Elder and Sister Cooley

The Last Days of Our Mission

2011-10-14T21:54:00.001-07:00

Cooley Connection Finale-January 2011
The “Last Days” of our mission

One entry we needed to make to complete 2010 is our New Year’s Eve Dinner with President Dorosan and his family. This is our second time having dinner with them for a holiday. Last year we were with them Christmas eve during the eruptions of Mt. Mayon. This year was less eventful but every bit as enjoyable. Blessica decided she would treat us to one of her favorite dinners-tacos Philippine style. It was wonderful and we enjoyed everything they served.

After Dinner, we were favored with some music from the family. They are a very talented and gifted family. President Dorosan works for Chevron, Sister Dorosan works for a local College, two of the daughters are finishing med-school and veterinary school, one is an engineer and the youngest is in college. Jared the youngest is in high school and is a good dancer. We have enjoyed this wonderful family since we arrived in the Philippines and have been blessed as Sister Cooley was visit teacher to Sister Dorosan and I was home teaching companion with President Dorosan.

On the way home from our evening with the Dorosan family we passed many people who were out to celebrate New Year’s eve. It is a night of celebration and here in the Philippines they love their fireworks. There are so many that it is difficult to go to sleep. We were awakened shortly after midnight with the sound of rockets and firecrackers. As we looked out our back window the sky was filled with fireworks, it looked like our 4th of July celebration.

The Dorosan Family New Year’s Eve 2010

Since New Year’s day was a holiday we decided to make some visits to people that we had made friends with during our stay in the Philippines. We only have a few more days in Legazpi to see so many people whom we count as friends and have grown to love. One of those families was the Adille family. Carlo Adille is our Employment Resource Center Manager and as we got to know him we also got to know his family. Sister Cooley loved to visit with his mother who is a very talented local seamstress. She makes wedding dresses, bridesmaids dresses, school uniforms and the like. Her dress shop is up on the hill behind us. Carlo’s sister is married to a man who was a cook on a cruise ship and now has opened a little Italian restaurant. His name is Richard and his wife Christine is going to have a baby any day. Carlo’s father is very pleasant and is always doing something to help Richard in the Restaurant or planning with his grandchildren.

Adille Family at their Home

Esmie and Bea Carlo’s favorite girls

Later that day we were able to see the DeLumen family. We were so lucky to be able to see them. We usually only see them on Sunday. There were some things that we wanted to leave them before we left and so we met them and shared some things with them. Our experiences with this family were some of the highlights of our mission. We feel they are a special family and that the Lord has a mission for them. Sister DeLumen is especially valiant in her efforts to keep her family together and we look forward to hearing of their first temple experience together.

Sister DeLumen with 5 of her 9 sons

Forever Friends

After visiting several friends in Legazpi/Daraga areas, we had another Sabbath day together with the saints, then left for Cebu City south of Luzon on the island of Cebu. We had requested and received permission from Elder Teh of the Area Presidency to visit there before we went home. We are so excited about our trip since this is the newest temple here and it was dedicated since we arrived.

The temple grounds are really well planned out. In addition to the temple there is a Stake Center, Mission Offices, Patron housing, Family History Center and the Mission Home. We were able to go on an Endowment Session while we were there.

While we visited the Patron House we met a wonderful Filipino couple who are serving as medical missionaries on Cebu. They are from the states and we went to lunch visited some sites (P-day) they had not visited before, like the oldest church in the Philippines and the shrine that houses the cross brought by Magellan when he came.

Cebu Temple

Angel Moroni Cebu Temple

Cebu Temple Windows

Magellan’s Cross

Interior-Oldest Church in Philippines

After seeing a few of the local sites in Cebu we then went to the island of Bohol by “fast craft” which is an air conditioned ferry. There we were met by a young women introduced to us by President Pangan who was a relative. We went by car to visit the sanctuaries where the smallest primate in the world lives-the Tarsier Monkey. Just 6” in height and very shy. In fact they sleep by day and forage by night.

From there we visited the Chocolate Hills of Bohol. These are named because of their shape-like a bunch of Hershey’s kisses. In summer they are also brown, but they were still green during our visit. There are some 1700 of them in this one area.

Tarsier Monkey

Chocolate Hills

One of our last major stops was the beach resort area that has been every popular down here in Bohol. There are many stands for refreshments, boats, fishing and beautiful warm water of the Philippines.

Bohol Beaches

We stayed at a Marriott Hotel but were able to go to a more spectacular hotel one day for their buffet which was wonderful. After our brunch, we were able to see a bride to be and her maids who were there for a wedding reception. In Bicolano we would say Magayon!

After our trip to Cebu, we started to go home to Legazpi, but learned that the floods had returned and could not get back in time for a fireside the Stake had scheduled before we left for home the following week. It was disappointing that we couldn’t be there for the fireside to be held on our honor. But, the Leaders decided it was too late to let everyone know so they went ahead and had a social anyway. We were finally able to get back on Sunday early afternoon and we had the fireside for those who could still make it. They wanted us to talk about our lives, how we met, got married, started career and our families. Most Filipinos assume all Americans are rich from birth, but our story is one that the leadership wanted them to hear because like many young couples in the church we got out of college with a baby on the way and had nothing. We had to start from scratch.

After the fireside we got a surprise. The Stake and ward leadership of Legazpi had prepared two very professional videos that showed their gratitude for our service there. It was amazing what they had done. Somehow they got the pictures off our blog of our mission and put them in story fashion intermingled with their very gracious comments about our service. We were stunned at the very gracious way that they honored our service there. After the viewing we went into the cultural hall and were blessed to hear from many members who in turn stood up and thanked us for specific things we had done. We were also showered with gifts and memento’s that we will cherish forever.

President and Sister Dorosan at our Farewell

Legazpi Stake Farewell-Loving Friends

The next few days we packed and packed and tried to leave as much behind as possible. We then visited friends and gave as much away as week could. But we found that the Filipino people are so generous even if they may have meager means that after we would leave we somehow had more than we came with. It took and extra day or so to leave Legazpi for Manila. Our drive to Manila would be about 12 hours and Sister Cooley had some visits and stops along the way so it took two days. At times we cried as we thought of leaving our friends whom we love and beautiful Bicolandia! We visited a woodcarving village where Sister Cooley ordered some hand-carved nativities. This is not far from San Pablo where we stayed the night at a spectacular villa type hotel arranged by Brother Villanueva and President Fabros of San Pablo Stake and ERC manager.

We arrived in Manila for our last few days of cleaning up odds and ends, and reporting in to Elder Ko of the Area Presidency who wanted to interview us before we left for home. The interview with Elder Ko was special he is a wonderful man from Korea. We talked casually as he asked us questions about our experiences then asked us in a serious tone-what are some of the biggest obstacles to the work moving forward in our area. Our answer was a surprise to him. We said communication. He asked how so, and we confessed that communication between the leaders (Ward, Branch, Stake and District) was often tenuous and many times the leaders were as if on islands. That further communication between the members and the leaders were too often lacking. After we provided some examples he confirmed that he saw some of the same symptoms but didn’t always relate it to communication. Most of this is caused by the newness and inexperience of leaders and the unfamiliarity they have with the tools they have been given.

We took a trip to the famous Taal Volcano with some of the missionaries and staff of the MRC (Missionary Recovery Center) in Manila. It was quite and experience to get there. The volcano rests in the middle of Taal Lake so you take outriggers to get there. Once on land we took horses (Sister Cooley loves horseback riding about as much as our last Ferry ride) to the rim of the volcano and we were able to look down on the huge lake contained within the volcano’s mouth.

Taal Volcano-View of Lake inside the Cone

Our leader from Manila was Brother Jomel Villanueva. He was a great inspiration to us and whenever we needed help he was there to support us even though he was in Manila and we were 12 hours away in Legazpi. The Church is fortunate to have such dedicated, hard working and inspired people to run the ERC’s in Luzon and other parts of the Philippines. We spent some time together visiting a few places we hadn’t seen and of course having some wonderful meals together-the food in Manila is like eating back home and many restaurants we were familiar with are located there.

Brother Jomel Villanueva Inspirational Leader

We said good-bye to Jomel and the people at the Area Presidency offices then went to our hotel for the last night in the Philippines. We arose at 3:30 AM and went to the Manila airport for the last time. We boarded the plane and Sister Cooley looked into the cockpit and was offered a chance to sit in the pilot’s seat. It is apparent that she enjoyed her vicarious role as pilot.

Excited to Head Home

As we sat in the plane it was almost like having an out of body experience as we sat there thinking of going home. It was just not real and were anticipating the feelings of what it would be like to set foot on American soil once again.

An American Newspaper-Yes He is Smiling

Our trip home was 23 hours from the time we left our hotel to arriving at our home. By the time we got to bed it was 31 hours of up time with only about 1 hour of sleep on the plane. The excitement and anticipation of going home after 18 months had finally hit us.

Our family greeted us at the Sacramento Airport and it was quite a re-union, our family probably thought we looked a little dazed. What a sweet experience to see all of our children and grandchildren (except Andrea’s family in Utah) and be able to give them each a hug. After we got all our luggage the kids took us straight to In-N-Out for a real hamburger! What a treat. As we arrived home it looked just like we left it except it was sooooo large. As went to bed that night, we just kept looking at our bedroom thinking that you could fit 3 Filipino families in our bedroom and there would be room to spare. Our abundance became very stark to us and we could only think of how much we learned about gratitude from our second family in the Philippines. We love them, we miss them and we will never forget them!

The experience of being release by President Olsen was bittersweet. We were both very emotional as we described our feelings about our mission to him and answered his questions. As we returned home see our children Elder Cooley told them that the hardest thing he had to do on his mission was to take that badge off after being released. Now we were to enter our life back in the USA and we had no idea how difficult it would be.

Our experience in the Philippines were filled with excitement, love, success, hard work, beauty and spiritual feasts that we cannot describe adequately. We came to appreciate the Filipino people as some of the most loving, spiritual, adaptable, fun-loving people in the world. There is a special spirit about these people that is difficult to describe, we will always cherish our memories in this wonderful place in the Lord’s vineyard, truly the Philippines is the “Pearl of Asia”.

December

2011-01-26T15:11:00.001-08:00

We are looking forward to a cold winter next year because as of yet we have not felt the temperature under about 85°. This has been a beautiful winter with no typhoons so far. Usually by the end of December we have between 15 to 20. We have however had a few tropical depressions. They are close to a typhoon. We think they could be considered twins in our report of storm warnings. In the past 24 hours we have had a constant rain and everything is water soaked and flooded. Our hard working neighbor (rice farmer) is out trying to save his belongings trudging through hip deep water. We have been watching him all morning striving to get control of his earthly belongings with the pounding rain. He walks into his home which has no door to keep out the rain (not that a door would stop it). He must have at least two feet of water or more in his home. It seems the Filipino people get treated very harshly by Mother Nature!

We have had the opportunity of attending two District conferences within three weeks and after each conference we have had the chance to travel to the neighboring city and seeing a new chapel being dedicated by one of the area authorities. These are historic moments to the locals. First, we saw Gubat and then Tiwi. We were able to witness the excitement and see how proud and thrilled the saints are to have their own chapel to attend church in. These buildings are a true testimony of strength and conviction of the Filipino saints toward the gospel.

On the 5^th of December we traveled to Manila to attend a Welfare Conference with all our leaders and associate missionaries from all of the Philippines. We were excited to see and visit with missionaries from several different islands and areas here on the island of Luzon. They had about 50 people in attendance (including but not limited to 16 ERC offices). We had the chance to get reacquainted with some friends that we hadn't seen for a year and also enjoy the company of many new friends. We especially enjoyed the company of Elder and Sister Starks serving as PEF missionaries in Bacolod which is the mission where Brian (our son) served.

We all stayed in the same Hotel/Motel so we had the chance to ride, talk, laugh and learn together. We started each day with a short devotional and breakfast at the church. It was a wonderful experience and helped us see how well organized the church is to deal with Welfare matters. Welfare includes Employment Resources, Humanitarian Services, PEF and Emergency relief. It is a testimony of the divinely inspired organization of the church to help people to become self-reliant. One point was well made by Elder Misalucha and Area President Edwards-"welfare is not the answer; it is a bridge to self-reliance". The ultimate goal would be not to have to have welfare services as each member becomes self-reliant.

We were fortunate enough to get approval to take a day and go to Corregidor just off the coast in Manila Bay. It was an eye opening experience to see how this small island was such a key part of the defense of Manila for hundreds of years-even playing a key role in WWII for both the US and Japanese forces. It was the last area surrendered when the Japanese took over the Philippines. The history is also tied to the infamous Bataan Death March which followed.

When we returned to Legazpi on Friday, we were able to attend the ACE graduation of 33 people who were trained on how to start small businesses here in the Albay area. They have a 60%+ success rate in graduates actually getting a business started within one year of graduation. We were instrumental in getting the ACE organization to come to Legazpi to do this one week training.

We have begun to have our string of last's here in Bicol. We had our last home and visit teaching appointments. It is extremely hard to visit with these sweet people for the last time. It took me several minutes before I could say the words, "This is my last visit to you as your visiting teacher." They have loved the visits almost as much as I did! Elder Cooley's families felt the same way, that of losing a friend and saying good bye to a loved one.

On the 27^th and 28^th we had our last Career Workshop with the missionaries going home from the Naga mission. We had three Elders and three Sisters who were all returning home to the Philippines except Sister Schaap who was from Orange County. We love these devoted missionaries and wish you could feel of their spirit and strength. They are the future leaders of the church in this country. How happy we are to have known and had the opportunity to spend a couple days with them. We value our time that is spent teaching the representatives of the Lord here in the Naga mission, "best in all the Land".

We also had our last Christmas here with friends and family that we have come to love so dearly. Our Christmas was very busy. We started with a 10 o'clock wedding in the neighboring city of Camalig. We were witnesses and also asked to give a message to the newlyweds-just before the wedding started. Then we were off to lunch with Hermie and Arlene Bartolome (our landlords) and their family. They have treated us like one of the family always including us in their family dinners and celebrations. We have become such wonderful friends even though they are not of our faith. Lucky for us they will be coming to the states often for visits.

Speaking of "lasts", we just got our last report for placements and enrollments for 2010 and we have now over 367 for the year with only 10 months of reporting. As we look back on this experience it is a miracle that so much has happened in just the 16 months we have been working here. The Lord has blessed us and he has blessed the people with programs that help the local leaders help their people become self-reliant.

We are ending the year with another adventure. It has been raining here for a few days, sometimes very heavy rain but it would usually stop before any real damage was done. Today, however, was a little different. It stated raining about 8:30 am and never stopped. It just kept coming faster and harder every hour. We were interested in watching the people behind us trying to rescue all the things floating across their rice fields. They were collecting bottles and buckets and anything else that looked useful. They often would stop and bail the water out of the boat. It seemed like the rain was so heavy that they couldn't keep up. Finally we realized that the water was rising very fast. Lee hurried down and found that he had to wade in 14 inches of water to get to the truck. He drove up the road to check and see if we could get out, by the time he got back, the water was so high that we were afraid that it would get in the engine and we would be stalled out on the road somewhere. The truck would be ruined for sure. We decided to bring the truck up into the driveway and close the gate. This was only temporary because by the time he had it parked and the gate locked, the water was six inches up the tires. It would be minutes before it started into our house. Within just a few minutes we were in a quandary, Lee phoned Jomel (our friend and person responsible for us in Manila) to tell him we couldn't save the truck and we can't get out. I was trying to get food and water upstairs, trying to get the curtains up off the floor, unplugging the electrical cords, moving rugs up the stairs, making sure before Lee waded into the house he picked up some water bottles outside so we can shower and flush the toilets. He then called Hermie (our landlord) and told him we can't keep it out of the house and it is two inches from coming under the door. He just told us to be safe and not to worry about the house, what a relief.

The FM group then sent a man over to try and drive the truck out. He wasn't so sure, but off he drove and we don't know if he made it or not. The water is now almost waist deep on the road. They didn't want us wading in the water. We found out they have poisonous snakes and screw worms, either one could kill you plus the water itself is toxic. Jomel told us do not go into the water, STAY OUT OF THE WATER! This warning came just after Lee had to wade twice in the filthy water over his knees. Jomel then instructed him to go take a shower immediately.

Thank goodness for the neighbors, they kept us entertained for a while. They were paddling around in a boat and rescuing people, but their pig they tried to save was not cooperating at all. They tried but couldn't get him into the boat, then he bolted into the house, but he got stuck half way trying to get in the closed door, you have never heard such squealing and carrying on in your life. Then the men just took the rope and pulled him out into the water and they swam to a safe place. We now know that pigs can swim.

About 4 o'clock the rain slowed and the water began to recede it never came into the house, but left mud all over the drive way and walk. YUCK! We are not over the danger yet as it is suppose to rain for two more days.

Our neighbor was not so lucky. Lee chatted with them as they waded through the thigh high water with clothes in a bag slung over his shoulder. They were on the way to his mothers, she has a two story home, because they had 2 feet of water in their home and couldn't stay with the danger that lurks in the water. Besides who knows if the rain will return tonight while we sleep.

We had a dry morning the next day but can you believe after having thousands of gallons of water cover Legazpi we have no city water today. They are going to flush the system so our home is still in shambles. Yuck, mud from the street to the house and no water to wash it off the cememt so the floor into the house is also mud and wet. We had to cancel the house help because we couldn't wash clothes, bathrooms or floors. It is hard living without the necessities of life, kind of like camping out. Certainly makes us appreciate our life in the US.

We hope the next two days of rain show us more mercy and less action!

We have found that there is never a dull moment here in BICOL. Now we know why it is so lush with grasses and trees everywhere and so, so green-a true Garden of Eden.

We are excited to see all of you our family and friends. Our hearts are torn with so many good-byes to people that we love and are so attached to. They have blessed our lives in ways they will never know; they will be remembered through-out the rest of our lives.

Happy New Year!

We love all of you & will see you in 20 days,

Elder and Sister Cooley

Picture of the Month

2011-01-02T23:57:00.000-08:00

Rick made his own weed eater!

November 2010

2011-01-02T22:05:00.001-08:00

November started out with a Surprise Birthday Party that Elder Cooley had planned for me with a few of our friends at our favorite newly opened Italian Restaurant-Saletta owned, operated by head chef Richard. Lee had invited some of the friends that we love and will miss dearly. We had some delicious food: twisted noodle carbonara, spaghetti, garlic bread, vegetarian pizza and pepperoni pizza. Richard had also made me a chocolate cake. It was a wonderful night with good food, friends and entertainment. Lee of course had them laughing so hard with his story of how we met, dated, our engagement and marriage. They sure seemed to enjoy hearing the details of our early beginnings. Elder Cooley got points for this one!

