Well, here we are in Baguio! It was certainly a long, long, long trip. In some ways it all ready seems like we've been here for a long time. Maybe that's because we are still here with the Jensen's in the mission home. Let me explain. We arrived in Manilla on Monday morning (I think) maybe around noon. The person who was to meet us was not there!! Oh, no!! Never mind, we hooked up with a service that the area office uses and the took us in two cars separately to the Holiday Inn. We met up there and gathered our many bags and checked in. It was a really nice room with a king bed and separate sitting room. Too bad we were to tired to enjoy it. We contacted the Jensen's and they told us to try to stay awake till at least 6:00pm local time. We wandered through the mall next door and then went to TGIFriday's for dinner. That's right, an American TGIFriday's. I ate a salad and Dad picked a Filpino dish from the menu. We sat and watched as people streamed into the mall. Vancouver Mall would be jealous of all the people.
After dinner we tried to find the Dairy Queen but failed. We did spot a Cinnibon however. By then we were just about asleep on our feet. We went to our room and bed. ZZZZZZZZZZZZ…Boy it felt good. We didn't start to wake up till around 4:30 or 5:00 am.
Let me tell you about our flight over. In Los Angeles we had to get all our bags and haul them to the International terminal. We got help from a sky cap. He worked really hard and we just tried to keep up with him. We decided to upgrade our tickets to business class and you don't even want to know how expensive that was. The seats were amazing. But first let me tell you about the young man in the airport. After upgrading and checking in we headed for our gate. We didn't quite understand the directions from the clerk, who was Asian. We took the escalator upstairs and started walking along. This young man came up to us and ask if he could help us. He said he had recently return from a mission. Well, we were going is the total wrong direction. He worked at the airport and took us to security and made sure we were in the right line and everything. (Truly an angel for us) The business class seats were the biggest and most comfortable I've ever seen on a plane. They leaned back and the leg rest came up till it was almost like a bed.(but not quite) We managed to get about 6 hours of sleep and watched our own little screens for some movies. We watched the new Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp. I was surprised that it was quite good. It wasn't' the Disney story at all. Quite enjoyable. We were served delicious food on glass plates with real silverware. It was weird to listen to all the announcements in Chinese first and then English.
Our Gate in Taipei (yep- Hello Kitty)
Our Gate in Taipei (yep- Hello Kitty)
Airport in Manilla
This is the view from our hotel room. Check out the surrounding neighborhood!
The next morning the area office picked up Dad for his drivers license I stayed in the hotel. Then for the ride to Baguio, Our driver was Benji. The driving here is crazy to say the least. In Manilla traffic it literally bumper to bumper. I there is a space someone will fill it. I've never seen so many cars. The freeway lasted about three hours of our trip. After that is was a two lane road and it only got more and more bizarre. Along with the busses and jeepney's and tricycles and motor bikes, and people in every town along the way.
Jeepney
The tricycles are like a motorcycle with a side car, but they have covers on them. There are no real rules of the road. Passing buses, trikes, and the like is expected. No one is surprised to be passing on either side. Horn honking is common to let others know where you are. Crazy,crazy, crazy!!! The scenery was beautiful. Palm trees, rice fields, complete with water buffalo's (they call them carabous). There are road side stands everywhere. Watermelons, coconuts, fruit, etc, but it seems that each area just does one thing. There will be stand after stand of watermelons it one town and nothing else. Then in the next town it's all coconuts, and then mangos, and then something else. How would you know who to buy from!!
Our Batch
The next morning the area office picked up Dad for his drivers license I stayed in the hotel. Then for the ride to Baguio, Our driver was Benji. The driving here is crazy to say the least. In Manilla traffic it literally bumper to bumper. I there is a space someone will fill it. I've never seen so many cars. The freeway lasted about three hours of our trip. After that is was a two lane road and it only got more and more bizarre. Along with the busses and jeepney's and tricycles and motor bikes, and people in every town along the way.
