. You can tell that WE are driving on this rice. 



Yes, we still could not believe it - once again we are driving on the rice.

 

The modern housewife in the Philippines does her laundry by the roadside in a large washtub that she fills from a bamboo tube with water flowing from it.  This is typical - we see it every time we travel.  It seems that Monday is their favorite laundry, too.

 

As we were driving down a road, heading to one of our Elders apartments, their next door neighbor lady was outside doing her laundry.  Her water does not come from a bamboo tube, however.  She has a more modern galvanized pipe stubbed up out of the ground.  She is sitting over a drainage ditch, like those that are in front of most homes in this country.  They need these large drainage ditches to get rid of the rain water that comes down very heavily during the rainy season.

 

This is a boat builder that we saw as we were driving the coastal highway to Tabaco City.  You can see their humble living conditions.  The structure to the left is their home.  He uses what he considers to be modern tools to build his boats by hand.  There is no electrical power here.  Most Filipinos are very accommodating and love to have their picture taken. 

 

We hope you have enjoyed these pictures as much as we enjoyed taking them. 

 

If you will look to the top right side of our blog, you will see a place where it asks for your email address.  If you want to follow our blog, please follow the instructions, and then you will receive automatic notification of any updates we make.  You will also notice that we have a weather post at the top of the blog.  The picture changes from night to day, and shows what our temperature is at the time you are reading the blog.  It also shows the weather conditions at that time.

 

We would like to thank Elder and Sister Manning for sharing the sign-up and weather features on our blog.  The Mannings are serving a mission in Bangkok, Thailand.

 

We appreciate all of your prayers in our behalf.  We would ask you to continue praying for the success of all the missionaries throughout the world.



Elder & Sister Campbell

September 30, 2012

Well, here we are once again, and we finally found something besides that "short" broom to clean with - check out the "long" brook I am holding in the picture below.  I just have to be careful not to sweep the ceiling fixtures down with the handle.  Love this country and all of it's innovative cleaning items.

 

Speaking of innovative ideas . . . . .

 

Anyone who knows Carol, knows she LOVES to bake and cook.  Soon after we arrived here, she decided she needed a kitchen timer so that she would not have to try to remember when she put the cookies into the oven.  We found the perfect timer, but unfortunately, she could not hear it beep without wearing it on her ear.  It is very convenient, but perhaps not too stylish.

 

 

We don't have the drive "thru" car washes as in the States.  But we have personalized car care at the local car wash, where we can sit and watch our car being washed for at least two hours.  On the lower right side of the picture you will see a boom box (for us to listen to), and they serve a variety of refreshments while we wait.

 

 

Here we are, waiting for our car to be cleaned inside and out.  They are very particular, and make sure that everything, including the car mats are immaculate.  This is the cleanest we've ever seen our car.  It only cost 140 pesos, which translates to about $3.36 U.S. dollars.  Wish I could hire him to come and clean our apartment.  Colorful setting, isn't it.

 

 

Penafrancia is an annual parade which goes down the main street,  right in front of our Mission Office apartment.  Penafrancia is an annual week-long celebration, where they have parades starting at 5:30 in the morning, every morning for six days.  We know they started at 5:30 in the morning, because the drums of their marching bands would wake us up, as it seemed as though they were marching right through out bedroom.  The parades would last until about 2:00 in the afternoon.  

 

 

They consisted of marching bands, floats, military marching bands, majorettes twirling batons.   Boy Scouts with FULL uniforms, Girl Scouts and their leaders in FULL dress uniforms lined up just as straight as the military cadets pictured above.   The colors of the costumes, and the costumes themselves were fantastic.  We were so amazed at how disciplined and dedicated all of the participants were.   Filipinos are very patriotic and family-oriented people.

 

 

And the Driver's License Saga continues . . . . .

Pictured above is the is the outside waiting area (there is no inside waiting area) to get a Philippine drivers license in the city of Iriga.

 

 

 

Carol is sitting on one of the benches, waiting and waiting to find out if she is going to get her drivers license.  She looks a little bored and is probably thinking, "this, too, will pass".  Not too happy at this point in time.

