6 Nov. 2022 Week #6: Where do you buy plywood??
Dear Family and Friends,
It has been another busy week. Too bad so much of it has been spinning our wheels as we are trying to do this work without knowing well enough what we are doing. Oh, we miss the Huskinsons.
It has been nice weather. This is the cool season. When we walk in the mornings around the temple grounds it isn’t too hot yet. We leave our apartment at 5:30 and spend an hour walking. It is about a 5-6 minute walk to the temple complex. When we get inside it is quiet, away from the busy street. It is built on a hill so as we take our walks going around the grounds we get a fair amount of uphill walking. Each uphill is probably about the distance and steepness from the cemetery to the shooting range road and we do that about 10 times. We get it in twice on each lap and take about 5 laps. One time we hit a bunch of stairs which we take two at a time to try and keep some leg strength. The other hill is a road.
On Thursday Clyda needed to go to the dentist and have a tooth pulled. It was one that had had a root canal. It broke off as she was chewing on something hard. The dentist is a lady who is a member. It was a crowded busy drive and then took me several minutes to find someplace to park after I dropped Clyda off. Once inside and in the dentist office we found out we needed an x-ray. Well, we had to walk about a half mile to another building to get the x-ray. We got in quickly and it cost about $14. Incredibly cheap! Then back to the dentist for about an hour wait because we had now lost our turn. Then it was a difficult pull. All in all it took us about 3 hours. With the traffic going and coming it was about a 5 hour ordeal. The cost of the pulled tooth was about $110. She seems to be doing well. She was given an antibiotic to take for a week. We also had to get some Tylenol for pain. That along with an ice bag did the job. Not to mention, she is tough. I walked alone the next couple days. For those who are following our exercise you’ll notice a much slower pace when she isn’t present.
Clyda had put a stew in a crookpot that morning. We didn’t have lunch so we stopped at the mall, which has a store inside the mall that covers 7 levels. On the ground floor it is a huge grocery store. Then the next levels are appliances, clothing, etc. (Clyda was able to find fabric. She is going to help a Sister Missionary learn to sew. On Wednesday evening Clyda was invited to a Sister missionary cooking party at the home of the mission president. That is where she got to know one of the sisters that wants to learn to sew.) On the 7th and last level we found a food court with a lot of tables to sit down and relax in. One was a strawberry place that had everything you can think of with strawberries: cheesecake, pie, waffles, etc. We got a strawberry shake for Clyda and I got some French fries at the next place. By the time we got home, and we knew we were getting late, that is why we got something to eat at the mall, it was too late to have the stew.
The next day, Friday, we went with Elder Butch Colipapa, a senior service missionary, to check up on a boat building project. Just getting to these places takes a long time because of the congested traffic. We went to the ocean to see where two of the four boats have been delivered. No one was home. They were out fishing with the boats. They live in tiny shanties on stilts. It was low tide so it was one big mud hole. About 80 families with about 5-7 per family, living in the space of a football field. This village had been totally destroyed in the typhoon a year ago. Through LDS charities they each received 8 pieces of sheeting, 2-3 feet wide and 8 feet long, to rebuild their shanties after they had scavenged wood for their stilts and floors. It is really sad to see. LDS chairities has provided two boats, canoes size for them to use for fishing. We have two more to complete. They are anxiously waiting for them.
Then we headed to meet the boat builder. After driving about 5 miles, an hour, we parked and started walking through a tangle of huts for about a half mile. Hundreds of people where the only vehicles that can navigate it are motorbikes. It was a trail about 6 feet wide, with people living on both sides. They are just packed in there. We finally met the boat builder. I guess he has a good reputation and does good work. He needs to finish the other two boats, but can’t get a hold of any ¾ in plywood to finish the job. We need to get him some. He has run out of money to live on and can’t purchase the wood. I don’t know all the details and protocal, but we need to get the plywood to him soon so he can finish. Then we can pay him for the job, and the fishermen have two more boats. Hopefully we’ll get him some wood in the next couple of days.