Everyone knows that our time is getting short so we have been inundated with requests for workshops. We had our missionary workshop which is always inspiring. We only had 4 going home this time and how excited they were to be going home in time for the holidays. Our next workshop was in Tabaco where we started with one person, but ended with 26. We are still not used to the Filipino time which they say is up to one hour late. We threaten to start on time, but when there is only one or two people it is hard. So our starting time was 9:00 and by 10:30 we had a room full. It seems like it is the same everywhere we go, just hard getting used to it. The members even joke about it, I say "Where is everyone they are late?" and they say "Sister Cooley Pilipino time!" Late is just a way of life here.

Next we had the sisters from Guinobatan who took the Self Employment Workshop to learn how to start their beauty salon from home.

These sweet sisters treated us to lunch and miranda (afternoone snack).

They were all graduates from the Splash training. Learning how to be a beautician in 5 days and get your certificate, wouldn't we love that in the states? They made us puto, which is a muffin bread made out of rice.

Pancit is a noodle dish that is very popular here.

Last workshop was a Career Workshop and this group wins the prize for being the most persevering. Three of the young adults who attended the workshop came from Bulan which took them four hours by Jeepney to get to the workshop. All three were PEF applicants and they have to have the Career Workshop before they can apply. They all want to go to a University but have no funds. I need to talk to Bill Gates and see if he would like to set up a scholarship fund here in Bicol for those who are capable and have the desire but not the finances. The weird thing about this is they have the mindset that if you are going to the university you cannot work. If they got a part time job they could help pay for the education. It isn't just the students who think this way, but also the parents. If you are studying you cannot work! You ask what job do you have? "Oh, he is studying," comes the reply of the parent. I know a lot of students in the U S who would love this tradition.

Our highlight of the month had to be our ACE (Academy for Creating Enterprise) training. We worked very hard to get this non-profit organization to bring their trainers here to Legazpi to provide their boot camp for entrepreneurial training. We put a group together of 32 people from our province here in Albay and they just graduated last week. The program is one full week of training, then two weeks of field work with their groups to set up businesses. These are very small businesses that require little or no capital. Their motto is "start small, think big"! After the graduation each participant is offered an "internship" where they can go to an ACE alumni's business similar to the one they want to start. Here they learn hands on how to start and run a business similar to the one they want to start. ACE pays for transportation and also living costs for up to two months. This feature leads to about 70% success for participants getting a business going and being successful. We are so blessed to have been able to do this for the people here. It will have a huge impact on the families who want to get a business going, but just didn't know where to start.

We were invited to attend the Sorsogon District Conference after which we drove a few kilometers to Gubat where a member of the area seventy dedicated a new chapel for the saints in this tiny city. They only have a membership of 304 abut only a handful of active members. It was wonderful to see how touched and proud they are to have their own chapel. The saints are kind and loving and I am sure they will fill their building and need it expanded within a few years. They have two faithful and dedicated missionaries to help them (one of which is Elder Nacionale whom we worked with in Daraga) teach and preach the gospel to all their friends.

Some of you have asked us some questions so I will try to answer them.

No, it is not cold here at Christmas time. I am still sweating even thou the weather has cooled off some. The other day the temperature was 89° and is in the 80's most of the time now.

No, they do not have SNOW! Really the only snow they have is in the mountainous region of Bagio, which is about 18 hours north from us by car.

Yes, we have been having lots and lots of rain day and night. Sometimes I am surprised that the ground can absorb all the water but no floods yet in our area, which is a real blessing!

Christmas is celebrated from September 1 through January 8^th. I heard my first Christmas song-"We Wish You a Merry Christmas" on September 3^rd in McDonald's (McDo's here). They have lots of decorations inside and outside the stores and homes. One thing I love is that they have Nativities everywhere. Each little Barangay has a Nativity out on the street..

The churches, hospitals, stores, restaurants, hotels, etc. are not worried about other religions or people being upset over the religious display, they are Christians and show it proudly.

Here is Christmas at Metro Mall. The U S could learn something from this Christian country. They give gifts, decorate trees and have family over for Christmas dinner.

These are trees we saw along the national highway. Notice one of them has CD's as ornaments. No turkeys, but there are lots of hams for sale in the grocery store. Most of all they all go to church either on Sunday or mass which is several times a day every day. They love Christmas music and everyone here sings so it is beautiful and inspiring to hear the congregation sing Silent Night or other Christmas songs. Not only do they sing Christmas songs but everyone tells you MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The ward will have their Christmas Program on the 18^th of December and then they leave for a 4 day trip to the temple-12 hours each way to Manila. This seems to be the highlight of the Christmas holiday. Really how can you beat that tradition!

So far the only Christmas tradition that I don't like is the children who come around and "carol" at the gate. They come banging on pans and making all kind of racket and it ruins the carol (if you could call it that). Then they want you to pay them for disturbing your peace. They don't want treats they just want money.

Yes, they do have Santa deliver presents under the tree here in the Philippines and he looks just like our Santa, dressed in red, the jolly laugh and oh what a smile!

Yes, to my delight there is a real Santa and he made sure his elves had fruit cake made in the Philippines too, I love Santa!

No, they do not celebrate Thanksgiving! The only Pilgrims here are us.

Our Connection is so very late, but only because we have been very busy.

We love and miss all of you especially at this special time of the year. We are thrilled that this country is so pro Christian and we have the opportunity to celebrate the birth of the Savior with the saints here in Legazpi. We want all of you to know that we are happy and proud to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and to be serving our Savior in the mission field. What a special time of the year to be among the Elders and Sisters who are every day doing the Lord's work and touching the lives of our Father's children in every corner of the world. They continue to work and bless the lives of those they teach by bring the light of the gospel and love of the Father in to their investigators' lives. I pray that you will all remember these sweet, hard working missionaries and all those they are teaching in your prayers at this special time of the year and every day of the year. They need and deserve your faith and prayers in their behalf-and your referrals! May the Lord keep and bless the missionaries and you our dear Friends and Family throughout this holiday season and always.

Elder Tauta and Sister Dela Rosa
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you our loved ones,

Dad and Mom

Picture of the Month

2010-11-04T09:33:00.001-07:00

These twins were tired from shopping. They even sleep in the same position!

October

2010-11-04T08:49:00.001-07:00

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.

We miss and love each of you. May you all continue to love and dedicate your lives to the Lord and his teachings.

Elder and Sister Cooley

September Picture of the Month

2010-10-20T22:43:00.001-07:00

An electric pole that has water shooting out of the side.

September

2010-10-20T21:53:00.001-07:00

I am sorry that this is so late but our computer hard drive crashed. For all of you computer savvy friends you know that means lots of trouble and heartaches. And, decisions about what was lost and what could be saved.

We are grateful for Jason, our family computer expert. It was under warranty so we sent it to Jay and he had it all fixed, went the extra mile and fixed everything that was needed and more, we got back a brand new computer. The biggest problem was getting it back from Manila, where customs had it detained for a week just trying to decide how much they could hold it ransom for. Finally it is here and works great.

September, aside from the computer trouble, was a great month. We started the month out with a holiday and so we planned a business/beach trip with the Pangan's our dear friends. They had never been to Misibis and with President Pangan starting to work for a restaurant supply company, Lee told him we could visit the beautiful island if Misibis, meet the manager and talk business. Then we could do a little strolling on the beach and sightseeing. It was a perfect day, just a little over cast so not as hot as normal. You will love the pictures of this beautiful resort.

Flowers at the resort:

Beach just off the resort:

The Pangan's in front of the pool at the resort:

The Pangan's in front of one of the most expensive rooms:

We have also had the opportunity to have FHE with the Sister's and our friends the Lojero's. The Sister's gave an inspiring lesson and also taught us a very fun game. Get ready grandchildren we have some new games for you to play. Clarine had made some delicious Toron, which was the 4^th runner up to Miss Universe's winning recipe. Elder and I introduced them all to Root Beer floats and they all loved them. They don't usually have a working refrigerator so to have ice cream is a real treat.

Sister Mentes invited us to go to see her coconut farm or "Paradise" as she calls it. That was quite an experience to see them harvest, husk, cut and cook the copra. We learned so much about the life of a coconut farmer and it isn't an easy life. We counted and decided that that the worker handles the coconut at least 9 times before it is off to market. Every month they have to harvest, husk, open, cook and bag the copra. (Copra is the meat of the coconut) They bag it and take it to an area where it is sold to an oil company to make cooking oil, then go back and do it all again the following month. They also burn the shells in a deep hole covered with dirt so they just simmer and fall apart. They then use this as charcoal to cook with both in the home over a small open fire or on the street where they do a special BBQ. Nothing goes to waste here.

The woman whose husband runs the farm for Sister Mentes had made some banana que, and gave us all the coconut milk we could drink. They also opened several coconuts so we could eat the buco (the coconut that is not hard yet and you just scoop it out with a spoon). I love this treat and especially the buco salad that we make with it.

Another special treat that day came as were leaving and some men had picked some bananas to take to market. The red banana is rare and there was a whole large basket of them. I begged and pleaded until they let me buy two of them for us to taste. They had picked them for the fresh fruit market order; he gave in and sold me two. They are the best bananas we have had so far! And we have tasted many different bananas!

Just when it looks like we might have a slow month, the Lord blesses us with something special. This month it was the Splash training from Manila. The Hortaleza Foundation provided cosmetology training to our members. We had 66 participants that took the training from Monday - Friday. We call this livelihood training here and the church tries to use this source a lot to train and help the people to start small businesses to earn money. The women came on Monday morning and gathered for a meeting on how to cut a man's hair. After only just an hour and half meeting they were given a kit to use that had all they supplies they would need for the week and then they started cutting hair.

Oops, one of the main things to have was a male model which almost no one had. So out to the streets we went to talk to, beg or coerce every man riding, walking or working on Marquez St. We had the Padyaks lined up at the church sometimes seven at a time. I felt bad when some of the men came out having sat there for as long as 2 ½ hours getting their hair cut by one of the trainees. We now have the best groomed Padyak drivers in Legazpi. The man pictures above had hair down to his shoulders before our trainees got a hold of him. Some of these men will wave now, pull their hat off and point to their hair. Then we tell them how nice they look and we all smile and laugh.

I even talked three of our little garbage recycle boys to come in and get their hair cut. They were there for so long that I brought them home to give them some boxes, bottles and paper to recycle- and also a treat. I wonder what the parents thought when they all came home with short hair! This little boy liked the powder they used on his neck to get the loose hair off. While he waited for the other two he kept playing until he was covered with powder.

This young man took a nap while he waited for his turn:

So every day the same the women would come and say "problem, problem I have no models" which after the third day it was hard to find someone in our area (either male or female) that hadn't already had their hair cut. Somehow we all worked together and got the problem solved.

October 1 was graduation day and for their test they had to cut several heads of hair, so to make it easy, the trainers packed them into three Jeepney's and took them to a very poor area of Legazpi and let them go to work on cutting the children's hair at an elementary school. Some of the women cut as many as seven heads of hair. This was a true blessing for the families who have little excess money to use for haircuts.

You have never seen so many happy and excited women. They felt the love of their Heavenly Father and each other. We were so impressed with the spirit that was there and I think that those who came into the church must have also felt the same spirit, because amid the chaos there was still a sweet spirit that prevailed.

We had the graduation ceremony and wished the graduates success in their new career.

Did we mention how many beautifully groomed people were at church that Sunday? New hair color, hot oil treatments and some with highlights and all with a new cut.

Our friend Lorna who helps us with the house, came the next day and told me that she was going to cut hair for a couple children when she got home. Hurrah, Hurrah!

Friday after the training we were also pleased to have a fireside from the ACE foundation in Cebu. This foundation helps train people in starting a business. Usually the participants have to pay for the ticket to Cebu and back plus 1500 pesos for their supplies, but now they are trying to bring the ACE program to the people. Elder Cooley has been constantly communicating with them to see if they might come to the Bicol area. Our area being poor made it almost impossible for the people to afford to go to the training. Now if we get 25 + committed students the training will start here on the 16^th of November. The Bicol region has truly been blessed this past month with these tremendous opportunities to help them better provide for their families.

Our friend and director of the ERC, Carlo and Esme Adille, topped our month off with the delivery of an 8 lb. baby girl-Bea! (pronounced Baya) Elder told the nurse that we were the Grandparents but we don't think she believed him.

Sister Cooley had the opportunity to take Grace and also Clarine Visit Teaching. Grace has gone with me for a few months and loves the opportunity. Clarine, Graces daughter, had never been VT before and asked if she could come this month. We are so blessed with the most humble and sincere people in the church. They bless our lives with friendship, love and new memories every time we are around them. I am not sure what it will be like not to be here and serve with them and their families. They truly must be among our Father's chosen people.

Elder Cooley also saw Angelo De Lumen and his brother Gerwin receive the priesthood and they were able to bless and pass the sacrament respectively. Lee has been working with this family and has a deep love for them, but if you met them, you would too.

We hope you enjoy this month's issue of the Cooley Connection we have fun going over the month's events planning what to say in each issue. We hope you learn something about the life here in the Philippines and the wonderful people we serve.

We send our love and best wishes.

Elder and Sister Cooley

A Perfect Ending to a Perfect Day

2010-09-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

Picture of the Month

2010-09-02T15:34:00.000-07:00

This man had a great day collecting garbage.

August

2010-09-02T15:30:00.000-07:00

August, one of my favorite months, because it means that autumn leaves will start to turn soon and the weather will have a brisk feel to it. Well we have not experienced the same autumn here, we have the palm trees and their frowns only turn brown but the part about the cooler weather is true here also. It has been wonderful not to feel the sweat running down our back all day. In fact there have been a couple days when we have been cool. Hurray for August!

August has been a quiet month, no typhoons and no Mt Mayon erupting. I guess the weird weather has also shown itself here in the Philippines. Global warming I'm sure. First we have had an El Nino spring and summer, hot and dry-not what our weather is supposed to be. Now, when the typhoons and tropical storms are suppose to be here, it is still pretty mild. We have had only one typhoon last month which means we are expecting 20 between now and December. If this happens we will be in trouble!

Like the weather, our work has also been mild. We spend every Tuesday and Thursday at the ERC from 10am to 1pm or longer if we have some people there we are working with. Saturday is also a day the ERC is open, but most of the time we have other projects going on so the assistants help those who come to the ERC.

We have had the chance to visit with a lot of members and also non members who are interested in creating or redoing their resume. So many people need work and they will just about accept anything so they have money coming in to feed their family and pay the bills. Take Joel for example, he is a kind, good looking father of one adorable little boy and a beautiful wife. He has a lot of skills, but not a college degree. He took a job at Bicol University as a utility worker and we were excited for him because he had work and we thought it might be something that he might use as a stepping stone for a much better job. Then one morning we left BU after our morning walk and saw him sweeping this particular area of the grounds, where we see him sweeping every single morning. We thought he would be doing some maintenance on the building fixing plumbing, electrical problems etc., but here "utility man" is just a glorified word. I feel sorry for him, but he is happy he has a job. We find that there are thousands that are unemployed but there are a lot more that are under-employed. He is capable of so much more; we pray that he can find a better job that will use some of his skills.

We live in Legazpi Ward which consists of about 650 members, but only about 165 are active. We meet people all the time that tell us they are members of the ward, just not "active". A few weeks ago, we had our hair cut and the girl shampooing my hair said, "I am a Latter-day Saint,". "Oh", I said, "where do you live?" "In Ilawod by the Jennifer Hotel," "Me too," I said. So she is in our ward and hasn't been to church for three years. She has a brother in the city, but not living with her and her mother is in Abu Dhabi working. (There are 11 million Filipinos who are working abroad.) I invited her to church and asked her name, "My name is SUNSHINE," she said. With a name like that no wonder she has such a big smile!

On Saturday August 7^th we had a 10 o'clock meeting with the all the Employment Directors of the whole Bicol Region. We had confirmed 10 people coming which we were happy about, but then a couple brethren from Iriga come also. We have worked for 13 months trying to get Iriga engaged with the Employment Resource services and here they were. We hope the meeting helped them and will get them interested in having us come and train their committee members. It's exciting to think that one more district may get involved to help the members get jobs or start a business.

Our favorite workshop is the one where we train the outgoing missionaries. We look forward to the days that we are at the mission home working with these faithful Elders and Sisters who are headed home after a successful mission. Our groups vary in size every six weeks and this was a small group of just two Sisters and two Elders-all Filipino, three from Manila area and only Sister Batacan, was from Palawan Island.

Elder Nonato was sitting next to me and several times during the workshop he would look at me with those big dark eyes and say, "I can't believe that I am going home!" It breaks my heart to see how sad they all are to go home. For some this is the best they will ever live and eat. For some all the friendships they have made are wonderful but they will likely never see their fellow missionaries again. For others it will be an everlasting dream that will always bring them wonderful memories. They have served well and going home good and faithful servants of our Heavenly Father. They miss home, family, and friends but they will see them at the end of the two years, but companionships in the mission field may never be together again.

This group was special and after all the hugs and good-bys I was even feeling sad at the thought of never seeing them again. We have a chosen generation in the mission field at this time!

On Augusts 24^th, the second day of the workshop Lee and I celebrated our 42^nd wedding anniversary. What better way, and what choice company we had to celebrate with.

Sunday the 29^th we took the Sisters to a new area in Legazpi. They were able to meet Shirley and JR, two of the people I VT. The sisters had a great visit with them. It was dark and so we used flashlights so the sisters could at least get and idea of what Shirley and JR looked like. We also took their light to replace it so we could have light next visit.

Then we headed off to visit the Morga family. She is the nicest person you could ever meet and her sons are too. Kevin is turning 19 and we helped get him a job at McDonald's. He and his brother Earl have great personalities they will be loved by the people they teach when they go on their missions. Sister Morga has had four sons go on missions so far and Kevin will be the 5^th. Her husband died two years ago, at 58. Her parents have lived in the Salt Lake Valley for five years! We really enjoyed Kevin who gave us the first lesson; He will be a fine missionary.

We want our friends back home to know that they give the same council here about having a 24 hour kit and also having a few months' food supply and cash on hand. The Filipino people want to be obedient and try to do all that is required of them; they have the desire, but not the finances. We are sure they will be blessed for at least having the will and desire to do as they are instructed.

Elder Cooley and I would like to end with a story;

There was a sailor who had been the only one to survive a ship wreck. He found himself stranded on an island. He worked long and hard making him a Nipa hut so he had some shelter and a safe place to sleep.

A long time had passed and he thought he may get off the island alive. One day he started a fire and his Nipa hut caught fire and was burned to ashes. The man was very angry and cried out to the Lord, "Why have you done this to me?"

The next morning rescuers came to the island. The sailor couldn't believe it after he had been there so long. The sailor finally asked one of the men, "How did you find me?" The rescuer replied, "We saw your smoke signal!"

