It's Mary Cropper's birthday!!
Here is the birthday email we sent her late last night, but now, our Sunday Morning, it is still her birthday, so we are posting on our blog so all can see that it's Mary's b-day and be thinking of her today.
Dear Mary,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! It is already tomorrow where we live, but I hope you get this message on your birthday.
We can't really send presents from here, because it costs a lot of money to send packages, AND they take FOREVER to get there from here, SO we will just send a birthday email to each of our grandkids and wish them well and pray for them.
Today we were at the home of a family with 3 girls, 8, 5, 4. They are named. Xayezi, Mia Miramonte, and Erika. They also have a brother, Vicelli. They live in a house surrounded by banana trees because their Dad is a banana farmer. Their house is on stilts, high above the ground, so that when it rains, the water doesn't pour into the house. So, since their house is high up and they live in a banana jungle, you can pick a banana right out of their window! AND they have no glass in their windows, only curtains, because it never gets cold here, so you never need to have the window closed. These kids all wear school uniforms to school, which means they all have the same outfit they wear every day--usually it's a little white blouse and a plaid skirt. They look really cute all dressed the same.
Tonight we saw a lunar eclipse. Is it visible at your house too? Have your Dad explain to you what that is. I think it happened especially for your birthday.

Grampy took a picture of me today standing next to a water buffalo. Those are our 2 friends from our branch behind the cow. They help us with missionary work and are very very faithful men.

We saw a moth today that is as big as my whole hand. The missionary we were with says that it is a lucky sign to see that particular moth. I hope that's true. And if I got a special wish from that moth, I would wish that you could have an extra birthday wish.
We love you Mary, and we love to see you when we get to Skype sometimes.
We hope you have a wonderful, December birthday.
Love,
Grammy and Grammy

It's Paradise!

We should probably change the name of our blog from Croppers in Cebu to Croppers in Paradise, for a couple of reasons. One, it is really starting to feel that way—here we are amidst coconut palms and avocado, mango and plumeria trees, with ocean breezes and ocean views. AND we live on the property of a resort called Amlan Paradise, on which there is also a convenience store and a pharmacy of the same name. So, when someone says, “where do you live?” (“asa nagpuyo ka ba?”), we say Paradise (flipping the “r” a touch, and clipping the “d”). And they know just where we mean. Plus we don’t live on either the island or in the city of Cebu, so Croppers in Cebu is only barely true (we ARE in the Cebu mission). Anyway we are loving it here well enough that I can tell you about some of the challenges we’ve encountered without crying about it or even feeling sorry for myself. In fact, for the most part, we now either take them in stride, find solutions, or even count them as blessings.

Let’s start with water.

Challenge: The water that comes from the tap is unfiltered, untreated and basically full of whatever comes out of the mountains and into the pipes. We are not talking slightly unpalatable due to over chlorination, or questionably healthy due to added fluoride that may or may not be harmful. We are talking, DON’T drink the water because it is full of creatures that will for sure make you sick—the only question is if they will just give you cramps, dysentery, or full on kill you. To help you understand the severity of the issue, we were in the emergency room with a missionary who is having heart problems. As we entered into the curtained cubicles common in that kind of department, we noticed a door marked “diarrhea treatment room.” Ya, we are not kidding, DON’T drink the water or you’ll end up in there.

Our water tank that allows us water pressure, but not clean water.

Take it in Stride and Find solutions: So, that means you either attach a filter to your kitchen sink, or buy all bottled water. Our faucet was not compatible with the filter we received, and we’ve been unsuccessful getting the plumber to come back with the part we provided him to rethread for us, so we bought a water cooler, and have the 5 gallon jugs delivered—no big deal, right?. Well, it means we have to get water from there and take it into the bathroom to brush our teeth and rinse our toothbrush. It means we shower and wash our hair in water that I can picture creatures of all sorts in. It means that our washing machine is using that same water. It means we buy or carry water from home wherever we go since we are sweating seriously buckets. It means that when you wash your hands after using the bathroom, you then have to use alcohol on them. HMMMM.

Our CR--can't really see the water heater behind the shower curtain.

But the most labor intensive is our dishwashing process. We take a bucket into the bathroom to fill it because we don’t have a hot water tank, we have a hot water heater that is attached to the shower and is the only source of hot water short of boiling on the stove. We take that not-all-that hot water back to the kitchen and wash everything. Then we fill another bucket with the tap water and add bleach, and soak everything in there for a couple of minutes, then we place things in the rack to dry. We would love another rinse at that point with filtered water, but it is too dear, so the dishes go unrinsed and end up a little sticky from the unrinsed bleach water. Then we hope that while they are drying there are only ants climbing around on them and nothing more substantial than that. Needless to say, we are careful about what dishes we dirty.