On our way home from that we stopped at Elder Colipapa’s ward. It was evening and they were having a send off for two missionaries that leave this week for their missions. Both are going to other missions here in the Philippines. One Elder and one Sister. Another one leaves in a month for his mission in Hawaii. There were testimonies, games and eats. Once again we got home late and didn’t have the stew.
On Saturday we met Elder Colipapa again at the Temple complex. He drove our truck both days for these adventures. We headed south. We went to a family that has completed their pig project and are doing well with it. They have a pretty good business going. He has now made enough money that he has bought a motorbike and added a cart to it. Now he can easily get his kids to school (they have six kids) and he uses it as another source of income. It is a taxi-tricycle. They have six children. The oldest (17) is now pretty heavily involved and responsible with a couple pigs of his own, so he can earn his money for his mission. The next is a young lady with music talent. She can play an old piano, and a guitar. She enjoys writing music and singing. It took a lot of talking, but we finally got her to sing a song for us. She played her guitar and sang and her older brother played a drum box type of thing to accompany her. It was a mellow sounding drum. She had written the song and it was about tithing. She had a beautiful voice and the song was so touching. You know they can’t be paying much tithing, but you can tell their testimony of it and they are full tithe payers. They are giving what the Lord asks and they are doing it with commitment. I got all teared up, you know me, but I added my testimony to the theirs of tithing and the blessings it brings. We don’t pay tithing with money, we pay it with faith and love for the Lord and his children. What a privilege to go to their place, back in the woods about a quarter of a mile where you only take a motorbike or walk.
Then off to the next branch, Sibonga. We met with the four couples there at a rented building they are using for a meeting house. Wonderful people, and Elder Colipapa is their mentor, (champion) helping them with their pigs. Elder Colipapa use to run a lot of pigs. He knows all about them and has been the main helper in most of these welfare pig projects. Two of the couples have been through the temple, and one of them is going through next month. I’m not sure of the fourth couples situation. They were a pleasure to meet with. They were having a business meeting where Elder Colipapa was teaching. It was a fast and furious Cebuano conversation with Clyda and myself not understanding a word. We could tell it was good though and they were anxious learners. At the end of the meeting they asked us if we had anything to add. We bore our testimonies of the blessings of tithing and the gospel. We then went to each of their homes and visited their gardens and pigs. It was a delight. Three of the couples have children and the fourth is expecting their first child in a few months. He had a Dumaguete YSA t-shirt on. Of course that got me to asking questions. He loved his time there during the year 2016 so he was there I think a year before Olivia was there.
Then off for home in terrible traffic. We got home tired, late, and hungry so we had stew last night at 8:00. It had been a long day.
We have had a full day today. We watched Mylie and the Mt. View Buffs win a state volleyball championship at 6:00 a.m. It was live for us since that was 4:00 p.m. your time. Then we had 1:00 church. Then back to church at 5:00 for a meeting on helping man the “Light the World” machines. We will have them in a mall and we will man them on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s day so the locals can be with their families. That meeting was mostly zoom with Manila. It lasted until 7:30. Then we came home and Clyda cooked a salmon dinner to finish our fast. It has been a wonderful day.
My testimony is strengthened as I continue to get to know more of these wonderful Filipinos. This gospel is true and this work of gathering Israel on both sides of the veil is great. (Just a side note on “guardian angels”. We feel Clyde was guarding over his parents. They had just killed an elk, gutted it out, and were quartering it when here came a grizzily charging at Livi, it was about 10 yards away when Livi shot her gun at it, the grizz turned and ran off. We feel Clyde was more responsible for it leaving than the gun.) Thanks for all you are doing to strengthen people’s testimonies and their commitment to live the gospel. It is wonderful to be involved in this great cause, in all of its capacities. Every player is needed on this team, the winning team. As Elder Uchtdorf would say, “Lift where you stand”.
With love,
Dad and Mom
Grandpa and Grandma
Briant and Clyda
Pictures sent in a text from Mom:
Week #6 10/31-11/6
It has been another busy week. Too bad so much of it has been spinning our wheels as we are trying to do this work without knowing well enough what we are doing. Oh, we miss the Huskinsons.