Sometimes we don't have faith in our Heavenly Father. We also receive council from our Prophet but we do not heed his words.

President Pangan told this story as part of his talk Sunday, on being OBEDIENT and knowing that our Father in Heaven will watch over and give us council to make our lives and families happier.

We are so thankful for our friends and family who continue to encourage us and we delight in our experiences here in the Philippines. We are so blessed.

Love,

Elder and Sister Cooley

Uniquely Philippino

2010-09-02T15:10:00.000-07:00

I think they meant Taxi:

This man is standing on the awning of the first floor and painting the second story using the longest roller stick I have ever seen. Then he painted the top by leaning over the top of the roof:

This building in Naga looks like a matchstick house. It is entirely surrounded by bamboo scaffolding:

We were parked at the bank and there wasn't any more parking spots so this guy just pulled up onto the sidewalk, parked, and walked inside the bank:

Even the bugs in the Phillipines are beautiful:

Phillippino Food (you know you want some)

2010-09-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

Picture of the Month - July

2010-08-07T21:12:00.000-07:00

Elder and Sister Cooley on a Phillipino Carabao.

Giddy-up!

July

2010-08-05T09:00:00.001-07:00

It's July 31^st and so today concludes another month here in Paradise. Not only is this another month gone, but we hit our year mark on the 20^th of the month. It has been a real eye opener to realize just how fast time is going. We do keep busy so these past 12 months have flown by. Now we only have less than 6 months to finish the work that our Heavenly Father called us here to do. I only pray that we will have time to finish what has been started here in Bicol. We have more or less been told that there will be no replacement here to take our place which we are sad about. But there just aren't enough couples serving at this time. Our friends in the north said that they also will not be replaced so there will be some big changes here in the next few months. Anyone want to volunteer? I promise that you will love it!

July 1 started a new chapter in the Naga Mission history with a new Mission President, President and Sister Bliesner from Logan Utah. We had a Naga Southern zone conference, about 80 missionaries, to meet and listen to Pres. And Sister Bliesner. I enjoyed all the talks and information that they brought to us. We found that the missionaries are going to have a little different role. Everyone is going to work hard on the rescue of the members that are no longer active. The missionaries are still waiting for the major training from President Edwards, area President. He will visit here in October, but next week the mission president will come and start some of the training with the zone. It will be a little challenging for the missionaries who have been out a long time to switch gears and do the missionary work different from what has been done here in the past.

We have with the Bliesner's four times now and have enjoyed getting to know them. We actually found out that their daughter and son-in-law lived in our ward several years ago. Do any of you Granite Bayer's remember Ryan and Heidi Partridge? Heidi is their daughter, small world!

Our mission has taken a little bit of a turn in that we are doing fewer workshops and doing more one on one help with members doing some career coaching and resumes. I think by the time we get home we could probably start a business. Anyone need resume coaching?

July did start out with a workshop which was about a two hour drive south-that is two hours if you take the right turn or two and a half if you pass the turn and head to the ocean. So we were late, but a half hour late here in the Philippines means that we were right on time! They all joke about how late they arrive to all the meetings, they say, "you know Filipino time?" The drive to Bulan is so breath taking and picturesque-yes I took a lot of pictures. Picture taking is how I keep awake on these long drives and believe me I need to stay awake or we wouldn't be still be alive.

Here's a house painted like wood on the way to Bulan:

As always the members were so excited with the workshop and were grateful for the information they received.

On July 4^th while all of you were celebrating our country's Independence, we had an experience of a lifetime. One of the sweet families I visit teach, yes I mean families, I visit because when we go visit teaching everyone comes in and visits and even stays for the lesson. They had lived in Guinobatan (about 30 minutes from Legazpi), in 2006 when Typhoon Reming hit the Bicol region. They haven't had the money to take a Jeepney ride to see the home they left behind. Lojaro's were a family of 10 living in a small unique home at the edge of the area leading to Mount Mayon. Grace told us how Francisco was away at work when the Reming hit. She said that the rain and wind was terrible, all she could think of was keeping her 8 children safe. She said when she went outside there was water running down both sides of their little home, but the water had not come inside the home yet. She said they were so blessed to be able to pack food and clothing and instructing the children to all hold on to each other, and with a prayer on her lips, she and the children were able to walk along a dike road and make it 6 km to the Guinobatan chapel down the hill. Once they were safe and secure, she put the oldest children in charge of the young ones and she made the trek back up the hill to rescue all she could from the house. Here the people have so little that they can't just let nature rob them of the few possessions that they do have. Grace was very brave and determined to make the rescue and she did it without any problems finding the home still safe so far. She could have lost her life as many did that day, neighbors that were not as blessed as the Lojaro's. Here's a neighbor's house that is still being repaired:Lives lost, homes washed away and farm land covered with huge boulders and volcanic sand washed down from the volcano.

This is the road, we couldn't take the car any further:

This shows what was left of a neighbor's house:

The Lojaro's were relocated to Legazpi in a small relocation community the government had set up. They are now safe from typhoons and the threat of Mayon's eruptions since they are on the hills behind Legapzi City.

We taught two more workshops, one at the ERC, and the other one at the Mission Home for the Missionaries leaving their mission to return home. We are always humbled when we teach these servants of God. We feel their strength and the spirit is so strong you can feel it everywhere. We were blessed with an email from Sister Alipoyo expressing her gratitude for the workshop and telling us she did what we taught her, and within five days of getting home she had a job. This generation will make a great impact on the future of the church in the Philippines.

On July 13^th (last day of the workshop) in Naga, we were awakened by a terrible storm, which continued throughout the day. President Bliesner invited to stay another night, but we had an appointment on the way home that we couldn't miss. We found out that the storm was our first typhoon, Conson. It rained in sheets of water. Our windshield wipers couldn't even clear the windshield so we could see out, but with the Lords help we made it to our meeting with South East Star Bottlers in Ligao. We offered to help them find people to fill their job openings. Hopefully they will provide a lot of jobs for the members on the church in the Ligao.

The next day we had a tropical storm come through and also a 16 hour brown-out. This means no electricity of any kind. There were some problems with this: no electricity, no pump to get the water into the house, so no shower water only our bottle of water and a ladle. No electricity no hair dryer and no curling iron also no water getting to the toilet and no water to sinks. No cold refrigerator so we had we get ice to pack in the freezer and also a cooler to put some of the food to keep it cold. Doesn't this sound like an exciting adventure? It was and we have things like this happen all the time. We have had several brown outs this month, but the worst part of it is that we have NO AIRCON.

July 20^th marked our one year anniversary for us here in the Philippines. Time has gone by so fast and I am sure the next 6 months will fly by also.

Tuesday and Thursday we spend helping the people who come to the ERC to do resumes and talk to them about interviewing. We had 17 placements here in Legazpi this month and 37 for the whole Bicol region, we are so thrilled!!! Working with the people we get to know them and also hear some amazing stories of their lives and some of the trials they have been through. It is truly amazing the strength and faith that these people have.

One of my favorite young men is not of our faith, who at 16, left on a mission for the Catholic Church-his name is Angelo De Lumen.

This is his home:

While on his mission, he saw two of our missionaries and noticed the name of our church carried the name of our Savior. He liked that and after observing some of the recently returned missionaries, he sent the missionaries to his family. His mother and 4 of the nine brothers (the rest are under 8) were baptized and now he is taking the lessons. He quit his job because they wouldn't let him have Sunday off. He already has the strength and courage to be a great missionary for our church one day. He is 18 going on 30, he will be a great blessing to the church one day. I hope that he decides to get baptized while we are still here. I know now how it feels when the missionaries teach people, look forward to the baptism and then get transferred. Lee has made the trek up the mountain a few times with the Elders to teach the DeLumen family and some day, just for Angelo, I guess I will have to make the climb.

We had two interesting meetings with the young adults this month. At one we were asked by AMA, the largest IT University in Asia, to come and teach some of their 4^th year students how to write a resume and also how to interview for a job. We met with about 75 students and gave a 2 hour seminar. We always show a couple of funny videos just to peak their interest then we present the material and they seem to absorb all the information and want more. A few of the students asked about our workshop so we will have to invite them to the next one in Legazpi.

Our last Young Adult meeting was with the Institute Students in Naga. We were asked to come and put on a devotional about Careers and Saving for the Future. They presented us with a wonderful program of music and inspiration from the Stake President. We had also 2 hours here to talk and convey our material to still another wonderful group of saints. We loved this group and hope we can see them again before we leave. They expressed interest in having us come back to present more material to them on some of our other subjects.

The Lord is raising a blessed generation here in the Philippines. I just love these youth and wished I could adopt them all and bring them home with us even for just a short time.

Amy, our landlord and her family invited us to her Aunt, ELY's 94th Birthday. She is a special woman and still likes a good party. She had to blow the candles out three times, she was so fast they couldn't get a picture. To get the picture they finally had to use a video camera, we all had a good laugh over that.

Ely in her prime:

The family has adopted us. They invite us to all the family big events and they really know how to celebrate. We love talking to them and learning about the family and the early days here in Legazpi. Hermie, owns the house we live in, he is retired US Navy and is so nice to us. They always make sure the yard is taken care of and anything else that needs repair. It is so easy to love them and share in their happiness.

As you will notice in the pictures they know how to celebrate with food. This is just a taste of what our July was like here in Legazpi.

We didn't get to celebrate the 4^th but here we celebrate every day with happiness, joy and the love of the Pilipino people.

Love to all the family and our dear friends that are reading our BLOG.

Elder and Sister Cooley

June Picture of the Month

2010-07-07T21:32:00.000-07:00

This is a Jeepney, the most desired mode of transportation.

June

2010-07-07T15:21:00.001-07:00

June is a marvelous month here in the Philippines; it marks the end of summer and the beginning of the rainy season. We have had an El Nino this year. You can't imagine how dry and hot it has been here in the land of rain. I think the church has the only sprinkler system in the country and they try not to use it. The Banana trees are dying and the coconut trees all have the lower frowns dead. We have noticed even the hills are showing brown where only green has been before. We are happy that we have had some rain just recently, but it was not much for the first month of rain. The grass along the road has greened up so the land of green might possibly be coming back.

This has been a very busy month. We have been slowing down on the large group workshops and now we are working more on the second round of training for the Stake and District Employment Committees. We have had some changes in the committees so we have to retrain and also have done some second round of training. The new training is a lot about the new reporting that we are being required to use, also teaching them about writing and using a resume when they go out to look for a job. We give them ideas about contacting schools and businesses to let them know that we can help them find good employees. Then the business will provide us with their job openings so our applicants will get an early look at the jobs that are available.

Kevin was hired at McDonald's. He is trying to save his money so he can go on a mission in December.

Lorna is looking for a job as a bookkeeper.

Lorna and her family were just baptized two weeks ago.

Joel has many talents but he has not had much schooling, so he will have a hard time getting the placement that he is capable of. Joel did get a job, but we are looking for a new one for him.

We have also been spending a few hours a week on helping people do their resumes and getting the papers together that are required by the employers here. Through our efforts, the last couple of months we have placed about 32 people in jobs. Some of these people are now working and helping their family to be self reliant. We have three young men who are working and making money for their missions. We hope to see some of them leave before we go home. We also have a woman who has spent the last 7 years overseas making and sending money home. The problem is her husband has enjoyed spending it as it came in so now they both need jobs so she can stay home. Their whole family was just baptized last Saturday, which was very exciting. They are both wonderful people have darling children and will make very good employees.

Elder Cooley went with the Volunteer Center Manager to another Island (Masbate) here in our area, but I opted to stay home because you have to take a ferry to get there and I have had my fill of ferry's and the unexpected adventures they may cause. They went to Masbate which is in the Naga Mission and is South East of us. The Mission President told me how he has gone half way over to Masbate and had to turn and come back because the ocean was too rough. I am better off here on our own Island. They however had a good experience training the DEC and doing both a Career and Self Employment Workshop.

One of the thrilling days in June was on 13^th when our new Cebu Temple was dedicated by President Monson. We are happy that we have another temple closer to some of the other Islands. It is such a sacrifice for the saints here to save money and take the time to travel 14 hours by bus to go to the Manila Temple. We can only pray that the saints here in the Bicol region could be obedient enough to have a Temple here someday soon. What a blessing it is to have the two temples that they now have.

The Culture Celebration and the Dedication were both very inspiring for all the people even though very few of them will ever have the opportunity to visit the Cebu Temple. We were happy for them that the Prophet was well enough to come and do the dedication. We had a special fast to ask the Lord to allow President Monson to come here to the Philippines and their prayers were answered. The thousands of stories of how people were introduced to the gospel are heartwarming. Some of them were converted and had to hide the fact from friends and family because of the abuse and ridicule that they faced. Some people were disowned by their family and others were left by husbands or wives. Many just rejoiced in silence until the truth was spread throughout the land and people became more tolerant of us and our beliefs. Just look what has happened in just 49 years, the church members total 620,000 + and Missionaries that are serving in 16 missions in the Philippines are in the thousands. I might add that the women are just as much a part of the missionary force as the young men. They both desire to serve the Lord. We rejoice with them in their new Cebu Temple!

Our next testimony building event was that of the last Zone conference held by President Smith here in Legazpi. It seemed like this day was so far away but now it has come and gone. The Smith's have started a month of LAST'S. Their last Zone Conferences, last workshops, last meetings, interviews with the missionaries, visits to members that have been touched by them, last drive through this beautiful area, last time to hear Missionaries testify of the truth and knowledge of the gospel they have received through their obedience to the mission rules and the Lord.

The President and Sister Smith have been an inspiration and were such qualified leaders for the Lord here in the Bicol. They have changed lives and made this Missionary force stronger and more obedient than they found it. They will be remembered here by people for the rest of their lives. They are LOVED by all old and young, male and female, strong and the weak, their time here in Bicol was truly years spent making the Lord's vineyard a better place to live and the people a stronger, more faithful people. I am glad we had the opportunity to serve with them in the Bicol for 10 months. I only wish we could continue to serve with them, but I know that the Lord has provided another strong faithful steward to take his place.

We had the opportunity to go attend a farewell dinner in honor of Pres. & Sister Smith hosted by their dear friends and employees. We had a delicious dinner where everyone brought a dish and there were some very nice Filipino dishes. After dinner, Sandy Lopez and Willie had everyone stand and talk about how the Smith's had touched their lives. This was a very poignant time for everyone. Of course Sandy and Willie helped us out by cracking jokes and making us laugh.

One thing that the President brought up was about Willie, who is the sweetest man you could ever hope to meet. He has a very unusual accent however and sometimes you have to think about what he is saying. The Smith's had just recently had a flood on the third floor of the Mission Home. When they came home they had water comes down the stairs from the third floor and it turned the corner and went down the second flight of stairs to reach the ground floor. What a mess! It went through their bedroom ceiling etc. So the thought of another flood was not a happy thought. President said," We walked into the house and Willie came rushing in and said," he had been cleaning up the flood. "Where is the flood?", President Smith inquired . "No, I am cleaning up the flood Willie exclaimed!" President Smith said "I know where it is?" "It is on the floor and on his head," Willie exclaimed. "On his head and on the floor", he thought, and then it came to President that Willie was saying BLOOD not FLOOD. President was a little relieved not having to go through the flood horror again, but asked what had happened to the worker and if he was alright. He found that the worker had held a circular saw, (with no blade guard of course), up above his head to cut something and when it kicked back, it cut his head open. Only in the Philippines! You know how head wounds bleed!

The Smith's have really had their share of unexpected emergencies since they started to work on getting the Mission Home ready for the Bliesner's our new Mission President and wife.

Our sweet Shirley now has a job, at Nenette Pangang's Canteen where she helps brother Jojit with making and serving of ice cream treats to the students that come to eat there. Shirley is making 75 pesos a day (plus a free lunch), working from 9am to 6pm. That is equivalent to about $1.60 a day, and you think your wages are low! I hope Shirley does well in her new adventure! Believe it or not this is a lot of money for her. We hope if she does will she will get a raise to 100 pesos a day.

On June 28^th we had another dinner at the Mission Home. This dinner was a thank you to the mission office staff and also a farewell for the Lambson's who will also be leaving us in 6 days. We were honored that they would invite us to share this precious time with their faithful staff and dear friends. We have felt like they have been part of our Philippine family, and they will be missed. Because there are so few couples available now, they will be replaced with two elders.

Well, it comes down to just us and the Bliesner's as far as the American couples go here on missions in the Bicol region. We could use so many couples here to work for the Lord. They have now had to take 6 fine missionaries out of the field to care for the office, supplies and financial matters of the mission. Unless we get another couple, the missionaries will have to stay working in the office instead of out in the field working with the people. We wished we could do more, but we also have responsibilities to our calling in the Welfare department.

We have had so many heart-warming experiences this month, but time is precious and so I end our June Connection wishing all of you health and happiness. We love our work and those precious people we work with. We pray through our example, that even those not of our faith will feel the spirit and know that they are loved by both our Father in Heaven and by us. We feel of our Father's love and guidance in our life daily leading us to those whom we must serve.

We love and miss all of you, both family and friends,

Elder and Sister Cooley

Picture of the Month

2010-06-25T19:58:00.000-07:00

We saw this diesel parked on the side of the road. The men had taken out everything from under the hood. I asked them if they were going to be able to put all the pieces back in and they said they would but it would take them about a week. If you notice they are not even all the way off the road so it requires some vehicles to pass and let the other traffic pass. This will be for a week. The men has their pots and pans out so they could cook their meals and they will sleep in the truck. AAA road service would be welcome here if they could only afford it.

This is the danger sign that they put up so that traffic would know that they have problems. The danger sign is usually just a tree branch thrown in the road behind the vehicle, so these men were really creative.

May

2010-06-22T19:42:00.001-07:00

The end of another month is here already, where oh, where does the time go? I have heard before that when you are on your mission, time goes fast, but this is just unbelievable. I know it was just yesterday that I was writing about April and here it is the end of May. Time passes, things continue to change, the work moves forward, but still the one true thing that we can count on is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We see how our Heavenly Father has a hand in our daily affairs and everyone else's to. We see miracles here in our mission and hear of even more when we listen to some of the stories that are told by the Missionaries and also the members. My May wish is that all of you could have this experience at least once in your life. Try it you will love it!

May-what can I tell you about this busy month? My journal has an extraordinary amount of entries for May so the highlights are all that I will write about. We will begin on May 2 which was a great Sunday. We were happy to be able to go to our ward since so many Sundays we have to travel to other wards for firesides or out of Legazpi for the day. We were just sitting there in church when Lee abruptly got up and headed for the door. My first impression was that he was ill or had forgotten something very important and gone home to retrieve it, but before I could finish my thought here comes Lee with our friend Jed. Lee had seen him in the hall and went out to find him and bring him in to sit with us. He is such a nice young man and one that we had been hoping would come and visit church with us and here he was. We have told you about Jed, we met him walking on the Bicol University track. He is training for the Iron Man competition and is going to compete in August. He has been so good to go with us and help with workshops, especially the computer workshop. So here he arrives at the church unannounced and stays the full three hours and seems to enjoy all the classes. He also comes to the house and visits for a while. Our hope is that we will see in church again soon.

