Two days after my last post, I lost one of my very best friends Brenda Andersen. We used to be hiking buddies (and many other things!) and she would often remind me, “Nina, slow down and enjoy the hike… don’t hurry, smell the roses!” I have always loved to hike but I often treated it like an exercise session to get through as quickly as possible and enjoy the accomplishment of doing something hard. Brenda helped me to TRULY enjoy the beauty of hiking in the country we loved so much! Both her and Randy Wolfe were some of my best friends of all time outside of my family members and I will miss her terribly! Like Randy - she was one of those friends you could not see for a year or more - but pick up right where we left off when we saw each other. Brenda’s husband Jay (Skip) and their children and grandchildren must be heartbroken, but we will see each other again. This week was a somewhat bitter reminder of how very, very hard it is to be 8,000 miles away from family and friends! Losing a brother-in-law and a best friend is hard enough; but the inability to visit with family and friends during the grieving process is almost as hard as losing them. I’ve been bawling off/on for a week and in spite of loving and supportive messages from family and friends, it is time to exercise faith in the work we decided to do and the commitments we made to this missionary work. I have faith in our Heavenly Father’s plan, and will try to be happy again knowing that this “mortal” life isn’t the end and that family, friends, and loved ones will see each other again…
I think I’ll include some pictures and try to get back on track with my normal blog entries.
ABOVE: Elders Mendoza and San Ramon. We are FOREVER moving missionaries from apartment to apartment. Partly because they change assignment areas and sometimes, we open or close apartments ... or even once in a while ... someone will claim an apartment is "haunted" so we switch them around. Anywaaaay - Elder Mendoza (far left) is really fun! He is from the Manilla area and when his family learned to speak English ... they decided that if they were going to speak English - they would do it with a "cool accent" ... so this kid has a vocabulary of the captain of a debate team AND a gorgeous British accent and has never been near the British Isles! Elder San Ramon is one of our current housing elders which means he is ALWAYS helping us load up, take down, or drive hours to get someone moved etc. etc.
BELOW: Below from left to right is Elder Magpantay, Abiera, and again Elder Mendoza (who has been nicknamed Montezuma). They are all favorites! Elder Magpantay reminds me of our grandson Lucas in a grown-up version, and Elder Abiera is the other housing elder. He loves his crazy hat and was sweating profusely so he tucked a rag up under the hat to help with the heat.
ABOVE: I can't remember if I put this picture in previously. Roy is doing what the Filipinos call his "gwapo face" or Handsome face, and Elder Ardon just left the mission office to open up a new area on the very southern tip of our island. Sister Baje is front, and center and we absolutely LOVE her! Her superpower is eating (I kid you not!) ..... she is tiny and beautiful and can out-eat most elders hands-down, so we LOVE feeding her!
BELOW: I've said it before but there are some beautiful old Spanish churches and cathedrals - some dating back to the 1500s when they brought Christianity to the islands. The two pictures below were taken within about 10 minutes of each other. It was a stormy evening, and we were feeding what felt like 100 missionaries at the local Macdo's (McDonalds) and the clouds changed within minutes giving us a very different view of that cathedral on the hill.
BELOW: Is one of my favorite things here.... I don't know why but it always tickles me! As mentioned before - it is HOT here - like KILLER hot. It is very common for guys to roll up their shirt and cool off their belly! Nobody is ashamed of their bellies, and they are NOT body shy. They are proud of their beauty AND their bellies, and I happened to catch a great picture of this guy. They are very polite to each other and very complimentary and it would never occur to anyone to criticize this guy for cooling off his belly. I LOVE these people!
BELOW: blurry but an amazing look at the color in the never-ending cumulous clouds here.
BELOW: Last but NOT least - We were driving (AGAIN) and this is a real picture of a REAL guy, plowing a field with a REAL LIVE caribou! Note the machete hanging from his belt and the flip-flops on his feet! We stopped and turned around to get a better picture and he actually smiled and posed! Filipinos have an entire culture about photos and I don't care if they are caught off-guard, or have one tooth in their head, they will ALWAYS smile for a photo. If I can find another photo of him smiling, I'll include it.
I have asked people about farming equipment and the harvesting of sugar cane, such as "why not bring in heavy equipment to do this hard work?" but they always tell me..... "oh no, we would never bring in heavy equipment because some people wouldn't have jobs then!" The caribou are fun to see when they are in a stream, and/or resting... they are just like hippos and love to get completely under the water to cool off! There are millions of people, and big, crazy cities with unending traffic - but there are also fisherman that fish every day and fix their nets at night... along with simple rice farmers that still plant/harvest rice by hand, cut sugar cane with a machete, and farmers bringing their vegetables to market every week! I have come to really love the markets and will miss them when we finally get back to the states.
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