I was sad to miss the Sabbath in the Philippines, but we were anxious to get home to our kids and help them prepare for school. The flight home was long. We slept as much as we could to catch up with the time. After so much Filipino food, I was majorly craving a McDonalds burger, but when we stopped at the McDonalds in the Narita airport in Japan, they had such interesting menu items that we just had to try. Hunter got the teriyaki burger and I got a curry chicken sandwich. The burger was terribly small and thin and not good. The chicken sandwich was the opposite. Totally big, fried up perfectly and the curry on top was such a delicious addition. Well, now we know.
Our stopover in Portland was only an hour long and we were praying the whole time that we would be able to make our flight because we had to go through customs and then get our bags off the claim and then check them again at a transfer desk. We made it just in time and I was so grateful, but our luggage unfortunately did not. It got put on a later plane, so it took some time to sort that out in SLC. It wasn’t a bit deal though because they just delivered it to our house.
It was SO good to see the kids again. Felix looked different. And he was walking around WAY more! I’m so grateful we were able to see his first steps before we left. I feel like that was a very specific answer to prayer. When we got home he was just cruising around, walking everywhere. I would have been so sad if I had missed that. I felt all recharged and ready to be a full-time Mommy again. The kids were very good and made me proud. And I was so grateful to Magra, Kami, Julie, Katie and Maren for all their help. Home sweet home.
The next morning’s conference was superhero themed with all the business owners in the region. Hunter wanted to be Clark Kent but wasn’t able to find a shirt in time, so someone helped us buy this. I was WonderWoman. Duh! J/k. Meet James and Cynthia Fantone. These two are a powerful couple! They are the head of operations in the Philippines, and man did they ever deliver! The whole program was very impressive! Hunter said that all the Academy events have a certain level of professionalism. So true! Cynthia was amazing and MCd the whole event, and James is a legit motivational speaker. He was outstanding! Like a Steve Jobs-ish guy, but way cooler.
We heard some very impressive speakers. I loved Andy Barfus’ speech. The take-away I got from his was that we haven’t been blessed with prosperity so we can be comfortable; we’ve been blessed with prosperity so we can serve.
Then probably one of the most meaningful parts of this whole trip--this one lady named Jennifer spoke. Jennifer used to be an OFW. She left her baby when he was 6 months old and moved to Hong Kong to be a domestic helper. For EIGHT YEARS she provided for her family and only got to see her family twice in that time. She met Cynthia and James once when the two were visiting the area presidency trying to see if the Academy could be established in Hong Kong. They were rejected, but met Jennifer and encouraged her to take the leap and learn from the Academy and start her own business. She did. She went home, started a business which is now five years old. She said that in one year, she was making as much money as when she was in Hong Kong, and in four years, she was making double! She was emotional as she thanked Steve and Bette for enabling her to be with her family again and not have to experience hardship anymore. She brought her son up to the stage, now 14 years old and much taller than her (he reminded me of Paulo), and her grateful husband. Hearing her story, I just lost it. Because I was able to see all those OFWs in Hong Kong, and then see the Philippines side and how the Academy has helped gave me the complete picture. I believed from what Hunter told me he was involved in with the Academy that it was good, but over the last couple days I witnessed with my own eyes just how big it is. It is literally changing lives! Many many lives. How many non-profits actually do that and having a lasting impact?! And the program is just as strong in Mexico, which Hunter was able to see earlier in the year when he went there. It really is incredible.
Well, after such a packed morning, Hunter and I weren’t off the hook yet. We were responsible for teaching two 50-minute breakout sessions about Managing Business Stress. We both felt deeply unqualified to teach this class, but Hunter prepared some good thoughts and had a lot of audience participation activities built in to it. It turned out great!
That evening was the Academy Awards Dinner. It was very fancy, and Hunter and I got to present the awards “academy awards”-style. We had scripted lines we were supposed to say and even little envelopes that we were supposed to open with the winners’ names inside. The winners had photos taken with large prize money checks and all. It was very well planned and so rewarding for the ones who worked so hard to apply and present.
The next morning, we had a chapter leader training meeting. To give you an idea, the Academy has almost 200 chapters in the Philippines alone. There are nearly 400 chapters if you include Mexico, Peru, and Brazil. That’s 15,000 graduates who have been through the program and have learned how to become entrepreneurs. So Hunter and I were assigned to prepare speeches about personal finance before an audience of about 200 people from the Visayas region. I was specifically asked to share our family’s experience with selling our house and becoming self-reliant. Guess who was first on the program. Me. So I was pretty nervous. I had no previous experience or speech to observe to help me know if what I had prepared was appropriate. But I had worked pretty hard on my speech, so I just went for it. Here’s a link if you want to read it.
