July 5, 2010
Dear Ones,
Three other missionary couples went with us to the Waterfront Hotel’s buffet dinner to celebrate the 4th of July in a very unorthodox way. The Waterfront is the “large and spacious building” we see from our front window, but besides being a gambling casino, it is a gorgeous hotel with a two different buffets. We chose the more expensive, and everything was served elegantly besides being delicious. It certainly was not “The Golden Corral”!
Elder and Sister Orrin Peck, senior missionaries in charge of public affairs, drove us to visit one of their investigator families this afternoon. This young family lived in the Guadalupe barangay or town. After driving through city streets and down narrow roads we parked and began a steep climb by foot up a green mountainside in a lightly falling rain. Sister Peck had bought plastic chairs for this family. She said they had nothing to sit on in their one room house. Elder Peck and Larry carried them while we sisters carried our umbrellas. We passed several one room dwellings; at one the man called out, “Where you going?” “To Pablo’s” Elder Peck answered. “You take him chairs? “ asked the man. “Yes”. “You bring chairs for me too?” he asked. “No, just for Pablo and Gina”, Elder Peck said. Gina met us for the last part of the climb. Pecks had given her a cell phone so they could communicate with the family about when they would come, and she was concerned because we were a few minutes late. Their little house was built on stilts with beautifully woven mats hung for the walls. I was impressed with how Gina had cardboard pots with flowers in them along the path leading to their front door and a little garden planted behind and under part of their house. Banana and coconuts trees grew on the hillside by her little fenced yard. Four curious smiling faces peered out the opening that was the front doorway. The ladder leading to the opening didn’t look very stable but Larry and Elder Peck scrambled right up. Larry was concerned that I might not get in because there was a 2 and ½ foot “gate” at the door to keep the young children from falling out onto the ground. I made it up the ladder but when I saw that the floor of the house was pieces of bamboo nailed to 2 by 2’s I was sure I would break right through them! This was a floor made for short, tiny Filipino people who probably don’t weigh even 100 pounds. Gingerly I swung my legs over the gate, careful to place my feet over the supporting boards and not just on the bamboo. Pecks had brought the leftovers from their TGIF lunch (I imagine it was most if not all their lunch since they knew how poor this family is). Larry and I had taken two packages of graham crackers and a package of dried mangoes to share with the children and their parents. They were so appreciative. They didn’t speak much English, but we found that Gina’s parents had died when she was young, leaving her to raise her younger brothers and sisters. She had met Pablo, but they didn’t have the money for a marriage license so didn’t marry, but they have four beautiful children, a 5 year old, a 4 year old, a 2 and a 1 year old, I think. Pecks brought an application for a non-birth certificate so Gina could apply for a birth certificate which will be a guess-timate of her birth since there are no records, so that she and Pablo can get married. This is just one of the documents necessary. Pecks have been working with government officials for this for quite some time since they have to be married in order to be baptized. Pecks found Pablo and Gina and their four children living on the streets in Cebu as squatters and were impressed with their devotion to their family. They have helped them get the materials to build their home, paid for the land (3000 pisos to the supposed land manager, which mean if the real owner comes along and tells them to move, they must, but they probably will be there for the next 20 years at least). They paid for training Pablo as a welder so he can get a good job instead of each of the parents walking to the wharf alternately each morning to get fish to bring back to sell at their local market. Pecks have also bought medicine when they needed it. They told Gina and Pablo that when they had to be away at other branches, we would watch for them at Church and sit with them. We said when we didn’t have other ward assignments we would do that. This young family hikes down the mountain, catches a jeepney, transfers to another jeepney in order to get to Church. It was very eye-opening to see how many of these people live—no electricity, no running water (Gina walks farther up the hill to a hose to fill a mop sized bucket and pays about 3 cents for the water). Gina walks her 5 year old to school which is about a mile away, and then goes back to pick her up. She is up and down that mountain several times a day. Gina considers the Pecks her mother and father since they have shown so much love. The Pecks feel their investment in this family has changed their lives. WE take so much forgranted! Love, Mom, Grandma, Mary
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