May 5^th. Today is our long anticipated trip to Mindoro. Mindoro is an island that is southwest of Manila. We had to fly into Manila and then on to Mindoro. After we landed in Manila we checked onto our next flight to Mindoro. I thought it was a little funny when we had to go to another counter and get weighted with our carryon luggage. That was my first indication that we were not on a nice commercial jet. Second indication was that we had to be taken by bus to our airplane; of course it was a propeller air plane out in the hinterland. I hate props, they scare me-give me a 737 or 747 any day but not a prop, they don't have real engines. After takeoff I felt better, but at the landing I knew that this must have been our pilot's first flight. The Tokarin's (our hosts) were there to greet us and whisked us off to their apartment where we all took part in preparing a Sushi dinner for the four of us and also the Ho Ching's, the Mission President for the Quezon Mission which Mindoro is a part of.

Elder Tokarin is Japanese and used to have a restaurant so we were in very capable hands. That made us excited to taste the food. They also served a cold rice noodle salad with a delicious vinegar dressing. I will have to try this one at home. While the men finished the Sushi, Sister Tokarin and I went to pick up the Ho Ching's. We had a wonderful night and the food was delicious. Elder and Sister Tokarin can cook for us anytime.

We had a room at the Hotel Pauline Resort-very tropical looking. We had a nice room that we never got to stay in because just as we were settling in they came and told us that the room had no water. So they moved us down to one of the cottages which of course was not as nice. Elder Cooley killed four giant cockroaches in minutes. Who could sleep after that experience? Morning was a welcome sight and I showered first. Just as I was ending there was only a trickle of water. Lee asked about the water and found that it wouldn't be available for a few hours. We called the Tokairin's and moved to another resort called the White House. We immediately fell in love with it and moved into the Ho Ching's room since they were leaving later that afternoon.

The day started off with a zone conference which we attended. The missionaries are the same spiritual giants no matter where we go. They only allow Elder's on Mindoro because of the hospital (more like a civil war field hospital). Elder Tokairin called it the 50-50 Hospital; you have a 50 percent chance of coming out of it alive or without a worse disease than you went in with. The Tokairin's are on Mindoro as a support to the missionaries and also as a leadership couple. He serves as a councilor in the District Presidency. They were so great to help us stage the 4 Prosperity Firesides, 2 workshops (Elder Tokairin and I did the Career Workshop while Elder Cooley and Sister Tokairin the Self Employment) we also did a training of the District Employment Committee. It was a busy few days!

A special note, on Sunday we had the confirmation of two children who had been baptized on Saturday night in the ocean. We were sitting there and when the Elder said the little boy's name I almost fell off the bench-"Mormon Jack"-can you believe that?!?!?! I wonder if they know what a Jack Mormon is?

On the way home we were detained for a few days in Manila, so we took advantage of it and went to the temple one day for a session. Saturday was exciting-the 499^th batch of missionaries came in to the MTC. Elder Cooley and I were able to stand at the door and welcome the new Missionaries. It was so overwhelming to see the young adults come into this new world of being a full time representative of the Lord. We were amazed to see 21 Elders and Sisters from Mongolia, 6 from Pakistan and the remaining 54 were from the Philippines. We loved seeing the families and the sad yet happy farewell hugs and kisses. Mothers and Fathers alike were crying and also excited to see their young adults go into the mission field. At this MTC no one except the missionary gets to come into the building. Once the goodbyes were said at the door, and the missionary started up the ramp everyone was all smiles and so proud of their child. The missionaries never looked back they came in and went into the receiving room and a new chapter of their life began.

The church is in the middle of constructing a new and much larger MTC in Manila. This is the Asian MTC and serves 14 countries. They are getting ready for the opening of China. When this happens, the Philippines will be the major contributor for the missionary population in China since it is the largest population of LDS people in Asia.

On May 20, (Brian's birthday) we traveled an hour and a half to a small Barangay by the name of Sugod. Lt. Eric Estevillo had called and scheduled this workshop through the San Pablo Volunteer Center. He is a member of the church (RM) and stationed here with a whole Platoon under his command. I wasn't sure when we started driving on the lonely roads to nowhere if we should be going because we are counseled to stay on the main roads because of the NPA (New People's Army faction). This renegade army is a nuisance in the Philippines. We saw very little traffic and someone could have easily have stopped us, but the Lord was watching out for us because we were on His errand. The long and lonely road seemed to go on forever especially since we had no idea where Sugod was.

Then suddenly there we were surprised at the tiny community where we arrived and wondered where all the soldiers were who were going to take the Career Workshop. The soldiers showed us the run down little school where we were to teach. We had asked for some place with air-con and good seating, etc. I guess you could call a fan and no windows air conditioning, but we had a different vision of this. Then the influx of youth started, mostly young adults (not of our faith), to take the workshop and only 3 soldiers. We were totally surprised but loved the class. They had such a great spirit and enthusiasm and loved the workshop. We didn't expect this setting and was so hot, but the sweet young adults made us overlook everything else. Lt. Eric was a returned missionary had taken the workshop and wanted the youth he knew there to have the opportunity-what a caring soldier he is.

I just want to add another adventure we had with the office couple and President and Sister Smith. We actually took a p-day and all the couples (3) took a trip about an hour from the mission home to venture down to a waterfall. We had to go down about 200 steps and of course we also had to come back up. Sister Lambson didn't feel good so the women went back to the car. Then in about 25 minutes she wanted to try to make the trek. We made it to the falls crossing rocks and what was supposed to be a raging river, but wasn't much and we made it to the falls. But only a trickle of water was coming over the tall cliff. The area was beautiful and the climb into the tree house was worth the trip. Lee and I will have to try to go there when the rains come-if they ever do! Even without the waterfall we had a great time knowing the days are numbered when we will lose the chance to be with these great couples again. We will miss them!

Amid the adventures and the workshops we had a special experience attending a baptism of the De Lumens family. This is a family that Elder Cooley has had the chance to visit a couple of times with the Elders. They live way up on the top of a little mountain in the neighboring city of Daraga. The family has 9 boys with the oldest 14 and the youngest is 4 months. The mother, Sonya and the four boys old enough to be baptized 14, 12, 10, 8, were all baptized on the 22^nd of May. They looked like they were definitely in training as part of God's missionary force as they all came back into the room with their white shirts and black pants on. This had to be a highlight in Elder Dewey and Elder Esplin's missionary journal for this month. I am happy to say that the father is close to baptism, but didn't want to hold the other members up since they were ready now.

Parents who have had missionaries, you have some idea how much love and dedication these special men and women put into their callings as MISSIONARIES. We have seen it in person and it is inspiring!

This month with all its workshops and meetings was still full of adventure and opportunity to touch many more lives with the help of our Father in Heaven.

We think of you often and know that our Heavenly Father is watching over you while we are here in the Philippines. We love visiting with you on Monday's and gives us such great comfort to see how happy and busy you all are.

We love and miss all of you-that includes our precious friends who are reading our blog

Elder and Sister Cooley

A Day In The Life - May 2, 2010

2010-05-25T20:14:00.001-07:00

Fast Sunday and Exchanges with the Elders

Today was a big day for us. We fasted that our investigators and less active members would come to church today. As it turned out most of them came and we got a few extras that we hadn't counted on seeing. Our friend Jed came to church completely unannounced and stayed for the whole block meeting. We were able to help them get jobs at the Misibis Resort and Venezia Hotel. It was good to see him after a few weeks. The Sister missionaries had dropped by to see him earlier in the week so that may have prompted him to come to church.

I had gone out earlier in the week with Elder Schmitt and Nacionales and we had some awesome visits. One woman in a family we visited had told us about a dream she had. Two men dressed in white came to see them at her home and later three men came dressed in white. After she had the dream, Elder Schmitt and Nacionales tracted into her family and taught them the discussions. Sometime later in the week I joined the two elders and visited her again quite unaware of her dream. When I joined the Elders for the lesson, during the lesson I felt prompted to ask her: "Sister Mapa, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be Baptized?" She responded "yes" subject to her husband's approval. I then invited her to church and asked if her husband could take off an hour on Sunday to attend church with the family. The next time the Elders went by to visit her she told them about her dream experience. I was quite excited to see if they would be coming to church so I arranged to attend our Sacrament meeting then leave to go to Daraga to see if she showed up. I was ecstatic to see she was there with her sister and three children. Within a short time her husband joined them. It was awesome. We also saw a couple who were less active that we visited earlier in the week who came with their daughter.

Meantime I went back to Legazpi to see our investigators and less actives. One was Brother Murilla whom we brought to church with us. He stayed for the whole meeting and it was inspiring to see him come two weeks in a row now.

After Fast and Testimony meetings in both wards, I was able to go out with the Zone Leaders in Daraga (we have two sets in Daraga) to visit some families they have been working with. It was the hottest day of the year so far and the Mission President told those of us who were fasting to make sure we take water if we went out tracting that afternoon because several had been getting sick from not enough water.

The ZL's decided to take me to the "mountain" where there was an entire family they had been teaching and they were "golden". This couple lives about as far in the back country as any they had visited, but since it was a referral and they were so receptive they have been teaching them. On our long hike though the jungle and coconut groves they told me that she carried their 5 month old son while she and her other 8 sons walked down the mountain at 5:00 Am in the morning to they could be at Sacrament meeting at 6:00 AM. They all made then made the whole trek back after meetings. I had to meet this woman, she was amazing.

We kept hiking and hiking passing a very small compound of beautifully maintained Nippa huts along the way, then we turned almost straight uphill for the last leg of the climb. Elder Esplen and Dewey assured me we were almost there. I think they were surprised I could climb with them, but once we reached the top of the mountain there was the family bamboo hut. We were drenched in sweat but there was a nice cool breeze at the top so the perspiration acted as a coolant with the air blowing on us. The woman (need to get her name again) was there watching us as we approached and was happy to see us. The large hut had been damaged somehow and was very much off kilter. I thought I was seeing things. She made a funny comment about her crooked house (her husband as taking the afternoon siesta). When we got settled we met all nine boys (the youngest is just 5 months old). The Elders asked if they had read their reading assignment and to my surprise they all had done it. They sat quite reverently as we taught them the lesson. I was so impressed with how well behaved and respectful these little boys 2-15 years old were.

After the lesson, she offered us some "buco", and even though we were still fasting we decided that we shouldn't turn this lady down who had so little but was willing to share. First we got the coconut milk. She showed us that she had washed all the glasses and poured hot water on them to rinse them off ("so you won't get sick"). Then she cut the top off the green coconuts and took a small knife or something to scrape the slimy meat off the inside of the shell leaving it inside. It looked like white noodles when she was done. She added condensed milk to it and served it to us with a spoon. I was not really excited to eat it, but after the first bite I realized this was a real delicacy and ended up loving it.

We thanked her for her generosity and said good-bye to she and the boys and we headed up hill to a point where we could see the entire area around the mountain. It was a truly beautiful site. We saw ocean on one side, coconut trees as far as you could see on one mountain after another, then to the front was majestic Mt. Mayon. I did not have my camera since Elder Dewey said he had his. But he was out of battery so the next visit I will bring my own camera and try to catch the beauty of that wonderful setting.

Our next visit was to a very young lady whose older sister was a member of the church. She is interested in being baptized and were able to teach her mother who joined us in process. Her mother has now joined the daughter to be investigators.

The next visit was with a young woman maybe 18 years old who was living with her less active sister. She seemed to be receptive to the message about the restoration we shared. Her sister was extremely happy we came by to share the message.

We then visited a young couple with a small child that have not been active for awhile. They had a really nice house and he works for the government. Our visit was brief due to the next appointment we had but we were able to share our testimony about the temple and challenge them to think about preparing to go to the temple to be sealed together with their child.

Our last visit was with an active sister in the Daraga Ward who had the nicest home of all we have visited. She has a small canteen and catering business. She lost her husband to a motorcycle accident just 8 months ago. She is raising her family of 4 children who range from elementary school to first year college (16 here in the Philippines). Her two sisters were there and stay with her most of the time. We taught them a lesson about repentance and the importance of following the Spirit if it has directed one to be baptized even if it may not be popular with the family. They both seem to be committed to baptism after shedding a few tears at the prospect of family members being disappointed in their decision.

We got home just after dark and Sister Cooley had prepared a big spaghetti dinner and invited the elders to join us. We didn't have to ask twice since it was fast Sunday and we had a big day, all of us starting at around 5:00 AM. Dinner was wonderful and we relished the experience of working together and having such great meetings.

Love,

Dad

Cebu Temple

2010-05-23T20:44:00.000-07:00

Want to know more about the Cebu Temple? See here.

April

2010-05-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

With the passing of March and thinking of all the beautiful flowers at home it still amazes me that we are here in the Philippines almost half a world away and yet as we travel I see the beautiful hibiscus, lantana, bougainvillea, and smell the honeysuckle and some of the other flowers that we have at home. Our worlds are so different but Our Heavenly Father gave us enough familiar surroundings that we can fell at home even though we are thousands of miles from Coventry Court. It is hard to explain to someone who has never been on a truly tropical island, but as our daughters, Denise and Andrea kept saying, “This is the most beautiful place I have ever seen.” They have just had the opportunity to see a small area and they fell in love with the country. I wish I could take you all with me every day where we are oohing and awing the whole time we are traveling. It is very difficult to explain, but the beauty here makes your mind drawn to nature more than I can ever remember. It’s not once in a while, but every day that you look around and want to capture the moment forever.

This is how they grow their orchards. They just take a start and tie it to a dead branch or this large root they stick in the ground. They like to fertilize them with crushed egg shells.

(Much to Elder Cooley’s dismay I am always reaching for my camera and I hate it when I miss a picture or it doesn’t turn out because we may never see the same thing in the same way again and I don’t want to miss any of it). I could go on forever, but we have some important events I want you to hear about so enough of NATURE for now!

The month started off crazy and has ended the same way. We were able to finally get together with the remaining Elders who were once our neighbors, but they have been moved to another area close to us. We had an Easter Mexican Feast for them since transfers are coming up and we know that all of them will be moving and also our sweet Elder Domagsang is going home on this transfer.

Our Elders( L) Elder Spring, Elder Domagsang (R) Elder Gless:

We enjoyed the evening with some delicious food, (if I do say so myself), and I fixed all Elder Domagsang’s favorite things, which is anything Mexican, HE LOVES IT! The dinner was a time of learning about the families they are teaching and also talking about each of them and how they are doing on their mission. They are all wonderful missionaries and a great example to each other and the people they serve.

The dinner was a great remembrance because now all of the fabulous four have been transferred to other areas. Elder Walker went first and he is now one of the AP’s.

Then Elder Spreng was moved to Goa, but has now been made the new office finance Elder. Elder Gless has been made a District Leader and is in Tiwi, and our Filipino (“the dark chocolate brother from another mother”), Elder Domagsang has ended his mission and is now home with his family. These Elders will always have a special place in our memories, but now we have 4 new Elders and also 4 new Sisters to take our “fab 4’s” place.

These are the two Sisters who took their place, Sister Torio (L) andSister Medequiso:

It is hard to have favorites because they all have a special spirit about them and they certainly all work long hours. But they love the work they are doing. It is especially wonderful to meet the new arrivals and see how they change within weeks of being in the field. Even the ones we think might have a hard time just blossom and have a spirit about them that is difficult to describe and how they grasp the language is amazing. Even the Filipinos remark on how the “Americana’s” can speak their language so perfectly. Of course that is not the same with us older missionaries, I won’t mention any names!

We always end our month thinking that we won’t be very busy the next month which was the case in March. But it always ends up that we are even busier the next month. So March was busy but April has been even busier. We did however take six days out to enjoy our family from Utah. Andrea, James, Tyeler and Mikenize came to visit us for a few days in April and it was so good to see them. Even though the days are rushing by we still miss our family and enjoy having them come see us. We spent six fabulous days touring the Bicol region in Southern Luzon Island where we are serving. We did most of the same things that we did when Denise was here but added one very fun adventure. We rented some ATV’s with a guide of course and took a ride up to the lava bed which was formed from the last eruption of Mt. Mayon. Every eruption is different from the last and this one was kind to the people who live and farm the land at the foot of the volcano. Just at the base of the volcano the lava formed a wall where the lava would come down and it would run into the wall and stop. There was very little damage to the coconut plantations at the base and none of the homes at the base were damaged. This was a true blessing to these people who have very little to start with. To have it all destroyed is devastating especially since the coconut trees take about five years before they really have a great harvest. Once the trees are really producing it is incredible that the tree can have coconuts mature in just 45 days from a small bud.

Here is a picture of a tree that has several different stages of coconuts on it. You will see the ones that are old and also the very tiny new ones that are just starting. I can see why the trees are so prolific making at least a hundred coconuts a year. They use the old, brown ones like we see in America, to make the hard coconut for copra which is taken out of the husk and pressed for oil. They use this oil for cooking, you will see it used in some candy and they also use it a lot in facial products. They also grind the coconut meat out and they squeeze the milk out and use it to make lots of different dishes. They use it a lot in the vegetable dishes. I of course like to just dig it out and eat it and they all think I am crazy because they only like the young ones where the coconut meat is scraped out with a spoon. The young coconuts are soft and very slimy, but make great Buco salad and many other dishes. They also drink the milk, they say it is very good for the kidney’s and is a diuretic. They have young men walk around in the morning carrying young coconuts tied to a piece of bamboo and slung over their shoulder. Just 12 pesos delivered.

Well I really got off on a different track didn’t I? The ATVs were fun and we got lots of new pictures of the volcano. We had a great young man as a guide and he gave some very interesting new details about Mayon. He was also very helpful getting the older lady (as in me) up the climb on the lava bed to the top of the ridge so I could enjoy the view that Mt. Mayon has. It truly is a magnificent work of Mother Nature and just so beautiful. I had a blast just trying to hang on while Andrea took me through the rivers and the woods to the volcano base we did go. With white knuckles and camera in hand it was truly an adventure to remember.

After a final farewell we boarded a plane to come home from Manila and start work again. The next Sunday we did a Prosperity Fireside in Naga. These are always fun because we have a great script and the saints have fun while learning some very important information to help them learn how to save and about the power of compound interest.