At one point in my speech, I was looking out at the crowd and could see almost everybody’s eyes on me. They were all leaning in, listening intently to what I had to say. That made me feel really good. Afterward, people thanked me for my words and said that they could relate with my experience and sacrifice. I’m sure many of them have made bigger sacrifices than to sell a house they love, but I was so glad it was meaningful for them.
Hunter did an excellent job as well. Very thoughtful and well-delivered speech. I hope people learned something valuable from his. It was very thought-provoking.
After a nice lunch, we began the judging process. Each applicant had 10 minutes to present before a panel of four judges and compete for prize money. The other judges were Andy Barfus, a business owner and investor and a very cool and smart man who has been involved with the academy for 17 years. Another judge was Elder Pagaduan of the area presidency of the Seventy. He is a very humble and impressive man. So kind and thoughtful and willing to serve. The last judge was Justin, one of the Gibson’s grandkids who served his mission in Peru and had some very smart and thoughtful insights. After each presentation, there was time alloted to questions and answers. One of the ladies I judged was named Mila and kind of reminded me of my aunties, too. I didn’t realize when I was reviewing the applications the night before that two of the people I would be judging were old mission friends of Hunter in the Quezon City mission. I tried to be unbiased, but as it turns out, those two mission friends were our top choices. All four judges agreed that they were the obvious choice. First place went to Alan Baguio who owns a snack house on a college campus. He was extremely smart about how he started his business. Jhumer Operio has a real estate business. And Lorina Quisito has a cleaning supply business. They did a great job.
After all the judging was over, Hunter and I left to try to catch a jeepney to a mission reunion dinner that Hunter’s friends had arranged. All the jeepneys were full, so we did what any local would do--we walked. It wasn’t that long of a walk, honestly. Maybe a mile and a half. The walk reminded me of Kenya except we blended in more.
When we arrived at the church, Pearlynne and Noreen had set up all the catered food (Hunter paid of course) along a big long table, and Kid had arranged a bunch of tables for eating and a TV, microphone, and guitar for performances afterward. Yes, folks! There’s a reason we always request performances at family gatherings--it’s in our genetics! The food was great! Kid had selected a really good lechon for us. In all my days, I’ve never really liked lechon. I’ve always thought it’s super fatty and tough. But I realize now that’s because I had always had it when it’s been sitting out getting cold. Holy Moly! This lechon was freshly cooked and hot and the skin was crisp and DELICIOUS, and the fat was so hot, it just melted in your mouth like a perfect piece of bacon. Now I understand why every Filipino is obsessed with lechon! The food was great! And meeting all the missionaries I had heard stories about, and their spouses, was so special. I met Elder Sid Cataluna, Hunter’s first greenie and favorite junior companion, who together witnessed many miracles at a difficult time in the mission. Sister Karen Gungob, one of the "Magnificent 8" sisters who were legendary in growing an area that was notorious for being difficult. We each had a chance to either perform a song or share a mission story. They each had such sweet things to say about what Hunter meant to them on the mission. I know it was so meaningful for Hunter to hear that. Then we played games, cleaned and mopped the chapel together, and went home.
Thursday morning was time to work. After a brief swim in the lap pool and another nice breakfast, we spent time working on our presentations for the next day.
In the afternoon, we were able to visit three businesses of Academy graduates. The first was my favorite. Joel, a former construction worker, basically started his own construction business and then grew it to have his own concrete supply shop, and now owns his own miniature hardware store. He started his business almost 10 years ago and now he’s having huge success! He sells at least 100 bags of concrete mix per day and has 40-50 constructions employees. I was so impressed! He and his wife work together. I think she’s keeps the books and manages the store.
Then we met a lady named Russell who owns the “canteen” (cafeteria) contract at the Cebu temple visitor’s center. She is a little less organized and sure about her numbers, but she’s very enthusiastic, and I’m sure will be able to grow it. Hunter and I ate food at the canteen. I ordered my food completely in Tagalog. I even asked in Tagalog if they had patis for the fried fish I ordered. I felt pretty cool. When my siblings and I were young, my mom would occasionally prepare fried fish for us. We would all share one (maybe two) fried smoked mackarel. We would sit around the table and Ma would divide it out for us and we would eat it Filipino-style, with our hands (magkamay). She would say, “You have to eat all your fish so I can take you to the Philippines.” She taught us how to pick off the flesh and be careful of the bones. I thought of Mom the whole time I was eating that fish.
