Preparing for a Typhoon

I'm sure all of you are aware that the Philippines was hit by Typhoon Hagupit (named Ruby in the Philippines) making landfall in Samar on December 6, 2014.  Cebu was in the potential storm path so residents here were put on high alert along with much of the Philippines.  On November 8, 2013, one week before we arrived in the Philippines last year, Typhoon Hiayan (Yolanda), hit Tacloban and other areas causing over 7,000 deaths and destruction that some areas still have not recovered from.  Yolanda was one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded that made landfall so everyone still had the memory of how destructive that storm was so were very concerned about being in the path of Hagupit.  The government took a very preventative outlook with this Typhoon and residents in potential threatened areas were placed under forced evacuations instead of just given warnings.

As always the church was very involved in helping members and non members before and after the storm. In Cebu schools were closed as the typhoon got closer and residents in high hazard areas were instructed to head for safer areas.  The edge of the typhoon was forecast to hit Cebu on Saturday evening December 6, 2014 so the temple was only open for two sessions in the morning and ordinance workers who lived very far from the temple were told to not come in.  Two baptism groups were in patron housing earlier in the week and the boats that they were to return home on were cancelled so they were stranded at the temple complex.  The two temple sessions held were mainly members in these groups.  The one group was from the Tacloban area which received the major damage from Yolanda last year so they were very concerned about family who were home.

The church was opened up to members who felt unsafe in their homes to come and stay till the typhoon was past and some members came as early as Thursday.  Getting ready for the storm included putting together food bags to be sent to those in need after the storm.  The Cebu Stake Center became a flurry of activity on Friday afternoon putting together over 3,000 meals in just a few hours.  We had the chance to help so have included pictures of the preparations.  On Sunday Dec 7, 2014 regular church meetings were cancelled, the young missionaries were told to stay in their apartments and only a sacrament meeting was held at the stake center, mainly for those who were stranded here and the temple missionaries.  It was fast Sunday and we had a wonderful testimony meeting hearing from some who had gone through Yolanda last year and had family in the path of Hagupit now.  After Sacrament Meeting the men loaded a truck with the bags of meals ready to be shipped where needed. The meals that were prepared were sent to Samar which was hit the hardest by Hagupit. The Typhoon moved North of Cebu so we received not much more wind or rain than a typical storm and felt blessed with being safe and also being able to provide food for those who were not so fortunate.

This information is from the Church News:

All missionaries and members are safe after Typhooon Ruby (Hagupit) struck the Philippines Dec. 6.
The Red Cross reported 25 deaths and nearly 500 injuries as a result of the storm, which destroyed 16,500 houses and damaged another 33,100 in northern Visayas and Luzon.

A million people — including the Church’s missionaries — were evacuated from the areas. Most missionaries have returned to their assigned areas, according to a Church welfare report.
During the storm, 78 Church facilities were used as evacuation centers, shelter more than 10,000 members and others.

A church class room becomes the place where bags of rice are put to begin the process of putting meals together.  A great lesson in serving is being taught by hands on experience.

Rice is put into meal size bags.

The meal size rice bags are then taken into the cultural hall to be added to bags with other items.  This little girl was helping and could not lift the rice bags so she would slide the chair from the class room to the cultural hall.

In the cultural hall two lines of tables were set up to expedite the process.

These girls are separating bags from the church that will hold the meals.

Cans of Corned Beef to put in the bags.

You are never to young to give service.

A completed meal bag containing rice, noodles, canned sardines and corned beef.

After the meals are put together the bags are tied so the ingredients don't fall out.  Here Sister Henthorn, Sister Sorensen and Bishop Manesses of the Kamputaw Ward tie the bags then put them on the stage where you can see men putting the meals in large sacks.

After each sack is filled with bags of meals they are then sewn closed.

Each sack is marked with a 9 or a 6 indicating how many individual meals are in the sack.

Elder Sorensen stacking a sack after it has been sewn closed.

One room showing part of the 3,000 meals that were put together.

One of the families that came to the church to be safe.

A group of children who stayed in the church during the Typhoon warning.

