Flowers and misc.

It has been awhile since we updated our blog but we are still in Cebu serving in the temple and keeping very busy.  There are times in the temple because of lack of workers that the missionaries, especially the sisters, go in to help in addition to their assigned shift.  Both of us have also been given additional responsibilities in the temple which take more time but we love serving.

On Mothers Day brother Dyard, the one Kim baptized, received the Melchizedek Priesthood and was ordained an Elder. This was also the Cebu City Stake conference.

The community CR project has been completed and the facility was turned over to the City of Cebu. The mayor of Cebu came and accepted the project from the Cebu Stake President with talks, flower arrangements and a ribbon cutting ceremony.  It was interesting to see the progress on many of the homes but there were still lots of "tents" still set up as temporary homes.

There are two new missionary couples who started serving at the temple.  Elder and Sister Decker are from Arizona and Elder and Sister Lewis are from Idaho.  As part of their orientation to the Philippines they were shown some of the sights by taking them to Moalboal to go snorkeling.  We felt obligated to go along and help point out some of the unique aspects of life in the Philippines.  We weren't able to show them any sea turtles but plenty of beautiful fish, coral and even a sea snake.

Since it is spring in Utah we decided to show you some of the flowers that we see regularly here in Cebu.  Some are located on the temple grounds and others were seen out walking.  Many trees have flowers and some are in bloom all of the time.  We don't know the names of the flowers but if you are at the Manti Temple Ken Lindsay can probably tell you what they are.

National Week of Service and other service

It is always easy to give service in the Philippines because every where you look there is a need.  Two weeks ago we had the opportunity to give service in three different areas the same day.  In the morning we went to help again on sister Patajo's CR, the house that sits over the ledge.  It is almost completed now.  In the afternoon we went to the "Home for the Dying Destitutes", a care center run by Catholic Nuns.  There are sixty-six residents in the center but only about twenty were able to come so we could meet them.  It was the day after Easter Sunday so after interacting with those who were able to come to the dining area we helped serve dinner and then sang some Easter Hymns to them.  We ended with "I am a child of God".  One of the wheelchairs that we saw had L.D.S. Charities on the back.  The church's humanitarian projects touch many lives in the world.  We were asked to not take pictures so we only have a picture of the sign for the facility.

In the evening we went to help other church members on a National Week of Service project.  The National Week of Service is where everyone is encouraged to give service to their communities.  The church in Cebu, as in all areas of the world, has been a very visible participant in service projects involving their communities.  In March there was a fire that destroyed the homes of thousands of people.  The fire was during the daytime and no one lost their life which is amazing considering all of the homes were next to and on top of each other.  The people are starting to rebuild but there are no restroom facilities available to them.  The local church units decided to build one of several community restrooms (called CRs in the Philippines, Comfort Rooms) as their service project.  It would also contain several showers.  After the project is completed it will be turned over to the local government.   We were able to participate several times when we were not serving in the temple.  Several evenings there were members working on the project until midnight. We are not aware of any active members that live in the affected area but because of the project many of the residents were exposed to the church through the members service.  Each time we were there children were out flying home made kites and just being children.  The children loved any attention given to them especially by the Senior Missionaries.

The Sisters rely on donations from local businesses to provide food and other needs for the residents.

View of just one part of the community destroyed.  The blue tarps are living areas for families, hopefully temporary.

Contrast looking from where the fire was and "Modern Cebu".  The goats wandered freely.

Some residents sit on their beds in a "tent" where they cook, eat and sleep.

Current "CR" accommodations for part of the thousands left without homes.

Forming re-bar for the CR support columns.  Very simple but effective.

Elder Sorensen did have "Helping Hands" even though he didn't have a vest saying so.

Mixing Concrete Filipino style.  Pour concrete mix on the ground, add gravel and water then mix by hand.

Transporting the concrete to the needed area.

Partially completed project.  The roof is now on and the project will be finished this week. 

Sister Brown, one of the temple missionaries, enjoying some of the children.

Life goes on.  The tent on the left houses several families.  Some homes in different phases of construction.

With nowhere else to go residents already occupy the unfinished homes.  Gives a whole new perspective to "moving in before the home was completely finished".

Temple Tours

First Tour:

This will be a brief picture tour of entering the Cebu Temple complex.  The pictures will be the tour.

Second Tour:

We have mentioned several times how much we enjoyed our interaction with the staff at the Prestigio where our first apartment was.  Each day we would greet them in Cebuano and they would "try" to teach us new words. We took the opportunity to ask if they went to church, they were all Catholic, and told them a little about some of our beliefs and gave them the Articles of Faith cards (in Cebuano).  We also invited them to come and visit the temple where we are serving.

