Meanwhile, back in Cebu:

Family home evening in our apartment with little gatekeeper Francisco and his family and two elder missionaries. Little guy in middle has never spoken. Francisco, at right, lost one leg to gangrene. I took Francisco down to the Mall last Saturday. We bought him a new pair of shoes because he was stuffing newspaper in the old ones to cover holes in the sole. He said it was the first pair of shoes he has had in over ten years. Wonderful family.

One of the massive walls of old fort built by Ferdinand Magellan. It is made of limestone. In case you were wondering, King LapuLapu personally killed Ferdinand Magellan in the early 1500's. Hence, we have cities, forts, roads, statues, etc. named LapuLapu.

There are so many ugly dogs in the Philippines, Mom and I decided to start an ugly dog contest. We take pictures of the ugliest dogs and will post them when done. We have worried dogs, shaggy dogs, bearded dogs, low dogs, mongrels, etc. The one thing they have in common is they are all hungry. Our landlord asked me if her dog was included. I told her yes, but he probably would not win the contest. Her response was Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, Elder Peck.

Mom has her little adopted family taking missionary discussions by flashlight, in their hovel. She also tends the little ones while the parents take English lessons from one of the senior missionaries. Mom is doing her thing. Little treats every morning as we leave for the office.

some more tidbits on the Philippines, there is tile on every thing. it must be cheap here, but they don't have the little rounded pieces they put on the ends and corners. a lot of the buildings including our apt. are built out of cement. i guess that is good because of the dampness and termites and other critters. the sidewalks are about two feet wide and if they were wider at one time someone just put up a table and started selling barbecue meat or other stuff 'til you can barely pass. a lot of the people walk on the street and they cross any where they dare. there are crosswalks but no cars, bicycles, trycles, jeepnees or trucks stop for people not even children or moms with babies. the school crossings have no crossing guards, the children have to fend for themselves. you don't hear about a lot of people getting hit by cars, it's amazing. i was told by one local that if a truck runs over you that it will hurry and back over you again to make sure you are dead so they don't have to pay the hospital bills. a funeral is way cheaper. there are a lot of deaths from electrocutions and you can see why with all the wires hanging everywhere and tangled through trees, it's a mess.