Fall is here - sort of

Here we are into November and fall is here with winter on the way, at least back home.  We haven't seen any leaves turning colors on the trees and haven't felt a change in the weather.  The forecast for the next five days is a high of 88 and a low of 77 with a chance of some rain showers, pretty much the same as for the last month.  We are getting towards the end of the typhoon season with none hitting Cebu so far but a few did hit or impacted Manila and other areas causing flooding, property damage and some loss of life.  It was exactly one year ago, November 8, 2013, that Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) hit the Philippines taking thousands of lives and displacing millions in one day.  Much of Tacloban and other areas are still trying to recover.

Even though Halloween is not an official holiday in the Philippines some of the wards still did some activities.  The Busay Ward primary dressed up one day and walked across the parking lot from the stake center to patron housing where the temple missionaries gave them some treats after they sang a song, "Popcorn popping on the apricot tree".  The Apas Ward had a ward party including trunk or treat for the kids and some skits from the movie "Frozen".  Yes they love "Frozen" here too.

Two weeks ago Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was in Cebu as part of a several weeks visit to the Philippines.  On November 2, 2014 he did a Philippines Area live broadcast from Manila, along with the area president and members of the seventy.  Elder Oaks, along with Sister Oaks completed their service as Philippines Area President ten years ago.  As part of his counsel to the Filipino members during the broadcast he repeated some of the same counsel he gave ten years ago as he left the Philippines. Some things he mentioned were to give up family or cultural traditions that are in conflict with church culture.  Some specific traditions addressed were:

1.  Many Filipinos leave the country for extended periods to work for better wages and then send the money back to support family, including extended family, while able family members, including adults, do not work or even seek work. This has created a strain on marriages and denies able family members the personal and economic benefits of working.

2. Many do not work until they finish their college education.  Elder Oaks told them that they should get a part time job while attending school because it would not only help them pay for their schooling but the experience working would be as much of a benefit to them as their schooling.

3. They should not put off getting married until they have completed their schooling but should attend school and get married at the same time when they find a suitable companion.

4. Elder Oaks did not mention this but it was mentioned by others that spoke that they should pay a full tithe and give a generous fast offering as a way to help themselves and others.

This was all good council to everyone not just the Filipino members.

Elder Sorensen has been singing with the combined Busay 1st Ward and Busay 2nd Branch choir. They have performed three times in the last 6 weeks.  The first time was for "Music and the Spoken Word" which is a fireside done by each ward in the stake with speakers and musical numbers.  The theme was "Families".  The music was done very well, as well as choirs in the United States.  The second time the choir sang was two impromptu sacrament meeting numbers when it was rumored that Elder Oaks was going to attend the Busay Ward while here.  Elder Oaks did not attend any of the church meetings but met with the Temple Presidency in the temple later in the afternoon.  The third time was this past Saturday when the choir sang for the adult session of Stake Conference.

Stake conference was very good with talks by the Stake Presidency, an assistant to the Cebu Temple Matron, the Philippines Cebu Mission President and his wife and others.  The music on Sunday was by a stake choir and several numbers by the young full time missionaries.  One thing we have come to enjoy here is the way missionaries receive their calls.  Since mail is not reliable all mission calls are sent to the stake president and then hand delivered to the missionaries.  This usually takes place in sacrament meeting but there was one delivered in stake conference on Sunday.  They had the young man come to the pulpit and receive his White Envelope, unopened of course.  It was brought up that the Cebu Stake currently has 22 missionaries serving, 4 waiting for their calls and 19 more who are submitting papers. The hastening of the work is definitely happening in the Philippines.

We had some of the staff from the Prestigio, the place where we first stayed when we arrived in Cebu, over to eat with us again.  We enjoyed them so much while staying at the Prestigio and have developed a friendship with them and call them our Filipino children.  We were sorry to hear that two will be leaving to pursue work outside the Philippines but are glad they have the opportunity for better employment, we will miss them though.

The Busay primary headed to patron housing from the stake center.

The Busay primary in their costumes.  The temple missionaries are dressed up as themselves.

Apas Ward Halloween party.  I guess you would call this tailgate and treat.

Here is a trunk or treat. 

This is the stage in the cultural hall ready for the "Frozen" performances.  They had this huge poster made for the backdrop.  The sister with the microphone has been to Utah and has actually seen snow.

"Frozen" portrayed in the Philippines by the Apas Ward Primary.

We would like you to meet Mahonri Santiago a member of the Apas Ward.  The name caught our attention.

Elder Oaks entering the Cebu City Temple.  Well actually he is already in the temple in front of the area president who's back you can see in front of the door but this was as close as Sister Sorensen came to getting his picture.

