5 Feb. 2023 Week #19: School Visits and Fun Connections
Dear Family and Friends,
Transfers came for the missionaries. Sister Bangcong and Sister Noble will stay together and here. We are excited for them and us. They had a baptism last week and one again today. The one today was a 17 year old girl who has been coming to church for a year now, but her parents wouldn’t allow her to be baptized. They finally let her. The Sisters have been working with her for a while and have retaught her the lessons. Elder Quicay is being transferred and Elder Willis will stay. Sister Bangcong knows Elder Willis’s new companion, and she says he is a real good missionary. We hope Elder Willis will get along with him as well as he did with Elder Quicay. Elder Willis is pretty easy to get along with. We had the Sisters over for dinner on Monday and they told us Elder Quicay was leaving on Wednesday, so we got a hold of the Elders and had them over for dinner on Tuesday. We wish Elder Quicay the best. It has been fun getting to know him.
On Wednesday morning we flew to Iloilo. It is a pretty good size city on the island of Panay. That big island and several small ones that surround it are all in the Iloilo Mission. That is the mission where Elder and Sister Peters are. We have talked about them previously. Elder Peters worked for Burke on the Nebraska church ranch. They spent 20 years on that ranch. She taught at a nearby elementary school. They are both from Montana, small places like Cokeville, up by Glacier National Park. They picked us up at the airport and chauffeured us around. We had an hour drive to Cayos National High School and Cayos Elementary School. Sister Dullete is a teacher there and has been seeking our assistance. Her husband is the Bishop of the Dumangas Ward. Cayos is in the Dumangas Principality, (like a county in the U.S.). He joined us. They gave us a tour of their school and then we visited about their wants. They would like a 43” Smart TV in each classroom. They need 12 of them. They average 35-40 students per class.
They are in a large agricultural region where most of the students come from farms. A lot of rice was being harvested. It was cool to watch. It was harvested much like our wheat. The harvester is a machine like a combine with big paddles on the outside of the tires, because it is going through the mud. Then the chaff is dropped on the ground and the rice is bagged by people sitting on the machine. When they get to the end of the feild they drop the bags off and go for another round. It was pretty cool. Then, along the side of all the roads they have tarps laid out with the wheat spread out on the tarps to dry.
Back to the school. I had asked them to show some evidence that using TVs in the classroom was an effective way of teaching. They, unlike the other schools we visited the next day, had done their homework and had a big research paper ready for me. I have asked them to do a couple other items of research for me, before I present their project to the committee. The school had just finished their semester tests the day before, so they were having a student body party. We had a couple teachers and the principal to ourselves. They showed us the school. They had told us they had one TV in their computer lab. So, I asked to go there last. When we got to the lab I asked if one of the teachers could demonstrate a lesson for us. Sure, the young man said! He turned on the TV and presented us a great lesson, with stop and start, like a power point and questions for us, and then some videos, etc. These two teachers were sharp, one being the LDS lady, who has a master’s degree in English language. They both spoke excellent English. They both mentioned that one of the great needs for the TV is so the students could hear English spoked correctly. They will be able to teach the other teachers how to use a TV correctly for teaching. It was great. Now, if I can just do a good enough job in our presentation to the committee to get them to approve this project. We then visited the elementary and they would like TVs also, but they already have TVs in the classrooms, just not Smart TVs, so we won’t include them. We will try to get them a microphone and speaker system for their assemblies.
It was a full afternoon. We then went with Sister Dullete, her husband and 3 children to their fish farm. They have others at the farm, also. It was fun to see the fish. I won’t go into that. It would take way too much. We also met other people there who are members of the church. I had wanted to go back to Iloilo for dinner with the Peters after the school visit, have a nice dinner with them and a relaxing evening at the motel. However, the next thing you know we are at a Filipino outdoor restaurant for dinner with the whole group. We had a vegetable soup that was pretty good. Then, to the Dullete’s house to see their place, then to the church. It was now about 3 hours later than I thought we would leave. Oh well.
