Ouch!!!!!

Well, I guess I better chronicle the events of the last few weeks.  It all started on October 9, 2010 when we woke up to water coming from the vent in the bathroom.  Then we went into the kitchen and found water dripping from the cabinets and behind the tiles on the walls.  Tom went to let the management know.  We learned that the tenant on the 3rd floor had left his water running and the unoccupied apartment above us was flooded and we were now being flooded.  Let's just call the tenant upstairs "the crazy man".  Previous to this he has been hanging out his window shouting at anyone or thing that happens to be owing by.  Not just shouting, but swearing and turning the air blue.  Anyway,  we got ready and went over to the office to work.  We had pulled things out of the wet cabinets and set them where the would be safe.  We got to work and were having a productive day.  It was just the two of us since the Elder's were all at General Conference and the church.  We had all ready watched it on the computer.  Then the crazy man started again.  Head out, shouting obscenities.  Since I had never actually seen him I went to the porch to take a look, and there he was, oblivious to anything, just shouting away, so I went back to my desk and started to work.  After a few minutes I noticed something happening outside and went to look.  A SWAT wagon had pulled up to the apartments, so I ran inside and got my camera to take a picture.  I went inside to let Dad know of the developments.  Quite a sight!!  We watched for a minute and then went back inside.  President texted us to say that the PADDY wagon was further up the street and they were getting the crazy man there.  I decided that if I went out on the terrace that I could see what was going on.  There are four or five steps of the porch that leads to a small terrace with a view.  Anyway down I went, one,  two, three, four, AHHHHHHHHHH!! SMASH!!!!! (the bottom step was about twice what all the other steps were).  There I lay on the bright red, cold, hard cement.  The minute I hit I knew that something was broken.  I let out a scream and started to evaluate the situation.  My left foot was no longer pointing in the right direction.(Obviously broken).  The right ankle was beginning to swell.  GREAT,  couldn't just be one leg.  The other one had to get in on the act too.  Now was the problem---I'm at the bottom on the stairs with no working legs and did I mention the pain.  Oh yes, there was much pain.  Tom came to rescue me but how to do it????  He quickly texted Pres. Jensen and the Pres. and Sis. Jensen (Kathleen) brought their van and came to help.  (Darn crazy man, now look what you have done!)  I managed to sit up and scotch up the steps backwards.  It turned out that my right foot could stand some weight bearing so that helped.  Then--how to get to the van and into it. After some tricky maneuvers we made it.  

  Off to the hospital.  In Baguio there is really only one hospital that you should go to.  It is a private hospital called St. Marks.  We fought several traffic jams and finally arrived.  They took me in very quickly, which was quite different that American hospitals.  It just happened that as we rolled in an Orthopedic surgeon was just getting ready to leave after performing a surgery.  He stopped and took a quick look and sent me to X-ray.  He actually came up to the X-ray department.  Amazing!  He was ready right now to take me off to surgery.  But first let me tell about my trip to X-ray.  We were in a new wing of the hospital, and I stress NEW.  THERE WERE NO ELEVATORS!!!!!!  Now what??? Well ramps, of course.  It reminded me of South High withe the ramps we went up and down between classes, only longer.  Let me just say it was not the smoothest ride ever, what with trying to keep my legs from moving and causing more pain.  Then get the X-rays (more pain),  then back down the ramps.  In the meantime Pres. Jensen and Tom were conferring about the next course of action.  His advice was to go to St. Luke's in Manila, a world class hospital. The Dr. Put my legs into removable casts with ace bandages o I could travel and said--'See you on Facebook'.   So back into the van, but with pain meds this time.  YEAH!!  So I sat in the van while Tom and the Jensen's were madly packing for an impromptu trip to Manila.  the first thing I told him to pack was my Temple Recommend.  If I was going all the way to Manila I was definitely going to go to the temple.  They decided it would be better if we took the bigger van so it would be more comfortable. So we maneuvered me into the van.  Pres. had a large cooler in the middle that was perfect for resting my legs.  Sis. Jensen put all kinds of pillows all around me.  I think every cushion in the mission home was there.  

