A Little Bit of Sharing

How many cars can you get on a two lane road? As many as you want. Baguio has taxi's Jeepney's, buses, motorbikes and an personal occasional car. I thought we ought to catch a picture of the streets I have to drive on daily. It is more congested in Baguio than when we go to the lowlands. Trikes and Pudchucks are not allowed in Baguio due to the fact that there are few streets that are level. They wouldn't make it up and down the mountain roads without causing traffic jams.

It has been a while since I wrote on the blog, we have been very busy getting the Mission Office organized, making changes to procedures, and cleaning. We are about 1/2 way through all the files. We also travel to the lowlands, an hour each way, each weekend to attend church in the many branches scattered through out La Union and Pagasinan provinces. We are happy when we are busy and so we are happy almost all of the time. We love the Philippines even though it is really hot and humid in the lowlands, but the wonderful people here just make it a joy.

Nancy wanted to ride on a jeepney, but all she could do was climb into one at our transfer day in Mangaldan. This is one of the most beautiful Jeepneys we have seen here at least for our taste. All chrome.



As we go down the mountains to the lowlands Nancy caught this view of the Lingayen Gulf. We are so grateful to be in such a beautiful country. Of course we like green, that is why we live in Western Washington State. In the Philippines it is green all of the time so it adds to our happiness.


Magandang Maganda ( Very Beautiful)

If you think the Pacific Northwest has rain then we all need to think again. As you can see by thi small phonto we have our own waterfalls at the Mission Office. Every afternoon the rain begins and goes until it feels like it has soaked everything. I can better understand Noah story of the rains inundating the world by being here. The nice part is that when it rains it cools down here in Baguio, in the lowlands not so much. It just addes to the humidity. Fortunately we only go to the lowlands a few times a week.

Here is a view of the City of Baguio from the top of one of the mountains where the SM Mall is located. They have balconies on each side of the Mall so you can get a beautiful glimpse of the city. This view is of Burnham Park similar to the concept of central park in New York City only not as large. They have a lake which you can see here where small boats go our for an afternoon relazation until it rains.

We love being here and associating with many wonderful people. They have much love in their hearts and a very friendly demeanor. It is a joy!

This is the mission office looking out our window. This is where we go each day to support the missionary efforts in the Baguio Mission of the church.


This is our apartment building. The car you see is the one we use to get around Baguio. the most challenging driving I have ever experienced. Our apartment is the one above the car. The two windows on the far right is our living room and bedroom. We have to sit on our beds to get internet access. We have the WIFI setup in the mission office window. We are learning and growing each day and getting to know the people in Baguio. This is a great experience.

As we go out our packing place we see a shanty where a single man lives with a light bulb as his only light at night. Next to modern you have poverty





This is a look down the steep hill to our apartment building.

Finally In Baguio

We finally made it to Baguio, Benguet, Philippines. This picture is our group of missioaries that arrived at the same time along with President Jensen and Sister Jensen and the current office missionaries Elder and Sister Thompsen from Canada.

The 747 we flew to Manila on getting ready for us to board.

Our first view of the Philipines from the air over the northern mountains of Luzon.

We are finally settled in our small apartment on the top of a mountain in Baguio. All of the homes are precariously perched on the mountain sides. The city has about 300,000 people living here in an area planned fo 25,000. It took 6 hours to drive here from Manila. The traffice here is congested, but nothing like Manila. You have to drive defensively in order to survive. There is no road rage just a confusing mass of cars working there way through cross streets and around traffice circles. You just have to drive with patience and calmness working your way into traffic. It is a very beautiful country mixing modern buildings with small shanties. The people are so friendly and want to get to know who you are and what you are doing in the Philippines as a foreigner. It is strange being the foreigner. Nancy and I are fine and loving being here.

Busy Sr. Office Missionaries learning all about the IMOS programs (Internet Missionary Office System). We spend 4 long arduios days in small rooms, but everyone seemed to keep up and at the end feel comfortable with all of the many funstions of the programs. I am still working with computers. Can't seem to get away from them.

We are now going to pack our suitcases again, balance out the weight in each bag and avoid over weight costs. Sister Perkins will be the packing guru. This is getting so exciting to be able to travel to the Philippines.

At the Missionary Training Center

Our MTC District, Elder and Sister Anderson from British Columbia going to serve in Fiji and the Temple. Elder and Sister Hepworth going to serve in Brazil Curitiba Temple. Of course there is Elder and Sister Perkins going to serve in the Baguio, Philippines. It has been a long hard, but enjoyable week learning our duties. Up at 6:00 am every morning and not going to be until 10:30 at night. Run and sit, learn then run, sit, and learn. Evenings were spent with Tom studying Tagalog with a tutor and Nancy and Tom studying. It has been Hard, but a wonderful experience.




This is where we are going-a long way from home.