The Jubilee was wonderful! Saturday night we went to the Arneta Center and watch the program. The kids danced their hearts out and did a marvelous job. The had a choir of 800 adults to sing and a choir of primary age kids to sing. Those little primary kids were so cute, just like in America. The camerman showed one little boy about 4 yrs old, with glasses hanging down on his nose, singing his heart out. One little girl was singing until she saw the camera on her and then she turned her head and cried, and of course there are always those who keep waving their hands hoping they get on camera. There will be a DVD coming out in a month or so, I will get a copy to take home.
The next day, Sunday, we went back to the Arneta Center for an area conference. I really felt like I had been spiritually fed for two days in a row.
On Friday Sister Clark, Ralphie Perez and I flew to Legaspi to do five mappings. It was raining when we arrived but one of the brethern of that area picked us up at the airport and took us to our hotel. Sister Clark did a mapping at 5:00 pm, we spent the night and then the brother took us to Ligao which is about 1 hour away for 2 mappings at 9:00 am.
Ligao was the first area Scott served in while here on his mission. We did not get to visit Ligao while he was here, because it is to far away, so Maricel who was Scott and his companions interpeter met me at the Ligao stake center at 9:00 am. Maricel's mother and sister still live in Ligao. Ralphie who was sick with sore throat and body aches insisted he was fine and took my mapping responsiblity so I could go with Maricel to see if we could find a family Scott had baptized.
Of course, it was raining in Ligao also, so we traveled by tricycle, we kept fairly dry and after four rides I was getting pretty good and getting in and out of them. We went out to the rode by the chapel and hailed down our first tricycle. Maricel gave him the name of the family we were looking for, he said he was a member of the church and could take us to a family who was related to the one we were looking for.
He dropped us off at the family. Maricel had not seen them for years and the mother of the family and her used to be good friends, so they were so happy to see each other. The house was very small with a family of 7 children, 13 yrs to 1 yr. Anyway her husband was a relative of the family we were looking for, so we got another tricycle and she (can't remember their names) got on their motorcycle and lead the way.
When we reached the location of the family Scott baptized, the father was out by the road doing some repair to the path leading back to their home. He was very receptive after we told him why we were there and took us back to his house where we met his wife, a daughter and grandson. We had been told the family was not active and were anxious to find out why. Maricel visisted with the father and I tried to visit with the mother, she didn't know much english and of course my Talolog isn't good, but we did manage. I gave her a picture of Scott and his family, her face soften as she smiled and stared at the picture. I pointed to Scott and ask her if she remembered him, she looked at me, smiled again and shook her head yes. I was amazed at how self efficent they were. They were sourrounded by their rice fields, had a caribou and cow, 2 adult pigs and 3 piglets, chickens roaming around, a garden with tomatoes, corn, egg plant, swiss chard, and a pineapple plant growing, their own well and their home was neat and tidy. The father went out in the field and brought in the caribou so I could get a clearer picture, I was amazed how he treated the caribou like a family pet and the caribou acted like one, in fact I was really close to it, thank heavens there was a small ditch between us, or I might have panicked, that was a big caribou.
Scott taught and baptized the father, mother and two children in 1982, they were active and involved. They had a policy in their ward that if a member did not show up two Sundays in a row, someone in the ward would go to their home and check on them. Well, the father got sick, even went to the hospital for a few days and no one checked on them, so they went inactive. Maricel talked with him about the church being true inspite of the actions of members, she got their address, so if Scott can write to them hopefully they can rekindle those feelings that prompted them to be baptized and return to the gospel.
They did not have shoes on but followed us clear out to the highway to tell us goodbye, I just had to hug both of them and they let me.
We caught another tricycle while Maricel's friend went back to her family, we went to try and find the apartment where Scott lived. Maricel had not been back there for many years and she said everything looked so much different, not as many rice fields, more houses and the roads were paved, I couldn't believe it she actually found the complex where the apartment was still standing. The man who owned it was just driving in and getting out of his car when we got out of the tricycle. Maricel explained to him why we were they and he told us to go ahead and look around and even go inside if we wanted too. As we walked around and stood on the veranda, Maricel said a flood of memories kept coming to her. The owners wife came over and said her daughter and her family live in the house and we visiting in Manila, she didn't seem to want us to go inside so we just looked in the windows and took lots of pictures. It was a humbling time for me to know Scott had lived here, walked the streets, attended church, baptized and made an important difference to some of the people in this town or province as they are called here. It was so wonderful of Maricel to leave her little family in Manila, ride the bus for ten hours and take the time from her family to show me around and introduce me to people who knew Scott. The filipino people are so kind, helpful and caring, never seeing anything as a sacrifice.
We had to be back in Legaspi for two mappings at 2:00 pm. It had really began to rain and the wind was blowing pretty hard. While we were at the church we were told it was a typoon named "Bebeng". I though typhoons come in off the coast, rained hard, wind blew and destroyed things and it was over, but I found that typoons can go on for days, this one lasted 6 days.
The next morning the FM (facility manager) for the church in that area took us out to the airport. We waited, waited and then was told our plane was circling the airport waiting for an opportunity to land, well it never could land and headed back to Manila. The airports in the provinces are so small that there are usually only one or two flights out a day, this one had one flight and it was headed back to Manila.
Ralphie called the FM and he came back to get us, we went straight to the bus depot, of coursea lot of the people at the airport did the same thing. We were fortunate to get on a bus leaving immediately. It was a small bus, completely full and most had their suitcases, etc as we did, so we were fit in pretty tight. I thought if we got hurt or killed it would be because of the luggage. We got on the bus at 9:00 am and got off in Manila at 11:00 pm. What an adventure, it was a Mother's Day that will be remembered forever. Scott said my bus ride through the typhoon topped anything he had done in the Philippines.
Let me tell you about it: The rain was comming down in sheets and the wind was blowing, the bus rocked and rowed all the way. We were only on our way for about 15 minutes when we stopped. There was a tree down in the road, fortunately with the help of a trycycle driver who stopped and guided the bus driver he was able to manuver around the tree and keep going. About half an hour later we were stopped on the road, we saw the fire truck go by, military vehicle and police vehicle, when we were able to move we saw a hugh tree down over the road and the men using hand saws to cut it up. The water was over the road in a lot of places, in fact we came to a bridge and the bus driver stopped, not knowing if the bridge was still there but a car come whipping across from the other side, so the bus driver drove on. We stopped four times to eat and to use the comfort room. Everytime we got out we got very wet, of course, but we got back in and were pretty much dried off by the time we stopped again. The bus rocked so much that I did get car sick, but even managed that without making a scene, the rain and wind sure felt good when I got off the bus that time. Whenever we went through provinces a lot of the people were standing beside the road, I asked Ralphie if they thought we were a parade, he said that when they have typoons the elctricity goes out and their homes are dark so they come outside looking for entertainment and we provided that for them. They all smiled and waved. Filipino people don't let a typhoon stop them from having fun, we saw some guys in water up to their knees and above, in a field, using a knotted up shirt as a ball. They were having a great time. There were a lot of little children getting their mother nature baths. When the typhoon is done, they slavage what they can and redo. Such resilent people and always having a good time.
I thought typhoons were like tornadoes, they blew in and out in a short amount of time, but typhoons can hang around for 4-5 days, raining, wind blowing and flooding.
We had a worthy priesthood holder with us and I felt safe and everyone on the bus was calm, just another day on the bus.