Off we went on our six plus hour trip.  I was really quite comfortable on the ride down.  We had a really nice time visiting.  We were going to take a short cut to the hospital that would be a more efficient route for us.  Wouldn't  you know it--we got lost.  I really didn't care with the pain meds and all, but I'm sure Pres. Jensen wasn't too happy about it.  We spent some time figuring out where we were and trying to get where we needed to be.  We did see parts of Quezon City  that we certainly hadn't expected.  There was a huge wet market that we saw with anything you could imagine to eat.  It was midnight and you would never know it  The streets were lit up and there were people everywhere.  We were texting Elder Jones from the MRC trying to get on the right roads.  After many texts and wrong turn, success at last!!  WE MADE IT!  Now to get out of the van and onto a gurney.  Successful transition.  Thanks to Elder Jones, they were waiting for me and wondering why I was so late.  Not the kind of treatment in a US hospital where you wait and wait and wait.  They wisked me off before I could even thank the Jensen's.  Then it was the usual questions, pokes, needles, etc.  They admitted me and got me to a room.  By this time both legs/feet were pretty swollen.  The Dr. wanted to get the swelling down before they would operate.  This was early Sunday morning and they scheduled the surgery for Tuesday.  Yikes--two days more.  I can't say enough nice thing about the nursing staff at St. Luke's.  They were all so nice and compassionate and friendly.  They really brightened my stay.  There was Era-happy and energetic, Migz, Ron Anthony Go (from Baguio), Gerli, Angel, Alex, Marc (Charge Nurse), April-funny and fun-- (from Baguio, engaged--she asked us what was the secret of a happy long marriage--we said the church), A.J., Mica, Philip, Treb (filling in from ICU) and TinTin from Iloilo.  Then there was the nurses aid, Chris--her real name is an old fashioned Filipino name, Chrisere pronounced Shuree".  She was a delight, had been at St. Luke's for 20 years.  She did all the dirty stuff like sponge baths, changing the bed's, shampooing hair etc.  I felt really well cared for.  

Funerals in the Philippines

Here is a picture of a funeral that we passed on the way to transfers.  Here they have the body embalmed and it goes home for the wake???  Family and friends gather, kill and roast many pigs, sing and generally make a great deal of noise for up to a week.  When everyone is satisfied they head for the burial.  They all line up behind the hearse  and follow it down the street with their umbrella's to shade them from the sun.  It's quite a site.

DID I SAY RAIN ??? 

Well, here we are in Baguio! DID I SAY RAIN !!! Oh yeah, we definately have rain.

RAIN...RAIN...RAIN...and it just keeps coming down...down...down!!!

It is usually bright and sunny in the morning...then around noon the clouds start forming and by about 2:00 or 3:00 it is raining like this. This is a picture just outside the office on the deck.  Lovely chairs and all but they are 

usually wet.  Don’t get me wrong,  we really are enjoying the time we have here, but really, it RAINS!

Let me tell you about our shopping adventures.  There is only one Mall in Baguio.  It contains stores similar to the 

U.S.  but not so many.  They have several clothes shops---all for about size 0 because that is how small most of the Filipino women are.  (jealous--of course!)  Then their is the ACE Hardware store.  Just like in Vancouver it has all kinds of things.  Then there is SM  THE STORE!  It is similar to Penny’s or Macy’s.  Clothes, shoes, kitchen products, candy, purses, bedding, etc.

Then there is SM Food.  That is were we shop for groceries. (that ane road side fruits and veggies)  There is only one other food store that I am aware of, Holiday Market where they have more foreign (that’s U.S.) foods, but you have to be carefull to check the expiration dates on things.  

That and movie theaters on the top floor of the mall along with electronics (they have an Apple Store) about compleats the mall. Now I’m used to an indoor mall or 

something like Jantzen Beach Mall.  Well here is a picture of SM Mall.....what do you think???  It’s mostly indoor, except the center area is just covered with the white tent-like thing.  When it rains people suddenly appear with giant squeegies and mops to keep the water out.  If the wind starts blowing it just adds to the fun.