Mom really raised us with a lot of Filipino culture. Everywhere I ate, I knew what the food was. I knew how to dance. And I had just enough of the language to get by. You have to understand that I have done VERY LITTLE to study Tagalog over the years. When Hunter and I met, he was teaching Tagalog at the MTC, so he brought me home a TLO (Teaching/Learning Objectives) book that I could study, and we’d practice here and there. Then 15 years ago I took one class at BYU. But since then, I’ve done very little study and very occasionally. But it was enough! I could understand most of the conversations I was hearing (especially thanks to the occasional English word thrown into conversations), and I was able to speak! In a very short time, I was able to accelerate my abilities just because I was immersed in the language! This is probably an obvious point for those who have served foreign missions, but it was the first time I had experienced it.
About 20 years ago, I traveled to Canada with my Mom for my Uncle Al’s retirement party. It was just Mom and me. And at one point we were gathered in Auntie Iding and Uncle Al’s dining room, and I had a moment wherein I realized I was THE ONLY person who did not understand at all what was being said. It was totally depressing. Since that time, I’ve longed to learn, but have felt scared to use what I know. I was worried before taking this trip that I would have that moment again. Hunter said that I will have times that I don’t understand, but that I should try not to feel bad and instead just realize that that’s how I’m going to learn. So I changed my paradigm, and I did--I LEARNED! It was so cool! So, if I can do it, so can you! Every little bit of study and practice helps!
The last business we visited was a room rental business. He has very cheap accommodations for backpackers and people who need short term lodging. He has expanded his business to now include laundry service and also motorbike rental. He keeps decent records and has done a great job growing his business. He juggles his business with his duties as a Bishop in his ward and as a father of a really cute little four year old girl.
What a pleasure to see all those businesses! That evening, we received instruction on how to judge for the following day. I was sent home with a stack of 10 applications to review. Looking through them, I saw how much work these “Startup” business owners had put forth, so I wanted to give them a fair amount of my time looking through so I would be a fair and informed judge. So I stayed up til midnight reading and assigning preliminary scores. Hunter judged the “Innovation” category and had 7 applicants to judge.
Wednesday morning we woke up early again and made our way over to the pier to catch the 5:00 a.m. passenger speedboat ride to Bohol. The two hour ride was pretty uncomfortable, but we were too tired to notice and slept most of the time. Bohol is beautiful! It’s more of a countryside than a city. We saw all the cute kids walking together to school. The streets were clean and mostly free from vendors. Driving along we saw mostly quaint old homes, chicken yards, thick jungle forests and patches of clear green valleys, and of course occasional peaks of the ocean in the background.
We met up with Steve and Bette Gibson, an old couple from Provo, UT who in 1999 started The Academy for Creating Enterprise in the Philippines. It has since grown into other countries and this was the 20th anniversary since they started it. They are the reason we made this trip.
The Academy teaches people (usually returned missionaries) how to start their own businesses and keep them growing so they can become self reliant and end generational poverty. The Church’s self reliance class called “Starting and Growing My Business” was actually written based on the Gibson’s curriculum. Steve is starting to have health issues, so he took all his kids and their families and they made a family reunion out of it. It was fun to meet them all and witness their excitement as they saw for themselves what their parents/grandparents started.
The Gibsons were staying in a GORGEOUS hotel with a beautiful infinity pool and direct access to a white sandy beach with boats and sea stars all over the place. If we ever stay in Bohol, we should stay there! It’s the Bellevue Resort.
Our first excursion for our day out with the Gibsons was Chocolate Hills. It was quite a drive on windy roads, so I inevitably got sick. But boy was it worth the trip! I had seen many photos of the Chocolate Hills before, but climbing up all those stairs and seeing it in person was breathtaking!
Next stop was a local zoo that had some really interesting animals I had never seen before. The larger monkeys were not happy in their enclosures. We did, however, see the zoo’s pride and joy, a male Tarsier monkey. There are Tarsier sanctuaries in the area, but this was the only place, to my knowledge, that you can get close to and even feed a Tarsier. We had to be very quiet and be sure to turn off the flash on our cameras so that we didn’t stress out the monkey. Apparently if you do stress it out, it will commit suicide by turning it’s head 360 degrees. Hunter fed it a still somewhat live but impaled cricket. It was really cool. The monkey moves slowly and almost robotic-like until it’s ready to eat. Then it snaps the cricket quickly off the stick. He eats 40 crickets a day.