 

We arrived at the Naga Drivers License Division on Thursday, September 6th @ 8:00 a.m.  Waited until 9:30, when they told Carol that she could not take the written drivers exam that day, because it had not been EXACTLY 30 days plus one day since she first took the test, and failed it, (in the test, they use words like "infiltrate" for pass, and several Tagalog words, which she was not familiar with). We decided to drive to the city of Iriga, arriving at about 10:15 a.m. to see if she could get a drivers license there.  We arrived at the Iriga Drivers License Division, handed in her paperwork, and waited and waited.  Then, she was called into the manager's office, where she was told that if she had a copy of her Visa they would process her license.  It is a 45 minute, taking your life in your own hands, drive from Naga to Iriga.  So, we headed back to Naga, got a copy of her Visa and drove back to Iriga, fully expecting to get the license.  Well, once we handed that document to them, we waited and waited again.  Once again she was called into the manager's office and was told that they could not issue her a license because she had not been in the Philippines for 90 days, and that her Utah driver's license was still valid.  She was told they have their laws, and that they could not get around that!  She would have to come back after the 20th of September.  So, on the 24th of September we drove to the city of Iriga AGAIN, and once again handed the paperwork in for approval.  We sat and waited and waited, and finally she was called into the office again.  This time, they told her that she would have to be in the country for five months before they could process a drivers license for her.  Well, luckily, we had Willie, the security guard at the Mission Home with us.  He bantered back and forth with the office manager, stating that we'd been told 90 days was the limit for getting a drivers license.  Finally, the office manager said they would process the license,.  Here's where it gets pretty "funny", if that's what you want to call it.  Carol waited AGAIN and finally was called up to have her photo ID taken for the license.  Finally, we figured we were making headway and we'd be leaving soon with a drivers license.  Oh, not so!!!  Again, she was asked to come to the photo window.  The gal there said that Carol didn't have an endorsement from Iriga on her medical form and that we would have to walk to the County Health Department and have another physical, get the endorsement and then come back.  Sounds pretty simple, right?   Well, that building is about 2 blocks away through some paths and weeded areas.  She gets there, is weighed and measured for height.  Then, she's told that she needs a "blank" medical form for them to fill in, and that she'd need to walk back around the block, across the highway to a drug-testing room, pay 2 pesos for a blank form, and then take it back to the health department.  This she did, then she has her bloodpressure taken, which they said was high (what would you think after all of the stress she's been through).   She was asked to read an eye chart - which she had a hard time with, too, but they said everything was good, endorsed the medical form and sent us on our way, after giving a 50 pesos donation.  OK, so we're jumping through all of their hoops and finally are on our way back to the drivers license area, where she, once again, hands her paperwork in and hopes this is nearly over.  Then, she had to have her photo ID taken again (they don't save anything) and sat down on the lovely wood-slatted benches to wait again for the call to the cashier's booth.  FINALLY, she got the call . . . . . .  . . after waiting from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

 

 

AND, the wait was worth it!!!!!

There's a happy Carol who can now drive legally.  No more being a student driver!!!!

 

THE DRIVERS LICENSE SAGA HAS ENDED!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

September 9, 2012

 

We drove 160 kilometers south of Naga to a city called Sorsogon, which is right next to the ocean.  Our purpose for this trip was to bring supplies, including a bed, mattresses, and other miscellaneous items to Sisters and Elders in the area.  One of the apartments needed an air conditioner installed. Jerry, being the handy man that he is, handled this task.  This air conditioner is the only one in all of the Naga Mission.  Needless to say, it will be the envy of every other missionary.  The apartment it was put in has no cross ventilation, and with the humidity and temperatures in the 80+ degrees, it was necessary.   The area is spectacular with all sorts of beautiful trees, bushes and flowering plants.  We stayed the night at a hotel called The Santa Clara Park Hotel.  Below is a picture of Jerry standing on the steps in front of the room we stayed in. 

 

 

 

This is Carol standing close to an old structure which is in the hotel compound. Even though it is very old, it is well maintained. All areas of the compound have security guards watching over the vehicles of the guests and safeguarding the surrounding areas.

 

 

This is another view of the Hotel, but the room that we stayed in was a 2 apartment bungalow and was not connected to this part of the hotel

 

 

This is part of the area as seen from our apartment. This is a cute little gazebo, and those trees you see to the left of it are bamboo trees. All the grounds are meticulously maintained. They don't use lawnmowers to keep the grassy areas trimmed. They use weed whackers and are continually trimming. Everything grows so fast that it is just one continual cycle. They take great pride in the beauty and cleanliness of their structures and grounds.

 

 

If you look close, you will see a branch connected to a board that is sticking out of the back of a dump truck. Instead of fastening a red flag to it to alert motorists, they just put this branch there. This is VERY typical. We have seen this kind of warning notice more than once. Sometimes, they even attach a plastic grocery bag to the end of the pole. It seems that anything works.

