Baptism in the Ocean/Tacloban Typhoon Disaster

This baptism was held at the beach in Morong. Look at those two fine missionaries and the branch support.

Pilay/rice before it is milled.

Harvesting the rice. How would you like that for a job?

                                Rice field.



After the rice is harvested they put it out on the road to dry. They do this twice for a couple of hours each time. The farmers claim their spot on the road early in the morning. This is called palay, the rice that is still in its husk. They then take the pilay to be milled.




Rice growers rent the carabao and there drivers to prepare their fields.

Carabao/water buffalo.

The missionaries who came in on September 11 and there companions at Follow-up Training

The font was out of order, so he was baptized in the ocean.

The Super Typhoon Yolanda only brought some wind, a little rain, and a couple of hours of power outages here. The devastation was way south of us in Tacloban and Cebu.

The news broadcasted that Cebu would be hit the hardest because they were hit by a typhoon a few weeks earlier. What was not predicted was the storm surge that washed away houses and people in Tacloban.

We have one missionary in our mission whose father and mother died from the storm surge in Tacloban. Several other missionaries here had damage done to their family's home. 

The mission in Tacloban is now closed and the missionaries were reassigned. We received 15 missionaries from the area. 

Maybe you read the story about the 10 Sisters in the house where they swam from the 2nd floor to the first floor and into the laundry room, where one of the Sisters punched a hole near the ceiling so her fellow missionaries could get on the roof. The water was up to their necks. That missionary is in our mission. She is from Highland, Utah. Or actually, she's from California, but her family just moved to Highland, Utah just before she left for her mission. 

President Neilson of the Area Presidency said she would be companions with her cousin who is in our mission.

The other missionaries who came here were not in life threatening situations. They feel guilty for having left the people they loved and served.

We love everyone back home. The U.S. is a blessed country.

Subic Bay

Mission Presidency, their wives, and the missionary couples. From the left: Elder and Sister Levin from Meridian, Idaho, Pres. and Sister Banzon from the Philippines, Pres. and Sister Querido (mission president) from the Philippines, Elder and Sister Doyle from Enterprise, Utah recently Seattle, Washington area, Pres.and Sister Magrata from the Philippines, and Elder and Sister Gorringe from South Jordan.

One of the shacks people live in. The roof is made from Nipa leaves and will last 1 year.

More photos of the bats we saw on the way to Morong. Elder Gorringe is such a great  photographer.

Long boat. We rode in one sort of like this when we first got here at 100 Island. Elder 

Gorringe and Elder Murray went snorkeling. Most have a small motor.

U.S. Ship. Some kind of training was going on here.

This is the vehicle we use onour mission. Ford Ranger.

Isn't he cute?

Flooding

Family being baptized. Elders Fakai and Thorpe.

September flooding after the Super Storm. This is the street outside of our apartment.

The people waked in the street because it was safer than the side of the road. On the sides of the roads are ditches and pot holes that can't be seen when covered with muddy water.

There was epidemic disease from this flooding.

Houses were washed down the mountain, and peoples homes had 2-8 inches of mud in them. Ten families stayed in the church house on the the mission home complex.

Two zones of missionaries put on their helping hands tops and help shovel out mud from houses and a museum.