Finally, we headed to a floating boat tour for lunch. We basically embarked on this covered floating dining room. It had tables all around the outside of the boat with a long buffet table in the center. We got our food and then ate while floating down this gorgeous river that had thick, lush, forest on both sides. The cool thing about the forests is that they not only have deciduous trees thickly packed all together, but they also have many many coconut trees all throughout, pushing through the canopy toward the sky.
Along the boat tour they had certain staged “attractions”. One kid I’m certain was paid to swing from a vine and do a flip into the water. There was also a little covered stage where about twenty dancers were dressed in costumes and performed for us. At one point, our boat pulled in close to the stage and the ramp was let out. I don’t know why, but Hunter and I were the only ones who stepped off the boat and got front row seats to the entertainment. I get such a thrill out of watching cultural dancing, so I was having the time of my life. Then when they got out the bamboo sticks and started doing the Tinikling, one of the older dancers encouraged me to try it. And of course, I did! Mom taught us well, and I was able to do it with relative ease (except my backpack was flopping up and down on my back out of rhythm). It was a proud moment. Hunter wanted to join, but decided to capture it on film instead. When we got back on the boat, Steve Gibson was so proud and said watching me dance and connect with my roots was the highlight of the trip. Hunter said the older dancers kept watching me as I got back on our boat and were smiling ear to ear.
On the way back to the Gibsons hotel, we drove through a man made Mohagony forest that had been planted 50 years ago to help prevent landslides. It was GORGEOUS! Such tall, amazing trees!
After dropping the Gibsons off and strolling along the beach at low tide, we headed back to the pier for another long boat ride home. On the way, we stopped spontaneously at one of the chicken yards and asked the owner if he would show us how the roosters “box”. He humored us and put on the practice pads on the roosters’ feet. As soon as the second rooster was put in the territory of the other, they started attacking each other, which I had never seen before. And those red feathers that hang down their necks flare out like a lion’s mane when they’re fighting. Hunter got a slow motion video. It was so interesting. Hunter’s Grandpa Sebresos used to be in the Sabong business and would sell specialized knives for the rooster’s feet. I’m glad I just saw a practice cockfight. I think I would be too disturbed if I saw a real one. Needless to say, after such a long day of travel and sightseeing, we crashed.
The next morning, our bodies woke us up at 4:00am. We got ready, killed time, and ate an amazing breakfast buffet at the hotel. Holy smokes. The best buffet ever. There were standard American/European things like breads, omelet, pancakes, eggs, bacon, but also Filipino dishes, rice and garlic rice, fish, and a ramen/pancit table where you could assemble your own oriental noodle soup. I tasted my mango that morning, and it was delicious! And the pineapple was noticeably better than the states. Literally like pineapple candy but not artificial. We ate like kings most mornings next to the huge lap pool.
Soon, Kid, Noreen and Perlynne picked us up again and we went to the Cebu temple to do some templework. Hunter and I both brought family names. I did work for Apolonia Yasis (Mom’s mom’s cousin), and Hunter did work for Eugenio Bertudazo (Hunter’s dad’s mom’s mom’s brother-in-law), a name that he found by himself. We also sealed Eugenio to his spouse afterward as well as some other sealings. It was very sweet and time well spent. As a side note, it was the first time that a sealer was able to read our last name and pronounce it perfectly with little effort or confusion or any correction. That was refreshing.
The mission home, patron housing, visitor center and distribution center are all there on the temple grounds, so that was really fun to see where members come and just hang out. Noreen and Kid go once a week! Hunter said, “That’s the thing about Filipinos, Yosh. They are very humble, and very committed and willing to serve.” Kid is even a bishop, so they give a lot of time to serving in the Church. They’re awesome.
After our spiritual recharge, we changed our shoes and headed to the outdoor market (palengke) where Kid bought some pork to make Humba at Perlynne’s house. Humba is his specialty and is more popular than chicken adobo in Cebu. I thought that was interesting. Around the palenke were some shops and restaurants and we had the pleasure of hearing this guy sing Ticket to Ride on the restaurant’s karaoke machine. He rocked.
