Work and Play

It's been a busy couple of weeks, with moves of furniture and supplies into three new apartments for missionaries, hanging curtains in those and other apartments, some leadership training, and lots of piano lessons.  And then we were asked to haul four desks and other supplies to a new apartment in Alaminos.  We'd not been over to that part of the mission yet, so we were kind of excited to see some new territory.  It's much farther west, out onto the 'hook' of land that forms the western border of the Lingayen Gulf.

We got a very early start yesterday morning, since the trip would take a couple hours and since the zone leaders there had a narrow window of time that they were available to help.  We drove out beyond Lingayen, previously the farthest west we'd been, and continued northwest.

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 Crossing the river near Lingayen, we saw all these fishing floats.  They don't seem to be manned, just anchored in the river, with huge nets suspended from their poles.

As you get away from the cities, you're more likely to see actual nipa huts.  Many have metal roofs, but these roofs are made of nipa palm leaves. 

We stopped for a minute at Labrador to look at the outrigger fishing boats.

After Labrador and Sual, the highway leaves the coast and heads into the mountains, zigging and zagging wildly for awhile.  (Wish I'd gotten a picture of the sign that reads, "Sharp curves / Godspeed.")

After a lovely drive through the mountains and hills, we drove into Alaminos City and found the church, where several missionaries were waiting.  It was transfer day, some had left for their new areas, and some were waiting for their new companions to arrive.  We picked up the zone leaders and drove to their new apartment.  (Sorry, no pics!)  It was a second-story apartment, but they got the four desks up there with little trouble.  Tony used his new power drill to install curtain hardware and we took care of a few other things there and were on our way.  (By the way, if you're ever a senior missionary in a country where most construction is concrete, don't bother buying a cordless drill.  Get a good one with a cord.)  We dropped off the elders at the church, ran and bought them some curtains, took their curtains back to them, then headed north on a little pleasure trip to Hundred Islands.

On our way through Alaminos, we passed the Oregon Building, of all things!  It's even green and yellow! 

 Hundred Islands is a national park on the Lingayen Gulf, which, to be fully appreciated, requires a boat tour out to the islands.  We decided to save that for another time.  There's a wharf there with lots of passenger boats.  And lots of ladies with baskets of souvenirs.  I finally decided to buy some keychains and was swarmed immediately by six or eight women, all wanting me to buy theirs.  I divvied it up as well as I could.  It was like throwing out one little piece of bread on the ground and have a whole flock of seagulls come after it.

The status of some of these islands must depend on the tide!

This boy's friend was in the water and gave him a shell he'd found.

After leaving Hundred Islands, we took a little side road which promised a beach and, eventually, a waterfall, according to our map.  We drove and drove, through some beautiful country and into a more and more remote, hilly area, on a remarkably good concrete road.  We drove until the pavement ended without finding the waterfall, which must've been up some trail, I guess. 

Rice paddies.

A carabao lounging in a field of rice straw, with fish ponds in the background.

Doubling back to the town of Bolo, we detoured to Bolo Beach, a beautiful little beach in a small cove, which was pretty much like paradise that day . . . a nice, cool breeze, a beach to ourselves, and shady palm trees to rest beneath.

The waves are small here, by the way.

Much of the beach is lined with resorts, which have nipa huts as 'cottages' to rent.

We parked and went out on the beach where there was a row of these funny mushroom-shaped umbrellas.  They had protective mesh over their tops, like hair-nets.

Directly overhead

Someone didn't want me to take his picture lying on the beach, but he took this one while I was snoozing.

Perfect.

 

 

I don't know if we were there for . . . an hour, maybe? . . . but it was heavenly and a perfectly lovely little rest from our labors and a break from the heat.  It was well worth the extra drive and we felt so refreshed for the long drive home and for the continuing efforts in the coming days.

We love our mission!  We love the work we're doing, the people we get to live among and serve, and the knowledge that we're helping with the Lord's work in many little ways.  And we're grateful for the blessings that come with our being here, and this day was definitely one of them.  Feelin' the love!  : )