Elder and Sister Cooley: October

Here it is the eve of November and we are finding the time is going faster than we had anticipated during the last few months of our mission. It seems like the Lord still has many things for us to do before we leave, because we are getting busier by the day. As the wards hear that we are leaving within a couple months they decide to have us come and do a workshop, etc. Maybe the old adage holds true even here in the Philippines; that is people wait until the last minute and then cram everything in to get it done on time. We love it though, because we are busy and excited that the saints are still interested in the workshops we have for them.

We started the month of October with a birthday for Elder Cooley and what better present could I give him than going to Naga to do a workshop for the 13 missionaries returning home. This was a special batch for us to teach because we were close to most of them and they had been here before us and welcomed us to the Philippines. We find it harder to say good bye to the missionaries with each batch that go home. I am feeling like the Lord is preparing us for the feelings we are going to have in a few months from now. This group had a great number of leaders in it and they have been the heart and soul of the mission for the last several months. Living and serving as great examples of disciples of Jesus Christ and perfect examples to the new missionaries, this was a gifted group. They will all be missed, but then luckily, we always get some great missionaries to take their place.

On the 13^th we went to visit the Millete's since they had missed three Sundays in a row. We arrived and just walked to the house when RoMy (the father) jumped up and asked if we had our car, replying in the affirmative, he had us walking to the car before we even knew where we were going. We found that we were on our way to the hospital to bring home his daughter and new granddaughter. Pamela had delivered her baby on the thirteenth and he was just going to get a tricycle to take him to the hospital and bring them back. Well we couldn't have this precious baby coming home from the hospital in a tricycle so the Lord had once again put us in the right place at the right time.

We arrived at the hospital about five and found that the cashier had taken a dinner break so we had to stay until she returned. I will put some pictures in of the new baby and the hospital in which she was born.

I think the pictures show more than words can explain what this government hospital was like. Jamela Elisha Millete will be blessed on the 7^th of November by Elder Cooley.

Two of the new experiences this month consisted of deaths of the local species. One morning Elder Cooley was getting into the shower and I started down stairs when I noticed something stretching out from the bottom of the banister (on the second floor) about 8 inches across the stairway stretching straight out in mid air. I went to retrieve Elder Cooley from the shower because I had expected the worst. Elder came out looked and said it was just a piece of twine or something. Upon surveying the piece of twine closer, he agreed with me that it was indeed a snake and looked like a baby Python at that. He was the hero and killed it immediately. Of course he flushed it down the toilet and now every time I go the bathroom I make sure and look real good first.

Our second experience is when we went to the wet market and bought some bananas, brought them home and put the bag on the counter all day. I usually wash the fruit immediately, but today I didn't. That evening I went down stairs and decided to wash the bananas. I took hold of the bag and out came a baby scorpion. I grabbed the Permethrin and sprayed the tail of the scorpion which was raised in the air. Not taking any chances I removed my shoe and smashed it. I hope there was just the one, because they had all day to escape and wander anywhere in the house!

This is election month for city and barangay officials. The election was on Monday the 25th of October.

Everything is closed even the schools, it's nice though since there is less traffic. Tuesday we found that the stores and schools were still closed which was very strange. Lee had ask three men from the FM group to go to lunch that day so while at lunch I ask them why the banks and etc., were still closed. They replied with the fact that some of the balloting materials hadn't been received by all the voting places so they just postponed the voting until Tuesday. They didn't mind- it just meant that they had another day off work, school and even the banks closed. On the bank door sign it said, "Closed Extended Holiday." I guess the voters just show up at the polling places and were told no voting until tomorrow-yikes what a mess! There are people who travel from Manila and other places to come home and cast their vote all the way down here in Bicol.

One of the families that we dearly love is the Morga's. Sister Morga (58) was widowed two years ago. She has two sons-Kevin who we helped get a job at McDonald's, and Earl, who is a student at Bicol University. Both these young men are preparing for the mission field, but have not yet turned in the mission papers to the bishop. We went over to visit and were surprised that they had planned dinner for us. She had made a dish-Calderetta which is sort of like a spicy stew over rice (of course). We then had a treat for them. We had months earlier told them about root beer floats so once again we introduced a family to A&W Root Beer floats. Both the boys ate so much I think they were both sick, but they loved them. I think that this could be a business. Kevin said he was going to tell his manager at McDo's (that's what they call McDonald's here) about the root beer float. Here they serve coke floats everywhere.

The Sister's have been teaching a man who lives across the way from us. He said that he had never been in a church and had never opened the Bible or other scriptures.

He is a sea captain from a Norwegian ship. He had an accident where he broke his neck, hurt his back and damaged his leg. He has fought for years with an infection in his bones and now they have removed the leg from the just above the knee down. He looks and talks real rough like a sailor in the movies. It is amazing to see the two sweet petite sisters teaching this big burly man. They are so soft spoken but carry a strong spirit with them. They have had Moreno out to church two weeks in a row and he seems to really enjoy it. He said that he has never gone so long without a cigarette before. He asks lots of questions and the sisters are happy to answer everything he asks. I am sure that he is touched by the spirit that Sisters bring when they come to visit him.

We had a special double Zone Conference. We had the Legazpi Zone which includes the Masbate Island, and Sorsogon Zone.

President Edwards, our area president was doing a Naga Mission Tour.

It is wonderful to have the big conference so we could see some of the missionaries that we don't normally get to visit with.

One of these happened to be Sister Antonilla, she was one of our neighbors (knew Brian when he served in her town in the Bacolod Mission) and also Elder Doloy, he worked in the office with the Lambson's. We used to see him often when he was in the mission office, now he is Sorsogon and we never get to see him. Our reunion was short but wonderful.

President Edwards did a question and answer period where the missionaries could ask any questions they wanted to. This was a very inspired part of the conference because one of the Elder's had just lost a niece and nephew in a home fire in Vegas. The spirit was so sweet and humbling as he ask questions and President Edwards answered with doctrine and scriptures. There were some other questions about death so it was a tearful time for several missionaries.

Sister Edwards spoke on GRACE. Through her talk she explained it as the area between doing all that we can do and perfection…….the Savior will make up the difference in our shortfall. It was an excellent talk and she was also inspired with some of her remarks-things that the missionaries needed to hear.

President Edwards ended with a talk on:

The Spirit is the Teacher-it will teach long after we are gone
Increasing our Faith.
We should go beyond the minimum in order to achieve success.
You teach with God's help-you can do anything (example David & Goliath)
Talked about the DO scriptures
Speak with boldness-Love overcomes fear (Moroni 8:16)
He told the missionaries they are laying foundation of a Great Work!

President Edwards ended with the fact that the Lord only has us to help Him do his work.

Book of Mormon in Brail

Our souls were filled with the spirit and the desire to do our work with a smile and knowledge that our Father is with us and loves each of us.

Legazpi has a month long festival called "Ibalong". It starts on October 1^stand has different activities every day for the whole month. They have a "Street Presentation" on the last Saturday. This is a big celebration of the first people here in Bicol and the dragons and three headed monsters etc…..that had to be slain so the land would be safe to inhabit. The parade is comprised of different high schools that have students dress up and do a performance walking or dancing down the street. The costumes are bright, extreme, gorgeous and mostly made from the products that they make here locally. They also use some of the old fashioned instruments that were used by their forefathers. You will really enjoy the pictures.