Dear Sweet Agustins

We have the sweetest friend who comes each week and cleans up after us. She is so soft-spoken, cheerful, and speaks kindly of everyone.  Sister Agustin is an ex-relief society president.   

The Agustins have three children.  Their oldest daughter, Hazel, is a returned missionary and is currently a substitute teacher.  Next comes Maveric, who is also a returned missionary.  He is a recent college graduate, looking for a job in education.  Peter will be graduating from college in March, also in education. 

Peter made these stars, called parol.   They are made of rice grass that he spent a long time looking in rice fields to find.  How do you like our umbrella-stand-turned-Christmas tree?

The Agustin family joined the Church seven years ago.  Previous to joining the Church, they belonged to the Catholic Church. They all went to church on Sundays and stood at the back of the cathedral. After about fifteen minutes, Bishop Agustin would say, "Ok, I've prayed. Let's go."  And that was that....they exited the church!

Sister Agustin arrives promptly at 9am every Monday and doesn't leave until 5pm.  She says she will always stay until her work is finished, so I hide the last of the ironing from her, or pitch in and help her finish whatever she's doing so she will leave on time. She resists my meddling, but I win out.

Notice the window in the picture below. One day I found Sister Agustin washing the outside glass. She had opened the window, was standing on the top metal of the half window, was hanging on with one hand, and washing the outside glass with the other. She must have feet of cement. There's no way my wimpy Americano feet could withstand the pain of standing on a thin metal frame like she did. Nor would I be willing to take my life in my hands just for a clean window.

Here are some other things she does for us:

 

Going into our back courtyard to hang clothes this morning, she found a dead cat. She told us about it, but by the time your dad had found the landlord, she had put the cat in plastic bags to haul off.  I chastised her, but she said that was part of her job. Not! (I could have taken a picture of the whole process, but decided some pictures are better left untaken.)

Sister Agustin spoils us rotten by doing such detailed, careful work.  She even washes my hand mirror every week and tucks my shoelaces inside my jogging shoes. She would iron my nightgowns if I didn't hide them from her.

Besides being the best worker ever, she is also the best source of information. When we need to know where to buy things and directions for going places, Sister Agustin comes through.

The apartment sparkles when she's done.  She never leaves without hugging me and saying, "Love you so much, Sister." What a sweetheart.

***************

Sister Agustin's husband, Bishop Agustin, is the bishop of Laoag Ward 4. Notice his cute straw hat with "elder" woven into it.

He washes all the mission vehicles every Monday, plus our car...... and immaculately, I might add.  

Sometimes we are in a hurry and don't wait for him to finish.  It looks finished to us, but he is very upset that we take the car without, what he considers, a finished job. He is such a humble, cheerful, selfless, hard-working man.

We love the whole Agustin family.  They are a blessing to the Church.

Love, Mom and Dad

Problems in Laoag City



There is a quote from "The Music Man" that we sometimes hear: "We've got trouble right here in River City".  I'd like to change the quote a bit: "We've got problems right here in Laoag City".

Situation #1: This past week I went to collect one of my crocheted blankets from two of the sisters in Ward Three. They wanted to learn the crochet stitch I am using so they can crochet hospital baby blankets, too. While visiting them, I was informed that a few of the sisters in their ward would like to help, also. So I was invited to their homemaking meeting this Saturday to demonstrate the stitch.  Since I would already be attending their homemaking meeting, they asked me if I would show a few Christmas decoration ideas. No problem.

Problem: Try and find easy-to-find-in-the-states craft supplies in the Philippines. Easy in the states, not so much here! Your dad forsaw the problem, therefore he bailed! He dropped me off in Laoag Centro to shop for supplies by myself and sped away as fast as the crazy traffic would allow. Even when the supplies were available, there was such a language barrier between the clerks and me, it wasn't even funny. Case in point, I asked a clerk if they sold glue guns.  Her reaction of panic broke the language barrier when she replied, "No guns here!  Sell no guns!"  Yikes! Did I look like a wanna-be-pistol-packin' Mama?

