A West Coast Preparation Day

      Our experiences at church in Balamban are very pleasant as we get to know the Branch members better. Because the Filipino people are so friendly, it doesn't take long to feel right at home. The investigator that I had been calling Jenny is really Cherry. Myann, Cherry's daughter gives us hugs like we were her long lost grandparents. You would think Cherry had been a member forever, as she stacks chairs in the RS room after the meeting, and immediately makes sure she sweeps the floor as she leaves things clean and shiny. We look forward to their baptism on December 21st.

      As it ends up, I taught the RS lesson about being thankful, based on a First Presidency message in the August Liahona by President Henry B. Eyring. Salamat is thank you in Cebuano. The RS sisters were receptive to my lesson and were good to participate, although there was much that they said that I did not understand. I was pleased because I got one sister who had never made a comment before in RS to stand up and explain what she was thankful for in the picture I had handed her. I even put a table cloth on the table at the front of the room. I mean - come on - we were in Relief Society.

      Will was no less effective as he gave his Priesthood class valuable instruction in correctly giving baptismal prayers, and performing a confirmation - bestowing the gift of the Holy Ghost. This growing branch is learning line upon line, just as we all have had to do. 

      After church, we drove down the West coast of Cebu toward Moalboal. The drive is not a long one, but between the traffic and the winding roads, it takes over two hours. We did stop to take pictures along the way. 

We are looking for white sandy beaches - but what we saw was less than desirable. 

Here is where we ate a very late lunch at the side of the road. 

Here is a funeral procession going by. 

The hearse carries the casket, and the mourners walk behind. 

When we arrived in Moalboal, it was already getting late, as the sun goes down just after 5:00 p.m.
We stopped at one resort place and decided it just wasn't where we wanted to be staying.
We had come prepared to stay overnight.
This funny little Filipino said he could guide us to a place to stay with white sand beaches.
So we went with him.

This is where we stayed the night.

And where we ate dinner.

Pork bellies - and french fries.

They did have great mango shakes and I made sure I had one for breakfast too.

This was the scene from our table in the evening.

In the morning, we watched a man cleaning his fresh caught breakfast. 

We ate pancakes, bacon, omelets, and of course mango shakes. 

Afterwards we walked down the "white sand beach" and discovered this resort.

Which is probably where we will stay another time. 

While we were on the west side of the island of Cebu, we also wanted to visit Kawasan Falls.

I loved seeing the different flowers along the way.

Scenes along our walk to the falls.

The first set of falls.

Kawasan Falls - probably 80-90 feet high.

We decided to ride on a bamboo raft out into the lake at the bottom of the falls.

 The water is very powerful. 

What a wonderfully relaxing day in beautiful surroundings. The air and water were lovely.

On the way back down the path, these are some of the people and places we passed. 

Phonetics are alive and well in the Philippines.

Here the woman is doing her wash in the nice, clean water. 

 

      Wow! What a great - relaxing - lovely - beautiful -  day! We really enjoyed this preparation day. When we returned home to Cebu, through CarCar, we had laundry to do, but our apartment was clean - they come on Mondays, so it was good all around.