Busay Choir. Sister Quitoy, on the left holding the baby, is the choir director.  Elder and Sister Henthorn and  Elder Sorensen were the Temple Missionaries that are part of the choir plus one set of young Sister Missionaries and one set of Young Elders are also part of the choir.  The young Filipino woman on the front row second to the left of the one holding the bottle is now in the MTC in Manila beginning her mission and the young man on the top left by Elder Henthorn is the one who just received his mission call in stake conference.

Our Filipino children from the Prestigio.  Left to right, Jasmin, Karl, Karen, Merriam.  Karen, just behind Elder Sorensen, is leaving to work in a hotel in Bahrain.  Merriam, on the right, will be leaving to work on a cruise ship out of the UK.  We will miss them.

Happenings the last month

We have been keeping very busy and we noticed that it's been almost a month since the last blog update so here are some of the things that have been happening.

In September the church in cooperation with the World Health Organization and The Philippine Department of Health was involved with helping in the effort to have all children 5 and under be immunized throughout the Philippines for measles, mumps and polio.  Church members would go house to house, all houses not just members, handing out information on where parents could take their children to receive the free immunizations. The members who participated were encouraged to wear the yellow helping hands vests so they could be identified as being from the church.  The response from parents to have their children immunized was good.

The last week of September was family week and the church participated with other religions at an iPeace celebration.  iPeace is a group of churches and organizations coming together for the betterment of communities.  The church was invited to participate for the first time last year and because of the great response was invited again this year.  The young missionaries set up a booth where they were able to teach about the church and give out church literature to those interested.  We went down with two of the other temple missionary couples on Monday and helped them set up and Elder Henthorn and Elder Sorensen went back on Saturday afternoon to help at the booth.  There were referral slips which individuals interested in learning more about the church could fill out and then the missionaries would contact them for an appointment.

The first Saturday in October a church group from Dubai in the UAE (United Arab Emirates) came to the temple for several days to perform ordinances.  They were able to come at this time because that weekend was an Islamic Holiday so they were able to all get off work at the same time.  They brought with them over 700 family file names that they wanted to perform baptism and confirmation for as well as some of the other ordinances.  One of the couples is from Sri Lanka and they received their endowments and had their three children sealed to them the first day they were here.  Because of the time differential between the Philippines and Utah the General Women's Conference was being rebroadcast that weekend and the temple was closing early.  Since this was the only time this group could come, the temple made arrangements so that they could perform baptisms after the temple had closed for the day.  Arrangements were also made for them to perform baptisms on Monday even though the temple is closed on Monday.  We were able to help them in the baptistry on Tuesday afternoon, the last day they were here, and they completed the last of the family file names they had brought.

Last weekend was the rebroadcast of General Conference, one week after conference again because of the time differential, so we were blessed to participate with the members here.  Many members the internet so they come to the church to see conference.  The Saturday schedule was 8:00 am - 10:00 am Priesthood Meeting, 11:00 am - 1:00 pm Saturday Morning Conference and 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm Saturday Afternoon Conference.  Sunday was 9:00 am - 11:00 am Sunday Morning conference and 12:00 noon - 2:00 pm Sunday Afternoon Conference.  Very few members can go home between sessions so they stay all day and bring food with them to eat at the church or buy something at one of the close food stands or markets.  It is nice to watch conference in your home but there is a special feeling being in the church with other church members while being taught by the Living Prophets and Apostles and other church leaders.  One advantage of watching conference a week late is we were able to have the text of the talks on our tablets and instead of hurriedly writing notes we just highlighted the parts of each talk that touched us as we followed along. On Sunday the temple missionaries prepared food for the young full time missionaries to eat between conference sessions.  The food was set up in the canteen in the patron house.  It is always so fun to associate with the young missionaries and see and feel their great enthusiasm for the work.

Some of the temple missionaries heading out to pass out information to local people about the free immunizations.  They are walking toward the temple and you can see Angel Moroni above the tree behind the power lines.

A church member trying to help comfort one of the children as local residents wait to have their children immunized.