A few hours of hunting for supplies in many stores and improvising where needed, here is what I have come up with for my Saturday demo.  I have even made kits so the sisters can "make and take".

Proof that angels have wings and a halo

Situation #2: our apartment is directly across the street from a newly-built building.

Our apartment building--showing only the 2nd & 3rd floors. Our apartment is hidden behind the wall.

The building across the street is very nice, but we have no idea what its purpose is. Personally, I think it's a community center:

The neighborhood kids especially like the center. It is their new playground. They slide down the wide bannisters:

play in the decorative fountain:

and ride their bikes in the parking lot.



(Remember FDR's campaign slogan: "A chicken for every pot"? Well, my motto is: "A dog for every picture". See above.)

Many nights there is live entertainment sponsored by this establishment, whoever they are.  Here is a taste of what we enjoy from time to time. This was Friday and Saturday nights' gig. No problem. (Please excuse the terrible video job....and so many! I have learned a lot.) Notice the cute neighbor kids rocking out to the music, and the flashy Christmas lights down the street.

Really, Sister Eddington, can't you understand English? The girl wants to know if we have a "big car", not a "big star"!

 

 

Problem: Our mission president, President Barrientos will catch Elder Eddington and me across the street some night, rocking to the music with the kids.

Situation #3: On the way to Church on Sunday, I half-jokingly mentioned to your dad that we had a potential problem looming in the horizon.  We had never visited the Dingras Branch before.  Every time we have visited a ward/branch for the first time, we have been asked to participate in the meetings in some way. (But come to think of it, we are asked even when we are old timers.) So I asked your dad if he was prepared to speak in sacrament meeting. He felt pretty confident we were safe since we would be arriving so close to the beginning of sacrament meeting. There wouldn't be time for anyone to ask us to speak. No problem.

Problem: Upon arrival at the Dingras meetinghouse, one of my piano students immediately spotted me and asked if I would play for sacrament meeting.  After a few minutes of power struggles: "YOU play"." No, YOU play", I finally conceded and went to the piano.  While playing prelude, dear, sweet, Carmella (sarcasm intended) informed me of the assigned hymns. The rest hymn just happened to be "Called To Serve".  Don't they sing anything else here in the Philippines except that hymn?  That was the rest hymn I played when I was asked to play at the last minute in the Piddig Branch. But at least by playing for sacrament meeting, I dodged the speak-in-sacrament-meeting bullet, but your dad received a direct hit. He did a good job of speaking, though. Better than my pathetic "Called To Serve".

Situation #4: Back in Laoag, we attended Church again. For about the third week, the Jesus picture in the Relief Society room and the flower arrangement in the chapel have been missing. Before the Pascual baptism a few weeks ago, Elder Ma'u and I were scrounging items to create a beautiful baptismal table decor. He brought the flower arrangement from the chapel and I found a picture of Jesus in the Relief Society room. I replaced the broken frame on the Jesus picture to make it look more presentable.  There was another baptism after the Pascual baptism, so we left the table intact, informing one of the members where to return the decor.  No problem.

Problem: The next day, Sunday, the Jesus picture and the floral arrangement were nowhere to be seen.  The member who was to have returned the items to their rightful place had left the baptism early, so hadn't done her duty. She didn't know where anything was.  The elders in charge of the
baptism didn't know where anything was, either.  Ok, so feeling responsible for the missing items, Monday morning I reluctantly bought a replacement floral arrangement at my expense.   Kind of no problem.

The beautiful replacement arrangement

Problem Compounded: Monday afternoon, when picking up a replacement Jesus picture at the mission office, I told the elders my sad story of the missing floral arrangement and Jesus picture.  The mission office elders attend a different ward than Elder Eddington and I, but still in the stake center.  They said, "Oh, we have seen both of them.  For the last few Sundays, they have both been displayed on the front table during Sunday School. We think they are being stored in the bishop's office for safe keeping during the week."  Grrr! Anyone want a lovely, brand-new, Filipino flower arrangement?

