Butterlies, Dentists and the Temple in Cebu

July 1, 2011

Feast or famine! Now that the summer rush is over we sometimes have as few as four or five patrons on a session, but today was different. I was the first follower on the 1 o clock session; we had 31 sisters and 21 brothers--a full house. Five of the sisters were own endowment patrons. It was a joy to watch how completely they tried to absorb everything. One of the escorts was rubbing her arms and acting very cold. I had felt chilled before the session so got my sweater from my locker (I have never worn it before here), but when I realized how cold this thin Filipino sister was, I took off my sweater and handed it to her. She was so appreciative. I think I was inspired to wear the sweater so I could share it.

The new mission president, President Smutz—an attorney from Orem, took the reins of the Cebu Mission today. I understand he had one hour of consultation with President Hansen and then took off running. President and Sister Hansen have been wonderful. We have not had a lot of dealings with them except on a social basis at our family home evenings and when they have come to the temple, but we have heard them talk several times and they were inspiring. WE will miss them, but know change is good for growth.

Larry broke half of one of his molars last week when he was eating a piece of bread. It bothered him so he made an appointment with a female member dentist to have it fixed. Two of the sisters here work together in one dental office. Sister Matthews worked on Larry for an hour and the repair looks good. The cost? 1000 pesos for white enamel filling and build up and cleaning—less than $25! He is going back next week to have a white porcelain cap put on his ugly gray dead front tooth. He’ll have a million dollar smile for 7000 pesos which is about $350! These two dentists have a very modern office and equipment; Sister San Gabriel was trained in the US. We have heard glowing reports about both of the women’s work. I had fears that the dentists here would be like the one Nelda Duke visited in Ghana where she sat on a chair under single hanging light globe and the dentist used antiquated tools….Of course, there are street dentists here who have three chairs lined up on the side of the road and use pliers to pull the troubling teeth with a spit bucket for the blood and saliva. But Larry did not visit them! Another case of black and white in the Philippines.

A few weeks ago we took an afternoon field trip to a local butterfly sanctuary when we finished at the temple. It was a delightful, instructive experience. (I know I wrote about this, but it doesn’t seem to be saved anywhere). The elderly woman who was the daughter of the university professor who started the sanctuary had a Master’s degree in entomology and also taught at a nearby university. We were her sole visitors and she spent an hour instructing us in so many interesting facts: the differences between the male and female butterflies (males are more colorful, but females are larger because they carry the eggs); caterpillars grow 5 times their original size; dwarf butterflies are small because they have eaten the “wrong” leaves; butterflies like flowers with long tubes because they have mouth parts that need that structure in order to suck the nectar; the way to tell the difference between moths and butterflies is by looking at their antennaes —(the moth antennae is bigger at the end, the butterfly antennae is more pointed and smaller at the end). There were so many more things that I can’t remember. Her father was an artist using parts of butterfly wings to create amazing, detailed mosaic portraits with tiny pieces. It was impossible to tell which of his art were oil paintings and which were butterfly mosaics until you were very close to the art pieces! At one point the sanctuary would have been beautiful. There were wrought iron sculptures of the stages of the butterfly cycle, bushes cut to look like butterflies and caterpillars, “cages” for the caterpillars and enclosures for the butterflies, but this woman and her brother were the only ones taking care of the home and yard which made up the sanctuary, and had little money to do any improvements, so it was quite rundown. We loved talking with the woman. The entrance fee was so minimal (20 pesos apiece) but Larry paid her an additional 500 pesos because we had learned so much.

I tried a new recipe for an egg casserole, but I am not including it. I used a dozen eggs---it was so blahhh! But true to his Scottish blood, Larry would not throw it out. After our initial eating experience, we tried making egg sandwiches with the leftovers, and that was better than the original dish. Then we decided to make breakfast burritos with the left over leftovers. That was the best of the three tries, but not nearly as good as just scrambled eggs would have been. Oh well, if you don’t try, you don’t know….

The rainy season is upon us once again, but the drains have been improved so that we don’t have the rivers running down the parking lot like we did last year. I will miss the rain. I will miss the temple. I will miss the people most of all—and the finish is coming so fast. We are having a special 4th of July Bar-b-que next Monday, we have our two week break the last two weeks of July when we will be going to Manila for a week, and then the home stretch of three months! Wow!We love you and miss you. Kjerstin will be baptized next week. It is times like that that we wish we were home, but we love being here too. We know Jeff and Elizabeth, Connor and Maryn had a wonderful time in Virginia. We are grateful Elizabeth will be driving home with Emily. Camille is thrilled to have Lincoln home-- they took off for San Antonio very soon after he arrived home, and they enjoyed the time they had together there--between Camille's conference meetings. Heidi and Tony and their family will likely be in the middle of packing, or traveling to Boston for a short visit before they leave for Azerberjan? for their two years there. We are grateful Natalie, David, Maddie and Ethan were able to go to Chicago for Emily's graduation, even if it was for only one day! Amy was just called as a RElief Society teacher; Daniel Ward won't want them to leave...WE found out that Paul and Laurie Duke's son Braden is serving in Whitney and Connie's ward right now--small world! Jacob turns four this month. We won't recognize our grandchildren when we come home. We pray for you all daily.