Honda Bay

The next day, the 8th, still on Palawan, at eight o'clock we were ferried to Honda Bay, just north of Puerto Princessa, where we again boarded catamarans. The tour was "Honda Bay Island Hopping", and that's just what we did.  The first little island was where all but me snorkeled, all for the first time, while enjoying beautiful fish.  Had we had underwater cameras, we could show you all the Nemos they saw! After an hour in the water, we returned to the boat and went out into the bay where we stopped atop a coral reef for another hour of snorkeling, viewing the amazing ocean beauties of reef and fish. Finally, we crossed to Cowrie Island, famous in the past for its large number of cowrie shells.  There we were offered lunch, rest, more snorkeling, and beach volleyball. We left the island at 2:00, to return to Puerto Princessa, return our snorkeling gear, and be taken directly to the airport, where they confiscated Maria's prized mangos before we could enter.

After a very long day, we arrived at our favorite Japanese restaurant, Kimukatsu, ate a delicious meal, delivered Jon and Maria to their motel, drove home, showered and collapsed.

Jon

Darth Northrup

Topside

Bottomside

We didn't have a waterproof camera, so I took this from the boat.

Jon and Maria, and David in yellow. They tended to kind of clump together as they looked.

I can't remember the name of this coral, but it was some kind of flower coral. It looked like a great big lettuce or cabbage.

LDS Going Home Missionaries

Every six weeks is transfer day, and the day before is spent in going home festivities for the missionaries who have completed their missions. They start out at the Mission Office with juice and donuts, then later have pizza for lunch, followed by a trip to the temple, then, usually, the Manila American Cemetery, resting place for over 17,000 Pacific WWII American dead, plus Filipinos, Australians, New Zealanders, and on. It, by the way, is arguably the most beautiful spot in Manila, with the large green cemetery lawns and marble memorials, and beautiful fire trees. It was here that President (then Elder) Hinckley dedicated the Philippines for the preaching of the gospel in 1961.

Yesterday was our turn to man the office, so we did not go to the temple with the missionaries, which was a particularly meaningful experience because of one of our missionaries, Elder Atoigue. When he left on his mission, his father did not want him to go. His parents were not members of the church. His father encouraged him to come home early.  Elder Atoigue became one of our best and most effective missionaries and leaders. Over the course of his mission, his parents became converted and baptized. After MANY trials, they arrived here in Manila about a week ago, and Thursday were endowed in the Manila Temple.  Then yesterday, with all his mission batch with him, his family was sealed together for eternity. What a joyful day for this young man and all his friends.

While they were at the temple, we were getting a new battery in our car. We went down yesterday morning to find a dead car. Luckily, a man was down washing his car near our parking spot, and agreed to jump the battery. We drove to look for new apartments, which I looked at with the missionaries while David stayed in the car with the engine idling. Finally, when we arrived back at the mission office and turned off the car, it was dead.  Fortunately the fleet director at the Area Office was able to send someone with a new battery, and we were fixed up.

By that time, everyone headed over to the Mission Home for the going away meal and testimony meeting.  The Mission President and his wife always feed all the going home missionaries and all the senior couples a nice meal, followed by a testimony meeting. Each missionary bore his/her testimony. What a beautiful, moving experience. These  elders and sisters are filled with the Spirit of God which they have so well learned to hear and follow over the past two years, and shared beautiful testimonies and spiritual experiences from their missions. One senior couple also is going home, Elder and Sister Crafts, who have been serving as Church Educational System missionaries. They have no replacement yet, so they will actually continue the internet part of their work once they have returned to Idaho. The other missionaries going were from Idaho, Utah, Visayas and Mindinao, Philippines, and Fiji.

After testimony meeting and photographs, the missionaries, except the senior couple who stayed at the mission home, were taken to their hotel to await pickup in the morning to go to the airport.

The returning missionaries-Elder and Sister Crafts, Sister Thompson, Sister Ram, Sister Ordiz, Sister Murray, Sister Casin, Sister Mecham, Sister Riddle, Elder Atoigue, Elder Durfee, Elder Cook, Elder Pistorius, and President and Sister Ostler.