This past Tuesday as we were in the temple we received a note that the staff from the Prestigio had called and were coming to see us on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m.  We were excited but a little unsure what to do.  We are scheduled to work on Wednesday afternoons so arrangements needed to be made to be able to go outside the temple to meet them.  We also were unsure about the best way to make their experience at the temple grounds an uplifting one.  We offered a prayer and were guided in how to proceed.  We contacted the mission office and made arrangements for missionaries to give the tour of the temple complex, they do this all of the time.  Since Wednesday is the p-day for the missionaries the only ones that would be available at 4:00 p.m. would be Elder Glines and Elder Peck, the assistants to the president.  We were truly blessed.

We didn't know who or how many of the staff were coming so we were excited to see who we would be with.  We left the temple and walked out to the guard station to the temple entrance and as soon as the staff saw us coming they jumped up and started waving.  There were three of the women staff that had come.  Of course Sister Sorensen received hugs from all of them, they all just love her.  They said there were other staff that wanted to come but were working.  They even brought us a gift of pineapple and bananas (they tell us we are the best quests they have had). As we entered the temple grounds they immediately mentioned how quiet it was and how clean and beautiful.  We met the Elders at patron housing and they immediately began conversing with them in Cebuano, which they did almost all of the time with them.   At one point one of the women just grinned at us because she knew we didn't understand what they were saying.  We laughed with them that they hadn't taught us enough Cebuano.

We started out with the Elders taking them to the stake center.  The Elders explained how it was used and how it was different than the temple. Two of the staff were constantly asking questions and the Elders were so good at answering them.  Elder Sorensen needed to return to the temple for an assignment so Sister Sorensen continued on with the staff and the Elders.  They next went to the temple entrance and had them read "Holiness to the Lord the House of the Lord" and told them that things inside were sacred and not secret.  They then went to the back side of the temple and talked about couples and families being sealed together and that families can be together forever and more.  They then returned to the front of the temple and went in the temple doors to the non-patron waiting area and just sat there without talking.  The Elders had told them they wouldn't talk to them inside the temple but they should see how they felt while they were there.  As they sat there two of them bowed their heads and one was wiping away tears.  After leaving the temple they went back to the mission office and each received pamphlets that go with the missionary discussions and copies of the Book of Mormon, English and Cebuano.  They also met President Schmutz, the Cebu Mission President.

What a wonderful experience.  Hopefully to be continued.

The entrance to the temple complex.  The guards meet everyone that walks in and log every vehicle that drives in.

One of the guards greeting a patron as she enters the complex.  Probably going to patron housing.

Some of the contracted grounds crew mowing the lawn.

As you enter the complex you walk past the South Side of the temple.  The baptismal font is just through the windows.

The Cebu City Stake Center next to the temple.

A view of  "The great and spacious building" over the top of the stake center.  This building is actually a casino.

Patron housing, missionary housing, distribution center and mission office.

Temple President's Home (on the left) and Mission President's home (behind the trees).  They are pretty much the same.

Cebu City Philippines Temple.

One of the guards, Arnold Pantaleon, opening the door for patrons.  He is a counselor in the Lahug Ward Bishopric.

Elder and Sister Sorensen with the Prestigio Staff at the temple.  Left to right, Karenena receptionist, Merriam, housekeeping, Elder Sorensen, Sister Sorensen, Jasmin security.

Patron Housing

We moved from the Prestigio into patron housing at the temple complex in March so thought we would show you where we are living now.  Patron housing is a three story complex.  The ground floor contains Distribution Services, the Mission Office, the Housing Office, the Family History Center, lobby and a cafeteria.  The second floor is patron rooms for those attending the temple.  Youth baptism groups that travel stay here for several days as the youth participate in baptisms two or three times a day.  Patrons are only here from Monday to Saturday.  There are bunk beds in each room to help maximize the number of patrons that can stay.  The third floor is Temple Missionary Housing and has apartments, a laundry and storage rooms.  You need a security card to allow the elevator to go to the third floor.

There are some definite advantages to being in patron housing.  Here are a few of them.

It is quieter since we are not right next to a main road with a jeepney stop.
The air is cleaner since we are not right next to a main road with all of the exhaust fumes.
We are closer to the temple.  It takes us one minute to walk to the temple now and since it is getting hotter this is a real advantage.
Being close the the stake center we are more aware of what is going on and can be more involved.
We are now close to the other temple missionaries so are able to have more interaction with them.
We only have to go down the hall to do our laundry instead of carrying it down the street several blocks.
We have more room and a place to store things, including access to an additional refrigerator and a freezer.
We have hot water in the sinks.
The internet is filtered.  Along with always being alert for a virus, malware, spyware, and other fun things, there were other internet problems that suddenly disappeared when we moved.

Things we miss from our first apartment at the Prestigio.