 

Today, Jerry was sustained as the Elders Quorum President of the Pamplona Branch.  Now, I guess he has to be called, "Elder President Campbell".  HeHe

 

Carol is still trying to get her Philippines drivers license.  On Thursday, September 6th, we once again went to the transportation department for her to take the written test.  After waiting for two hours and having her picture taken twice (she closed her eyes on the first one), she was informed that she could not take the test that day because it had not been a month and a day since she took it last time.  They don't count the day that she took the test, so Friday, September 7th would be the day she could take it again.  Well, as it would happen, they would be closed Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  This meant she would have to come back on Monday the 10th.  She was kind of upset, to say the least.  Well, Willie, the security guard for the Mission President said that we could drive to Iriga City, (which is 36 kilometers away) and apply for the license there.   He said they would for sure issue her a license without having to take the written test.  We drove for 45 minutes to Iriga City only to be told that she needed a copy of her Visa and if we'd bring it in, they'd process her paperwork and give her her license.  So, we drove back to Naga, got a copy of of her Visa and drove back to Iriga City.  She took the paperwork in and sat for a little while, expecting to be called in to have her picture taken for the license.  Well, she was called into the office and was told that her Utah drivers license was valid for her to drive in the Philippines for 90 days.  Her 90 days had not expired yet, so she was told to come back on the 20th of September.  We're wondering what they're going to come up with this next time to delay her getting it.  Just by way of information, out of ALL of the Senior Couples and Elders who work in the office who are from Utah and have Utah drivers licenses, she is the only one who has been required to spend a month as a student driver and has to take the written test.  There must be some kind of logic here, but we can't see it yet.  Perhaps it is to help her develop patience. 

And the Drivers License Saga continues.

 

 



August 18, 2012

The past few weeks have been full of surprises and more adventures into the unknown. 

Thursday, the 9th of August, we had 13 new missionaries come to the Naga Mission.  Two of them are from the States, the other eleven are from India, Scri Lanka, the Philippines.  Jerry and an AP (Assistant to the President) took six of them to some areas in the southern parts.  He left at about 2:45 and didn't get home until around 8:30 p.m. 

Early in the week, we received a call from our Mission President, President Bliesner, telling us that we needed to drive to a town called Guinobatan to pick up one of our Sister missionaries.  As we were backing our van out of the parking area, the engine died and we could not get it started. We borrowed the pickup, a Ford Trekker, of the office Elders so that we could get on our way.  We were to take her to the Legazpi Airport, which is 94 km away (about 63 miles).  In the States, it would be an "easy" short hour drive.  Well, it took us 2 long hours to get to Guinobatan and then another 30 minutes to go less than 16 km to the airport.  Keep in mind, we had been to the Sister's apartment in Guinobatan, but had never been anywhere near the airport.  After stopping and asking questions along the way, we finally made it there with about 20 minutes to spare, once she got her bags checked in.  This is a Sister from Sri Lanka who was having a very difficult time adjusting to the culture, temperature and food.  We flew her to the Mission counseling center in Manila.  A little stressful to say the least.

On the way to the airport, this was part of the traffic - a Caribou pulling a cart.

 And, as part of the slow moving traffic, we came upon this Filipino with his pointy hat:

 There is only ONE traffic light in all of the Philippines Naga Mission, and here it is. You can see how much they REALLY need the traffic light. This congestion is so typical, but all drivers are courteous and you hardly ever see an accident.

Every six weeks we have transfers.  Prior to transfers, all of the 72  apartments are inspected by the Zone Leaders.  They score them mostly on cleanliness.   On a scale of 1-60, and the scores from the apartments in each Zone are added together.  The Zone with the highest score gets to decide on a Zone Activity.   On the 30th of July (the date on the camera is off by a day), the Activity was a trip to a black sand beach.  It was a lot of fun.  The Elders and Sisters played football/Frisbee with a volleyball.  There were a lot of other activities, and treats.  One treat was some oatmeal/banana/raisin cookies that Carol made.  Had not ever thought of putting bananas in them before, but they were a real hit.  Below are some pictures of the area where the activity was held.

This is the group of Elders and Sisters at the entrance of the Beach area.

To get to the beach, you have to walk over a bamboo bridge that's over a small stream of water.

This is the home of the person who owns the beach resort.  Very nice!



These are the huts that are rented by tourists.  Notice the green containers in the front of each hut.  They are the national garbage receptacle that is found all over the Philippines.

The Elders and Sisters playing football/Frisbee with a volleyball.  Hard to imagine what they're doing, but it is really fun to watch.  They are trying to score goals on each end by passing the soccer ball.

These are the winners!!!!!

And here we are at the END!

It was a really fun day.  It rained off and on, and was pretty windy, but it still felt good to be out on the beach with all those Elders and Sisters.

Until next time.

Elder & Sister Campbell