Sister Sorensen with Sister Pickett and Sister Jopson at the plaza where the booth was set up for Family Week.  Sister Pickett is from Arizona but could easily be part of the Pickett family from Fayette.  The structure in the background is Fort San Pedro.  Fort San Pedro is the oldest and smallest fort in the Philippines. Built by the Spaniards to repel sieges by hostile natives and Muslim pirates, the fort was deemed finished in 1738, some 200 years after it started construction. 

This was the booth where people could come and learn about the church.

The Church's Booth showing information about the church, videos were always playing and plenty of church literature available including copies of the Book of Mormon, in English and Cebuano of course.  Elder Sorensen was able to talk to a group of young women about the temple, families and family history and gave each of them a Proclamation on the Family.

Two of the Sister Missionaries talking to a group of young women about the church.  Behind them one of the Elders is talking to a brother about the church.  

This is the group from Dubai with members of the temple presidency and temple missionaries.  The one young man on the back row has received his mission call to serve in Provo, Utah.  The group represented members from various parts of the world working in Dubai.  

This is the Church Leadership for the Dubai group.  Bishop Johnson is in the center with his wife and his counselors and their wives are on both sides.  The Arriba couple on the right of the picture are from the Philippines.  When the Dias family were sealed in the Cebu Temple the sealer was Brother Alfornon the father of Sister Arriba.  

The Dias family from Sri Lanka who were sealed while at the temple with the Dubai group.  They were in church with us Sunday, which was fast and testimony meeting, and the oldest boy, who is eleven, gave a very strong and powerful testimony for someone so young.  The gospel strengthens and blesses families all around the world.

Feeding the missionaries on Sunday.  The Sisters got to go first.

The Elders filling up their plates.  Yes, there was food left over after the Elders were finished so the temple missionaries go to eat also.

President McCurdy, Philippines Cebu Mission President, on the left watching his missionaries.

This is most of the missionaries that enjoyed being fed by the temple missionaries.

Some of the Sister Missionaries wanting a picture of the Temple Missionaries.

The Temple Missionaries, we love helping the young missionaries and associating with them in the work.

Harvest Time

We do miss the changing of the seasons and even the changing of the days.  Being close to the equator means the temperature doesn't change very much, there are no real seasons like we are used to (just hot and hotter and rainy and dry) and the sun even comes up and goes down pretty close to the same time all year long. Here it is September already, we can only tell by the calendar, and all of you back home are harvesting gardens and enjoying the fruits of your labors realizing that the first frost is getting closer everyday.  Here in the Philippines the harvest is on all year, though some fruits are seasonal, so we thought we would share some of the fruits that we get to harvest by walking down the street to the local fruit stands or when we go to the stores.  There are many more than we have listed.  We can also get imported fruits such as apples and oranges but our blog shows fruits grown in the Philippines.

An open fruit market.  Almost every fruit you could want in one place.  The large green fruit is Jack Fruit which we tried but we didn't really care for it, kind of a texture thing.

The bottom container is Avocados.  Sister Sorensen has to have Avocados every week.  She learned how to know the ripe ones by shaking them.  The top container is Mangosteens and the middle one is Mangos.

Bananas, all shapes and sizes and also different colors.  We like the yellow ones and there are different sizes of those.  The green hanging bananas are for cooking, fried boiled and with brown sugar on the outside.  Notice the watermelons also.

This is a Red Banana, that is the color and not just an over ripe banana.

Lanzones.  Lanzones was originally native to the Malaysian peninsula, with the Malaysians calling it “langsat.”

Lanzones opened showing the fruit inside.

Limes.  They are very small but definitely are limes

Mangos.  Sister Sorensen has to have mangos almost every day.  The mangos you can buy in the United States don't even taste like the same fruit.  We simply love sweet mango shakes.

Mangosteen.  they cannot legally be imported into continental United States due to concerns that they transport insects into the country.

This is the inside of a Mangosteen.  You eat the white parts.

Papaya. We haven't eaten these yet.

Philippine Lemons.  They look different but taste just like lemons.

Pineapple.  We love the fresh pineapple. The one on the left is different than the one in the middle. The fruit on the right is called Durian.  It has a very unpleasant odor and we can tell out in the hall from our apartment if someone has brought some up.  We haven't tried it yet but will before we leave.

Pomelo.  These taste like a sweet grapefruit.

Rambutan. Its name means "hairy " and is derived from the Malay word rambutan. The fruit inside is white and looks like a lanzone..

Watermelon (Pakwan), red and yellow.  Both are good.