We could walk across the street and shop.  We can still walk there but it isn't as convenient.
There were two bathrooms, granted they were small but there were two of them.
The Staff.  This is by far the thing we miss the most.  We had so much fun practicing our Cebuano with them and greeting them each time we would come and go.  Last week LuAnn made some treats and we took them to the Prestigio staff.  They were truly excited to see us again and Sister Sorensen got a hug from each of the women who work there.  They were glad to see Elder Sorensen also.

It is good for us to be in the patron housing.  This is where we will call home for the rest of the time that we serve in the Philippines.

Patron Housing at the temple complex.  Our apartment is on the third floor on the back side of the building.

Patron Housing Office with some of the staff.

The lobby on the ground floor.

Entering our apartment.  Dinning area and living room.

Kitchen area.  Cabinet space a stove and two sinks.  The one sink has filtered water.

Our bedroom.  Not a king size bed but a nice queen.

The view out of our windows.  We are still in the Philippines.  The red Jolly Bee sign towards the top left corner is across the street from where we were staying before moving to patron housing.

Our neighbors drying their clothes.  Despite the conditions Filipinos keep themselves and their clothes clean.

The laundry room just down the hall.  We would carry our clothes here from our other apartment.

Some of the refrigerators and freezers.  We have this treadmill to work out on.

This is the view of the Cebu Stake Center and downtown Cebu looking out the window from the laundry room.

Service

We had the opportunity to help with some service projects recently.  Since we are not assigned a ward to attend on Sunday, we try to get to know more of the members by rotating between the four wards that meet in the Stake Center on the temple complex.  We usually attend multiple wards each week.  Recently the Basay Ward had a service project for one of their members and I, along with some of the other senior missionary brothers, was able to help.  The project was to put a septic tank in for Sister Patajo, a widow in the ward.  They were also going to put additional supports under her house because it swayed when there was a strong wind.  She has a larger home some distance from Cebu but has chosen to live in this home so that she can be close to the temple and serve there.  Her home is typical of many of the Filipino members.  One of the members helping on the project told us that his brother lives in a home about the same size as Sister Patajo's and has eight children.  They all sleep on the floor together.  He asked his sister-in-law how things were going and she told him that they were happy.  We are constantly reminded by seeing the living conditions here and that the people are still a happy people that it is not "things" that make us happy but family.

When told about the septic tank project I had the thought, "we are living on an Island formed by a volcano so I think I know how hard the ground will be trying to dig in it by hand".  I was not disappointed in my assessment of the working conditions.  We were glad to help but also glad that after a few hours we had some replacement help to continue the project.

The same evening as the septic tank project we were able to help unload and load thousands of shoes that are going to Tacloban to help the typhoon victims.  This project was initiated by Elder Wieland who is a senior missionary serving with his wife as family history consultants at the family history center on the Cebu temple complex.  He knows one of the men who started a non-profit organization called "Project Sole" which obtains and then distributes shoes around the world to people affected by disasters.  Brother Wieland made the contact and mentioned that there was the need in Tacloban if he wanted to consider helping.  That started things rolling and over eleven thousand pairs of shoes and twelve hundred items of clothing came to Cebu to be reloaded for shipment and distribution in Tacloban.

Zachary Stevens, who is a member and served a mission in Honduras, is over Project Sole and has taken shoes to Honduras and other areas in the world the last few years as well as Oklahoma and Colorado in 2013 because of tornadoes and flooding.  It was interesting talking to Zachary and hearing about some of his experiences in helping in other countries and specifically here in the Philippines.  He told us he was stuck in customs in Cebu with the shipment, a 40 x 10 cargo shipping container.  He was originally told that it would be Thursday, the shipment came in on Monday, before they would be able to get the paper work done to release it from the dock.  He has been around the world enough to know how things work so he passed some PESOS (gave them a bribe) and within two hours the shipment was released.  After arriving at the temple complex the boxes were unloaded from the cargo container, sorted by manufacturer and then reloaded on two trucks to be taken to Tacloban for distribution to those in need.

We appreciate the opportunities we have to serve in many ways.

Sister Patajo next to her kitchen in front of her house.  She cooked sweet potatoes for us.

The men are by the septic tank hole.  Some extra support to keep the house from swaying in the wind was needed.

Elder Sorensen using a bar to loosen the ground.

Sister Patajo had a bed which many Filipinos don't have.  A nice one room home.  

Sister Patajo and Elder Sorensen

The view was nice from her bedroom (house) window.  The tall building in the distance is Cebu City.

The cargo box on a truck with some of the boxes of shoes removed.

Zachary Stevens (left) and his photographer that photo journals their projects.

A sample of some of the shoes to be distributed.  Almost all of the shoes were new.

Rubber boots were also in the mix.

Sister Sorensen helping bag some of the loose shoes.

One of the two trucks that were loaded to take shoes to Tacloban.