We're Immersing

Now that we've settled in a bit....and know how to outsmart the ants....not!, we're finding our niches.  Your dad has developed a great plan for cleaning up the membership records, which are in a sorry state of disarray.  I will be teaching piano lessons at the Institute.  The institute director is very excited to accept my services.  We need to fix 4 of the keyboards first.  The director is also very excited to accept your dad's & my offer to teach a Family History class.  He hasn't been able to find anyone to teach it in the past. This will be a class for credit, whatever that means.  Anyway, it's good to find our niche.  Meanwhile we have been going with different missionaries each day to visit the less actives in their areas.  It is very humbling to see how people in a 3rd world country live.....especially the poor people in a 3rd world country.  I cried all the way home and into the night after visiting a sweet sister who lives in a little windowless hut....with a dirt floor.  The chickens, ducks, and cats were wandering in and out of the doorless entry.  I wanted to get a service project together, take wheelbarrows and bags of cement to her home and fix things up. It's good your dad is around to temper my impetousness.  When I told one of the elders how I cried all night, he said if I cry each time I see a dirt-floored home, I will be crying for the next 17 months.  I'm sure he's right.

Sitting in another family's home, I didn't notice until towards the end of the visit, there was a little newborn puppy wobbling out from under a chair.  Two other puppies were housed under it.  Very typical situation. Most of the indoor furniture is what we use as outdoor furniture: plastic.  I feel so guilty having a spacious apartment....much less a spacious home in Centurville. Cunninghams can have our home.....permanently.  Your dad & I can live in a van down by the river when we return.

Another home we visited was a 2-story apartment. The wife was ironing when we arrived.  She had to put away the ironing board and ironing just to make room for the 4 of us to enter. Your dad & I were sitting in the only 2 chairs in the home.  The sisters were sitting on the floor opposite us.  We were knee-to-knee.  The rest of the family (2 boys and the parents) were crammed into the rest of the room.  A ladder led to the upstairs sleeping quarters.

We visited a farmer's wife, way out in the boonies.  We sat on her porch for her lesson....chickens and chicks wandering around.  She is an investigator and keeps her Book of Mormon under her pillow to
to remind her to read.  I held her beautiful 3-month-old baby on my lap during the lesson.  The family could only afford 1 more child, and wanted a girl.  When their prayers were answered with a gorgeous baby girl, they named her "Given Grace".  After we left her home, your dad asked me if I noticed the baby had no diaper on under her little outfit.  Hum, almost a deal breaker!


The other night we were walking down a dirt road. I kicked against something. I almost reached down, thinking I had dropped something, but changed my mind. One of the elders we were with shined a flashlight on my "dropped" item. Another deal breaker in the form of a huge, plump, juicy frog! The tender mercy of the night: I didn't step on it. I grabbed your dad & "Mama, Daddied" all the way to the car.

Even though the living conditions are very sad, the spirit of the Philippine people is amazing.  They have always dropped everything and warmly invited us into their homes. They bring fans and plug them in when we arrive.  They can't afford electricity, so having us use their electric fans is very generous. They are accepting of the messages the missionaries leave with them.  Even though we are visiting the inactive, they are reading their copies of the Book of Mormon.  The night we were working with the sisters, the young 14-year-old girl, Garlan, accepted the challenge to be baptized on August 4th.  I'm already planning baptism presents. Pray that my presents will be used. I'm praying for a Deseret Book to open in Laoag!

We will have internet in our apartment in 2 weeks, so my blog entries will be quite sporadic until then.  We love you!

Kita kit
Elder & Sister Eddington