It has been nice weather. This is the cool season. When we walk in the mornings around the temple grounds it isn’t too hot yet. We leave our apartment at 5:30 and spend an hour walking. It is about a 5-6 minute walk to the temple complex. When we get inside it is quiet, away from the busy street. It is built on a hill so as we take our walks going around the grounds we get a fair amount of uphill walking. Each uphill is probably about the distance and steepness from the cemetery to the shooting range road and we do that about 10 times. We get it in twice on each lap and take about 5 laps. One time we hit a bunch of stairs which we take two at a time to try and keep some leg strength. The other hill is a road.
On Thursday Clyda needed to go to the dentist and have a tooth pulled. It was one that had had a root canal. It broke off as she was chewing on something hard. The dentist is a lady who is a member. It was a crowded busy drive and then took me several minutes to find someplace to park after I dropped Clyda off. Once inside and in the dentist office we found out we needed an x-ray. Well, we had to walk about a half mile to another building to get the x-ray. We got in quickly and it cost about $14. Incredibly cheap! Then back to the dentist for about an hour wait because we had now lost our turn. Then it was a difficult pull. All in all it took us about 3 hours. With the traffic going and coming it was about a 5 hour ordeal. The cost of the pulled tooth was about $110. She seems to be doing well. She was given an antibiotic to take for a week. We also had to get some Tylenol for pain. That along with an ice bag did the job. Not to mention, she is tough. I walked alone the next couple days. For those who are following our exercise you’ll notice a much slower pace when she isn’t present.
Clyda had put a stew in a crookpot that morning. We didn’t have lunch so we stopped at the mall, which has a store inside the mall that covers 7 levels. On the ground floor it is a huge grocery store. Then the next levels are appliances, clothing, etc. (Clyda was able to find fabric. She is going to help a Sister Missionary learn to sew. On Wednesday evening Clyda was invited to a Sister missionary cooking party at the home of the mission president. That is where she got to know one of the sisters that wants to learn to sew.) On the 7th and last level we found a food court with a lot of tables to sit down and relax in. One was a strawberry place that had everything you can think of with strawberries: cheesecake, pie, waffles, etc. We got a strawberry shake for Clyda and I got some French fries at the next place. By the time we got home, and we knew we were getting late, that is why we got something to eat at the mall, it was too late to have the stew.
The next day, Friday, we went with Elder Butch Colipapa, a senior service missionary, to check up on a boat building project. Just getting to these places takes a long time because of the congested traffic. We went to the ocean to see where two of the four boats have been delivered. No one was home. They were out fishing with the boats. They live in tiny shanties on stilts. It was low tide so it was one big mud hole. About 80 families with about 5-7 per family, living in the space of a football field. This village had been totally destroyed in the typhoon a year ago. Through LDS charities they each received 8 pieces of sheeting, 2-3 feet wide and 8 feet long, to rebuild their shanties after they had scavenged wood for their stilts and floors. It is really sad to see. LDS chairities has provided two boats, canoes size for them to use for fishing. We have two more to complete. They are anxiously waiting for them.
Then we headed to meet the boat builder. After driving about 5 miles, an hour, we parked and started walking through a tangle of huts for about a half mile. Hundreds of people where the only vehicles that can navigate it are motorbikes. It was a trail about 6 feet wide, with people living on both sides. They are just packed in there. We finally met the boat builder. I guess he has a good reputation and does good work. He needs to finish the other two boats, but can’t get a hold of any ¾ in plywood to finish the job. We need to get him some. He has run out of money to live on and can’t purchase the wood. I don’t know all the details and protocal, but we need to get the plywood to him soon so he can finish. Then we can pay him for the job, and the fishermen have two more boats. Hopefully we’ll get him some wood in the next couple of days.
On our way home from that we stopped at Elder Colipapa’s ward. It was evening and they were having a send off for two missionaries that leave this week for their missions. Both are going to other missions here in the Philippines. One Elder and one Sister. Another one leaves in a month for his mission in Hawaii. There were testimonies, games and eats. Once again we got home late and didn’t have the stew.
