I can’t believe it is already Wednesday evening and I am just now getting around to doing my weekly blog (which I usually do on Sundays). That’s the kind of weekend it was! What a glorious trip we had the privilege of completing. We rode for 7 hours with The Welfare and Self Reliance manager, Ryan Manrique, up to Baler and Gabaldon. We needed to follow up on some requests from some hospitals, and he needed to attend a devotional for young adults. This is the far northeastern part of our area. I can’t believe we have something so beautiful in our area!!! The drive through the mountains, although long, was breathtakingly beautiful. The best part? NO TRAFFIC!!! Then the ocean! Baler is the surfing capital of the Philippines and they have nice, gentle waves almost 6 months of the year. We met an older man in his 60s who lives in New York for 6 months and up here for 6 months so he can surf. In fact, this is where he learned to surf. So we had a great visit with a doctor and other hospital administrators in the Baler area which also resulted in us having to meet the Provincial Governor because they needed his permission to ask for assistance from us. He was a very nice man and his staff was very excited to have us there and potentially lending a hand. This is the first time we have met a governor. We usually meet the mayor of the city, but haven’t had to go up to this level before. We had a wonderful walk on the long beach the next morning before heading out.

We delivered a wheelchair to this man, but it doesnÔÇÖt fit right.

Day two had us traveling through the beautiful mountains on a different route, even through a National Forest and down to the beautiful valley area of Gabaldon. We met with the chief medical officer of the hospital there and were so impressed with their request and what they hope to accomplish. They want some solar panels and water filtration system so they can provide clean, free water for everyone in the community and also save money on electricity so they can buy more medicine for their poor patients. I am really excited about their request. We then went with them to the best seafood restaurant we have been to since we arrived in the Philippines. Bonus! Oh, and the doctor also got excited to learn that Elder Huff is a professor because his university has been bugging him to find a professor to do a plenary . So guess who gets to speak soon? Then we had dinner with the Stake President of San Jose and his wife, who also have an amazing story to tell. They have a son who is hemophiliac and required expensive medical treatments. They asked for fast offering funds to help out and were eventually denied this help. He explains that he wasn’t bitter about this and understood where the church leaders were coming from. He realized he needed to change his employment, so went from being a teacher to a businessman of sorts and today has a successful contractor business. Blessings all around! The last day, Saturday morning, we went to the San Jose Stake Center for the devotional and got to talk about the importance of education. It was kind of fun to recount our educational journeys.

You can rent these huts for the day

Dingalan

President and Sister Campos

She was in Elder HuffÔÇÖs classes at BYUH