It was very important to me that I get to visit a Filipino home and experience the family life of a local and not just do tourist stuff the whole time, so cooking humba together at Perlynne’s was a real pleasure. She had a very humble home that she and her husband built together on land that belongs to her own father. It had concrete walls and floors and corrugated metal roofs, but had a two story high ceiling in the living area, which I didn’t expect. They had these funky black and white tiles in the kitchen which Perlynne proudly told me she picked herself as she designed her kitchen. They were more well-off than the average Kenyan home because they had a TV, internet, and power. She even had a magic bullet and made us an avocado and mango smoothie.Outside were all kinds of vegetable seedlings and starter plants. Hunter was able to help Perlynne’s husband, Joseph, out in the garden a bit.
The humba was good. Different ingredients than mom’s but turned out tasting very similar. I love cooking with people in their homes.
The best part was when Perlynne’s 12 year old son came home from school. He’s a Dance Kids sensation. Dance Kids is a show like So You Think You Can Dance but for Filipino kids. He literally has won all kinds of dance contests. He came home and danced for us. He was really really good. He and Hunter did a spontaneous breaking “dance-off” or whatever you would call it. It was AWESOME! Such a cute kid. Perlynne was so proud. It is so worth it to see the family life when traveling.
Monday morning we said goodbye to Mom and Dad and took a taxi to the airport. Our driver had a lot of difficulty with English, but we were able to have a conversation, and I came away from it completely disturbed. Basically, he expressed that he (and he believes many Chinese people like him) believe that all Americans like Trump hate the Chinese because we want to be #1 and because China is excelling in science and technology, we hate them. Hunter and I tried to explain that we both have Chinese ancestors and we came to Hong Kong to visit my parents who are residing here, and that we want to be his friend, but he said no, we’re not friends. I drive you because you’ll pay me, but if China and the US are at war, we will be shooting each other. First of all I was so disturbed that anyone would assume I think like President Trump, and I was even more disturbed at the thought of going to war with China. I was so upset I wanted to cry. I hope I never see the day. But I also realize that I have Chinese friends who came from mainland China who believe very differently, so maybe he represents a small group of less educated, extreme thinkers. Still disturbing.
Now for my first impressions of the Philippines. Throughout our drive out of the airport, I confess that I was surprised by my disappointment. Seeing all the traffic and run down street vendor’s establishments, I found myself thinking, “Oh. It’s just like Mombasa.” But as I looked closer, I started to notice that the streets were much cleaner, at least in Cebu city. Much less trash and hardly any bad smells. There were more trees and beautiful flowers, and the street lights were actually working. I am just SO GLAD that I had had my experience in Mombasa before coming to the Philippines. I suppose I was able to push past the initial inevitable culture shock and see the good things, like the fact that all the people walking around look like my family. That’s cool. We were able to blend in much easier here than in Kenya where everyone would blatantly stare at us, or ask for a job or money, just because we were “white.” I also appreciated that in the Philippines, people are generally more honest compared to Kenya. If I had not had that prior third world experience, I might not have enjoyed the Philippines as much as I did.
Our hotel was SO nice. Very beautiful grounds and rooms, air conditioning, etc. I don’t think I saw a single cockroach in our hotel. It was fabulous!
The husband of one of Hunter’s mission friends is a driver who takes people around to tourist sites in Cebu for his job. His name is Kid. He picked us up and we met up with his wife, Noreen, another sister from the mission, Perlynne, and an elder that Hunter was in the office with named Jared. We met up with them at an unlimited chicken wings place. Even though these guys all speak Cebuano, we mostly conversed in Tagalog. At first, much of the conversation was going over my head and Hunter would have to explain. But throughout the day and the next day that we spent with them, I started to notice that my listening skills were improving already! I could even understand some of what Perlynne was saying, and she speaks very fast. And of course when they threw some English in there, I was able to understand quite a bit.
Our first destination was none other than Little Amsterdam! Yeah, crazy! Cebu has an attraction called Little Amsterdam. We drove up the mountain (bundok) to this place that had breathtaking views of miles and miles of green jungle hills and remote hillside homes and farms. Little Amsterdam was a lovely huge garden with rows and rows of flowers and at least 30 selfie spots. Perfect for Filipinos, apparently. We took way too many pictures. Across the street I bought my first fresh mango in Tagalog from a street vendor (tindahan), and some caramelized bananas on a stick. Yum!
Then we set off to Greece! Ha! Also in Cebu, randomly, is this place called Temple of Leah (pronounced Leia). It has nude Greek-esque statues, marble floors and ceilings, stone pillars, and a massive gold statue of this woman called Leah, who was the Queen of the University of Southern Philippines. So bizzare, but fun to see. It was an awesome first day in the Philippines and we crashed at the end of the night.