On Saturday we met Elder Colipapa again at the Temple complex. He drove our truck both days for these adventures. We headed south. We went to a family that has completed their pig project and are doing well with it. They have a pretty good business going. He has now made enough money that he has bought a motorbike and added a cart to it. Now he can easily get his kids to school (they have six kids) and he uses it as another source of income. It is a taxi-tricycle. They have six children. The oldest (17) is now pretty heavily involved and responsible with a couple pigs of his own, so he can earn his money for his mission. The next is a young lady with music talent. She can play an old piano, and a guitar. She enjoys writing music and singing. It took a lot of talking, but we finally got her to sing a song for us. She played her guitar and sang and her older brother played a drum box type of thing to accompany her. It was a mellow sounding drum. She had written the song and it was about tithing. She had a beautiful voice and the song was so touching. You know they can’t be paying much tithing, but you can tell their testimony of it and they are full tithe payers. They are giving what the Lord asks and they are doing it with commitment. I got all teared up, you know me, but I added my testimony to the theirs of tithing and the blessings it brings. We don’t pay tithing with money, we pay it with faith and love for the Lord and his children. What a privilege to go to their place, back in the woods about a quarter of a mile where you only take a motorbike or walk.
Then off to the next branch, Sibonga. We met with the four couples there at a rented building they are using for a meeting house. Wonderful people, and Elder Colipapa is their mentor, (champion) helping them with their pigs. Elder Colipapa use to run a lot of pigs. He knows all about them and has been the main helper in most of these welfare pig projects. Two of the couples have been through the temple, and one of them is going through next month. I’m not sure of the fourth couples situation. They were a pleasure to meet with. They were having a business meeting where Elder Colipapa was teaching. It was a fast and furious Cebuano conversation with Clyda and myself not understanding a word. We could tell it was good though and they were anxious learners. At the end of the meeting they asked us if we had anything to add. We bore our testimonies of the blessings of tithing and the gospel. We then went to each of their homes and visited their gardens and pigs. It was a delight. Three of the couples have children and the fourth is expecting their first child in a few months. He had a Dumaguete YSA t-shirt on. Of course that got me to asking questions. He loved his time there during the year 2016 so he was there I think a year before Olivia was there.
Then off for home in terrible traffic. We got home tired, late, and hungry so we had stew last night at 8:00. It had been a long day.
We have had a full day today. We watched Mylie and the Mt. View Buffs win a state volleyball championship at 6:00 a.m. It was live for us since that was 4:00 p.m. your time. Then we had 1:00 church. Then back to church at 5:00 for a meeting on helping man the “Light the World” machines. We will have them in a mall and we will man them on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s day so the locals can be with their families. That meeting was mostly zoom with Manila. It lasted until 7:30. Then we came home and Clyda cooked a salmon dinner to finish our fast. It has been a wonderful day.
My testimony is strengthened as I continue to get to know more of these wonderful Filipinos. This gospel is true and this work of gathering Israel on both sides of the veil is great. (Just a side note on “guardian angels”. We feel Clyde was guarding over his parents. They had just killed an elk, gutted it out, and were quartering it when here came a grizzily charging at Livi, it was about 10 yards away when Livi shot her gun at it, the grizz turned and ran off. We feel Clyde was more responsible for it leaving than the gun.) Thanks for all you are doing to strengthen people’s testimonies and their commitment to live the gospel. It is wonderful to be involved in this great cause, in all of its capacities. Every player is needed on this team, the winning team. As Elder Uchtdorf would say, “Lift where you stand”.
With love,
Dad and Mom
Grandpa and Grandma
Briant and Clyda
Pictures sent in a text from Mom:
A very humble home we passed by. There are so many like this.
Taffy asked about the beach here. There really isn't one you can walk along anywhere near here. That's one we snapped a photo of on one of our day trips to the south of here.
And the seedlings... June's (aka sugar lump) tomatoes I put in some potting mix last Sunday 😍
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