The Peters knew this Bishop Dullete and his family. The Peters also know all the missionaries in the mission, because they help in the office and assist missionaries everywhere. As we were finally headed back to Iloilo, the thought hit me to ask them if there was an Elder Coates in this mission. (Sister Coates had told us to say hello to her grandson serving in the Philippines. I don’t think she realized that we have 23 missions in the Philippines. We are located in the Cebu Mission. Next door is the Cebu East Mission. I had checked with the mission secretaries of these two missions and no Elder Coates.) The Peters said, “Yes, we have an Elder Coates, we sat in on a teaching appointment with them last week with a group of 15 people they are teaching. And that is him right there.” We just passed two Elders on bikes headed the opposite way. They had just come onto that road about a quarter mile ahead and would be leaving that road in another quarter mile. We turned around and caught them at the turn. If we had been two minutes earlier, or two minutes later, we wouldn’t have passed them. We hauled their bikes to their apartment and had a great but short visit. It was amazing. That was so much fun. This Elder Coates is Warren’s son from Queen Creek, AZ. Warren was a 4th grader when I started teaching school in Cokeville so I didn’t teach him, but I coached him in football for 7 years through junior high and high school. I had him as a scout and in the Deacon’s Quorum. He was a very good tight end and defensive end for us on several state championship football teams. He was a big key in our boys winning state basketball his senior year. He also was a pretty good track athlete and still holds the school record in the discus with his state championship toss. Best of all he was and is a great young man. What Fun!!
The next day we got up early to head to Calinog to visit with the Sitio Cristabol Farmers Association. They are the ones needing the Turmeric harvesting machine for 100 farmers. We have been working on this project for some time. The machine our vendor had quoted us was just too expensive, comes from China so we also have to add on a huge delivery charge and import taxes. The company also wanted a 40% payment before they shipped it. Sorry. We can’t do that. We are still looking for a machine. They had their Champion and Mentor there. He was a college professor in Engineering and had a huge background also in agriculture. He said he had connections in the field of Science and Engineering Technology and he would get with his contacts to find us the best machine. The other problem is, they still don’t have a marketing plan. Well, it was wonderful to have the Peters with us on all of these visits, they helped with several questions each time. In this case they know a member couple in Iloilo who have a big marketing company. On these visits on Thursday in Calinog we had Bishop Reno Penero with us. He knew the couple from church, they are in the same stake, but he didn’t know that was what they did for work. Bishop Penero is a teacher, head of the pig project in Calinog, and on the board of this ag group. So making that connection with the Peters was really cool. I’m so glad we had the Peters with us for both of these days. We then visited 4 schools, one was a checkup with Bishop Penero’s school to see how the TVs and printers are being used. At lunch we had a visit about how their pig project is going. For the most part it is going really well. It has had a couple hiccups this week but will soon be going well again. We also visited three more schools. One high school we need to help quite a bit, but the two elementary schools will receive minimal help. Then off to the airport to catch our flight back home that evening.
We spent Friday on a 7:30 a.m. meeting. Then correspondence, then we met Sister Gallarde at a restaurant within walking distance, (it’s been four weeks and still no driving for us). She is the lady at the Catholic orphanage, My Bonita Home. It is a home for sexually abused girls from age 12 to 23. We hope to soon get all the materials we need for that project so we can submit a proposal on it. We are getting closer.
In the afternoon we went to the temple and did Sealings with the Woods, Sister Garner, and the Parkers. That is always a nice break. We all went out to dinner together at Italianis.
This morning (Saturday), it was great watching Mylie play basketball live against Worland. That is always fun to catch their Friday evening games live on Saturday morning. We then spent about three hours over at the office working on filing, categorizing, etc. all the new information we received on all these potential projects. Then we watched on demand our Cokeville kids against Star Valley freshman and sophomores.
Today (now Sunday) when we went to church, we met a couple missionaries from another ward here in Cebu. One of them recognized our name. He is new to Cebu, but he has been here in the Philippines since last March. He was in the first group of missionaries from the USA to come to the Philippines since the pandemic. He goes home in April. He is Elder Sudweeks. Well, because of the pandemic he started his mission in California. His first zone leader was Ammon Teichert. He thinks the world of Ammon. That was a fun connection. He was excited to see our names and asked if we knew Ammon Teichert. He said he was a great missionary. I love connections!! This was so fun!!
It was a wonderful testimony meeting today as always. The young man who was baptized a week ago was presented to receive the priesthood. He also bore his testimony. The seminary teacher bore her testimony. The youth here are lucky to have her. The gospel is true. We are all involved in a great work. Jesus Christ is our Savior. He is the head of this Church. We have a living prophet on the earth today, President Russel M. Nelson. It is wonderful. We can be with loved ones again after this life. We are looking forward to being with Tillie and Clyde again, along with parents, grandparents, etc. “Lift where you stand!”