Jeepney
The tricycles are like a motorcycle with a side car, but they have covers on them. There are no real rules of the road. Passing buses, trikes, and the like is expected. No one is surprised to be passing on either side. Horn honking is common to let others know where you are. Crazy,crazy, crazy!!! The scenery was beautiful. Palm trees, rice fields, complete with water buffalo's (they call them carabous). There are road side stands everywhere. Watermelons, coconuts, fruit, etc, but it seems that each area just does one thing. There will be stand after stand of watermelons it one town and nothing else. Then in the next town it's all coconuts, and then mangos, and then something else. How would you know who to buy from!!
Our Batch
We arrived at the Mission Home on Tuesday. It was great to see Pres. and Sis. Jensen. We gave Kathleen the See's chocolates. She was very happy!!! Tuesday evening there was a testimony meeting with the Sisters and Elders who were leaving to go home. What a powerful group of future church leaders. They were amazing. On Wednesday our batch of Missionaries was due to come up from Manilla, but because of a typhoon that came through, they were delayed until Thursday. When they arrived there was and orientation meeting for them. Three were our missionaries from the MTC and seven were locals from the Manilla MTC. After orientation was another testimony meeting. These kids are something else. Some of these young men are the only members in their families and are here with no support from home and parents that are mad at them for coming on a mission. They are so humble and willing to do the Lord's work. It really makes us thankful for all the love and support that we have.
On Friday we headed down to the lowlands for transfers. What an experience ! All the missionaries that were to be transferred came to the church in jeepneys. When we arrived the parking lot was filled with them. One from each district or zone. After the Pres. had his interviews with those that were receiving new assignments, the meeting started. The AP's here are wonderful. They conducted the entire meeting and are really great leaders. Elder Duncan is from New Zealand and Elder Santos(???) is a local. They really have things under control. After the meeting and transfers everyone found the appropriate Jeepney and hopped aboard, along with desks, fans, and whatever else the office sent down for the missionaries. Only two elders in the mission are allowed to drive, Elder Duncan and Elder Haberle from the office. Other than those two only the senior couples , the Alred's in the low lands, the Thompson's in Baguio, the Jensen's, and us have cars. The AP's drive the van and the office elders have a truck (when it gets back from the shop). All the roads are either up or down. There is no flat land in Baguio. On the other hand there are no hills in the low lands. It takes about an hour to get from Baguio to the bottom. Then about another hour to get to wherever you are going. Again there is no hurrying in the Philippines. Interestingly, there is no road rage either. People just go along slowly merging and winding their way as they travel along. Quite different than the US.
Fancy Trike
Fancy Trike
Some time between the MTC and Manilla I came down with a hacking cough, which as only gotten worse as the week has gone by. I seem to be a little better this evening, but that may be because I have spent the day in bed. We stayed in the Mission Home for the first week while we were trying to get our apartment together. They have the SM Mall here in town. It is most likely the biggest building in the city. The roof over the central area is like a tent, open to the outside. When it rains the workers come out with brooms to sweep the water away. Everything is done slowly here. The stores have about a million clerks, one to show you where things are, one to get it off the shelf, one to open it and make sure it is all there, one to box it back up, one to ring it up, one to take your money, one to package it up, and some to carry it to the car if you need help. Maybe I exaggerated a little, but not much!! Things here are really cheap. We got a Microwave, a toaster oven, a mixer and a toaster for about $150.00. It really has taken quite a while and many trips to get everything that we needed. We are pretty well settled now. If only we could get our internet signal to be stronger. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. We have tried to hook up the Vonage but have been unsuccessful so far.
We have had some training at the office, but we are standing back right now so the office elders can be trained in their new duties. They will mostly be doing the things the Thompson's have been responsible for and we will step in as the Mission Secretary and Financial Secretary. We are postponing our training till 2:00 in the afternoon so the Thompson's can train them in the morning.
This morning we had breakfast at the mission home with the zone leaders. They are here for a training meeting. They met last night and this morning. After lunch they will go back to their area's. Next week appears to be a slow week in the office. Maybe we can really get some good training in. The week after that Elder Ko from the Area Seventies is coming for a visit. We will be interviewed be him and also have our first district conference.