Elder and Sister Crafts, who were serving as CES missionaries, and Sister Ram, a darling from Fiji. The Crafts won't be replaced; there are not enough senior missionaries!! (Hint, hint)

*The young missionaries were not able to fly home until the Monday after their release, and the Crafts on Tuesday, because of the typhoon.

 

Typhoon!!

That really sounds more dramatic than it is, but nonetheless, we are experiencing our first Pacific typhoon, Typhoon Ramussan/Glenda. Before we left the mission home last night, we knew that our sister returning to Fiji had had her flights cancelled, then we got a text at 3:54 am from President Ostler saying that American flights were delayed until 4:30 this afternoon, and all others were cancelled. He asked that all missionaries remain in today and just hunker down. He also mentioned that their power was out.  I don't know how much longer our power stayed on, but at some point, I awoke to the silence of no air conditioner. Since we awoke the wind has been blowing powerfully and we've had some heavy rain. One of the roof coverings down below us was blown off, which, I expect, means dripping ceilings for them.

We had cold breakfast, and Dad shaved, by candlelight, and I'm writing this by battery power to post later with the return of the internet. We have found our building to feel very strong and secure during the storm.  I wonder if the large openings or breezeways that occur every five floors actually are intended to lower the wind resistance of the building. We even have a form of "air conditioning"-- the walls are hollow enough to allow large quantities of air to travel in through our door latches! It's quite nice! We also have windows that open for cross ventilation.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Post Script: We were without power for about 36 hours, except for a couple of hours one night; that allowed our computers to recharge and our freezer to get cold again. Luckily we didn't lose any food.  No missionaries were injured, and were back working the day after the typhoon, though without power. Every area we drove through subsequently had sheared off trees, damaged signage, and other signs of high winds. Our building had generators, so the hallways and parking areas were lit, even though our apartment was not.  We had a few meals by candlelight. 

Anniversary Underground

Jon and Maria arrived shortly after 1:00 am Sunday morning, July 6, with a driver delivering them to their hotel. We picked them up at 9:30 for church, which we attended, then raced back to our apartment for a quick lunch and drove to the airport.  We flew to Palawan, were delivered to our hotel, and then walked over to a Robinson's(one of the big department stores here) mall to find a quick supper.

Monday morning July 7, we were toured to Palawan's Underground River, one of the world's natural wonders. We drove about two hours out of Puerto Princessa, got on a catamaran, and boated over St. Paul's Bay to another bay shore where the river empties into the ocean. There we got into a smaller boat paddled by a guide who then took us into the underground cavern of the river. It is an 8-kilometer covered portion of the river, but they are only authorized to navigate the first 1.5 K. Picture Carlsbad Caverns ceilings with a river at the bottom. It was amazing! There were huge caverns, bats, swallows, all narrated/editorialized by our inimitable boatman. A really fun experience.

I thought of the kids when I saw this girl--a perfect illustration of Hats for Sale that I read to my own kids often. She was on the dock trying to sell her wares.

David, Maria, Jon and Cheryl crossing St. Paul's Bay

Our boatman and the view out front

The entrance to the cavern, actually the outlet of the river

Some of the views in the cavern, also filled with sparrows and bats

 

When we returned to the river bank, we walked over a bit and were treated to the sight of a large monitor lizard and some monkeys. We returned down the mountain, and David, who was getting sick, took a nap at the motel while Jon, Maria and I were taken to a palengke by District President and Sister Leo Mosquera, who happened to also own the tour company we were booked with. We wandered around there and bought several exotic fruits, then rode back to the motel by trisikel (a motorcycle with a sidecar).  The Mosqueras had recommended a Philippine restaurant, Ka Lui, where we went for supper. It was really a beautiful island restaurant in which to celebrate our 41st wedding anniversary!

We rode home again by trisikel, which was an adventure. It was reminiscent of riding from our wedding at the Methodist Church to our Northrup grandparents house in a golf cart!  Our driver didn't want to stop at the stoplight, so he turned right on red, pulled a u-turn, then turned right back onto our street, all while the light was still red!