With love,
Dad and Mom
Grandpa and Grandma
Briant and Clyda
Week #19 1/30-2/5
Transfers came for the missionaries. Sister Bangcong and Sister Noble will stay together and here. We are excited for them and us. They had a baptism last week and one again today. The one today was a 17 year old girl who has been coming to church for a year now, but her parents wouldn’t allow her to be baptized. They finally let her. The Sisters have been working with her for a while and have retaught her the lessons. Elder Quicay is being transferred and Elder Willis will stay. Sister Bangcong knows Elder Willis’s new companion, and she says he is a real good missionary. We hope Elder Willis will get along with him as well as he did with Elder Quicay. Elder Willis is pretty easy to get along with. We had the Sisters over for dinner on Monday and they told us Elder Quicay was leaving on Wednesday, so we got a hold of the Elders and had them over for dinner on Tuesday. We wish Elder Quicay the best. It has been fun getting to know him.
On Wednesday morning we flew to Iloilo. It is a pretty good size city on the island of Panay. That big island and several small ones that surround it are all in the Iloilo Mission. That is the mission where Elder and Sister Peters are. We have talked about them previously. Elder Peters worked for Burke on the Nebraska church ranch. They spent 20 years on that ranch. She taught at a nearby elementary school. They are both from Montana, small places like Cokeville, up by Glacier National Park. They picked us up at the airport and chauffeured us around. We had an hour drive to Cayos National High School and Cayos Elementary School. Sister Dullete is a teacher there and has been seeking our assistance. Her husband is the Bishop of the Dumangas Ward. Cayos is in the Dumangas Principality, (like a county in the U.S.). He joined us. They gave us a tour of their school and then we visited about their wants. They would like a 43” Smart TV in each classroom. They need 12 of them. They average 35-40 students per class.
They are in a large agricultural region where most of the students come from farms. A lot of rice was being harvested. It was cool to watch. It was harvested much like our wheat. The harvester is a machine like a combine with big paddles on the outside of the tires, because it is going through the mud. Then the chaff is dropped on the ground and the rice is bagged by people sitting on the machine. When they get to the end of the feild they drop the bags off and go for another round. It was pretty cool. Then, along the side of all the roads they have tarps laid out with the wheat spread out on the tarps to dry.
Back to the school. I had asked them to show some evidence that using TVs in the classroom was an effective way of teaching. They, unlike the other schools we visited the next day, had done their homework and had a big research paper ready for me. I have asked them to do a couple other items of research for me, before I present their project to the committee. The school had just finished their semester tests the day before, so they were having a student body party. We had a couple teachers and the principal to ourselves. They showed us the school. They had told us they had one TV in their computer lab. So, I asked to go there last. When we got to the lab I asked if one of the teachers could demonstrate a lesson for us. Sure, the young man said! He turned on the TV and presented us a great lesson, with stop and start, like a power point and questions for us, and then some videos, etc. These two teachers were sharp, one being the LDS lady, who has a master’s degree in English language. They both spoke excellent English. They both mentioned that one of the great needs for the TV is so the students could hear English spoked correctly. They will be able to teach the other teachers how to use a TV correctly for teaching. It was great. Now, if I can just do a good enough job in our presentation to the committee to get them to approve this project. We then visited the elementary and they would like TVs also, but they already have TVs in the classrooms, just not Smart TVs, so we won’t include them. We will try to get them a microphone and speaker system for their assemblies.
It was a full afternoon. We then went with Sister Dullete, her husband and 3 children to their fish farm. They have others at the farm, also. It was fun to see the fish. I won’t go into that. It would take way too much. We also met other people there who are members of the church. I had wanted to go back to Iloilo for dinner with the Peters after the school visit, have a nice dinner with them and a relaxing evening at the motel. However, the next thing you know we are at a Filipino outdoor restaurant for dinner with the whole group. We had a vegetable soup that was pretty good. Then, to the Dullete’s house to see their place, then to the church. It was now about 3 hours later than I thought we would leave. Oh well.