Situation #5: Sunday evening we were invited to attend a family home evening with the Pascual family....to show them how family home evening operates. Elder Eddington offered to take ice cream and homemade cookies.  The elder's quorum president and wife were to give the lesson.  I checked with the elder's quorum president's wife to make sure they were "on" for the lesson. No such luck. So we offered to give the lesson.  No problem.

Problem:  There was no problem.  We had a few hours' advance notice, so your dad and I were very comfortable giving the lesson.  Your dad talked about Lehi's dream and the iron rod. He even had pictures of the dream, created by a very talented young man in Ward Two.  I made a flannel board and flannel pictures, which I gave to the elder's quorum president's family after I had presented the flannel story.  They are the only ones with a young family who would like flannel stories.  It seems no one knows what flannel boards and flannel stories are here. Everyone enjoyed the cookies and ice cream. Like I've said before, homemade cookies are nonexistent here, and ice cream is a pure luxury.  It was a great evening with the Pascual family, the elder's quorum president's family, and the bishop's family. As we were leaving, some of the neighborhood children were eating some of our ice cream.  Everyone watched as the bishop's family and your dad and I drove off.  It made us wonder what the neighbors were thinking: "We want to join that rich Church.  They drive cars and give out free ice cream and cookies!"

Situation #6:  We worked with the elders on Monday night, teaching two investigator women.  Such a wonderful experience.  It was their first lesson, so it was very exciting to be part of the teaching process.  After the lesson, the elders invited us to attend a neighborhood family home evening. Great! We would love to. We arrived a little late, so everything and everyone was ready to go.  We were pleasantly surprised to see that the Pascuals had been invited too.  One of the members had a full-blown dinner waiting to be served after the lesson.  There was even a keyboard with a great pianist ready to play the opening hymn.  There were plenty of people, including another set of missionaries waiting for us to arrive. No problem.

Problem: No one was assigned to give the lesson! They turned to Elder and me and asked us to give the lesson!  All I could say was, "Are you kidding me?" Doesn't it seem a little strange that the most important part of family home evening was missing? (By the way, I didn't say that to the crowd.)  We couldn't repeat the lesson we had given on Sunday, since the Pascuals had already heard that lesson, so it was a real problem.  But good old Gary came through again and gave an impromptu lesson. I just sat quietly by his side.

Situation #7: As we were running errands during  our Monday "p" day,  we pulled off the road and bought, what we thought, was a watermelon. Yum! I cut it to serve for lunch. No problem.

Problem: This is what I found inside the "watermelon".

"What the......?"

I was going to create a contest to see who could guess what it is, but I think it is a "no brainer". I wanted to drum up some "comments" business.  Your dad had so many comments on his post when he asked what everyone thought the structure was. I think it's time he gave the answer, what do you think?

Anyway, this was the most delicious watermelon we have ever tasted!  Every inch was sweeter and juicier than anything....no lie!  Why are we so deprived in the States?  For you seed catalog browsers, it is called a 'Black Beauty" watermelon.  It is pure ambrosia! Eat your hearts out....watermelon in November! No problem!

All Our Love,
Mom and Dad

What A Fun Monday Morning

Sister Catubay, the bishop's wife in Laoag Ward Two, asked me if I would come to their school to be their visiting storyteller on Monday morning. I hadn't known until then that she taught second grade at the Santa Maria Elementary School.

Entrance gate to Santa Maria Elementary School

 

We arrived a little early while the school was still gathered together for morning announcements.  School must have started at 7:45am. Sister Catubay, or rather, Mrs. Catubay was telling them stuff in Tagalog or Ilacano, who knows which. They were all sitting with their own classes in straight rows.  Everyone was paying attention to Mrs. Catubay.... no side chatter anywhere.

