Well, I hardly know where to begin! We have had some nasty colds for going on two weeks now and we are pretty tired of coughing! We thought we were just getting over them about three days ago and we both developed sinus infections and coughs. We really miss Nyquil and Dayquil at moments like these but we quite accidentally discovered these little babies…..
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| Snow Bears |
These are candies sold in every tindahan (a corner store that is on every corner and several other places in between the corners). They only cost a peso or less and everyone here loves them as candy. But they have a very strong menthol flavor and they are really nasty!! But, they are fabulous cough drops! We have consumed at least 50 of these nasty little Snow Bears this week in an effort to soothe our sore throats. They are also very good at clearing the sinuses and if you ever don't have one and start coughing in church….10 of them come flying through the air to you because everyone carries them!
We started our week and ended our week with baptisms and I can't think of a better way to do either start or finish a week. On Tuesday we had the very unique experience of witnessing the baptism on Panglao Island of Jessah who is deaf. Elder Ludbey from Australia started teaching her about 6 months ago. Now, Elder Ludbey did not know any sign language before he met Jessah so he taught himself the alphabet that first night and just started adding more and more signs to his teaching. He was transfered a few months ago and Jessah had just been waiting for her mother to come visit so she could see her get baptized. Since Elder Ludbey is the only Elder in the mission that knows how to sign he got permission to travel to Panglao to perform the baptism. It was pretty cool. He signed for Jessah the prayer and then repeated it audibly with his arm at the square for the rest of us in the room. Jessah was so happy, she just kept hugging everyone and giggling. But the really cool part was when she bore her testimony to us in sign language while Elder Ludbey interpreted.
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| Sister Jessah Vales and Elder Ludbey |
We had a few slower days this week and we were glad for that as we really were not feeling so well. One day my good friends Annabelle Nueva and her daughters, Sariah and Shakira came over to teach me how to make my favorite Philippino dish, lumpia! It is like a fried toastado. It is a spicy pork mixture that you wrap in a very thin wrapper and then deep fat fry! I really like them but them don't really like me so I must exercise a little self control when they are served.
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| Annabelle and Sariah frying Lumpia! |
Another fairly regular event that we get to experience here on Bohol are scheduled blackouts. They turn off the electrical power to the whole island for 14 hours!!! We have experienced this 3 times now. Apparently they are trying to upgrade some of the power lines and transformers and such. The islanders don't as much as blink at this inconvenience. Most of them have minimal power if any in their homes anyway. They nearly all cook on fires and none of them but us have air conditioning. Well, we are pretty whiny with out our air-con so when we knew the black out was scheduled for Saturday we planned a long drive so that we could be in our truck most of the day. We drove over to Garcia-Hernandez. This is a little town on the opposite side of Bohol from where we live and we met a few weeks ago a wonderful family over there.
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| This is Emma and Bill Smalley. |
This is Emma and Bill Smalley. Emma is a convert to the church and Bill is a newly rebaptized member of the church. They are wonderful people. Bill is an American and Emma a Filipina. They have built a beautiful home and they have an open door for nearly anyone who stops by. You can never leave the house with out a good two hour visit, because Bill loves to talk or a fabulous meal, because Emma loves to cook. We were also treated to one of Bill's famous homemade apple pies that he baked under great difficulty just for us! We have come to love these people in short order. Bill is a builder and we took a very tired, broken down desk to him and he fixed it all up and made it look like new. I can testify that the trip to their home is worth it just for the great food and chatter! And, it kept us away from the house for the whole day so we did not have to endure the black out without air-con!
Well, I think I have nearly storied you to death so I will turn the keyboard over to my husband to finish off the week. I really missed being home this week when my baby brother got married. I am so happy for you Scott and Amy! Kevin and I are living proof the second time around can be wonderful.
We love you all so much and really appreciate all of your support for us all of the time. It is great to hear from you and we especially love photos even though it takes our computer a few hours or days to down load them. It is worth the wait. I love the Lord and I am so happy to be part of His Army just now. The work of spreading the gospel to all of Bohol it wonderful. We have remarkable experiences that strengthen our own testimonies of this great work. Have a great week!
Love you forever,
Sister Bell (Nanay, Lola, Amigo)
Kumusta mo mga Amigo's sa karin simana? (How are you doing this week all my friends)
Another whirlwind week coughing our heads off all the way through it.
Well I will start off with a great FHE at the Viador family. They are the family we had the funeral with in February for baby Manoa. Well, we met with the family and had a great time with a lot of the other members of the Sagbayan Group. Bother Viador was there. He is the only nonmember in the family now. He is so gracious and inviting to all of us. We hope he will become a member soon to complete the family unit. He always cooks the food for us and he makes the most lami kaayo (delicious very) fish that I really like. He sells fish for a living and works very hard at it.
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| This is the way a typical Philippine meal looks for honored guests. |
Next is Pagbuyagan si Sister Lordes sa Ubay Ocean (Sister Lordes Baptism in Ocean at Ubay). This happens very often lately in this area. Ubay is on fire as pertaining to missionary work. Saturday was the baptism of Sister Lordes. She is joining the church with a great testimony and a desire to help many people while in the Church of Jesus Christ.
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| She was taught by Elder Borrego, Elder Head and Elder Laga'aia. |
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Sister Lordes being baptized by he fiancé President Mendez (Branch President in Ubay)
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They plan to be married this next month and together lead and help the Ubay Branch to be a strong unit in the Church.
Just by way of information we broke the record for the number of people hauled in the Multi Cab. On Saturday we had 31 people and 4 bikes. That is a new record. We will see how long that holds up.
Final story. We learned on the way to church today in Sagbayan that there was a mix up by the power company on the power bill and they shut off the power to half of the building. The half shut off was the garage converted to chapel and there are no window in the room. So after the great fashion we love so much about these people, church was set up upstairs in the hall and the class rooms and 60 people had Sacrament Meeting and there was no complaints of any kind. They are always thankful for what they have and never complain about things of this nature.
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This is a good shot of a 60 person Sacrament Meeting setting up for services.
We had people in every room and the sacrament table and speakers in the common hallway (which of course was right next to the bathroom)!
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I am very grateful for the great journey we are in the middle of. The Lord really does direct his work and helps each of us to accomplish the tasks we are called upon to do. He makes all men more than they could ever be by their own power and fills in all the gaps. We and the missionaries are supported by him and your prayers each and every day. The prayers for the missionaries in the Temples of the Lord each day buoy us up and give us the strength of the Lord to do his work.
I love the Lord and I love his work.
Salamat Kaayo Pamilya sa mga Amigo's!
Elder Bell (Tatay, LoLo and Amigo's)
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