Hello everyone Sister Webb here,

We just returned from a week in the North Country where we had the kind of adventure one usually reads about, but seldom encounters.  We were informed last Thursday that we were needed at an emergency relief site in Cabanatuan; a city that had been flooded by typhoon Lando.  We were notified about 9 am and told we needed to be in Cabanatuan by 2 pm because a shipment of food would be arriving.  Mormon Helping Hands (MHH) would need the plastic sacks we would be carrying to begin their work. We were told to pack for a week (?) and were on the road at 11 and arrived at 5 pm.  We had to back-track because of a washed out bridge.  It didn’t cause a problem because the first food truck did not arrive until 8 pm.  The second truck arrived at 2am the following morning.  The volunteers (MHH) waited patiently from 2 pm through the evening, playing games, singing and just enjoying each other's company.  We fed them McDonalds at 6 pm, which they enjoyed, then worked with the members until the Haslems, the missionary couple in charge, suggested we head to the hotel to get a good sleep.

This is the road into Cabanatuan three days before we got there

Elder Webb helping to load up our car

Helping hands working in Cabanatuan

We were told we were needed in Baler, Aurora.  It is another 3 hours north, and we were to leave at 5am sharp so we could be at the government rice office by 8 in the morning.  Morning came.  We followed Elder Jarius Perez, (an Area Seventy who works for Welfare).  He thinks car rear lights are to tease the driver following him.  He drives so fast we often lost track of those light as the twists and bends in the road challenged our ability to keep up.  There are no lights or reflectors on these back woods roads.  Wash outs and landslides are just part of a good day's drive.  Fortunately someone had cleared one lane of the highway so we could get through.  Our drive took us through small towns and barangays with farmers and their carts already on the road.  Some farmers also dry their rice on the roads and one is never sure that someone will not be grooming his rice around the next bend. Elder Perez’s speed did not vary no matter who or what was on the road.

On the road to Baler

During the high water time the water flowed over this bridge

Rice drying on the lanes of the road

A family affair

Be it ever so humble .  .  .  .

We arrived in Baler at 8 am on the dot, walked into the Government Offices of The National Food Authority and ordered 240 bags of rice, 50 kilos each.  The government buys excess rice to keep the market price up and because we were involved in charity work we were allowed to buy their rice at a discount.  Jarius then headed to a grocery warehouse and ordered corned beef, noodles and water to be distributed along with the rice.  These items were to be delivered to the church.

Rice drying at the National Food Authority warehouse in Baler. This is our "rice market"


Our next stop was at the Ward house of Baler Branch.  We drove up about 10:30 and were greeted by members and missionaries who had been there since early morning because they had been told MHH had an assignment.  Jarius let everyone know the food and rice would be delivered about 2 pm.  We left to check into our hotel.  There was still no electricity in Cabanatuan, but fortunately for us, our hotel had a large generator to accommodate the needs of its customers.  We were very thankful.  The weather was hot and humid. 

Below missionaries waiting for trucks to arrive

Baler is a coastal city known as one of the best surfing places in the Philippines, there are only three.  There were plenty of people taking advantage of the lack of tourism Lando had created.  We settled into our hotel and watched the ocean roll into the shore.  It’s hard to believe just one week earlier this same tranquil ocean was a violent and destructive force.  It flooded the first floor of our hotel as well as main streets through the town leaving mud and water in its wake. 

We were told Baler was hit from behind.  According to hotel management we would not have been able to enjoy these accommodations had Lando manifest a frontal attack.  The windows of our hotel facing the ocean would have blown in.  Lando was a super typhoon when it hit land.  Still, things seemed to be in better order than I would have expected after the flooding we heard reported.  Filipinos do not sit around.  They jump right in with whatever resources they can find to help solve problems.  Brooms made of tree branches or reeds are a common site.  There was no sign of mud and grim anywhere in our hotel or the church, and very little left on the streets. 

The truck arrived about 2:30.  Our new friends from MHH and missionaries serving in the area unloaded the truck filling the church with noodles, corned beef, and rice.  For three days we all worked in hot humid weather.  The members were there first thing in the morning and worked by the light of our car in the evening sometimes until about 9 pm. No air conditioning or fans.  Sea breezes blow in the afternoon or early morning for about an hour; other than that the air is pretty much hot and still. I worked in the rice room alongside a woman who had been a member of the church for only 2 weeks.  She was quiet and spoke very little English but we were able to communicate heart to heart.  We sat together in church and before I left the last night she came to me, took my hand and softly said, thank you.  What more can one say?  

Assembly Line workers

The Rice Room -- never too young to serve

A family affair

Working by generator light

rice everywhere

working by car light shining in the window

Workers break for dinner by car light

Much of our time was spent waiting for products that had run short, or instructions on what to do next.  Transportation is a huge issue during disasters.  Trucks simply are unavailable.  So we waited a lot.  Never once did we hear a word of complaint from these good people.  They had been hit by the typhoon and were struggling with their own problems yet they put them aside to come to the aid of those who had been left with even less. 

Meal time was a special time.  Seldom do any of these people get a chicken dinner from a fast food place.   Friday afternoon Elder Webb and I walked in to a semi/fast food place and ordered 40 dinners; we went back for 10 more when we ran short.  After working without a break till about 7:30 pm it was time to eat again.  Off to the fast food store again, this time we had to order something different as they could not accommodate our group with the same chicken meal we had before.  You may be thinking why did they do the same thing again?  It’s all they have in town.  Not even a McDonald's!

Saturday was the same routine all over again.  I’m not sure if or what they ate for breakfast, but everyone was working when we arrived from our hotel.  We ran out of rice midmorning and Elder Jarius Perez ordered another 240 sacks.  I was disheartened by the sight of it, but no one else mentioned a word except to encourage others.  We had an over stock of noodles so everyone just had noodles for lunch.  To make a long story short, these good people worked till 10 pm measuring out the rest of the rice.  We did over 8,000 food kits, 1000 more than the requested number.

We decided to try something a little different for dinner Saturday night.   Someone had come with a burning can, on which they could cook and two large pots.  So rice was cooked in a pot when Elder Webb and I took off to buy roasted chicken and ribs from a reputable street vendor in Baler.  We were being directed by a more knowledgeable person than ourselves and were told Meley’s is the best grill in town.   We passed by two other street grills on our way; Main street was about 2 miles long.  We order 20 chickens cut in fours and 16 large double ribs chopped in small sections enough for our purpose, once again cleaning out their inventory.  Then it was back to the church for a moon light dinner.  Elder Webb is still not interested in sampling food from street vendors even if they are connected to a restaurant.  Fortunately we bought everything they had and it was just enough for our workers so no one was the wiser. These dear people worked again after dinner.  I believe someone told me the last bag of rice was complete a little after midnight.  Then they cleaned the chapel and readied everything for church the next morning.

MORE TO COME