Interesting Week of Picture Taking!

On the way to Sampaloc to the Water Falls with
Elders Lang Siu, Anderson, and Lenoy

Elder Pinncock's crazy socks!

Some of the  Elder's in the Morong Zone- Elder Argyle, from Orem has his arms outstretched.  He and Elder Lenoy are the Zone Leaders.

Elder Argyle ride on the back of a trike.  They are young and crazy!

Water Falls at Sampaloc

 Standing under the falls before our long, steep climb back to the car.

 

As we climbed back up to the car we saw what we thought was an abandoned home.  

A nice cinder block structure with a sheet dividing the space.                                                                                                                                                                     

 We saw a broom on the barrel and that pump.
In the our-shed was a cement slab with wood chips on it for a cooking surface.

A couple of steps took you up to the bedroom, where we saw a large bag of rice, a few books, and a 6" stack of clothing, old magazines but no mat to sleep on.  It was just a cement slab.   As we were leaving a young woman came up to us. This was her home! We begged her forgiveness and wished her well.

I want to remember this woman and try to help her in some way.  Such humble circumstances, wow!

 This is like a transport waiting area where the trikes and jeepneys pick up people.  Check out the two pipe seat!  Below is a group of school children waiting to be picked up.

Sights we see every day. I just really wish you could see through our eyes. 

 This is called a tindahan.  Many Filipinos buy goods from the larger stores and have these in their neighborhoods as little markets.  You'll see tons of them in a row all selling the same kinds of things. I don't know how they make any money, but they must.  They up the price from the store prices buy just a couple of pesos to make a very small profit.  

We drive this narrow road often to get to Teresa.

 A Sari-Sari Store is a neighborhood store with a little of everything you might need. This one is close to us.  We don't shop there, but we could buy some things there that are packaged or housewares etc.

 You see laundry hanging every where you go.

 A "JEEPNEY"

 

Rice drying on tarps along side of road.  Sometimes without the tarps.  Getting ready to go to the mill.

You know you're in Teresa when you see a lot of the trees and poles painted white and aqua.

 

 Local Farmer's Market....unbelievable!  It smells like it looks.  :)

 MY FAVORITE....Anyone for Head Cheese?

 A family on a trike.  We've seen lots more people on these and even people taking a bed, a fridge or a cabinet on top.  This is their transportation. It is also a families livelihood.

 This is the chapel in Teresa. Our car is parked in front. 

 A school outside for a drill of some kind.  When they saw me they all turned around and waved their yellow flags.  Darling uniforms, you'll see many different colors and styles of uniforms and all look so cute.

This cute little boy came begging when we were with the Elders going to Sampaloc.  One of the Elders had just bought and ice cream and was eating it.  He looked down and handed the rest to him!

Could he be happier?  You have to be careful because you want to help all of them and it's a bottom-less pit.  We are looking for ways to help them help themselves by teaching correct principles of self-reliance.  But still I know I will try to do what I can, when I can and whenever I can! How can your resist these sweet children?  I should become the "CANDY" lady but I may go broke.

These two pictures below is where we went to the less-active woman's house with the 2 yr old.
It was quite a trek to get there.  I had cockle-burrs stuck all over my skirt and when it rains they say you are muddy from foot to knee!

This is the Sister that was so touching talking about how she wanted to do better for the Lord and for her daughter's sake. 
The women here are really very modest.  We have yet to see anything very skimpy, low cut or inappropriate etc.  They seem to know who they are as daughter's of God.

Getting Settled In

Elder and Sister Schlager from Independence Missouri was asked to help us get to our new home, our car, take us shopping for food and whatever else we needed and to show us around.  They are great friends already!  We have a lot in common and are enjoying them so much.

We live in Antipolo which is up on a hill from Quezon City.  A nice half hour or so away and a little above the smog in the city.  Our home is in a subdivision that is gated with guards (with rifles) and is a jumbled mess of streets.  The homes are narrow, concrete, two story, brightly colored with gates around every home.  Hardly any yards to speak of as they are very close together.  It's considered higher middle class.  Our home has a parking spot outside the front door that barely fits our Toyota Corolla when the gate is shut and locked.

There is absolutely no storage available in this home.  just walls, tile floors, windows, counter top in kitchen with a bottom cabinet which you wouldn't want to use.  See our pictures!

A 3 bedroom home, 1 bdrm up stairs we use as a laundry room since we have no dryer and have to hang our clothes to dry.









These pictures show our upstairs hallway.  See our linen closet on the left?

 

 Here is the upstairs bathroom (which here they call the CR, for comfort room)  No vanity or shelving of any kind.

The picture to the right is our heater for the shower.  It's the only place we have warm water.  It never gets hot, just a nice warm.

This is the middle bedroom and it has a portable closet in it for me and a shoe rack.

We purchased this plastic table and chair so I could have a vanity of sorts.  It works! No extra bed here.

 This is the master bedroom with a matching portable closet and shoe rack, & plastic stool.

 The Senior Couple who lived here before us were only in their 50's and he was in construction.  He had a friend in the states that sent money to him to build some of the people here houses.  He built this king-sized bed frame (wood) and put a heavy foam pad on it...so lucky us, we have the only king-sized bed in a senior apartment!  We had to go all over though to find sheets.  They had only this design, ha ha.  The bed is very comfortable.  The small air conditioning unit is above the bed.  You only need a sheet for bedding.


Very steep stairs to climb up to the bedrooms!  We were SO sore the day after moving in!  It felt like we climbed MT. Timpanogos!

Our "pantry" or cupboards.








Our stove and microwave...to ignite the flame you need to push a button.  We about blow up the house every time.  :)  The cutlery, utensils and everything on the counter because of no drawers or cupboards.  The blue plastic container is our 5 gallon water supply we have to buy to drink and cook with.

The kitchen sink with water filter just on the left hem of the curtain.  Under those bottom cabinets is a propane gas tank for the stove and a cleaning caddy.  Kind of ugly down there.  A very small refrigerator that needs to house any food item that gets opened.  If you leave anything out without being properly sealed, it's an invitation for BUGS!
We've only seen a 2" cockroach and a centipede so far... oh and a bunch of micro-tiny crawlers in the kitchen...not too scarey yet!

This is our dish and pan cupboard!  And the half wall that separates the kitchen and the dining area.  We've lined it with our kids pictures. 







This is a little nook room just off the kitchen that we use for an office.  The rack below is just a utility room cupboard.

Our dining area and living room are connected and is what you see when you walk in the front door.  Very cheap furniture that serves us just fine!  We aren't going to be here much as we will be working long hours away from home.

Across the street from our house...

Next door to our left.

Street view from our deck off the master bedroom.  Nothing is on the deck.  Everything is very minimal.  Notice the laundry hanging in all the homes.

Nice neighborhood really.  But if any of us lived here we'd be busy adding built-ins, up-dating and up-grading.  Just outside this subdivision is poverty unspeakable.  I will share those in a later post.





The Lord has blessed us at every turn.  We can't believe we have this unbelievable opportunity!

The people here are BEAUTIFUL....and the children....oh they are exquisite!  Everyone is happy, helpful, respectful and kind.  Loving it!!!