Our 10 days in Palawan proved to be our busiest week yet! We didn’t really know what to expect, but we were amazed and delighted by many things. First of all, Palawan is known as the last frontier in the Philippines and is also the largest province. I can vouch for that! We did a LOT of driving (well, actually riding in the back of vans). Of course we didn’t get to the really nice touristy spots, but we did see miles and miles of rainforest and untouched land. What a switch from Manila! Also, the people who took us around (church members, mostly) and showed us hospitals, health centers, meetings with mayors, presidents and leaders of universities, and schools were so helpful and so generous with their time. We started our time there with a three day medical mission. This involved eye doctors who performed cataract and other simple eye surgeries, wheelchair people, regular medical people who checked blood sugar and blood pressure, etc. Also, some amazing foundations such as Physicians for Peace, and too many for me to remember. We actually had the opportunity to watch some cataract surgeries and I was able to comfort a woman by holding her hand during the surgery. I have to admit, though, that at one point during that surgery I started feeling faint (combination of her holding my hand very tightly, wearing those super hot gowns, and the novelty of eye surgery) and had to sit down for a bit. Here are the photos from the medical mission. Oh, and we did get to see their beautiful beach there in San Vicente. It’s called Long beach and is supposedly the longest beach in the Philippines.

Visits in Roxas

Visit to Quezon

President Balboa, district president, took us around to visit the health units and the Palawan State University Quezon campus. We took a look at their agriculture program, which is sorely lacking in resources. The worm poop was very impressive, though.

Visit to Nara and Aborlan

The next day we met up with Dave Laureo, who had many potential projects to share with us. It was a very busy day, going to health centers, mayor’s office, social worker’s office to discuss needs of PWDs (persons with disabilities) and schools.

Puerto Princessa

Last but not least, we spend a couple of days right in the main city of Puerto Princesa. Our point person was Larry Cuadada Jr, who is the son of the previous stake president. His sister joined us and she was a past student of BYUH. She also graduated with her master’s degree from BYU. They are an amazing family! Larry Jr. is currently a professor at the Palawan State University and his mother is the department head of the nursing program there. He was as comfortable talking to the president of the University as he was a fellow church member. I predict he is going to be very influential here some day.