Our Career Workshop for the outgoing Elders was a hard one because our dear friend and great missionary Elder Domagsang was in this batch. This has to be one of my favorite parts of our mission-to be in a workshop with all these strong, humble and loving missionaries. I just want to bring every one of them home with me. What strength, testimonies, knowledge and love of the gospel, I could only think that this might be close to what it is like to be in a room with the Prophet. They have experienced so many things and have grown so much and hope for a better life when they get home. I can only imagine how hard it is for the Mission President to say good bye to such fine young men and women. The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is going to be in good hands with this next generation as leaders here in the Philippines.

For these fine young men and women it is a very emotional time because for two years or eighteen months the Elders and Sisters have lived in some of the best circumstances they will ever have and had more money than they have ever had also. It must also be very difficult to say good bye to the many companions that they will probably never have the chance to see again. There are usually some of them that show quite a bit of emotion and respect for who they call their “batch mates”.

I know this is getting long but just one story. We had a call from our dear friend Nette Pangang asking us to help her friends’ son get a job. The young man’s name was Rowel, age 27 married and one daughter living in Guinobatan. He is a Jeepney driver but works only on the week end. We met him at the ERC and talked to him about what he wanted to do for a job. Lee helped him with a resume and off we went to take him to some places that we had already discovered as good contacts. We only went to Hi-Tone construction and then LCC ( a chain of small malls in Bicol). We left Rowel at LCC and they gave him all the tests and gave him a job. We thought he was working but found out a week later that he hasn’t been able to start because he doesn’t have 450 pesos for the blood test. You may ask why don’t we just pay for him, well the answer is because most people are in the same way. No money to get the clearances that they need.

The people here are not good at looking ahead (provident) and figuring out what is going to be required of them in the job process even though they know they need these documents in order to get the job. We started out just giving them money but found that they are willing to take and take and take, so now we have to sit back and just watch them and pray that they want the job bad enough to go out and work at anything to get the money for the clearances. So far Rowel after a week and a half still doesn’t have the money for the test. He is going around asking people for it but not trying to work to raise it. We pray that he will not wait until the job has been taken by someone else.

We ended April with ten placements, nine of these were jobs and one enrollment in a university so April ended up a fantastic month for the Legazpi ERC! We can’t wait to see what the other wards do in the Stake.

Our work continues and we find that we as a team with our Father in Heaven (and the local leaders) are making a difference in countless peoples’ lives here in the Bicol region. Thank you for your emails and prayers not just for us but for the people that we are serving, it makes a difference.

Love to all!

Here are some pictures of the Magayon Festival that has been going for the whole month of April.

We especially feel at home being blessed here as well as there to have neighbors and members of our ward that treat us like family. Our extended families here in the Philippines are kind, generous and are definately special gifts to us from our Father.

April Picture of the Month

2010-05-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

Where do you hang clothes to dry?

March

2010-05-14T13:18:00.001-07:00

The corn is growing here now and is really the second crop this year. I first saw them plant in November which was very hard to get used to seeing. I always think of fall arriving soon when I eat corn on the cob at home. No fall here, but we are fast approaching summer. In fact I already think summer is here but President Smith (Naga Mission), tells me "you have no idea how hot it gets here in the summer", which is April, May, and June. It was hot in August when we arrived here so I think we are in for at least six months of smoldering heat.

We are going to start another new program. The computer program was such a success and everyone wants to have a class now, but the career workshops needed to come first. The new program is teaching Conversational English. When we were in the MTC we had to stay two extra days to learn and get certified on teaching English as an international language. It seems as though the best jobs go to the people who can speak good English.

The first class will be for a hotel in Naga called the Avenue Plaza Hotel. We made friends with them when we stayed there a couple months ago. Mike the Manager of the front desk talked to us about what we do and when he heard about the English he was excited. He has kept the ball rolling with a final okay from his boss when we had a meeting with them. We will teach when we can, but we are having the AP's come and work with us so they get acquainted with the students and then we will turn the class over to them most of the time. We are hoping that we might get some of the staff interested in the church through this community service. We are expecting great opportunities to come from this program.

We have had so many blessings this month both here in the Philippines and at home. I visit Shirley Lisazo who suffers from what they thought was epilepsy. Once she was saying the closing prayer during our visit and had a seizure and that prompted me to get an appointment with the Bishop and talk to him about what we could do for her. He let us take her to a doctor and found out she doesn't have epilepsy or heart problems and can work so we have her a job washing dishes until we see how she does. The doctor told us that she was slowly starving to death and needed to eat lots more food and drink some milk. We set her up with dried milk and some rice and the Relief Society gave them some other things. She said that she was feeling better and is coming to church every Sunday. She is truly happy and enjoying life instead sitting home thinking she couldn't do anything. So, sweet Shirley was blessing one in March.

On Shirley's street I found a woman using a banana leaf for an umbrella:

Nanette Pangan (wife of Counselor in Stake Presidency) and I were driving home from dropping off Shirley from the doctor one day. Lee and I had passed the construction of the new Convention Center and thought of stopping and finding out what company was building it. Since I had Nanette, she could help me bridge the language barrier so I stopped. Long story short, we hit a gold mine with lots of contacts and job possibilities for both outside and inside once the building is complete. Also we found an opportunity for JR (Shirley's brother) to come to the main construction office and be trained as a mechanic for the huge construction company. We are hoping that many jobs will come from this one contact.

Next, Lee was just getting our water filled at the refilling station and he told them about what we do and they told him about a business just a couple doors down and after talking to that company they have already faxed over several job opportunities from the Embarcadero and other locations where they have job openings.

All in all our job openings board now has about 100+ jobs posted on it and more coming in all the time. We were at the Church one day helping someone and Jun, who works for the FM Group taking care of the church buildings, asked Lee if I could help his wife learn how to cook some international food. He said, "yes" but we didn't know he meant like right now! She was lucky, because we were having the Sister missionaries over and they wanted Mexican food that night. I told Bambie, yes her name is Bambie, to come over at 5:00. We made Mexican rice, tacos, refried beans, salsa and guacamole. She loved it and so did her two brothers, husband, and two sons. I could only give them tastes, but they loved it all. That was on a Wednesday and she went in for the interview for head chief on Thursday. I never thought she would pull it off, but she did and starts training this week.

Our trip to Daet was rewarding as always. This stake has a fantastic Stake President, councilors, and Stake Employment Committee. President Ducay has a coconut plantation and brought us some coconut milk and some fresh coconut to make Buco salad with, (a fruit salad with pieces of fresh green coconut in it). This coconut is slimy, not hard like we are used to. He promised this about four months ago so neither Elder nor I remembered, but President did. What a great man!

While in Daet, had a Career Workshop on Friday and Self Employment on Saturday, which both turned out great. The Saints there are ready and willing to learn so they can become SELF-RELIANT. We love this stake, but just wish it wasn't four hours away. With the two workshops back to back we either had to stay in Daet or drive back to Naga two hours each way, This city is in the mountains so the driving isn't easy, so we opted to stay.

It wouldn't be so bad, but the hotels are not even as good as the Motel 6 was many years ago. Lee ordered the only room with a king bed. It was so wide that when we went to bed Lee couldn't see me with out his glasses. It was W I D E, and the next morning we found out that it was the "Matrimonial Suite". The bed was pretty comfy, but the air con which is a window unit, sounded like a diesel starting up every time it turned on. I guess they figure the newly weds wouldn't be sleeping! What were these two old people doing there?!

Our matrimonial suite:

And then there was just one:

Daet's beautiful countryside:

Our first monkey sighting:

The men in the family coming home from a long day at work:

Children playing with a toy they make. They just walk beside it and guide it wherever they want it to go:

We didn't get done until after 5 PM on Friday so we decided to go eat before we went to the Canalog Hotel. We wanted to go to Biggs (sort of a Philippine version of Mel's Diner), but found that it was not available since it had shut down. We keep telling our Self-employment Workshop students that: Location, Location, Location is the key to success and I guess Biggs didn't know that. They had tried to open off the main street which was instant death. So I ran in Jolly Bee (a Philippine version of McDonald's) and is very successful. They let McDonald's spend the millions doing market research and then they build a Jolly Bee right by them.

Back to dinner, this has become my routine. I go inside and order two, two piece BBQ chicken dinners. They always say, OK then take my money and about five minutes later they come back and say, "sorry not available, only wings". Then I tell them okay, if no breast meat then I want my money back. They looking at me with a blank look they say, "just a minute" and they go talk to the manager and come tell me: "six minutes please, you wait okay"? I am amazed just how fast they can go and find breast meat every time.

These are just some examples of the fantastic blessings that we received this month. Our Heavenly Father is ever present in our work and the blessings that we keep seeing are strong evidence of that.

The Lord has given us a great opportunity to work with, A Special People, in a Special Place. I know I have told you this before, but we truly love and adore these people. We appreciate all the fond memories that we receive from them daily. Each day brings its own beauty as we wake to see the Majestic Mayon standing tall above us all and the palm trees swaying in the ever present gentle breeze from the mighty ocean. The Filipino people working hard in the rice fields or the coconut groves and the sweet spirit of our Heavenly Father spreading across this blessed land is what Elder and I see every day. We pray that our friends will have a desire to also come and join those who are preparing the way for the Lords work. Our Mission needs couples now President Smith said he could use about 60 couples to come serve as Leadership Missionaries and yet he can't even get one couple to come and work in the office. The church has need of willing couples we need your help now. May the Lord try to provide a way for you to be able to serve soon!

Love you,

Elder and Sister Cooley

Recent Discoveries

2010-05-13T14:32:00.000-07:00

One of the many faces of Mt Mayon:

A rice farmer's work is never done:

Road to no where:

Terraced rice fields:

March Picture of the Month

2010-05-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

This is a typical Philipino kitchen:

Anyone in the mood to cook?

Pictures For Edmond

2010-05-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

Grammy took some pictures for her grandson, Edmond.

Spring Is Here!

2010-05-13T13:48:00.000-07:00

March came in like a Lion but our schedule doesn’t look like it will go out like a lamb, more like a Tiger. I have received some pictures from Jessica that show all the beautiful blossoms that are out and it reminds me why I love our area so much. We have it all back home. When it comes to the four seasons and beautiful green grass and flowers all year round. Thanks Jess we enjoyed the Spring Flowers, I think I could have almost smelled the aroma. I miss my morning walks in our area with all the spring foliage out!

Spring here brings also beautiful flowers and lots of new fruits. We actually have an Indian Mango tree in our yard next to the home we rent. The Indian Mango is a green mango; it is so delicious and makes a great mango shake. I am also surprised to see all the watermelons for sale along the highway (which is just a two lane road).

These are some of the wonders of the spring flowers and fruit!

February

2010-03-24T20:06:00.001-07:00

The photo winner of the month. If the store is too far to walk, you will be creative and ride!

February was an exciting month for the Cooley missionaries it was truly a month filled with great ADVENTURES. First we decided to try a new project that of teaching some of the saints how to use a computer since this is essential in writing a resume and searching for a job. So on February 3^rd we went to Guinobatan to conduct a beginner's computer workshop for two hours which turned into two and a half hours and could have easily turned into three, but Elder Cooley decided we couldn't do it all in one night and he was right. It's just that the students were so excited and eager to learn that it was hard to tell them the time was up. We started with nine people attending, but the second week we grew to twelve and the third week we had 15.

Everyone loved the computer workshop and on the third week we took them to an Internet Café where we taught them how to email, set them up with a Yahoo account, showed them how to use Google and also to get on the church web site so they could start their genealogy. When we left that night we truly felt our time had been well spent. We received comments like: "Salamat Po, you have changed my life", "Thank you I can't believe I could do those things". They were so excited it was hard not let them stay all night. You should have seen the smiles!!!! Some of them printed pictures of the Manila Temple and they loved having the opportunity to see a whole new world.

How blessed we are to not only have the knowledge of the computers in our homes but we also have our own computers. We don't even realize there are people still in the world that will never see one or will ever have the opportunity to know how to use a computer.

Our nation is filled with so much opportunity it is hard to explain just how far behind us many of these countries really are. For example probably 99% of the people that we have meet have never or will never own a car or even drive one. We are in "the provinces" which means small cities far away from the big city Manila. They find it hard to believe that I know how to drive. One day we went to the Venezia, our favorite hotel, to see our friends. I drove and one of the young men asked, "Is Elder Cooley teaching you how to drive?" He was so surprised that I already knew how to drive a car.

Our second great adventure came when Elder Cooley and I took a three hour ferry ride to another island in our mission area. We went to Catanduanes to teach a Career Workshop on Saturday and a Prosperity Fireside on Sunday. Here is a tree in Catanduanes that has no trunk It is just like vines grown together.

These little sun shelters make the river look inviting.

A Caraboa with the largest horns I have seen so far.After the fireside we had training for the District Employment Committee. This meant that we would leave on Friday February 12 and come home on Monday the 15^th. The workshop, fireside, and training went extremely well, the saints were so thrilled that we had come to instruct them and get them going with the ERS (Employment Resource Services) program. These brothers and sisters need jobs and all the help we can provide for them. It is hard to believe but some of these people have never left their island and won't ever leave the island. They are faithful, loving committed saints and I am glad we had the chance to meet with them. The color of the ocean was a beautiful color as we pushed away from the dock. But I am not too anxious to go again since about an hour out to sea on our way home, our Captain comes on the intercom and tells us that they are having engine trouble. This wasn't a surprise to me since I could hear this clanking in the engine ever since we took off from the shore. He tells us that the 4^th and the 6^th pistons are not working so we will stop every half hour and let the engine cool. Well, 7 minutes later, (yes I timed it) and then wrote the whole experience down. I figured that maybe someone would find a bottle floating in the ocean and read about our last minutes alive. Sorry I got carried away, but the Captain came on again and said, "The engines have failed and we are adrift." I had just asked one of the crew how far from shore we were and he replied, "far, far, far from shore." I turned to the girl sitting next to me and asked her how far she could swim and she tells me she doesn't know how to swim. I decided I was better off than at least one person on board.
It didn't make me feel good when the crew members went up front and looked in a large box. It looked as though he was counting and closed the box after a few seconds. I thought to myself, "Just how many life vests could be in there that he counted so fast". When he came by us I asked him where the life jackets were kept and I knew he was going to tell me "in that box" and sure enough he did. With about 50 of us in the air con room I figured they might have 10 to 20 life jackets max.

To make it worse, the ocean waves had us rocking back and forth pretty hard now. A lot of people were suffering with loosing their lunch and that didn't help those of us who were healthy, but not wanting to take a swim. The Captain came on and told us another ferry was coming to tow us to Tabaco which is where we were going before all the problems. Minutes later I see a ferry and think "OK now we are saved", but the ferry comes around front of us and just keeps going. How rude, I thought he could have at least stayed to help us when the ship rolls over and we are all drowning.

I am thinking this is the end, we have 3 large diesel trucks in the bottom, one is filled with propane tanks, and the other two are fully loaded and only held in place with one chain in the front and one in the back. Along with the 18 wheelers we have 2 full sized buses a long motor home, and several cars. They are stacked in the bottom bumper to bumper, and it would only take one of them to break lose and start moving into the others as the ship is listing back and forth.

It didn't make me feel any better with the sight of the crew running up and down the stairs acting like they didn't know what they were doing. Finally another ferry called the Legazpi comes from the West and pulls in front of us and I can see the crew giving them a large blue rope and they are fastening it to their ship. As soon as they started pulling us the ship stopped rocking and we were on our way home. I could have stood up and cheered, but decided Elder Cooley would be embarrassed. Our 3 hour trip ended up taking us 6+ hours. I am alive and writing my tale for all to read, but it won't be as exciting as being there on the ferry with me. Here are the men who saved us. Thanks you guys! Love the sign, Safety First, yes I agree!

We knew we were close to home when we saw Mt. Mayon on the horizon.

Our Greatest adventure of the month came with the arrival of our daughter Denise, Spencer and grandson Jake. We had everything ready for their arrival so we thought we would go try to get some money out of the bank. This can be a trial at times, either the bank doesn't have money (not available) or our cards won't work. Sometimes it takes us days before we can finally get some money. It can get pretty frustrating at times!!!!!!! We left early so we could arrive at the airport in plenty of time. We are driving to Bank of the Philippines Islands when we are hit by a Tricycle, (a very under powered motorcycle with a little side car for passengers). A Traffic Enforcer sees us and tells us to go with him to the Pulis (Police) Station which is a couple blocks behind us. He then proceeds to stop traffic so we can all turn around and we headed for the station.

Lee and the Tricycle driver who hit us were sitting at a table and the officer is writing in a book like he is taking notes. Of course they are talking in Tagalog and Lee has no idea what they are saying, until finally the officer tells him that the man said he hit us and didn't see us at all until after it was over. He said and that he was responsible for the accident. He said he would fix the bumper; we just had to bring it to Pilar which is 1 hour away. The Pulis took the man's license until our car is fixed. The Officer was being very kind, but long winded and the time was ticking towards the arrival of the plane carrying our family. No we never got any money, but we arrived in time to see them emerge from the arrival door. What a beautiful sight to see our daughter come walking out of the terminal.

We only drive this little Toyota Altis and here they come with six very large suitcases and three of them. To cut down on the weight they had worn their winter coats that they had needed in China. Our weather is between 80° an 85° so I am sure the people were wondering what these Americans were doing with huge heavy winter coats. It was a trial, but after pushing and pulling we managed to get the luggage and three people into the car. Lee and Jake took one small suitcase and hopped on a Tricey. This was the beginning of their exciting trip to the Philippines.

In our short time together we were able to visit: Misibis Island where we had lunch. Jake found some huge clam shells saw the most beautiful scenery, ocean, resort and managed to tear the muffler loose on the car backing on to the barge. It was a great day for us, but a devastating day for the car.

Day two: We went to church and the kids had a chance to meet some of our dear friends and ward members. Then after lunch/breakfast we headed off to visit the one thing Jake wanted to see, the Mayon Volcano. We went around to the Mayon rest house, which is about half way around the Volcano.

This is the view from the rest house.

Then we went to the Cagasawa ruins where 1200 people went into the church in 1814 to escape the lava and they were all buried there in the church, the only thing left is the belfry tower. Linon Hill came next where you have a breath taking view of the city, ocean and Mt. Mayon towering over the coconut groves and the rice fields.

We also visited Kawa-Kawa. This is a hill that the Catholic Church owns and has made a trail where you walk along and view 14 stations where each one depicts some event in Christ's life during his last days. The statues are all life size and quite spectacular. It was a bit of a hike and it was very hot so by the time we finished we were exhausted and drenched with sweat. I thought it would just be a simple walk, but in the heat it was more of a trek, but definitely worth it. You will notice by the pictures. It is now summer here so it is very hot.