MMMM filtered water. Cold is a bonus.

We also have to disinfect our fruits and vegetables and eggs that we bring home from market. They too go in bleach water for a little soak before we use them. Then, though we are so careful at home, we go visiting and are served water from a pump or a bucket in glasses washed without benefit of bleach water, warm water, or even soap. And we just drink it up. So, that’s the fun we have with the water

Blessing: Oh my gosh, we HAVE a C.R. (which is the Filipino version of W.C. and stands for comfort room) with a flush toilet and a shower, and a hot water heating unit. The young missionaries have only cold showers. AND we have running water in our kitchen!! AND we have a washing machine and don’t have to wash our clothes in a big tub, scrubbing each piece clean.

Kitchen sink. VERY nice.

Let me tell you a story which allowed me to see my water challenge as the blessing it is. We went to visit a lady who just had a baby 3 weeks ago, just days before her husband left her with the 5 other kids. They have only been members of the church here for a year or so, but seldom can attend because of her pregnancy. We went just to visit and see her baby and congratulate her and introduce ourselves, but our visit ended up as much more. We asked the baby’s name and she said he doesn’t have one. It seems that she’d been concerned because she wanted to have her baby blessed with a name in church, but was afraid that without a birth certificate, that would not be allowed, and she couldn’t get a birth certificate until she paid the hospital bills, a whopping 675 P. or like 20.00, which to her might as well be a million, so she just hadn’t named him at all. We assured her that all she needed to give a baby blessing was a baby, and told her we could do it tomorrow. We talked about names, and the Elders suggested Jacob or Nephi. Elder Cropper said “Ammon” and we told her stories of all these mighty Book of Mormon men.

She said her children wanted to name him Lover Boy, and considering that she has a daughter Merry Joy, and another, Mary Grace, and Rogen (starts like Roger then ends like Jean) and the boys are Geri Rae and Mark Full, it was not in jest. Anyway, as we talked about names, she said it couldn’t happen anyway because Sunday was her only day to do laundry (and she had mountains, surely every item they owned in tubs all around us) when the big kids were home from school to help her haul water and do the wash. It was impossible, to leave all that, walk to church with the babe and crew.

So, of course we swallowed hard and taught her of the blessings of the Sabbath. We taught this weary, exhausted, abandoned, mother of fatherless children, who could hardly keep her eyes open, but who wanted so much for her son to have a real name recorded somewhere. We taught her about how God loves her and wants to shower out blessings, and that though commandments are hard to keep, at first, though they are a challenge, they become, as we practice them, blessings. I told her how hard it was early on to get all my kids to church, (almost choked on that as I looked around and saw her one bare light bulb, her hut on stilts, her outdoor kitchen, her bare dirt yard) and how it seemed it would be easier to stay home, but as I did it, I came to look forward to Sunday, to a day when I could get filled up instead of just depleted further, a day when I could stop for just a second and really breathe, and feel God’s love. She watched me so closely as I spoke, and she believed what we said, and I felt like we communed together with our mother hearts. She wanted to come and have her baby blessed. She said she would come. We said she’d have to get some papers filled out so could she come early. Her weary head nodded, and this faith-filled woman said in her halting English and oh so tired out voice, “8:30 okay sister?”

The next morning I walked up the dirt road to her house, thinking I’d help her get the kids ready. I called out as I approached, as they do here, but I surprised her, showering in shorts and tank top with a dipper of water in her yard. I felt so bad because she was so flustered. She ran into the house (no door) and I asked if I could help with the baby or anything, She told me no, no sister and asked her daughter to dress the baby while she reached out of the house from behind the wall for underwear on the close line. It’s then I realized she’d been up since first light washing everything and it was all hanging in neat rows around the yard. I took the two younger kids and started walking to church. The rest caught up to us just as we got there in a pedicab (a motorcycle with a side car) driven by Brother Ybanez who just got baptized last week and who has taken it upon himself to drive up and down and all over collecting people who need rides to church. He is a mighty little miracle worker all ready.

