Liloan is one of the Stakes that is in our area of responsibility so I to meet with President Tanner, the Mission President over the Cebu East Mission at the mission home, which is within the resort. I scheduled a meeting with him at 10AM.
When we got our mission call it stated that we would be assigned to the Cebu Mission but after arriving here the SRC Director assigned us the responsibility of providing Self-Reliance support for the Cebu East Mission which is the northern part of Cebu and the island of Bohol.
As usual trying to locate the resort was an adventure; and after taking far too many left turns I concluded that we were lost. I flagged down a motorized tricycle and offered him P150 if he would take us to the road leading us to the bridge that would get us heading in the direction of the resort. Yup, we were lost and after some backtracking he got us where we needed to be, finally arriving at 9:20 at this beautiful gated residential ocean resort.
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| Resort Entrance |
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| Resort Club House |
The girls met up with the ward and I waited until 10. Then Jenee and I walked across the street to the Mission Home! .
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| Mission Home |
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| Elder & Sister Halladay / President & Sister Tanner |
Upon our arrival we were not only welcomed by President & Sister Tanner but also by Elder & Sister Halladay, MLS Missionaries for the island of Bohol. They were originally assigned to do SR on Bohol but found it far too confusing and difficult so they requested to be changed to MLS. We spent about 30 minutes with the four of them when Jenee was summoned and had to leave to participate in the RS function. I remained for about 2 hours where we discussed the SR needs on the island of Bohol as well as in Bogo, another area in the Cebu East Mission.
The President and Elder Halladay were so elated that someone was here to assist in the Cebu East Mission in relation to the Self-Reliance Program. The SR program has been in Cebu for about 18 months and while there is some good success in some areas, sadly a lot of confusion concerning its implementation still exists. We tentatively laid out some plans for Bohol and with the Halladays' help contacting the District/Branch Presidents we hope to arrange some re-training in the very near future. We may end up staying on the island for several days at a time if this all works out. President Tanner offered a vacant missionary apartment for our use while on the island. We will just have to see how all this develops.
After a long HOT and HUMID day we left for home and finding our way home was much easier and I did not get disoriented this time. We arrived home tired ready to sleep.
Thursday at 4 PM we headed out for a place we had not yet been to and really had no idea how to get there. We were just directed to drive to Noga (40 minute drive) and then head west across the mountain towards Toledo to a place called Lamuk, another 40 minutes. We were to look for Elder & Sister Hall (MLS Missionaries) in their white Ranger Truck along the side of the road. After a slow and winding drive up the canyon we found the Halls waiting; we followed them another 30 minutes of remote, tight mountain dirt roads to the location for the conference. Along the way we stopped so Elder Hall could show us the Lamuk Branch building. There is was, right on the side of the road with a sign hanging on the fence.
We just could not believe our eyes, out here in what seemed like the middle of the jungle, if I can use that term in the Philippines, in what seemed like a shanty town was a branch of the church. Elder Hall gave us the fascinating history of the area. .
After driving for approximately 30 or so minutes through the beautiful countryside and several little townships or villages along the way we turned the corner and there nestled along the mountain side was this incredible and out-of-the-ordinary resort. Here in the middle of nowhere a place so beautiful and pristine.
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| Our bungalow |
We got checked in to our bungalow and then were invited to have dinner which consisted of rice, cooked cabbage & vegetables and deep fried fish, a real traditional Philippine meal and really quite good. After dinner we attended the youth talent show put on by the various branches. Each of the 8 branches presented a dance from various parts of the world with full colorful dress and music. They asked Jenee, Sister Darby and Murry to be the judges for the event, I took pictures.
It was late by the time they finished so we set off for bed. Friday morning we were up at 6AM for breakfast which consisted of rice, cooked cabbage and vegetables and scrambled eggs, the traditional breakfast meal for the Phlippines. Then we went to the room that was prepared for our youth conference presentation on the Self-Reliance program which began at 8:15AM. This was our second attempt at this and I think it went off rather well. The kids seem to love the 2 games Jenee does with them with a purpose: Paper Plates Stepping Stones, and Trust Circle Sit. The kids also loved the music video "Get an Education" featuring Filo singers. Quite hip.
We finished at about 10 AM, packed up our things, said our good byes to everybody, then set out for home. Elder Hall got us headed out in the right direction but insisted that along the way he showed us to the new chapel that was being built. The local saints called it the Lamuk Temple - out in the middle of nowhere will be this beautiful building which is to be finished in August.
We headed out once again down this narrow road of rocks and dirt and occasional pavement. The road was barely wide enough for two small cars in most places.
We hadn't driven 500 to 600 yards when we came around a corner and in the road (the narrow section) was an accident blocking traffic both ways. A small mini truck hit a motorcycle. Unknownst to us, in this country nothing is moved until the police inspect the accident. Problem is that the nearest police station was 35 - 45 minutes away and who in their right mind wanted to sit there, certainly not us. I got out and surveyed the situation which was not all that bad, nobody was hurt, just a tire on the bike bent a little. After some prodding and coaching I finally got 4 male bystanders to help me pick up the back end of the mini truck and move it to the side of the road so we could pass by. Well, we got it moved quite easily and with not an inch to spare we got past the mini truck and headed bumpy bump down the dirt road. Where is the 4x4 when you need it? Too bad we didn't get a picture! But just glad they feared us Americans or something, to let us talk them into moving the truck. We didn't stick around, but we were all guessing they moved it back when we left.
Arrived home exhausted and ready for a good nights sleep.
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