The Carter's at the Manila temple:

Day three: We spent Tuesday in Donsol where they have a huge fish (worlds largest) called a Butanding which is a whale shark, that can grow to 50 feet long, 6 foot wide mouth and has white dots on the top of the body. It is called the "gentle giant" because it only eats shrimp and plankton. We are lucky to be in one of only 3 places in this part of the world where they come to feed. The Carter's were brave and went swimming with the guide so they could see the Butanding up close. Lee and I spent our time in the boat laughing and enjoying the adventures of the swimmers. You can swim to with in 4 feet of the Butanding you are not allowed to touch them because they can get a disease from humans that might kill them. They are on the endangered species list so they have to be careful and not harm them or interfere with their eating habits.

We spotted 15 in all, which is a high number for one boat to see in just three hours. The weather was beautiful and the water was very still which made it more enjoyable for me after my last experience on the ferry. I decided that none of the boats are in perfect working order as the man steering the boat keep dipping out buckets of water from the hole where he was standing. Of course Jake found some beautiful shells on the shore when we walked the beach. I think this was one of the highlights for him.

We spent some time visiting some of the saints and giving them some clothes the Carter's had brought with them. Everyone loved Jake and couldn't get over his pointed nose and how tall he was at only 9 years of age.

Our last day was spent in Manila where Denise and I visited the Pearl Market and the men went to the American Cemetery where they buried the Americans killed in WWII and the missing (55,000) Americans are buried or memorialized in a beautiful cemetery on 152 acres in downtown Manila. We had a memorable visit with the Carter's and said good bye after a nice dinner at Chili's.

The next morning I met a pair of dear sisters who were here from the states and said that every year some of the members of their ward come over to a city in the Philippines and help them with what ever they need them to do. The sisters were so excited because the distribution center had a sale on garments, Book of Mormon and Bibles and they were on their way to purchase some. I stand amazed at how loving and caring the members of the church are throughout the world. What a kind and compassionate way to spend a vacation. They come to a third world country leave the comforts of home and just come to serve the people here in the Philippines and the Lord. I am touched by the love that the saints manifest to those who are less fortunate than they. My testimony grows because of others, many others that are sharing their talents, time, money and love to serve.

Our month ended up with a lot of work to catch up on, but it was worth it to have all the memorable experiences we had with the Carter's. We will have these memories with us the rest of our lives. They loved the Philippines and how beautiful everything is here and how precious the people are. I have decided the Lord spent most of his time preparing, planting and beautifying the Philippine country and the rest of the world just received what was left over.

I close now letting you all know how much we love and miss you. Granite Bay II Ward you are the still the greatest ward in the world. Thanks for the interest and support from all our friends. We love hearing from all of you. May the Lord bless and keep you until we meet again.

We love our family and thank them for all they are doing for us while we serve here in the Bicol region.

Common Ground

2010-03-15T14:18:00.000-07:00

This is a sign we see when we come out of Bicol University each morning after exercising. Did someone read the proclamation on the family here in the Philippines?

January

2010-03-13T14:05:00.001-08:00

Our January started off on a slow note. It has taken a couple of weeks to really get the ball rolling again. We have how ever been able to do a lot of work on the Career Guidance Fair which will be held on the 23 and the 30 of January. We have selected 13 of the most prominent schools; this includes universities, colleges, trade schools and technical schools. We also have three of the government agency's that will come and talk on the availability of scholarships, loans and all around financing. So far all schools except one have been very receptive and anxious to come. Now all we have to do is worry about getting the students to come with their parents. We are anxious to see how this comes together, so far so good so keep your fingers crossed. We will let you know in the next connection how it all turned out!

Here are some pictures from the Career Fair:

We walk at the university every morning for some exercise what an experience. We always find someone who is anxious to talk to us and even ask about why we are here. Our latest is Jed a 25 year old who is a Bicol University graduate in Education. He has lost his job but doesn't want a job in teaching he is interested in pursuing his work in computer programming. He is into web design and is talking to Facebook about doing a web page for them in this area. He is setting up a team so they can get started as soon as they get the contract. Hope he won't get disappointed. He is a riot to talk to and our conversation helps make the 3 miles go faster. Of course we have talked him into coming to our next Career Workshop here in Legazpi everyone looking for a job can benefit from it. We wish JED luck with his opportunity.

2010 started out with a double calamity in our family: First of all our second daughter Andrea, had to have her rotator cuff replaced. She had surgery and was doing well when, my Mother was vacuuming her stairs and fell backwards down them. She broke her left wrist and right collar bone, both arms immoveable. Andrea spent lots of time in the hospital sitting with Grams; the nurses weren't sure which one was the patient. Happy to say that both have been doing better, Andrea is working part time and using her arm as much as it will let her. Mother is finally home after about 3 weeks in the hospital, an operation to put a plate and screws in her wrist and also on her collar bone, and rehab center. They both are doing better! We pray they will both continue to improve and be back to normal soon. I forgot to mention that while all this was going on James, Andrea's husband was set to leave for Dubai for 3 months. He postponed his leaving for a week but is now in Dubai and working hard, so he can get home asap.

Since it has been a little slow Lee has been going out with the Elders to locate and visit some less active members. Lee and the missionaries had a sister and her two sons at church today. I have been doing my visits through Visit Teaching. My partner and I have five sisters', (four less active and 1 active) to visit and they live from one end of the city to the other end. It takes us four to five hours to get them all done. One of our sister's has come to church three weeks in a row (with her daughter and husband) and also homemaking meeting yesterday. YAH

We also had another sister come out last week. It is so rewarding to see these sweet sisters come to church and enjoy the spirit and engage in the work of the Lord. I taught how to cook a Mexican dinner in Homemaking and our Sweet friend, Amy/ our landlord came to the class and she seemed to really enjoy herself. We are hoping to get some of this great family interested in the church. We hope before we come home the chapel will be full of members that are coming back to partake of the Lords message and covenants.

Our missionaries are working long hours teaching and inviting the less actives to come back we miss them. I think our one set of Elders has 6 baptisms set for the next couple of months. This is truly exciting! The work is going forth in this corner of the world and all the missionaries are fully engaged. Our Mission President, President Smith has really raised the bar with his missionaries and they seem to enjoy the quest to do better. If any of your children need a fantastic mission to go to pray for the Philippine Naga Mission.

We received some good and bad news this morning, Elder Walker our dear friend and great missionary has been called to be the new AP (assistant to the President). None of us were surprised because he is such a example of what the perfect missionary should be. He will be a great asset to President Smith and the office there in Naga. I am sure we will still get to see him, in fact we teach Elder Mendez,, the missionary Elder Walker is replacing on Monday at the Career workshop and hope to see Elder Walker at the office.

The December rains must have been frightened of Mt. Mayon and decided since Mayon is sleeping again, that January would be the time to drain the clouds. It has rained, rained and rained and the wind has blown hard for a week straight. I can tell when the wind is blowing hard because my bathroom window whistles. I don't even need to look out side to know what the weather is like each day.

This is definitely umbrella weather and you will see everyone with one from tiny children to the oldest, male and female, walking or riding. I have never seen so many umbrellas and so many colors and designs. The design I see the most of that are alike, are the AVON. It must be popular here because there are hundreds of their umbrellas.

One of the highlights at the beginning of the month was a birthday party for Amy's mother and aunts cook. I guess they are like family since she, Shirley the cook and her family live in the aunts house to help take care of them. It was so interesting to be there with the family they are all kind and accepting to us. I remembered to take a picture of the food, which we loved. So far we have enjoyed most of what we have tasted here in the Philippines.

Shirley, she is the one in the picture leaning on me, and her daughter sang some songs for us.

Her daughter is 16 and a tiny thing but what a huge voice and she was enjoying every minute of the spot light, then Shirley sang a couple of songs with her daughter. We had a wonderful time like always when we are with our dear friends. I can't wait for big party in July when her aunt turns 94. The whole family will be there to celebrate, even the couple from America who we are renting our house from. July will be a great month.

We are plugging along each day doing what we SENIOR Missionaries do and loving each minute. We love hearing from each of you and know that you are healthy and standing strong in the faith. We love and miss you all and hope that each of you are working on building a stronger immoveable testimony.

Extra! Extra! Read All About the Mayon Volcano!

2010-01-26T14:48:00.001-08:00

What a difference a week makes in the life of an active volcano. Last week at this time the experts thought we were in for a large eruption. They said it wouldn't be anything like Mt. Saint Helen because it is a different kind of volcano, but it would be large compared to what we have had. Now you look at it and it is so innocent and beautiful. We see hardly any smoke only the canals where the green is completely gone and there is black lava rivers embedded deep in the mountain. It is quiet beautiful whether it is awake or asleep.

They talk about the tons of sulfur dioxide that is emitted each day. Ed, the expert, thought when the eruptions were over it would have sent out 20 to 50,000 tons of the sulfur dioxide. Also when we were at Philvocs they told us it was erupting or have earthquakes two hundred plus a day. We never felt the earth quakes but we did on Christmas Eve hear the moan and the rumble that the mountain was making just before a large eruption would occur.

We also have pictures of jagged edges of years old lava that are all filled now and the cone is more perfect than when it started erupting.

The alert level has been reduced to 3 and the evacuees have been given the green light to go home. So it looks like all is well with Mother Nature once again, but for how long, well that remains to be seen. We are excited though because they may reopen the Mayon Rest house, a tourist area part way up the volcano, and we will be able to visit be fore we come home.

Christmas Time

2010-01-25T19:55:00.001-08:00

In the last note we mentioned that our volcano was unusually active and the danger level had been raised to 3. Well it has been at level 4 for a few weeks now and hundreds of eruptions and earthquakes daily. We have taken time to check it out at a place called Lingon Hill. It is a flat topped hill that sits directly in front of the volcano and is just a few kilometers away from the action. Lee found a little building (Phivolcs) on the side of the Lingon Hill that houses the instruments that scientists' use to study and measure the activity of the volcano. This also where Ed the expert, and his crew stay that are studying the volcano and have been for many years. We have made friends there so we go there to check out the news and also look through their telescope, which puts you up close and personal with the action. The work they do is very interesting. We learned that Mt. Mayon is a self healing volcano. The perfect cone it has is even more perfect now than when the eruptions started. There was a huge edge that used to stick out on the right side but is now all filled in.

This is a seismograph showing all the earthquakes and eruptions taking place:
Picture taken at Phivolcs with Mt Mayon in the background:The E-tilt measures the pressure buit up. The rising blue line shows definate eruption going to take place.

Our best lava show was to come on Christmas Eve. We had the largest Christmas Tree in the world, all eight thousand vertical feet of it was light up and glowing. We spent the evening with some members and they live so close you could see the lava flowing out of the top. We especially enjoyed watching the car sized boulders rolling down the sides and some bursting in a thousand pieces when they hit the lava fence, which the volcano has formed at the bottom. What a light show Mother Nature gave us for our Christmas present!

Eruption at night, small compared to Christmas night. Zoom in to get the full effect:

I had to ask a man if he would put my memory stick in his 35mm camera to get me a night picture. I thought that was a genius idea.

Smoky that day but you can see how far down the mountain the lava is coming:

But not everything is exciting about the volcano. We saw thousand of people evacuated from their homes carrying only a bag with their belongings in it. Most were herded like cattle, in to huge trucks and carried away to spend their days and evenings and even Christmas with hundreds of others in schools and churches located out side the danger zone. They found that some farmers would escape and go back to tend their animals, who would feed and care for them? In some cases this was their food for the family in the future. Also the rice farmers are planting their fields and can't be bothered with something like a volcano they have to get the rice in the ground or it will be late for the harvest. In all about 50,000 people were displaced from their homes and made to live in sad inhuman situation for who knows how long.

Evacuees:
We also got a close up of the not so truthful news media. They had head lines of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing for their lives, which was not even close to the truth. Also the destruction was tremendous, and in truth all we ever saw was a few coconut trees that were destroyed with the lava flow. So don't believe what you read in the paper about our Mt. Mayon. The media is out of control here also!

Picture from a TV monitor on top of Linon hill. All the news channels were camped there for weeks.

You can see how bad the ash is getting:

You can see the avenues that the lava took:

This picture was taken on Dec 30. Mt Mayon seems to be settling down.

We were told that our December would be slow but not the case in our area. We had a DEC training and a Prosperity Fireside in Bulan on the 19^th which is 2 ½ hours away. So we traveled 5 hours on Saturday and got up on Sunday and traveled another 6 hours round trip to Pamplona district where we did 2 more Prosperity firesides. In Pamplona we did our first fireside in the dark. They had had a brown out for two days and still wanted us to come. The first fireside was over and hour late so by the time we drove to the second one the sun was setting. Only the stake centers have generators so no lights mean you are in the dark. I got through my part but about half way through Lee's you could hardly see him in the front of the room. They lit a few candles and placed them around. I could just see our Bishop dying if someone did that in our church building. We did survive and had a wonderful experience even in the dark.

On the 22^nd we had our Christmas Zone Conference with the Naga Mission. All the missionaries look forward to this because they have a native dish, Lechon which is a whole pig roasted over a fire.

The Southern Zone:

We had so many delicious dishes and everyone walked away happy and feeling like the holidays were upon us. We also had a gift exchange where we did the left right story. The best however were the skits that the various zones performed. We had singing, acting, dancing and even a story from President and Sister Smith.

President Smith telling a story about a little boy and his grandfather: The most spiritual part is always when they have their Zone meeting and they invite the missionaries that just arrived and the missionaries that are going home to bare their testimonies. This is a special time looking at these energetic, strong youth and know how they are missed at home, but seeing them happy and ready and willing to spend 2 years serving the people and the Lord.

I thought this would wind up our activities and we could give some thought to Christmas presents, wrong. While we were at the Zone Conference the President received a call from Goa Stake President telling him he was the guest speaker for their youth conference the next day. Since he had the Zone Conference in the North that day he asked Elder Cooley if we could go their and take his place. We all know that Elder wouldn't pass up this opportunity and so off we went on the 23^rd to a YSA Conference that is two and a half hours away. (You might be thinking at this time that we have put a few miles on our car. You are right we average about 1700 miles a month so far. In December we did 2402 in just 3 weeks.) We had just left home about 10 o'clock, when we received a call from the Stake President wondering where we were. In stead of 1:00 we were scheduled to talk at 9:00 AM unbeknownst to us. He told us that they would wait and wait they did, two hours later Lee started his presentation. The conference was great, Lee gave a terrific talk and the youth loved it.

Christmas Eve with the first councilor in the Legazpi Stake, President Dorosan was a wonderful experience. We love his family and they seemed to enjoy us. They have a little grandson about Taitum's age so I enjoyed holding him and thinking of our two babies at home. We had some interesting dishes which were all delicious. Spending Christmas Eve with friends, great food and Mt. Mayon made our first Christmas here very special. We miss our loved ones at home and know that they had a great Christmas also. I think Christmas in the Mission field is a special experience.

Christmas day we spent opening a box of goodies our kids sent us and the best gift we received were the testimonies that hung on our tree from our family. It was an emotional time for me, but wonderful at the same time. We love our family and hold them close to our heart every minute of everyday we are away from them. We spent Christmas lunch with our neighbor and landlord, Amy and her family. Our friends are very kind and generous to us in every way. They welcome us into their lives and show us the utmost respect. We had dinner at her aunts' house, with all her family that are here in the area. Her aunt, 93 years old and mother 84 years old, are bed ridden for most of the time but they were dressed in their red outfits and came up to dinner with us. We had quite a feast and again every dish was delicious.

To end our perfect day, we cooked dinner for the six Elders who live next door, Elder Walker, Elder Domagsang, Elder Gless, Elder Spreng, Elder Jensen and Elder Reed. We usually only have four next door, but two of the Elders from Camlig were evacuated so they were here to help make our Christmas complete. Ham dinner, twice baked potatoes, green beans and homemade hot rolls made some very happy Elders have a Merry Christmas. Our friends, the Pangan family, came over caroling and so between them and the Elders we had a very special program to end the night. Merry Christmas every one and Happy New Year.

Our biggest and best present came after we came upstairs from a busy day and read an email from our daughter Jennifer and found that our Brian and Jessica were at the hospital having our 18^th grandchild. Charles B. Cooley 7lbs. 8 ounces 19 inches long came into this world on Christmas Day spanning two time zones half a world away. He only had an eight hour window to do this and he nailed it, with Jessica's help of course. It was Christmas night in the Philippines at 10:58 PM and Christmas morning in America at 6:58 AM. This child is a genius already and is the cutest thing ever. Jenn sent us some pictures of him just hours old and he is perfect. Edmond is also happy with his new baby brother. Brian and Jessica are wonderful parents and we are so proud of them and the love and help they bless our lives with daily.

New Year's here was exciting with firecrackers and fireworks going off all day and all night. They have firecrackers that sound like small bombs going off and I think they went off all night long. You can't believe the size of the fireworks, they would never make it to America, bottle rockers two feet tall. Needless to say the mission curfew was at 6:00PM. We served the missionaries a Mexican feast for New Year's Day everyone went home stuffed and happy. We ended the night with the elders singing us some hymns in Tagalag a perfect ending to wonderful year and the perfect beginning to a new year.

May the Lord bless and keep you all safe and healthy. We loved the card and notes from our friends and family. Our sweet daughter-in-law, Jessica scanned in the notes and sent us the addresses of the people who sent them. She is always taking care of us especially when it comes to the communications we receive we from you. Thank you for your interest and loving sentiments we love and appreciate our friends and family.

Christmas Photos

2010-01-24T14:20:00.000-08:00

Three trees with lights in motion starting fromthe ground up
The prize winner this year was the tire tree in Naga

Bamboo:

Milk bottles:

Reeds of some kind:

Our neighbors. People think Lee is the father of Elder Spreng who is standing next to me.

Our refugees, Elder Reed and Elder Jensen

Missionaries love to have their picture taken and they can pose in a nano second:

Unusual Nativity

2010-01-23T14:57:00.000-08:00

The Barangay. a small village division. have a tradition where they get together and do a nativity. Here are some that we saw.

This one is on top of a hill and human size:

It was interesting that many had black faces.

This one was put up high to protect it from kids.

December

2010-01-02T13:49:00.001-08:00

We started the month off with a bang and traveled four hours to Daet to give a couple Prosperity Firesides. We love the wards in Daet. They are very active and enjoy having us come and present our workshops so this time we did a fireside in a couple of the areas in that stake. The turn out was great and they all seemed to enjoy the fireside. This fireside tells them about how to be SPIRITUALLY and TEMPERALLY Self-Reliant. We teach them about savings and compound interest, and how their money can grow in the bank. We also give them suggestions of where they can find money to save. We enjoy the couples that come to the fireside and we feel their spirit and their desire to improve their lives. I can feel the strength in the young adults that come and know that this country will be a different place in another 20 years.