  Here is the SM Mall

One more interesting thing about Baguio is the number of taxi’s.  There are literally hundreds anlong with Jeepney’s and cars.  Most people take taxi’s and jeepney’s to get around.  So at the mall there are always lines of people waiting for the next taxi.  They just keep lining up and taking on passengers with shopping bags, groceries, and what not. (I’m glad we have a car)

Here is a shot of some of the traffic here.  This is light traffic!!

There are about 300,000 people in Baguio.

Here are some views from the top of the SM Mall:  

  Baguio is also known as the “City in the Clouds”

Here is the Pink Cathedral

In the distance you can see the red roofs of the Mission Home and Office.  Our apartment is behind the concrete partially contructed building.  The other building in the back is a hotel.

Well, thats about it for now. I finally figured the picture stuff out. Yea!!!

                         

We Have Arrived!!!

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)

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

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

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. 

Well, here we are at our last full day at the MTC. It seemed strange not to go to classes all day. I actually slept in till about 7:30 or so. Tom brought me some breakfast to eat in bed.....delicious. We spent the morning trying to come to terms with packing everything up again.

At noon we met Alan's parents, Doug & Irene to go to lunch. Alan's grandmother was with them. They took us to Olive Garden. It was great. What fun to visit with them. Then they dropped us off at Steve & Peggy Foster's house so we could visit with them for a little while. They weren't expecting us because we could never find their phone number to get a hold of them. We crashed their getting ready for their daughter's wedding in their back yard tomorrow. It was a fun visit and we caught up on each other's life.

Then Doug & Irene picked us up and took us to See's Candy to get some chocolates for Kathleen. Their son, Tommy had mentioned how much she loves See's Chocolates. I hope we go the kind she likes. If not I'll just have to eat them for her (ha ha). We really enjoyed the time with Doug & Irene. They are such wonderful people!

Tomorrow is D Day (departure day) and there is much packing to do. We are going to make sure our bags are within the weight limits. Wish us luck. We are anxious to get on our way to the beautiful Philippines. The avocado's are in season..yum. See you all on the other side of the date line!

Most of Our MTC District

I think I am beginning to figure out this blogging stuff. We have had a wonderful time here at the MTC. They treat the seniors like gold with reserved seats and devotionals and extra time to get places and lots of little breaks during the day.

This past weekend was great! Friday evening Lynda & Dave picked us up and took us to the Brick Oven for a snack and then we took them to the Creamery for some Ice Cream Yum!!! We had a great visit. On Saturday after we rested a little and did our laundry Tiffini & Tim took us to Cracker Barrel for dinner and then we stopped at the park on Center St. and let the kids play while we sat and talked. It was neat to see them again and see Darcy without her braces on. She only wears them at night now. It truly is a wonderful time to be alive with all the advances in medicine, communications and other things. After they dropped us off we had a fireside all about the apostasy and the restoration. They had music and film depicting the reformers and then Joseph Smith and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. Afterwards we all went outside to watch the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire. Nice end to a nice day.

We have just come back from a devotional with Elder Dellenbach, an emeritus seventy. He has really been busy in his church life all over the world. He talked about the miracle of the translation of the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith did in 72 days what a group of professional translators today with computers and all would take four or five years. It truly is a miracle!!!

Our days are busy this week learning the new system for computers in the mission office, IMOS (Internet Mission Office System). It's a good thing that we can take lots of teaching helps on our flash drive. We feel the spirit every day and are loving it. This morning I gave the devotional thought in our opening session. I went to the back cover page of Preach My Gospel. The second box says:

-Pray often for yourself & for others

-Rely on the Spirit to show you where to go, what to do, and what to say

-Be exactly obedient

-Study the languages of your mission each day

I likened it to our learning of the computer programs that we would pray for help from the spirit to show us where to go on the computer and what to do and to study the language of computers every day.

We have a lot of fun with the other senior missionaries both in class and during our meals and breaks.