 

 

 

The school is arranged like a fort.   Each classroom door is an outside door facing into the courtyard.  The middle courtyard is for student gatherings. When we left around 10am, there were tables set up under the roof being used for snack time.

 

There's always a late comer in every crowd.

 

No worries about mixing church and state. Notice the statue of Mary in the curved grotto in the left of the picture below. 

 

The teachers wear uniforms as well as the students. What a nice bunch of teachers.... so friendly and helpful.

 

 

The first classroom I entered, the students were still bustling around cleaning.  No shirkers there!  They were pushing coconut shells around with their feet to clean the floors as well as sweeping and dusting.  The windows open right onto a street.  I'm sure it is hard to keep the road dust out of their classroom.

 

 

 I rotated through the fourth, fifth, and sixth grade classes, telling the story of "The Princess And The Pea".  Every time I entered another classroom, the students would all stand up and recite in unison, something like: "Good morning Sister Eddington.  Welcome to our school. We are glad you are here."

 

 

The whole experience was very delightful.  The students were very attentive and polite.  It made me really miss my teaching days. 

 

As I would leave each classroom I would compliment the students on their wonderful behavior and have them pat themselves on their backs for being so good.  They had no idea what "patting themselves on the back" meant, but they soon caught on. Then they would all stand and in unison say something like: "Thank you for coming, Sister Eddington.  We enjoyed your visit. Have a good day and mabuhay!"  So adorable!

 

 

 After I had finished my rotations, I was invited into the principal's office for refreshments.  Such graciousness! 

 

Like I said, it was snack time when Elder Eddington and I left the school, so all the students were gathered in the courtyard.  When they saw us leaving, they swarmed around us and shook our hands.  Some even put the back of our hands to their foreheads and gave a little bow.  By doing that, it was showing respect for us. A lot of them were demonstrating to me they remembered their new-found trick by patting themselves on their backs.

 

What a wonderful morning.....and what an ego boost....to be treated like a celebrity.  I am looking forward to returning next week to be the storyteller for the younger grades.  What beautiful children. (Almost as beautiful as our grandchildren.)

 

Love as Usual,

Mom and Dad

Another Great Weekend

The weekends continue to be the busiest part of our weeks.  This past weekend was no exception.   Your dad and I accepted an assignment to give a workshop on personality development at a two-stake young single adult conference held at a Vigan resort.  Since the second day of their conference started at 7:30am, our day started at 4:15am in order to arrive in Vigan on time.

Below are pictures of some of the young adults trying to figure out a personality worksheet we gave them.

Your dad's closing remarks. (I had already given mine.)

The Demars then gave a presentation on celestial marriage while the AP's gave a workshop on missionary work to another group.  Break time meant picture time:

Maganda Rosecelle (one of my piano students) and her gawapo fiance

Maganda Michelle (another piano student)

Of course any red-blooded woman can't spend time in Vigan without hitting the shopping trail.  Elder Demars and your dad dropped Sister Demars and myself off at our favorite stomping ground: Historic Street. They quickly scampered out of sight, yelling to each other, "Save yourself!"  What chickens!  Anyway, I wanted to buy more Christmas runners for all my favorite children (which, by the way, is everyone.) Here is a picture of the cute Christmas tree runners you each will receive...someday.  They are all individually loom woven and dirt cheap.  If you don't want/like them, I will totally understand and keep them for myself. Sorry to say, the wooden bowl is not up for grabs.  I'm sure you are all heart broken.  However, your dad would LOVE for someone to take it off our hands.  He likes it as much as Laurel likes my African-animals-gathered-around-the Africa-shaped-table set, which I'm sure she has donated back to the D.I. by now.

The feet are carabao heads. Your dad says it looks like a Filipino-style baptismal font. Rude! Again, don't get your hopes up! Only one per customer....the customer is ME! I know, you're all sighing a sigh of relief!