The second week of the month we had the opportunity to travel to Manila which is about 10 hours from here. We flew Cebu Airlines and both the planes we were on looked brand new. They only have about 6 flights from here with 3 different airlines so you don't have much of a variety on times the airport is closed at 2:00pm. But not knowing what to expect we were pleasantly surprised, not much security though. Not much baggage screening either. I took a bottle of water on board and they never said a thing. You also have to go outside to board the plane and that is okay unless it is raining hard like when we came home.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Queson City, this is sure not like our Holiday Inn's, it was better than the Marriott. The hotel is international and so was the delicious buffet breakfast, food from several different countries and even a good old American breakfast. YUM, YUM

Temple Christmas lights:

Temple at sunset:

Up first on our agenda was our first Philippine wedding. We arrived at the Temple almost an hour early and about one plus hours late the marriage took place. Even in the temple they have Pilipino time. They are late to everything and in starting every meeting.

The bride and groom, Carlo and Esmeralda Adille, were both gorgeous and the dress was so pretty on her. She had two different tops that she wore during the evening. It was very unusual. We were guests of honor and sat at a special table and also listed on the invitation announcement. We were told that if we were listed as honored guests or sponsors then we had to help pay for the wedding. Of course that didn't happen so all went well. The reception was long, these people know how to party and they enjoy it to the last second which is about 4 hours later.
Our next appointment was with our friends up North the Costley's. They also came to Manila to a meeting and training we had on Thursday. This gave a couple of days to spend at the temple, talking, shopping at the Mall of Asia and the pearl market. We also had the chance to go to Chili's for dinner one night and it tasted sooo good. We also went to the American Cemetery which is so beautiful and peaceful. You can tell that the US takes care of it everything is trimmed perfect and immaculate. Another point of interest was the Old Fort Santiago where one of their hero's-Dr. Rizal died. With the men you know we had to see some history sites.

Thursday was our meeting and training and it was great. We have a leader, Jomel that is so loving, caring, funny and so interesting to listen to he has a story for everything. The only sad thing is they are opening a ERC center in the North so we won't have the Costley's with us in Manila any more. We will miss our meeting with them! This however means the employment centers are doing there job and so expansion is taking place.

Our arrival brought bad news for us. Our dear friend and neighbor Andrew was leaving in a couple of days for Russia where he will be working for a few months. He goes overseas to work because the money is so good compared to what he can get here. There are so many people who do that here, families without one spouse some times for years. Children some times have never met their father and they are teenagers. The money is sent home and that makes up for the absences of the spouses. Count your many blessings!

We arrived just in time to go to the first convert baptism here in a long while. We now have four Elders in our city and they are working hard to get the part member and non active families coming to church again. This little girl is nine, her family are members just not coming, but since the baptism I have seen her and her mother every Sunday. I visit teach three sisters that are not coming to church either. They say that our ward has seven hundred members but we only have about a hundred to a hundred fifty coming to church regularly. I think the missionary spirit in the ward is missing, especially the fellowshipping.

Also going on that night at church was a cultural event for the YM & YW. They were to take an event from the Book of Mormon and do a skit and it was truly amazing of what they came up with, costumes and ideas. Our youth at home should try this.

Sunday we actually had an opportunity to attend our home ward and get reacquainted with the members. It is always a spiritual experience to hear and see the strength of our Philippines saints. Especially the youth that will be the second and in some cases the third generation to be members in some families.

On the fourteenth and fifteenth we taught our favorite career workshop which is the workshop we give the missionaries that are going home. This is the most rewarding and spiritual workshop we have. If any of you want to have the best experience of your life you should come to one of these workshops. To stand and teach these strong and valiant Elders and Sisters is a real joy and blessing in our lives. You will know why the Philippines is going to be having a life altering change when these missionaries are the leaders of state and church. There are so many sharp missionaries here from neighboring areas; they come mostly from Northern Luzon. We love this part of our calling and it comes every six weeks! We I must admit have the best missionaries in the world.

Mt. Mayon has been giving a lot of activity and they have raised the warning level to 3 and a possible 4 soon. We are on constant alert and have our emergency kit in our trunk just in case. The eruptions are getting more violent and more often than we have ever seen.

We love you all of you and hope your Holidays are filled with family and the true SPIRIT Christmas

Our Christmas Decorations

2009-12-29T17:18:00.000-08:00

Lee gave Annette this nativity and tree for Christmas:

December 12, 2009

2009-12-14T19:54:00.001-08:00

Elder and Sister Cooley take to the road on their TRICYCLE!

Where oh where could he be?

Some people walk their dogs, he walks his pig.

Carabo coming home from a long day in the rice fields:

Truman riding the cart. Lee gave the man and boy a soda, they were so excited:

The boy scouts singing at the mall:

We ended November with a busy weekend. On Friday we drove an hour East of Naga and conducted a District Employment Committee training, (DEC). This training is always interesting because most of the members have no IDEA what they are suppose to be doing, there for nothing is being done, so we explain what each person's job consists of and how to do it. It is amazing how interested they are once they understand what to do. An hour ride back to Naga, a good dinner, clothes washed and dried (the office couple actually have a dryer, how lucky is that!).

Saturday we were off to Daet which is four hours from Legazpi. It helps to spend the night in Naga so we only have a two hour drive in the morning. We had a career workshop with 42 in attendance. I think that was our record attendance and the participation was definitely the best we have had. What a great group-inspiring!!!!

Our workshop grads:

Our drive to Daet is beautiful:

The Stake President there is really on the ball, he has always been eager for us to come and teach his saints all we have to offer. He is very young maybe early thirties, tall and good looking. He has a desire to serve his people and get what ever help he can to motivate them into locating a job so they can be self reliant. He has requested that we come this Sunday and present the Prosperity Fireside to a couple of his wards there. We then have a four hour drive home and prepare for our trip to Manila on Monday. So, last Saturday we spent 8 hours in a work shop and 6 hours driving. We were both tired and ready for bed.

WHY do we not spend the night in Diet or some of the other places and avoid the long drive, in the dark on the treacherous roads? Well the drive is better that the hotel accommodations if you know what I mean. Can you spell "no star" hotel?

Sunday we took off for another hour drive to attend church in Sorsogon City. They had District Conference so all the branches were represented and also the missionaries that serve in that district. We also had President Smith and Sister Smith, which is always a treat to see and hear them speak. He is the priesthood leader over the districts in the mission so his job is more than just Mission president. He and Sister Smith are extremely busy with the Naga Mission!

Our new words for this week are LOLA which means Grandmother and LOLO which means Grandfather. We walk around a track at the Bicol University and this week there have been a few hundred elementary children practicing for a competition. Well can you imagine the attention these two old white people received? First they would sit on the side and dare one of their friends to say something to us, when would answer the children would all laugh. Then some of them got brave and came over and shook our hand or gave us a high five, run back and everyone would laugh. Then more would come out. Before we were done the track was covered with children who of course had a thousand questions. (By the way some of these children have never seen white couples).

Grandpa on the other hand took off jogging. I am not sure if he thought he could get away, but he had a long line of boys jogging along with him. He had them trailing from one end of the track to the other. The girls mostly walked with me and never stopped asking questions, then they would say Lola, where is Lolo? Or half of them would say Grandpa. I would point him out and they would say OHHHHHH.

Then ask a million other questions! This was our entertainment for a couple of days.

The missionaries are coming to dinner again tonight. We look forward to hearing about their teaching and tracting experiences. They are having the first convert baptism here in a couple of years. They also have a great many they are teaching so maybe more baptisms before Christmas. We had one of the AP's here on splits so we are having Mexican food again without our neighbor Elder Damagsang here. He told Elder Walker all he wants to eat is Mexican food now, even his rice of choice now is Mexican, I think we have ruined him for life! Maybe tonight we will convert Elder Mendez!

Elder Walker and Elder Mendez having tacos and quesadillas:

We pray for the Lord to bless and keep you all safe and healthy. We are proud of you and your work in helping the Lord to further his work. This is a good month to go to the temple, go soon!

Merry Christmas Season,
Lola & Lolo

November 24, 2009

2009-12-01T22:04:00.001-08:00

Our November has just escaped us, and with only a few days left we want to express our many thoughts of our busy month. First, November 14, we had another Career workshop, but only had 10 out of 30 show up. It doesn't matter how many are there, we always have some that are extremely sharp and eager to learn all we have to offer. We pray that they will all have a chance to get a job and stay in the area. This area has a lot of people go to Manila where it is easier to get a job, and better pay, but the Church needs the priesthood and leadership here in the outer areas of the provinces.

November 15, we had another opportunity to do two more of the Prosperity Firesides, the first in Camalig to about 20+. We don't usually include small children in our count of attendees, but we do include teenagers since they start college at 16 here. The teenagers should hear our fireside because they are the generation that will change the Philippine outlook on a lot of things. The fireside gives them insight to both Spiritual and Temporal blessings, especially the blessings of learning to save money and keep it for their retirement.

The Filipino people on the whole do not save or have a retirement. They think they have to give their money to their children then they live like paupers and have to live with a family member when they get older. What is even worse is that the government is so corrupt that the people don't trust the banks at all because they say the government might just come in and close the bank down and confiscate all the money. They have nothing like Social Security! It is hard to try to get ahead here because the government doesn't want them to advance too much or they, the government, might lose control.

When you go to a bank here there are from three to five guards with loaded guns. Some of these are M16, shotguns or machine guns. Believe me they look around when they see us come to the teller. I watched the other day when Lee was walking to the car, the guard stood at the corner until he got inside the car. The guards are all very friendly and kind. They open your door and check your purse or body, if you are a man, whenever you go into a bank or store. No one is going to cause trouble on their shift.

We also have guards at the stores, gas stations, hotels, restaurants, schools and also every where on the streets. You have gun packing traffic Police everywhere, but no stop signs or stoplights.

On the 15th we visited Guinobatan where 55 of the saints came to hear how to multiply your money. We had some excitement when they wanted Elder Cooley to tell them where to put their money and also some of them wanted to lend money and wanted him to tell what percent was fair. Somehow with the Lord's help he always gets out of the discussion with positive results and the saints all love the attention of us coming to them to do a fireside. They all want to get ahead and receive the blessings for being faithful. They, for the most part, all have a positive attitude about their situation and what the Lord wants of them. We have a quote that gets them thinking, "If you are born poor it isn't your fault, but if you die poor that is your fault."

We had a few meetings during the week and then back to another workshop on Saturday in Guinobatan. In this small quaint town lives a brother that lost his wife to cancer a year ago and hasn't been able to get a job to pay the bills. I talked about him before. We had one of his daughters in our class. She was beautiful, smart and talented only 14, and mature beyond her age.

Saturday night he texted Elder Cooley and told him that he had told his daughters that he was leaving the church, that next day would be his last time in church, the one year anniversary of his wife's death. His daughters were heartbroken. He was also going to take the 9 year old and leave the 14 year old behind while he went to find a job somewhere else. He is so distraught from the death of his wife and the hospital after him all the time to pay the bills for his wife's stay. He fells like the church had told him they would pay the hospital bill, but Lee tried to explain how the church couldn't possibly afford to pay the members medical expenses in the Philippines. I think he just has a complete feeling of hopelessness and needs to blame someone. We hear and see so many heart breaking stories like this.

There are also many families who have one of the parent's overseas working. We had a woman in our Tabaco CWS that has 7 children and her husband is in Dubai and she won't see him for a year. She was also there when she had her twins (#6&7), her other children were here. She then decided to come home to take care of her family.

Our last adventure was a double fireside again in two very small villages. The branch, in Pilar, meets in a church that used to be a large home. We drove up and down the street about 6 times and couldn't find it. We would go to one end of the street and ask someone who couldn't speak English, do you know where the Mormon Church is, pointing to our badge and they would wave back that way. Then we would go to the other end and ask and they would send us back the way we had just come from. Then we would turn and ask again finally right next to a huge Inglesia ni Cristro Church set back off the street behind an iron gate I finally spied the black sign with the Church's name on it. We ended up still being early. Somehow the Lord always watches over us and gets us where we need to be when we need to be there and the experience is wonderful.

Last stop was in Donsol where we had a great group attend the fireside. Then we took off through the mountains on our two hour drive for home and even arrived before dark, which is a miracle for us.

Our Thanksgiving took place on Monday the 23^rd at the Naga Mission Home, where we had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and all the trimmings. We even had a 7 layer jell-o salad that made me home sick. Our treat was a singing duo- the AP's. They sang a few songs and even put a little dance in one of them for us. The mission is so blessed to have such amazing missionaries, with such strong testimonies. Our missionaries come from the Philippines (60%), America and New Zealand. We had a wonderful time.

Our blessings come each day with the little kindnesses and the smiles we receive from our friends. Our Father has put us here to touch the hearts of those we come in contact with and I pray we will be led to all those who are waiting for what we can offer.

We love and miss you all and pray that you will remember to count your blessings, your many blessing and name them one by one. I am on 1,987,679,250 and still counting.

We send our LOVE,

Dad and Mom

Thanksgiving

2009-12-01T21:42:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone. Hope you Turkey day is wonderful and I get lots of pictures and emails telling us about it. We miss being there with all of you on this special of thanks. We think all of you are our blessings and love you very much.

We spent our day working and taking our friends out to lunch. His birthday is today and hers was yesterday. We also had a couple of missionaries over for a Mexican Thanksgiving. I did not want to do the turkey since we just had it on Monday. The Elders were very happy with the feast we had.

We finally saw our volcano this morning and it is very active, lots of smoke coming out of it. We heard that some of the top collapsed but it is smoking so much we can't see the top of the cone.

Hope you know how much we love and miss you all.

--Elder and Sister Cooley

Halloween and a Trip to Donsol

2009-11-30T21:35:00.000-08:00

Halloween in the Phillippines

A traffic enforcer. He wears his shirt with pride.

Some of the little girls we saw on our trip back from Donsol on Sunday.

These beautiful home settings were on our trip to Donsol and Pilar. The rice fields were just getting planted again. This was a beautiful drive.

They completely flood the fields before the rice is planted:

Here is the rice right after it is planted. These were awesome settings for the family home.

A Trip, a Typhoon, and a Volcano Eruption

2009-11-13T20:48:00.000-08:00

Our trip to Pio Duran-

Here is part of the road. A lot of the road wasn't paved:

A man coming home from work on his Carabo:

An example of the road:

Young man cutting a coconut down:

The chapel up in the mountains:

The beautiful country:

They put these barrels across the road to slow you down. Sometimes they use signs.

Typhoon Santi-

One of the larger trees that fell. Luckily they had cleared the road of all the downed trees.

Telephone and electric lines down across the road:

The banana trees were especially hit hard. They must not have a strong trunk.

Trees down from typhoon Santi:

Carabo enjoying the cool river:

Huge piggy going to the market:

Carabo and owner preparing for the rice fields:

Mt Mayon Eruption-

Mt Mayon the day before the eruption;

It belched out a large puff of brown smoke. You can see where the fresh ash or lava came down the front of it.

Rock garden from the first eruption of Mt Mayon:

November 11, 2009

2009-11-13T20:19:00.001-08:00

Beautiful Phillipines:

An electrical nightmare:

Terraced rice fields:

We did a Career Workshop (CWS) for the outgoing missionaries at the Mission home on Monday and Tuesday, November 2nd and 3rd. It was great to be with these young adults who have worked so hard impacting the lives of many people whom they have brought into the church. Our group consisted of 9 Filipinos, two of which were sisters, 1 Fijian, and one American.

Tuesday after the Workshop we packed up and headed to the SM Mall for overdue haircuts then headed back to Legazpi. We got there just in time for a surprise birthday party I planned for Annette since her birthday fell on a Sunday. I invited our landlords, Amy and Danny, our neighbors Andrew and Lena , the Zone Leaders and our friends the Pangan's (he is the 1^st counselor in the Stake Presidency and who we work with in the Stake Employment Committee here in Legazpi). The office Elders were also in town so it was a pretty good group.

It was a nice dinner and good friend-shipping activity for our neighbors who are not of our faith. They asked a lot of questions and we invited them to come to our Prosperity Fireside Sunday. When we finally arrived home we were really tired but it was a good kind of tired because of all that we had accomplished in that week end.

Our next endeavor was on Saturday November 7; a Self-employment Workshop (SEWS) in Ligao District. Ligao is about an hour away, west of Legazpi. Every time we travel out of the city it is an athletic event. This time it was quite pleasant until we came to Camilig where the heavy rains had caused a mud slide from the volcano into this tiny town. The roads were covered with mud and rocks. Some of the dirt had been shoveled away, by hand of course but the bulk of it remained. This little town sits at the bottom of the volcano so most of its problems come from the volcano. Other than the mud, rocks and water the trip was nice. We like teaching in Ligao because this is one district that is really performing as a team and doing the right things as the Stake Employment committee. They take time to plan things and have really learned from the training we have provided. The SEWS was great. The group of 21 was interested and we had great participation. We expect about half will try to start a new business in the next six months; we hope they will be successful! It is important that they follow the steps: pick a business they want to start and make a plan to identify all the components of a business plan. They are not formal plans, but contain the product or service idea, market research, market strategy and financial plans.
We love teaching our classes; the graduates have fun with the process we take them through. We have a work book and some fun videos that we work into the various subjects. By the time we are done is seems like we are all friends, laughing, learning and working hard together. We had 21 graduates in this class!

We especially had fun because we took our Grandson Truman with us(a "Flat Stanley" likeness of Truman Galmeister), Truman has an assignment in his class to take some pictures of him in different places so we have him visiting us here in the Philippines . The class all wanted him in the picture so we did. He is the youngest graduate of our class.

Sunday was special we were able to attend our home ward after three weeks away. There we did a Prosperity Fireside immediately following church and had a about 75 attendees. After the one in Legazpi, we did the same fireside in Daraga for two wards. It was well attended, maybe 60-70 people and we know many of them including the Stake President Ramos and his wife, some of the Bishops and President Pangan, a dear friend. Elder Cooley almost started world war 3 when he mentioned that Sister Cooley handled the check book. Several couples came up after, saying my wife now wants to handle our finances. We won't go there next week in the firesides we have.

Today was a P-day; we love this day because we have the chance to talk with our children via webcam. What a delight to see and hear about their adventures that week. We even have the opportunity to be entertained some weeks like today when Tanner started us off with his straw tricks and then Edmond did his Elephant impersonation for us. It is so funny, what a guy!

Love,

Elder and Sister Cooley

What We've Seen Recently

2009-10-29T20:02:00.000-07:00

How do you get the piggy's to market? If you look close you can see there are four pigs going to market. Two are in the front seat!

Is there a sale on?

Do you think they have enough flags up? They love their fiestas.

Tricee parking lot:

Where's Waldo?

