We arrived in Manila, Philippines on August 21st after 26 hours of travel from Salt Lake City to San Francisco to Hong Kong and on to Manila. We arrived, however our baggage did not. We had to wait for an hour and a half for our baggage to arrive on the next flight from Hong Kong. We were met at the Manila airport by Clem, who is a returned missionary with a family. Clem has a transportation business and has been hired by the church to meet church people and take them around to get their necessary documents for staying in the Philippines. Those documents include a drivers license which requires a urine test in a lab that we will hopefully include pictures of in a future blog update. We stayed in the Manila Holiday Inn for the nights of August 21st and 22nd. We left the morning of the 23rd for the mission home in Urdaneta City arriving there about noon. We stayed at the mission home for the nights of August 23rd and 24th and left on Saturday morning August 25th for our home in Aringay, Philippines about an hour and a half North of the mission home.
This is President and Sister Monahan, they were gracious hosts when we arrived and for the days we spent with them. During a meeting with the president we were given our List of Key Duties and those duties were discussed with us.
The duties President Monahan has tasked us with are to rescue the less-active, provide shadow leadership and training in 2 districts for Elders Quorums, Relief Society and Primary presidencies, clerks and any assistance the Branch and District presidents needs. Elder Fullmer also trains the Branch and District Clerks in the 27 branches in the six Districts, and acts as the Executive Secretary to the mission president for the Missionary Online Recommendation System (MORS).
The night before we left the mission home for our home, we went to dinner with President and Sister Monahan and President and Sister Lindsay, a senior missionary couple. We had dinner at a local restaurant and it was Sister Fullmer's first experience with Filipino food.
This photo is of the grounds at the restaurant we had dinner at.
Our SUV at the Mission Home loaded with groceries and bedding we bought in Manila and Urdaneta.
Another photo of our SUV loaded for the drive to our home. Having not driven for only a few miles in the Philippines Elder Fullmer was not pleased that he could not see out of the back window.
This is the front entry of our home in Aringay, Philippines. The home is comfortable if you consider we have shared it with a spider of about 6-7 inches in diameter. It is also the playground for several geiko's that love to scare Sister Fullmer in the kitchen. We have adjusted to having no hot water in any room in the house except for the bathroom shower head. The vehicle is a 2008 Ford Escape which is our vehicle until about December when we should be getting a newer one. Sister Fullmer got the SUV she has always wanted even if it is only for a few months and she has to go on a mission to get it.
We enjoy our home here in Aringay and hope that we can complete our mission without having to move to another area. The people here are wonderful and loving and we have established some wonderful relationships.
Our first night we had a somewhat restful evening until about 2:30am when squeals from hogs that were being slaughtered began. We did not know that across the road from our house was a hog slaughtering facility. Also, the rooster started crowing at around 4:00am and he does not stop. The crowing goes on all day. I guess the rooster knows that it is morning somewhere in the world. The dogs bark on and off all night, and when we say dogs I mean many dogs.
This is a photo of the only hot water heater we have. It is located in the shower and you turn if on and off manually. Note the wiring in the upper right corner. They are wires stripped bare and pushed into the electrical plug. Elder Fullmer had them put a plug on the end of the live electrical wires and after plugging the cord in they put electrical tape around the plug. We still have a concern showering with a live electrical outlet above our heads.
This chapel is located in the town where we live. Our first Sunday at church we were impressed with the warmth and friendship of the Filipino people. We were asked to sit on the stand and bear our testimonies. They treat us like we are very special people. They sing the hymns in English but most of the talks and even more of the prayers are in Tagalog. Because of the length of words in Tagalog, the prayers are quite long. We sure felt the spirit in this branch and all branches we have been to even though we do not understand the language.
We enjoy our home here in Aringay and hope that we can complete our mission without having to move to another area. The people here are wonderful and loving and we have established some wonderful relationships.
Our first night we had a somewhat restful evening until about 2:30am when squeals from hogs that were being slaughtered began. We did not know that across the road from our house was a hog slaughtering facility. Also, the rooster started crowing at around 4:00am and he does not stop. The crowing goes on all day. I guess the rooster knows that it is morning somewhere in the world. The dogs bark on and off all night, and when we say dogs I mean many dogs.
This is a photo of the only hot water heater we have. It is located in the shower and you turn if on and off manually. Note the wiring in the upper right corner. They are wires stripped bare and pushed into the electrical plug. Elder Fullmer had them put a plug on the end of the live electrical wires and after plugging the cord in they put electrical tape around the plug. We still have a concern showering with a live electrical outlet above our heads.
This chapel is located in the town where we live. Our first Sunday at church we were impressed with the warmth and friendship of the Filipino people. We were asked to sit on the stand and bear our testimonies. They treat us like we are very special people. They sing the hymns in English but most of the talks and even more of the prayers are in Tagalog. Because of the length of words in Tagalog, the prayers are quite long. We sure felt the spirit in this branch and all branches we have been to even though we do not understand the language.
We had many more pictures but they were wiped out when our computer crashed and was worked on by a local technician. We were fortunate to get photo's from other missionary couples here in our mission. If we are able to recover or retake these photo's we will include them in there proper place.
A few weeks after arriving in our mission, we went to a Zone Conference in Baguio, Philippines. This is the hotel we stayed in. It was very nice and the rooms were extremely nice. It was a four star hotel and only cost the equivalent of about $85 dollars. Baguio was originally built by the U.S. during WW2 as a recreation spot for servicemen. It is in the mountains and at 5,300 feet, it is a little cooler than where we live and was a welcome relief for us and the women love being able to have a nice warm shower and being able to wash their face in warm water.