 



After my shopping trip, your dad and I hurried back to Laoag to attend the Pascual baptism. What a joyful experience. About one year ago the three Pascual sons, ages eleven through sixteen joined the Church.  Their father wanted to join at that time, but their mother wasn't ready.  Wanting to join the Church when his wife did, he wasn't baptized when his sons were.  Many, many, sets of elders later, (your dad and I have been with two sets of elders when teaching) Sister Pascual was ready.  A lesson on temples and eternal families is what tipped the scales.  Even when Sister Pascual committed to a baptism date, it was still touch and go.  Their baptism was postponed a few times. So when they finally showed up for their baptism an hour late, the elders were a little worried.  I joined the worry team when helping Sister Pascual with her baptismal clothes.  She dressed in her white jumpsuit.  Great.  All is well.  Then she went back into the dressing stall and came back out in her street clothes.  I kind of mentally panicked thinking she had changed her mind and the baptism was off.  I collected my thoughts and said, "Oh, aren't your going to wear those?" pointing to the tossed-over-the-door baptismal clothes.  She is a very quiet person for two reasons: 1. She's shy.  2. She doesn't speak English very well.  So when she disappeared back into the stall without saying a word, I was totally confused. But, whew, she appeared again in her baptismal jumpsuit. The double baptism was beautiful.  Like I said, what a joyful experience.

 



Elder Ma'u (from Tonga), Brother and Sister Pascual, and Elder Tucker.

                      Finally, someone is taller than your dad.

 

The elders want your dad and me to teach the Pascuals a lesson on celestial marriage and temple work. We are looking forward to that. The stake is planning a temple trip to Manila in May. The whole Pascual family has a goal of going then and doing baptisms for their ancestors.  The youngest Pascual boy will be turning twelve in March. Perfect!

 

Saturday was a great day.  Then Sunday rolled around.  Since it was fast Sunday and since your dad and I have already been asked to speak in sacrament meeting next Sunday, my guard was down, not watching for suspicious people approaching me, asking me to do last-minute activities.  I was innocently standing in the hall waiting for the other ward to leave the relief society room so our relief society could enter.  I wasn't aware of the relief society counselor approaching.  By the time I noticed her, she was saying, "Sister, could you do me a favor?" Busted! "Our teacher won't be able to be here.  Would you give our lesson today?"  I stammered and stuttered something like, "Is there a manual? What's the lesson about today?" I was in total panic/faint/sick-to-my-stomach mode.  While the counselor wandered off looking for a Liahona, I went crawling to your dad to tell him of my predicament....as if that would help any.  Then I started praying like a mad lady.

Opening exercises over, Liahona in hand, I somehow found myself in front of the class.  It was all so surreal.  The sisters looked at me, I looked at them, and then I dove in.  Relief Society lessons and class discussions are always in Tagalog or Ilocano.  But I thought that maybe since I am an English-only person, the sisters would be able to respond to questions in English. I asked for a lot of class participation since I wasn't prepared.  Wrong! The sisters could understand my English, but they were not at all comfortable speaking it.  So it was pretty much a one-woman show for forty-five loooooong minutes. Actually it wasn't a one-woman show.  The Spirit prompted me the whole time as to what to say.  Remembrances and stories came to mind. The Spirit even reminded me that I had bookmarks in my bag with a message that tied in with the lesson. Wahoo! Bookmark handouts!  And there were enough bookmarks for all of the sisters except one to have one.  I was, and am, one grateful and thankful person for having had the help of the Spirit.

As members of the Church we are blessed to have the Gospel in our lives. As members, we are also so richly blessed to have the Holy Ghost as our constant companion.  Elder Eddington and I are so blessed to be on a mission in the Philippines. We feel very honored to be as needed and as used as we are.

Love, Elder and Sister Eddington