You said you did what in the Philippines?

Even though more rain is falling and the volunteer work continues at a brisk pace Sister French and I do keep in focus the original intent as to why we are here. That assignment is to assist the 17+ mission presidents with the mental health of the missionaries they are responsible for.

Map of the Philippines showing the location of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_Region_in_Muslim_Mindanao)

One objective that was given to us while in training was the task of meeting with each of the mission presidents, and the missionaries in their care, at least once a year. Right out of the gate we realize that we won't be able to accomplish that for the missions that are located on the island of Mindanao. There are three missions on Mindanao. The large cities on the island have a very large Christian (Catholic) base. Once outside of the cities there is a strong Muslim presence. Over the years there has been a conflict between the government and the Muslim population of the island. It has spilled over at times and effected the general population. To lessen some of the conflicts that occurred the Philippine government created the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or ARMM.  To prevent any headaches that might arise the church does not send any non-Philippino missionaries to Mindanao. As there are three missions there we will not be able to travel there and meet those missionaries nor their mission presidents.

We start our travels to see mission presidents this week. On Thursday we will travel to the Angeles mission to have lunch with President Martino. It will be our first chance to see the country outside of metro Manila. We will also be able to see, to some degree, what the damage has been like outside of our immediate area.
Next week we will travel to the San Pablo mission. We will be going there for a specific reason related to Marcia's calling as the Area Mental Health Adviser. From our understanding we will travel a few hours to meet the mission president. From that point we will continue to travel with the mission president to another island which we will get to by a boat of some type. As of now I'm not sure if it is a passenger boat or if it will be a ferry. Our trip their will likely last a couple of days.

There has not been a slow moment since we've been here and that is a good thing...

jsf