Elder and Sister Ardern of the Philippine Area Presidency. Elder Ardern presided over the Zone Conference.
Two sweet sister missionaries in our area of Aringay. The missionary on the left was transferred a couple of weeks after this photo was taken.
After eating a wonderful lunch, most of the missionaries sang happy birthday to the missionaries who had birthdays in the last 3 months.
Mail call for missionaries is a highlight of any day. These missionaries at the Baguio Zone Conference are getting their mail prior to boarding local transportation to go back to the 3 zones where they are living.
After eating a wonderful lunch, most of the missionaries sang happy birthday to the missionaries who had birthdays in the last 3 months.
Mail call for missionaries is a highlight of any day. These missionaries at the Baguio Zone Conference are getting their mail prior to boarding local transportation to go back to the 3 zones where they are living.
The above photo and the following pictures are of the hotel, it's lobby and grounds.
The fireplace in the hotel lobby. The Fullmer's, the Lindsay's, the Monahan's, the Engles, and the Stamp's.
The meals were excellent at the hotel and reasonably priced.
Mines View park is an area on the outskirts of Baguio for shopping and used to be an operating mine. Please note that Elder Fullmer is minus a lot of the hair he usually has. This courtesy of an over zealous barber.
Elder Fullmer trying out the comfort level of one of the attractions in Mines View.
Photo in one of the shops in Baguio.
Dried Fish and Corn, but we had already eaten. So.......
You can get your picture taken sitting on a very attractive painted horse.
This view is of the country side and hills surrounding Mines View outside of Baguio. The rain is in the distance but missed us so we had a good afternoon of shopping and sight seeing after the Zone Conference.
We are really getting into the culture.
In this photo note the pine trees on the left, fern at the bottom of the picture and tall bamboo on the right. Interesting how they co-exist together.
With cauliflower you sometimes get fresh meat if you want to take it.
Our house is located in an area that has a police academy and a school close by. These photo's taken outside our bedroom window are of pigs being roasted for some sort of celebration. The fern leaves touch our bedroom window.
One of the three modes of transportation for both people and business. This is a tricycle that is composed of a small motercycle and a side car. There are literally thousands of them and they make traffic a mess because the are usuall slow. This is the cheapest mode of transportation. There are a lot of cars but most people rely on the tricycle, jeepney and buses to get around.
This photo and the photo below are of the jeepney's.
Sunsets in the Philippines are beautiful.
Our local pharmacy.
Another beautiful sunset.
All banks have heavily armed security. All malls and most stores have security of some kind. The larger stores have heavily armed security. The malls check all handbags prior to the women being allowed to enter the mall.
This is looking down from our house. Basketball is a big game in the Philippines. Every chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a basketball court and some have two. The courts are open to the public every day except Sunday and Monday night.
Bananas are very delicious. They stay firm for a long time, some are no bigger than your thunb. You have to buy the bunch as seen in the photo, not individual bananas.
During our walk down our street leading to the main highway we took this photo. They loved having their photo taken.
Getting our car detailed for only $2.35 American.
Some of the children of the less active members that we visited. They are so loving and joyful and loved having their picture made. Most Filipino's think we are much younger than we are but the these children thought otherwise. They waved goodbye and called us Lolo and Lola which is great grandfather and great grandmother in Tagalog.
One of the houses we visited. Note the baby in the swing. Following is a close up of the baby.
The baby's grandmother was baby sitting this child. The baby is in a home made swing.
In the center of the picture is the cooking area consisting of a cement bowl that they put sticks in to burn for heat.
A path to many of the families in one area that we visited.
A very nice elderly lady that we visited.
All banks have heavily armed security. All malls and most stores have security of some kind. The larger stores have heavily armed security. The malls check all handbags prior to the women being allowed to enter the mall.
This is looking down from our house. Basketball is a big game in the Philippines. Every chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a basketball court and some have two. The courts are open to the public every day except Sunday and Monday night.
Bananas are very delicious. They stay firm for a long time, some are no bigger than your thunb. You have to buy the bunch as seen in the photo, not individual bananas.
During our walk down our street leading to the main highway we took this photo. They loved having their photo taken.
Getting our car detailed for only $2.35 American.
Some of the children of the less active members that we visited. They are so loving and joyful and loved having their picture made. Most Filipino's think we are much younger than we are but the these children thought otherwise. They waved goodbye and called us Lolo and Lola which is great grandfather and great grandmother in Tagalog.
One of the houses we visited. Note the baby in the swing. Following is a close up of the baby.
The baby's grandmother was baby sitting this child. The baby is in a home made swing.
In the center of the picture is the cooking area consisting of a cement bowl that they put sticks in to burn for heat.
A path to many of the families in one area that we visited.
A very nice elderly lady that we visited.
A fish farm owned by one of the families we visited. When a typhoon comes in the fish float in the extra water and die. This man will lose his livelyhood and will have to start over. In 2009, there were 32 typhoons that devastated the Philippines.
This was a week long event and the Filipino government supports this week events. The government is very thankful for the church and it's support of families.
Some of the food is very delicious. We are having lunch after the Philippine Family Week celebration. The tables are covered with banana leaves which serve not only as a table covering but also the food is placed on the leaves.
The cookout after the completion of the Philippine Family Week event at one of the branches.
Note the cooking facility. We will end this posting with this photo of a precious and darling little girl. We know that our Father in Heaven loves all his children and we are so happy to be in the Philippines and serving his children both large and small. The gospel is true and we are privileged
to serve in this part of our Heavenly Father's kingdom.
