Sunday, February 10, 2013

We were asked to join the Mission President and his wife on a trip to one of the two islands in our mission - Catanduanes.   We left Naga at about 4 a.m. on January 31st to drive for  two hours to the boat harbor, in Tabaco, where we boarded an ocean ferry. The trip from there to the island aboard an ocean ferry took about three and a half hours.  While there, we did apartment inspections and drove to San Vicente where we are opening a new area for our missionaries. We also had a District Conference which was well attended and presided over by an Area Seventy authority, Elder Pajaro. It is good to see the dedication of the Filipino people.  Attending were also several less-active members and some investigators who traveled long distances.  Following the morning session of conference, we were fed a delicious meal of fried chicken, fresh caught baked fish, chop suey and carrot cake for dessert.  The Filipinos have a wonderful way of preparing and serving their delicacies. 

 

While on the island, we were so impressed with its beauty, and especially their industry of producing a hemp-type rope from the fibers of the Abacca trees, which are VERY plentiful.

 

We thought we'd give you a glimpse at some of the things we saw and experienced while there.  We begin by boarding an ocean ferry. 

 

The ferry on the left is the one we rode on.  The trip was over calm ocean waters, so the listing back and forth was pretty minimal.

 



 

These are the stairs we had to climb to board the ferry.

 

This is the inside of the lower space of the ferry where they park all of the vehicles going to the island.  By the time all of the cars and trucks are parked, it's barely possible to get the car door open far enough to get out.  They utilize EVERY bit of space they have.

 

 

If you look close, you can see us sitting in the 5th row back.  The seats are very comfortable, but not a lot of legroom for people with long legs such as Elder Campbell.

 

 

The shoreline of Catantuanes Island as we were waiting to leave the ferry.

 

View from our hotel window.  There are always lots of rice fields, no matter where you look.

 

This is the dining room in the hotel we stayed in.

 

Elder standing next to one of their smaller boats that they use for fishing.

 

We sat at an outdoor restaurant called 'Sea Breeze', which was, as you can see, right on the shore of the island.  They had no inside dining, which was just fine, because it was wonderful to hear the waves crashing against the shoreline and feel the breeze.

 

This is a photo from our table where we ate, showing a pier you can walk out on.

 

In the center is Elder Pajaro, an Area Seventy, and to his left are President and Sister Bliesner.

 

 

When Jerry and the President drove to San Vicente to check out a potential new apartment for elders, they were served shrimp, rice and fish.  This is a typical meal for the Filipinos in this area, especially.

 

The tree in the center of this photo resembles a banana tree, but it is an Abacca tree, which bares no fruit.  They use the fibers from this tree to produce Abacca, which is used to make a hemp-type rope.

 

 

The light colored material you can see lying here, is Abacca, which has been stripped from the trees.

 

 

Abacca being prepared for drying.

 

Along the roadways, here in Catanduanes, we see a LOT of Abacca hanging over bamboo poles to dry.

This is a typical shed kind of "building", where they do a lot of the stripping of the Abacca.

 

This is a snall village we passed as we were driving along the coast.  In the foreground, you can see what they use for getting water to their village.  Also, note the Abacca hanging and drying.

 

We ate a 'dessert' called Halo Halo, which consists of beans, corn, pieces of pineapple, crushed ice/icecream.  It was kind of good, but definitely not what we consider a dessert.

 

After being on the island from January 31st to February 4th, we are ready to board another ocean ferry to head back to the port in Tabaco and then drive for a couple of hours back to Naga and  Home, Sweet, Home!!! 

 

View of the Tabaco shoreline close to where we left the ferry and headed for Naga.

 

Another picture of the shoreline in Tabaco.

 

Picture taken on Ferry, just prior to docking.  If you can't tell it, we were happy to arrive safe and sound.

Happy to be headed back to Naga and our apartment.