As Elder Cropper (who she insisted perform the blessing even though it would be Engish) took that child in his arms from that dear mother, and pronounced upon him the name of Jacob Ammon, and blessed him with strength to combat the physical and spiritual enemies in this life, It was as true as anything I’ve ever known that God knows this dear woman and her son, and she felt it that day. She took her son back, silently crying in the warmth of that love, and I knew that what we’d taught her was true, not just in theory, but in very tangible practice.

So, I do not wash standing out in the yard with a dipper. I do not have to do my laundry by hand in a tub for 6 children. I have filtered water to drink, and warm water to shower in and I am grateful everyday for every drop, and I would give it all up if I could help that sister always feel the love she felt today.

Some Beautiful People we are working with

It's Festival Day in Amlan!!

Watch out Mr. Piggy, this is your last day!

Amlan celebrated festival day this week. It is kinda like the 4^th of July. Businesses closed, parade, traffic, people out on the street, street vendors and then there are the pigs or at least what is left of them. Holy moly! The only live pigs that are left are just the little weeners that will give up the ghost next year. Our neighbor just outside our bedroom window started with his three pigs. I think pigs know when they are going to die and they start wailing. Once the executioner, the pig owner, comes with his buddies the pig really starts screaming. From 5:30 – 6:30 they were wailing then it came to an abrupt halt. The third pig killing came a few hours later with similar screaming. All through the day you could hear pigs screaming in the city as they were about to turn into a pig on the spit. See pictures below. The local phrase for this, Lecheon, a Filipino specialty. Lecheon is roasted pig.

Bamboo is amazing.

Festival gets a bit crazy so we decided to stay inside tonight. Driving is a bit risky. It is not the drunken drivers you need to worry about it is the drunken pedestrians. The streets are so dimly lit that all of a sudden you are on someone. There is a rule of the road that is so well maintained by everyone. Young and old even the dogs know to stay off the roads. It is amazing to see little, I mean little kids two or three years old walking along the main highway and they stay off the street and the cars, trucks and buses scream on by. I must admit I fall into the same category of screaming by. That is the pattern. Everyone is used to it and when someone inadvertently wanders in the road he is risking death. Last week at dark I had someone drunk wander out in the road and I had to swerve a bit to miss him.

Nothing goes to waste. Pig fat being cooked in pig fat.
Dipping sauce. MMMM good. And beautiful

Deep fried pork, carrots, and potato

Another topic that we will treat later is transportation. Filipinos have an uncanny ability to move an amazing number of people efficiently. This is a family of four on their way to the Amlan festival. We have seen as many as seven on a motorcycle. I am trying to get a picture of that.

Family of four on their way to the festival

And then there are the miracles of last week balanced with the news of one of our favorite missionaries sad news. One of the missionaries in our zone looks like he will need to go home for work on his heart. It turns out he has four leaky valves in his heart and an enlarged heart on top of that. Sister Cropper and I had to drive him to the hospital last Friday night because of chest pains and shortness of breathe. This elder is one of the most humble elders I’ve ever met and his love for the scriptures is unmatched. This elder had a very unusual and amazing experience in his last area. One Sunday while in church, one of the investigators literally fell over dead. He was about 80 years old. He had no pulse and had emptied his bladder and bowels. There was a dead man laying on the floor during Sacrament meeting and now it had been for a few minutes. This elder and his companion laid their hands on this man and gave him a blessing. The man came back to life. It was obviously a very spiritual experience and this elder really plays his part down in the whole matter. We are hoping that there can be something done that this elder can finish his mission. Maybe there is another miracle awaiting him.

The miracles. We counted eight that we knew of in church on Sunday. We have been working with some pretty amazing families. Some are active, most are not. This last week in church there was a good brother who is about 70 sitting there about 30 minutes before the meeting started. The first time I meet this brother it was at his house he shuffled up to meet us in pain. He has advanced arthritis in his feet knees and hands. His feet are swollen up and has big knots on his fingers and wrists. Having had arthritis myself in my knees and ankles before, I had a real sense of what pain he had as he shuffled up to us. During the discussion, I asked him how long it had been since he was in church and he answered a couple of years. I asked him if he would like to have the sacrament brought to him. He said no he would walk to church. In my mind I thought well with that much pain I don’t think we will ever see him in church. As I talked to him before the meeting, he told me how far he had walked that morning. I was about a mile before he caught a pedi-cab. That was some an amazing commitment and showing faith. I feel I can never say anything about me knees again.

There are a few more stories of miracles that I know MA will want to tell. Our faith and gratefulness to the Lord has grown significantly.