Briant and Clyda Teichert; LDS Charities; Cebu Philippines

Dear Family and Friends,  Week #31 4/24-4/30 We presented on Monday a project for Toboso National High School. It is a school with grades 7-10. They have 1,714 learners, as they call their students here in the Philippines, with 69 teachers and 28 classrooms. Yes, half of them attend from 6 a.m. until noon and then the other half in the afternoon. Students stay in their assigned rooms and the teachers rotate classrooms. Then they have special teachers that don’t have a home room. We are providing them with 26 TVs. They have 2 TVs already. After being out of school for two years, these students are really far behind. We want to try and help them. A teacher at this school taught a great geometry lesson using the TV when we visited them. We feel they will use the TVs very well. I really think it is a great tool to help increase learning. The project passed, and it also passed on Friday with the top people, so we are good to go with this. Later that day Sister Koyle came and helpe...

Dear Family and Friends,  Week #30 4/17-4/23 We spent most of Monday crying. It was so great to have Olivia and Quincy with us. Thanks, Tre’, for letting them come. What a blessing they are in our lives, like all the rest of you, and that they could come. On Monday we spent time in the office at our meeting and getting ready for our trip to Iloilo. On Tuesday we caught the 8:00 a.m. flight to Iloilo. The Peters picked us up at the airport at 9:00 and we headed to Colinog to visit Fernandez Perez National High School. We had a good visit and watched a lesson taught using the TV. Everyone wants us to give them TVs to enhance education. I think they are an effective tool. I think my teaching improved greatly after learning how to do it with a TV. Using that tool along with learning some neat Kagan Structures for teaching I think were the two best things that helped me become a better teacher. So, I’m all for it. These Filipinos are way behind in their education as a result of not ha...

Dear Family and Friends,  Week #29 4/10-4/16 It is a sad time, but we will get over it. Olivia and Quincy leave in a couple hours. It has been wonderful to have them here. We are grateful that Lynette Sharpe came with them. It made us feel better about Livi traveling with a little one on 3 different flights, 2 hours, layover, then 14 hours, layover, then 4.5 hours. Just reverse that now with the second leg being 10+ hours with the tail wind. They had fairly short layovers coming, but going back they have a 9-hour layover in Seoul. It has been a fun week. We went to Dumaguete on Tuesday. We saw some sights along the way. We stopped at some waterfalls. We hiked in and got a ride on a motorbike up the steep hill coming back out. The falls and pools of water are beautiful and pretty neat. In one of the little pools there were a bunch of little fish, the size of little goldfish, that nibble on your feet. It is a pretty good pedicure. Of course, a big one came by and bit one of my t...

Dear Family and Friends,  Week #28 4/3-4/9 Olivia and Quincy are here, and we are having a great time!!! We aren’t doing anything, and we are having a great time!!! It is so good to have them here, and we would feel the same way if any of you other children were here, we would be having a great time, whether we were doing something or not. We love all of you and miss you so much. It isn’t keeping us from doing our work. We only miss you because you are so great. It is only natural to miss those you love. This week though we won’t be doing any work. But we will get back after it when Olivia and Quincy leave. I promise! Also, Lynette Sharpe came with Livi. They arrived Friday morning at about 2:00 a.m. Oh what a joy! That is what I picture Heaven being like, oblivious to the surroundings, just focused on those beautiful ones you love. Let’s all get there. I have another saying from several apostles and general authorities that I love, “Holy Habits, Righteous Routines.” These are t...

Dear Family and Friends,  Week #27 3/27-4/2 Office work on Monday. Our meeting was canceled because no-one had a project to present. Amazing. The Whitmores came by the office at about 11:00. They had a great time visiting with the Translation Team. You could tell they had enjoyed each other when they served here. They invited us to join them for lunch. So, the 7 of us went to JY Square to a Chinese buffet and had lunch. It was a wild time with continuous stories from Elder Jim Whitmore. Afterwards the Translation Team and Clyda and I went back to the office to work for the afternoon. I was really hoping to get the mess on Cayos and Tres Reyes straightened out. We did get a PO for Cayos, but not for Tres Reyes. That puts a hold on the solar project for another week. I hope we get it straightened out this week. The Harrisons from Orem are anxious to come, and we want to get them here, but I keep messing up on the little details in the paperwork. I keep pleading for help, b...