utahtocebu: Wow! Sights and sounds of a fantastic weekend!

Today, Sunday, 24 November 2013, Elder and Sister Sommerfeldt attended church in the Balamban Branch 1 and Balamban 2. The drive to get to Balamban from Cebu takes about one hour and 30 minutes. The drive is very beautiful - from the sea on the East side of the island of Cebu

This is Cebu City on the East side of the island. The island in the distance is Bohol.

Before our mission was split last July, it was also in our mission.

Bohol is now part of the Cebu East Mission.

- over the mountain - to the sea on the West side of Cebu.

We are standing on the Island of Cebu - West side.

The land mass in the distance is the Island of Negros. It is also in our mission.

We understood that church began at 9:00 a.m., and we were feeling good because we arrived at about 20 minutes to 9:00. Then we discovered that Branch 1 begins at 8:00 a.m. and Branch 2 begins at 9:30 a.m. So, we enjoyed Sacrament Meeting in Branch 1 - at least the last 30 minutes of it, then stayed for Sacrament Meeting in Branch 2 at 9:30, since we had not taken the sacrament. Of course the young missionaries greeted us warmly, but so did the members of each branch.
Sister Isaacson was also new to Branch 1, having been transferred there on Thursday, and she bore her testimony in the first meeting. She is a re-assigned Tacloban missionary. Part of her testimony included: On Tacloban during the typhoon, "I woke up in the night and felt I should pray for the members. I did not know why. I wasn't aware they were in danger. I did pray, and our members were protected. God loves us all, members and non-members." She was speaking some in English and some in Cebuano.
President Telebrico visited with us before the 9:30 meeting, inviting us to introduce ourselves and bear our testimony during the meeting. Sister Hutchings and Sister Sawyer invited us to sit with them, and they introduced us to Jenny and her daughter, Meyann (said Mi-ann).

One day as these two sister missionaries were tracting, they were "taking trike."

The driver kept asking when they wanted to get off. They weren't sure, but finally said they were ready to walk. Across the street they saw a young girl, and they walked across to talk to her. Her name was Meyann. She is 11 years old. They asked her if she would take them to talk to her mother. She was happy to do that. The Sisters gave Meyann and Jenny the first lesson. By the end of the lesson, they both said they wanted to be baptized. Now Rianato, Jenny's husband is also taking the lessons. He has been a heavy smoker, but this last week, he cut that down to 1 cigarette a day. He has said by next Sunday he will stop completely. Jenny and Meyann's baptisms are on Saturday, December 21st. They hope Tianato will be ready to join them.

The house that Jenny and Meyann lives in holds three apartments with three different families. The cement walls divide the apartments, but do not go clear to the ceiling. Another family in the apartment house has been listening as the lessons have been given. They now want the Sisters to visit them and give them the lessons. They are very interested.

The Lord work is hastening! If we as missionaries do not find the elect, they will find us.

Another street contact told the girls he was not interested in their message. Before they left him, they told him he was welcome any time at their church. This Sunday he showed up at church and they have an appointment with him to teach him this afternoon.

As soon as we sat down in Branch 2, this little boy and his brother moved their chairs over by Elder Sommerfeldt's chair. They sat there the entire meeting, very reverent - not moving away. Elder Sommerfeldt encouraged them to fold their arms during Sacrament and the prayers. I'm sure he has two life-long friends.

The same sister spoke in Sacrament Meeting, taught our Sunday School class, and then taught our Relief Society class. I mentioned to one sister at the end of RS that I would be willing to teach RS occasionally if they would like me to. Wow! I'm teaching this coming Sunday - my choice of topics as long as it is about a talk given in the Liahona by a member of the First Presidency. I think a table cloth and flowers are probably in order. It's fast Sunday, so no chocolate!

On the way over the mountain, here are some of the things we saw:

Palm trees and mountains.

Bulls - notice the rope that is hooked through the nostril of the bull.

Sometimes they were staked in place - sometimes they were wandering free.

This one was particularly funny, because we saw him on the way to church. On the way home, I wanted to try and get a better picture of him as he was walking along the road. As I rolled down the window of the car and held up the camera, he was running away from us.

Nurseries - selling flowers and other plants.

This morning these shelves were full of flowers.

There are fruit stands everywhere.

Many areas of the road were very steep.

In some places the road had slid from unstable soil, making the road very uneven.

I was very excited, because last week, I learned the word hinay (said - he ni) means slow down.

Here is a house that lost some of it's roof during the typhoon.

Also notice the fence. They come in all varieties here.

We enjoyed seeing this sign.

It was close to this thatched roof house.

Sunday is obviously laundry day.

Terraced gardens.

Back home in Cebu. Can you see the temple?

Relief efforts are still on-going for Tacloban and other areas which were torn apart by the typhoon.

About 25 motorbikes arrived to be distributed with the supplies. The motorbikes are for the Bishops so they can deliver supplies or medicine to their members in remote locations.