It has been far too long since posting anything here. Blogging is more work and takes more time than I thought. Perhaps if I was more consistent, each posting would take less and less time. I have to "re-learn" each time I post.

Our office was closed for several days between Christmas and New Years so several other missionary couples and a non-member of the church from New York City, that we met here, went to the Banaue Rice Fields. This is an area high in the mountains where rice farming has gone on the same way for thousands of years. You could see farmers knee deep in mud behind a Cariboa (cow) that was pulling a single plow in a patch of land not much larger than a city lot. Entire mountain sides consisted of these rice terraces. We were told however, the maintenance of the terraces and planting of rice in this area, the old fashion way, is becoming a lost art. The next generation are leaving the area in search of better paying jobs.

The lifestyle of the locals here did have an idyllic appearance. They had very little and seemed to need very little. The village pictured above consisted of a church (which has the green medal roof) and about 10-15 grass huts (called Nipa Hut) where everyone lives. There are about 200 people living in the village. The Nipa huts are about 15 ft X 15 ft square. Most of the living is done out of doors, although if need be they can cook inside, otherwise the hut seems to be mostly for sleeping.

I'm sure you have all heard of news reports of tourist buses driving off a mountain road and plunging down a cliff. This seems to happen in developing countries. I always wondered how that could happen until this weekend. I saw the type of roads where this occurred and the type of buses. Actually we were in the type of buses and were on the type of roads, the only thing missing was the torrential rain storm....it was a real adventure.

This is a jeepney, the most common form of public transportation in the Philippines. If you want to know how many people a jeepney can hold, the answer is "one more". As you can see here, when the inside filled up they rode on the back bumper, when the bumper filled up they climbed on the roof...there is always room for "one more". To the right of this jeepney was a cliff almost straight down for several hundred feet...you might be asking yourself, "Where's the guard rail?" That is how all the roads were on this tour. The only thing that gave us peace of mind was, we knew or we were quite certain......well the driver assured us that the brakes were good...well, actually he said the brakes were brand new the last time they were replaced. So we felt pretty safe.

Some of the houses are built right on the edge of the cliff. The front of the house is on the lip of the cliff and the back of the house is on stilts or supports. We stopped at this house which was also a little shop and had a look inside. I didn't feel real comfortable with 15-20 North Americans inside...when talking about people when size and weight are to be considered you have to differentiate between Filipino and North Americans. This house may have been safe for 15 Filipino but I suspect it wondered what hit it when 15 or so North Americans entered.

This little boy and his rooster were two of the residents in the house. He is sitting on the back deck. The railing, which meets or exceeds local building code, is the only separating him from a loooooong drop. Sister Gibb was brave enough to rest on the deck; I wasn't as brave. I felt someone should be left behind to submit the report and collect the insurance.

The rice fields were a very interesting trip. The next time my brother Larry complains about the hard work of farmers who have an air conditioned tractor, a C.D. player, ergonomic chair and a GPS guiding system, I'll let him know how farmers operate in the Philippines.

We really are serving as missionaries. We attend a small branch and before or after meetings we meet some of the members that don't make it out very often. This is Brother and Sister Arnoldo and some of their grandchildren. Brother Arnoldo is not in good health, but is a good man. His wife is as sweet as can be and the grandchildren are just as sweet and cute. We have become good friends with these and a few other branch members. The family doesn't have much in the house, maybe two or three plastic chairs, a table and a bed. There is no glass in the windows. and there are many cracks in the walls and where the walls meet the roof.

Stay tuned, perhaps I will make another post in a week or two. Until then, all the best from the Philippines.