 

We are getting to know more and more of our missionaries, and soon our compliment of missionaries will be over 200.  We are anticipating many wonderful experiences and are enjoying being able to be of service to the Filipino people and our Elders and Sisters who dedicate their time to the service of the Lord.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

TRANSFER DAY

 



It's been nearly a month since we last posted on the blog. It seems like just last week. Time flies when you're having fun. Fun may not be the right description of what we're doing, but it is definitely a blessing to us to be serving the Lord. The time is flying by so quickly -- it's hard to believe we are in a new year and almost through the first month. This week is going to be a very busy week, in that it is transfer week, saying goodbye to missionaries who have completed their commitment, and new arrival week. Today, we drove from Naga with 6 Elders in the van to Ligao, where we left 2 of the Elders and picked up 3 others.  We continued driving on to Daraga where we left all of those Elders and picked up 4 Elders and 2 Sisters - then back to Ligao to drop off one of the Sisters and picked up 2 Elders.  We left Naga at 8:30 this morning and arrived back here at 2:15 p.m.  Tomorrow, we'll be taking some Elders and Sisters to the airport to bid them farewell.  Then, Thursday morning (very early), we'll drive back to the airport to pick up 15 NEW missionaries.  After their orientation and a luncheon at the mission home, we'll load six of them into our van and drive them to wherever their areas are and then back home again.  We generally don't get home until around 9 or 10 at night.  It's a very long day, but so worthwhile. 

Below is a photo taken following a luncheon at the Mission Home. 

President & Sister Bliesner to the right & Elder & Sister Campbell 



From Left:  Elder Salas, Elder Dautin - AP's to President Bliesner, Elder Williams - Financial Secretary, Elder Manalo - Secretary to President Bliesner

 

This is our Pamplona Branch Church House

 

 

If you recall the flooded road we traveled, with the water rushing over the highway, this is a picture of the same area just a short time later.  Notice the rice fields off to the right.  There is about a 6 foot drop-off on both sides of the highway, so had we continued to "float" with the current, we could have been in big trouble.  Just thought you'd like to compare with the pictures we sent last blog.

 

 

Oh, my goodness, we never tire of seeing the Mayon Volcano with the steam coming out of the top.  We love driving past it.

 

 

This is a picture of Carol, Sister Bliesner - President's wife, Sister Miskin & Sister Lawhorn - the other two Senior Sisters who are with their husbands in our mission.  We visited a wildlife park 11 days ago, which has a Bengal Tiger, Wort Hogs, ordinary white chickens (go figure - can't imagine why they would have them in a wildlife park), monkeys, goats, ostriches, crocodiles, lots of exotic birds, and several other animals and snakes.  It was a fun get-away kind of a day where it was just peaceful and most enjoyable.

 

 

Right here in the city of Naga, this railroad crossing sign stands saying we should stop, look and listen.  Well, if you do all of that, other drivers get a little anxious or annoyed and zoom past you.  So, we don't stop, look or listen.  As you can see, the tracks don't look very well used, but believe me, we can swear to the fact that there is a train that goes on it EVERY morning, VERY, VERY early with it's horn honking loud and clear.  There are people who actually live near the tracks, as you can see in the background.  We met one of the sisters who lives that close; we asked her how she could stand that loud noise every day, and she said that she doesn't hear it much anymore.  Don't know if she's going deaf or what, but we could NOT live that close, though we do live across the highway from it.  The sound of the horn seems to be coming right through our bedroom in the mornings.  Good thing we get up early anyway, or we would probably be pretty upset!

 

 

Same street, only coming from the other direction.  The house to the right is the same one as in the other photo.  Well, they actually have a "modern" RR Xing sign that they have recently put up, and an arm that extends over the road to keep cars from being hit by the speeding train.  How up-scale can you get!!!!

 

 

Now, we waited and waited for someone to be interested in renting the apartment in our last blog, but alas, it did not happen.  Well, we were driving around one day and saw this sign advertising an Open House.  This one, as you can see, has a roof and is closed in.  Don't see any windows, but that may be good, so that the flying insects don't get in to bother the tenants.  Hmmmm, would you be interested in this one?

 

This little hut is actually larger than most of the "homes" of the members we home teach in our Pamplona Branch.  The two families we taught two weeks ago each have 8 children who range in age from 15 to infants.  It's a sad, sad thing to witness how poor these people really are, but it is also enlightening to see how happy and content they can be.  They were most gracious and welcoming to us.  Jerry left them a message, and they listened intently, though we're not sure they actually understood all that he said, but Jerry's companion interpreted what was being said, and he relayed to us what they were saying, so all seemed to be going well.

 

Keep all of the missionaries throughout the world in your prayers.  They need them!

 

Much love to you all,

Elder and Sister Campbell

 

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.