Linon Hill

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

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...

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

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

October 12, 2009

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

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