July 4, 2010
Dear Ones,
What a different 4th of July. No parades, no picnics, no fireworks, no patriotic devotional, no red white and blue T=shirts, no cotton candy. I don’t even have potatoes to make potato salad. But it is still the 4th of July—probably not as hot as a Utah 4th of July, but certainly more humid. Maybe more like the 1776 founding fathers experienced in Philadelphia when they signed that inspired declaration that made us an independent nation. How grateful I am for the sacrifices made by those great men. I know they were chosen for just such a time and purpose. Because of them Joseph Smith was able to be the instrument for restoring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth in a place where freedom of religion was practiced. I am doubly thankful to those great men; because of their heroic actions we live in a land of freedom and are blessed with the opportunities that come with membership in the Church.
WE were given the opportunity to choose where we would attend Church this morning. All the others stayed here at one of the three wards that meets in the stake center just a parking lot away from our housing, but Larry opted to attend one of the ‘”away” wards. So at 7:40 we hailed a taxi just outside the temple gates and went on a “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” to the Labangon Ward in the Punta Princesa barangay about 25 minutes from the temple. Our taxi driver maneuvered the taxi in and around jeepneys, bicycles, buses, other taxis, barely missing several of the aforementioned and racing down narrow streets bordered by people sitting at tables eating bowls of rice they had purchased from sidewalk food stalls and tiny open air shops already serving customers . He used his horn and brakes constantly. WE had been told it would take 45 minutes to get to the church. I think we broke the record.
We arrived 45 minutes early and yet within minutes after we arrived, ward members started coming in. One of the first was Sister Nanagas, our sweet 88 year old sister from the temple, who plays the piano for sacrament meeting (and did a very fine job—she’s probably the best accompanist we’ve heard in a sacrament meeting!). She showed me the hymn book she had marked in red and blue colored pencil to show where the introduction started and stopped because her eyes can’t see the little signs that indicate the introduction. She also teaches the 2nd Sunday Relief Society lesson!
All who bore their testimonies testified of the temple or of the Prophet. I added my testimony to theirs.
WE invited the Filipino couple who are in charge of the Patron Housing for dinner. I don’t know if they enjoyed the pork chops and dressing, but Sister Gale (pronounced Galley) loved being asked and loved telling us all about her family and background. They live on the first floor and don’t have much association with us on the third floor. She mentioned to me that she had been very lonely, even though they have been extremely busy. I think Larry was inspired to ask them to dinner. They were called to serve an 18 month mission. Their home is on the neighboring island of Negros where she retired as a high school English teacher and was called as the regional employment specialist. She told us all kinds of things such as how she found resource people to teach unemployed Church members life skills. One taught city people how to raise odorless pigs using organic pits, so their neighbors wouldn’t complain of the smells. She has three children, two of her own and a niece she raised who is a single 38 year old nurse. Her daughter and son are both married—the son in medical training in Japan, the daughter living in her parents’ home while she and her husband build their own home. She has one three year old granddaughter whom she loves and misses so much. Filipino grandparents play a huge role in the raising of their grandchildren who are close by them. Brother Gale was a bishop and a member of the stake presidency. Sister Gale has breast cancer and is receiving treatment right now. She said one of her little dogs discovered it; he would lie by her and sniff and sniff at her right breast, day after day; this was something he had never done before. Her mother told her she had better go to a doctor to have a check-up. Luckily she is in stage one of breast cancer. I am amazed they called her to this very taxing position. They are so humble and obedient. They said, “ If this is where the Lord wants us, we will go.”
We are finishing our July 4th holiday--holy day, and you are just beginning yours. Enjoy some cotton candy for me!
We love you and pray always for your health and safety. Love, Mom, Grandma, Mary and Dad, Grandpa, Larry
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