The Peters knew this Bishop Dullete and his family. The Peters also know all the missionaries in the mission, because they help in the office and assist missionaries everywhere. As we were finally headed back to Iloilo, the thought hit me to ask them if there was an Elder Coates in this mission. (Sister Coates had told us to say hello to her grandson serving in the Philippines. I don’t think she realized that we have 23 missions in the Philippines. We are located in the Cebu Mission. Next door is the Cebu East Mission. I had checked with the mission secretaries of these two missions and no Elder Coates.) The Peters said, “Yes, we have an Elder Coates, we sat in on a teaching appointment with them last week with a group of 15 people they are teaching. And that is him right there.” We just passed two Elders on bikes headed the opposite way. They had just come onto that road about a quarter mile ahead and would be leaving that road in another quarter mile. We turned around and caught them at the turn. If we had been two minutes earlier, or two minutes later, we wouldn’t have passed them. We hauled their bikes to their apartment and had a great but short visit. It was amazing. That was so much fun. This Elder Coates is Warren’s son from Queen Creek, AZ. Warren was a 4th grader when I started teaching school in Cokeville so I didn’t teach him, but I coached him in football for 7 years through junior high and high school. I had him as a scout and in the Deacon’s Quorum. He was a very good tight end and defensive end for us on several state championship football teams. He was a big key in our boys winning state basketball his senior year. He also was a pretty good track athlete and still holds the school record in the discus with his state championship toss. Best of all he was and is a great young man. What Fun!!
The next day we got up early to head to Calinog to visit with the Sitio Cristabol Farmers Association. They are the ones needing the Turmeric harvesting machine for 100 farmers. We have been working on this project for some time. The machine our vendor had quoted us was just too expensive, comes from China so we also have to add on a huge delivery charge and import taxes. The company also wanted a 40% payment before they shipped it. Sorry. We can’t do that. We are still looking for a machine. They had their Champion and Mentor there. He was a college professor in Engineering and had a huge background also in agriculture. He said he had connections in the field of Science and Engineering Technology and he would get with his contacts to find us the best machine. The other problem is, they still don’t have a marketing plan. Well, it was wonderful to have the Peters with us on all of these visits, they helped with several questions each time. In this case they know a member couple in Iloilo who have a big marketing company. On these visits on Thursday in Calinog we had Bishop Reno Penero with us. He knew the couple from church, they are in the same stake, but he didn’t know that was what they did for work. Bishop Penero is a teacher, head of the pig project in Calinog, and on the board of this ag group. So making that connection with the Peters was really cool. I’m so glad we had the Peters with us for both of these days. We then visited 4 schools, one was a checkup with Bishop Penero’s school to see how the TVs and printers are being used. At lunch we had a visit about how their pig project is going. For the most part it is going really well. It has had a couple hiccups this week but will soon be going well again. We also visited three more schools. One high school we need to help quite a bit, but the two elementary schools will receive minimal help. Then off to the airport to catch our flight back home that evening.
We spent Friday on a 7:30 a.m. meeting. Then correspondence, then we met Sister Gallarde at a restaurant within walking distance, (it’s been four weeks and still no driving for us). She is the lady at the Catholic orphanage, My Bonita Home. It is a home for sexually abused girls from age 12 to 23. We hope to soon get all the materials we need for that project so we can submit a proposal on it. We are getting closer.
In the afternoon we went to the temple and did Sealings with the Woods, Sister Garner, and the Parkers. That is always a nice break. We all went out to dinner together at Italianis.
This morning (Saturday), it was great watching Mylie play basketball live against Worland. That is always fun to catch their Friday evening games live on Saturday morning. We then spent about three hours over at the office working on filing, categorizing, etc. all the new information we received on all these potential projects. Then we watched on demand our Cokeville kids against Star Valley freshman and sophomores.
Today (now Sunday) when we went to church, we met a couple missionaries from another ward here in Cebu. One of them recognized our name. He is new to Cebu, but he has been here in the Philippines since last March. He was in the first group of missionaries from the USA to come to the Philippines since the pandemic. He goes home in April. He is Elder Sudweeks. Well, because of the pandemic he started his mission in California. His first zone leader was Ammon Teichert. He thinks the world of Ammon. That was a fun connection. He was excited to see our names and asked if we knew Ammon Teichert. He said he was a great missionary. I love connections!! This was so fun!!
It was a wonderful testimony meeting today as always. The young man who was baptized a week ago was presented to receive the priesthood. He also bore his testimony. The seminary teacher bore her testimony. The youth here are lucky to have her. The gospel is true. We are all involved in a great work. Jesus Christ is our Savior. He is the head of this Church. We have a living prophet on the earth today, President Russel M. Nelson. It is wonderful. We can be with loved ones again after this life. We are looking forward to being with Tillie and Clyde again, along with parents, grandparents, etc. “Lift where you stand!”
With love,
Dad and Mom
Grandpa and Grandma
Briant and Clyda
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