Our gecko that loves to play on our car:

Beautiful Legaspi:

Christmas is celebrated with all months that end in "ber" so every store is decorated and so are the houses:

A group of children getting a ride home from school:

October 20, 2009

2009-10-29T19:54:00.001-07:00

Our last week was one of adventure and meeting lots of new and wonderful saints. We had our first visit to an area called Goa . It is a small town about 2 hours from here. We were there to do training of the leaders and the employment committee stake and ward employment committee. We were surprised to find that they had invited the people who were only supposed to come to the workshop to the training also, so they were all there the full nine hours. They seemed to enjoy the training and especially the career workshop. You have to be there for the full 8 hours in order to receive the certificate. The certificate means a lot to them, some said they will take with them when they interview for a job and show them they completed the course.

We had our best class ever, usually after lunch we have several people not come back, but this time we had almost everyone stay the whole time. They had a hard time understanding some instructions because some of them don't know the English language very well or at all. The Stake President would reiterate the instructions in Bicolano and immediately they would go to work. That is the native language they speak there.

When we go to the Naga area we stay with the mission president if they are in town, we enjoy getting together with them. President and Sister Smith invited us on Sunday to attend Sacrament meeting in a small branch up in the hills not to far from where we had to present a Prosperity Fireside so we went. Be grateful for you meeting houses what ever they are because you don't meet in a small and I mean small house, or hut. It has about 30 to 35 members crammed in to this living room and the kitchen is where the pulpit is. The Primary was in a bedroom next to the living room. They only have one person pass the sacrament. It was a special day because they had two returned missionaries come home at the same time and they were brother and sister also served in the same mission.

President and Sister Smith are next to Annette, the Lambson's are at the end of the table, and the West's are next to Lee:

The service was very good even if we couldn't understand what they were saying. It was perfect until they had a brown out and soon as those fans stopped it got toasty in there. We had to leave after Sunday school, don't know when the electricity came back on.

It was so funny a young adult was sitting next to a fan in the front and when the light would blink he would lunge for the switch but he never got there before the light was out again. This happened about four times before we left, never got the fan on but he got his exercise.

By the way that is my first time being with a dog in church. He slept under Lee's chair. He would get up and move around a few times during the meeting until some lady smacked him on the head, then he left.

We then drove to Pulongi for a Prosperity Fireside and guess what after my part we had a brown out again. They never got the electricity on again either at least while we were there. We had about 75+ attend and about 60 come to the Ligao fireside. Hurray no brown out in Ligao.

Elder & Sister Cooley

The Menu at McDonald's

2009-10-29T19:48:00.001-07:00

Fiesta Show

2009-10-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

The Philippine people love to have their picture taken.

If you want a soda, they pour it into a bag and it is warm:

Beautiful Orchids

2009-10-29T19:41:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the orchids they grow here:

In the Market

2009-10-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

Native Wares:

Native Handcrafts:

Fishing boat:

Our bay:

Some of the fruits, they are all great. We just can't find them all the time:

Jack fruit. It tastes good, but it is very sticky and stinks like you wouldn't believe:

Native purses, they have lots.

Linon Hill

2009-10-22T19:46:00.000-07:00

We are at the top of Linon Hill, a place where you visit for a 360 view of the city. Unfortunately we went when it was getting dark.

Start of the zip line. This is where the screaming starts:

Lee with the volcano in the background:

Info on the volcano:

Planters they have all around. And check out the street light behind. They love these lights, they have them all around town:

Girl on the zip line:

Check out the spider, he has worked hard to try to finish his web before dark:

Around Town

2009-10-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

These are the Brahm's that guard our street:

Selling rice:

Native stores:

This is how close they live to the highway:

Laundry day:

Homes they start but haven't finished:

We have to have big pockets because these are...

2009-10-14T21:23:00.001-07:00

the keys to our home:

Every door has at least two locks and then we have a sliding door that has a pad lock on it. If someone wants to get in they had better be prepared.

Our Home

2009-10-14T20:47:00.000-07:00

Elder Cooley sweeping the street:

Across the street:

The street where we live, we don't usually have the brama in the street but you never know from one day to the next what will be wandering around. The red and cream at the end of the street is the chapel so we have a short distance to walk. I tell people that we had to move to Legaspi to able to live close enough to walk to church. They always laugh but it is true.

A pretty flower:

Our front room window:

Our front door:

Oven 14 inches wide:

Dish drainer:

Garage and side patio:

View from the study:

Cool rock:

Mt Mayon in the clouds:

Our deck on the roof:

Mt Mayon from the roof:

View from our bedroom:

Master bedroom and bath:

Master bath:

Living room:

Kitchen and dining:

Stairs and entry:

Study area outside the blue room (our office):

Blue room office and balcony looking out the front of the home:

The office before we got out desk and chair:

View outside the back of our house:

Cebu Temple

2009-10-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

October 12, 2009

2009-10-13T13:42:00.000-07:00

Magadong umaga (good Morning) from the Philippines. We have had an interesting October so far. First we started the month off with the 13th Typhoon and our second one since we have been in Legazpi. The first one, Pepeng, left Manila in shambles, and three weeks later there are parts that are still under water and no end in sight since it has been raining off and on for three weeks now. No thanks to the second typhoon (Melor) that came through on Lee’s birthday. It seems like the people just expect it to hit and they do what they can to prepare, but it is never enough.

The day before it hits you should go to the market it is filled with people buying food, water and emergency supplies. They box up all their personal belongings and store it in a friend’s house that has two stories or they put it in some rafters they have built in the top of the house, and of course this doesn’t do much good since the house wouldn’t still be standing with much rain or wind.

This typhoon brought more wind than rain so when we went to the hotel to celebrate Lee’s birthday they had boarded up the large windows all across the top of the hotel. They had also brought in their guests from their island resort.

After dinner, the hotel staff all marched in with a special dessert with candle aflame singing Happy Birthday. We have a special bond with the staff and friends we shall cherish forever. The chef added a special touch, he wrote “Happy Birthday Elder Cooley with strawberry syrup around the edge of the plate.

We had the opportunity to visit with Pres. & Sister Smith, the Naga mission president, have them in our home for lunch and dine with them at dinner when they can break away from interviews and Zone Conference. They introduced us to a new place to have dinner. It is a good thing because McDonalds, Shakey’s Pizza and the Hotel Venezia have been our only choices, but now Biggs Diner and Chile Peppers are the on our list.

We have October as Clean up Month. We have seen some improvement in the past two weeks, but every day here should be clean up day. We have had a man doing landscape maintenance for a solid week now. He, Jun, has been working all day long and uses mostly a knife to cut and dig the weeds. He cuts the grass with some hand shears. This whole street could have been done in a day with a weed eater.

Jun is the man’s name and he has three of the cutest children. One little girl is 6 her name is Christi and 3 year old girl, Darling and 7 year old girl. Christi always comes to the gate to collect her juice and crackers or cookies that I give her. She acts like she has never seen cookies before. One package had blueberry filling and she played with the jam for a long time before she took a bite. She would stick her finger into the jam and then taste it and get a big smile on her face.

These are the precious moments I would like to have on film. Since the first day of treats, I think now I have a friend for life and a visit everyday, she will be sad when her father is done here. I love these precious children and wished I could take them home with me.

We enjoyed conference and thought the talks were so strong and powerful with the message that our Father wanted us to receive this month. It was so touching to hear the saints here sing along with the Tabernacle Choir, the love to sing and it didn’t make a difference where the choir was singing or the congregation some of them sang every song. I love hearing from the leadership of the church and have a testimony of the words that they spoke. They are true and if we can follow their council we will have a greater understanding of our Saviors love and plan for us.

We can hardly wait for the Liahona to come. By the way is anyone is sending a box we would love the past two issues of the Ensign. We get the Liahona but it isn’t the same they only have a couple adult articles and the rest to the youth. They have all three magazines in one.

We have found that Legaspi has an item that is on every restaurant menu in the area and maybe the country. It is item not available. It doesn’t matter where we go or what restaurants we are in they always have some item we order that is “not available.” Now when we go to eat we wonder what exciting item will be “Not Avaliable”. Today we were in Shakey’s and I ordered a glass of coke zero and guess what “Item not available.” In the Philippines it is safer to drink soda than the water. The bacteria can’t live in the carbonation. Of course my favorite drink is the mango shake and yes the bacteria can live in it, but it is sooooo good.

We will be traveling this week end to the northern part of the mission so be ready for our next road trip adventure when I write again.

Love to all,

Elder and Sister Cooley

October 2, 2009

2009-10-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here looking out the window at the new typhoon is coming in. Today’s typhoon is one with lighter rain but a lot stronger wind. I am not sure which one is the worst as I see the trees swaying back and forth. We went out for a while and believe me the streets were open hardly a car, tricee, or even a jeepney are on the road. All the cantina’s are closed and schools also the Hotel Venezia were bringing quests in from the island resort. I talked to a woman at the hotel and she said that she couldn’t get a flight until Monday. It has been raining since this time yesterday and the streets are like ponds because the trash clogs the gutters and even in front of the church the ditches are over flowing and could be a cause for the flooding of the church.

I hope the typhoon doesn’t hit Manilla because they still don’t have the water out of the streets and houses yet. Our boss in Manila said that all the churches are full of flood victims and the church is trying to take care of them all. We have had 30 members of the church reported dead and many still with out a place to live. The center of this storm should pass us by 4 tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Dad’s birthday and my plans have been changed since the weather is so bad and I don’t want to go out a lone in this. It is weird but here if the weather is bad everyone is very cautious and stay home. Part of it I think is that they stay home to try and save everything they can. A woman at the meeting yesterday said that she had boxed all her belongings up so she could have her sons but them in the second story of her brother’s place. People who don’t have doors even have a blanket covering their entrance and windows. They just announced that Pepeng, Parma is the name you know it by, has just been up graded to a 5 which means it has winds in excess of 250 Km an hour. I found out that the Pilipino name the Typhoons a woman’s name, after a fruit or flower so they have a separate name from the rest of the world. Then there is the universal name which they don’t use as much.

I hope the next typhoon, yes there is still one out in the ocean coming our way, will go up north and by pass the Philippines all together.

Some more interesting news is that we have some of the liberation army living in an old abandoned hotel just above the church.

I just saw our little gecko run across the window, on the inside of course. We can’t find where they are coming in from, but there are a few that have had there life cut short. We have been pretty lucky with the bugs so far. Just one 2 inch cockroach and a few small bugs all the rest have been those pesky gecko’s who leave their droppings everywhere, floor, ceiling, counter top, drapes, any where they want.

We have Women’s conference tomorrow at 1pm hope we don’t have to cancel this event. Lee and I have training with the Stake Employment committee after so it will take up the whole afternoon. So glad we will just be a block from home.

We love the people and we appreciate their love and support. They text us to make sure we have water and food stored in case we need it during the storm. Dad had us going to an island in November and Jomel told him, No elder you shouldn’t go until summer, he is always worrying about where we are and what we are doing.

Must run for now we will keep you posted on our TYPHOON survival.

Sister Cooley

Keeping Busy

2009-09-30T10:20:00.001-07:00

It is September 27, 2009 and has been a while since I have had a chance to write. We have been here in our apartment now for over three weeks, and it is finally feeling like our place. We have hired a sweet little, and I mean little sister to help us clean and do the laundry. Her name is Socorro, she lives in the neighboring city, Daraga which is about 2 miles from here. She stands 4' 8" maybe not that tall and is just tiny probably a size 0 or 2 maybe. She can't reach the clothes line so she gets a chair to hang the clothes.

She is 63, a widow and has one son on a mission and one working construction in Manila, a daughter getting ready for a mission and also a son 17 living with her. She is sweet and I think hoping to make enough money to be able to go on the temple trip to Manila in November. Here they ride a bus that costs them P400 ($8.00) and P 800 ($16.00) if they hire an air conditioned bus which no one has the money to do. They ride in a non air conditioned bus for 12+ hours to the Manila temple.

We should count our blessings 100 times over for the chance to have the Sacramento temple so close to us. Socorro is a blessing to us and I hope the extra money will be a blessing to her.

We live only two doors down from the Elders one of which is from Arizona . We only have a block maybe even less to the church, never thought I would ever get to walk to church again. Our ward starts at 8:00AM and out at 11, and no other wards meet there, so when you have a church start time of nine feel blessed. The ward in Daraga starts at 6:00am and out at 9 and the other ward starts at 9, how would you like that 6:00 time? They don't change times every year either, only if the bishops want to, and they usually don't. I ask them why they start that early and the said the Bishop wants to.

We have been busy this last couple of weeks. On September 19, 2009 we traveled to Ligao for a meeting with the District welfare council where Lee presented the outline of what our mission was and what we hoped to accomplish serving here in this area. Of course while he was in the meeting I was invited to attend a Saturday Relief Society cultural day. The sisters had planned and prepared a wonderful day of dancing and food. They presented some dances of foreign and also some Philippine traditional dances. Some of these sisters were older than me and they all did a fantastic job. They had made costumes and made a beautiful backdrop for the stage. You will enjoy seeing the pictures.

On Monday the 21^st we traveled to Naga, a couple hours away. Naga is a city about double the size of Legazpi. It has about 270,000 people compared to our 160,000 people. We arrived at the Naga Mission home where we had our first group of missionaries bound for home. When the missionaries leave the mission they arrive at the mission home about 3:30, weigh their luggage put it the luggage area and then come into a large room where we held a two day career workshop with them. This routine will happen every 6 weeks. We meet in a large room with some very large wide tables, which opened up and had all the elders' suits hanging in them. They would take them out and have them cleaned ready to wear home. In case I hadn't mentioned, it is too hot here to wear a suit, so when they arrive they leave their suit at the mission home. With 150+ missionaries where do you put the suits, inside the tables of course! The top lifts up and down the center of the long tables there is a metal rod like in a closet and the suits hang there for two years. Someone had a very good idea.

We had the workshop for 4 hours Monday night and then started again on Tuesday morning at 8am until 12pm. There were 7 missionaries, 4 from the states and three from the Philippines . What a great experience it was to teach those valiant young men. I was thinking how excited their mothers were getting, knowing that their sons were in the mission home and would be on a plane to Manila Wednesday morning.

Our graduating Missionaries:

We had a training meeting at 4pm in Naga with the Stake employment committee. Our graduating leaders:

We didn't start home until 7:30 and it is always a nerve wracking ride along these 2 lanes narrow and I mean narrow roads-at night. We have people walking along the side that have no lights or reflectors of any kind. Then you have the motor cycles and tricees have a light but I think they are trying to save the bulb because they only use it when a car is approaching them in the opposite lane and then they just blink it on and off a couple times to let you know they are there. If you try to pass a big truck you have to try about 5-7 times or more because you start and then you see the motor bike or tricee, or goats or dog and you have to swerve back in. It is treacherous and by the time we get home my blood pressure is sky high. These highways are just part of our big adventure here.

This is our car:

This is a tricee, it is a little motorcycle with a passenger seat on the side:

This is how they load up the tricee. They do this and more:

This is a pudjack, it's like a tricee but instead of a motorcycle it is a little bike:

Yesterday September 26 we had a career work shop here in Legazpi with the Stake, bishops and all the ward and stake employment specialist were invited. We were so pleased to have almost the whole Stake Presidency about 24 in all. This is on a Saturday and lasts 8 hours but we add hour training on to the front so 9 hours and all most everyone stayed. The saints here really are interested and working hard to try to grasp this church employment concept.

To top things off we survived our first Typhoon. We were lucky it only ended being a #1 light winds but a lot of rain. I looked out of the window a couple times during the workshop because I couldn't believe the intensity of the rain fall. We were lucky for this left it's fury for the Manila area. The church has been working round the clock in Manila helping all they can. They announced in church here today that they need clothes and blankets for the Manila area. It is hard to conceive of the people giving anything away because they have so little themselves. They are faithful and will do all they can to help there people. We are lucky we have a hill right behind the church and we will have to drive up there if things get to bad. We have some supplies in the trunk at all times.

That's not all the action when you could see the volcano this week; it looked like a lot more smoke than usual was spewing out of the top. It sounds like National Geographic here this month doesn't it?

Even with all the natural disasters it is beautiful and the saints are wonderful to work with and we enjoy them all. The gospel is a true gift to our brothers and sisters of the Philippines , you can feel the strength of their spirits and the testimonies are from the heart. We love and appreciate all they do for us. Just seeing the smile on their face will warm your soul. I have made friends with 5 young men . They always come up and shake my hand and put it to their forehead which means they honor me. It is very touching to me to see these 11 and 12 year old boys do this. I call them my four J's, Joshua, Joseph, Jericho , and another Joseph and Red.

Mayon Volcano

2009-09-04T16:35:00.001-07:00

This our landmark here in Legaspi. This is how it looks in the morning:

Most of the time it looks like this:

On occasion you can see it in the afternoon like this:
I can't believe how beautiful these Filipino people sing, with the voice of angels. There were several more men than women which you never see at home. Well the talks and the music were so touching and spiritual that you didn't need to understand every word you could understand through the
spirit. The only thing that I haven't gotten used to is they have us speak and sit on the stand every meeting. I have never given my testimony so many times. We did however receive an invitation to come do a career work shop in a couple
weeks and so our classes start. I hope that this is just the beginning. I think we will be able to move in tomorrow or Wednesday. I hope I can find
some one to come in and do our laundry.
Must finish and time for bed.

--Sister Cooley

Getting Started

2009-09-02T21:59:00.001-07:00

Our work here is just beginning with the Employment Center. We are going around trying to meet every one of those involved with the ERC. Last week we went to Stake Conference and that consisted of three cluster meetings because the people can't afford to come to stake conference. The President takes conference to them. The first meeting is from 7am to 9am. Afterwards we get in the car and drive one and a half hours to the next one that starts at 10:30 to 12:30, but of course we were 20 minutes late so it didn't end until 1pm. Then we drive another hour and a half to a 3pm to 5pm meeting. We had a regular convoy with the leaders and even the choir in two jeepney's. They always ask us to sit on the stand and then talk. We have had to talk and sit on the stand every meeting we have been to. They act like we are visiting authorities. We love the people they are so friendly and smile all the time. Everyone shakes our hand and asks if they can help us.

We haven't moved into our apartment yet , this week we hope. We know all the workers by first name and a couple of them are going to go to church with us. They get in trouble because they all like to stand around and talk to us. The manager Mack even enjoys our visits, he talks to us all the time and doesn't want us to leave because he says that Elder Cooley visits with the guests and so he makes Mack's job easier. He even tells us about his girl friend and so we have some new friends here and love them all. I even have made friends with the cook that is supposed to give me a couple recipes I love. I sent the family a new soup recipe you will have to ask them for it. Just season it more than the recipe. We have found a new delicious nut, Pilinut which is just found in this area. I will have to send some samples. I want to get some more pictures sent.

We especially love the Mayon Volcano that is just like 8 miles from here and will be about 10 from our apartment.

Yesterday at breakfast they were playing Christmas music. Every month that ends in "ber" they celebrate Christmas and so with September the music started. Even I think this is a little early!

--Sister Cooley