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