Sagada, Saliuk, and the Toledo Mud Hens

I spent holy week in Sagada. Sagada is a kind of touristy town in the mountains that gained popularity due to its hiking trails, caves, and American landscape. It is also one of the home bases of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines. The Mountain Province and Baguio are the only places where Episcopalians are the dominant denomination. In fact, most of the Episcopalians elsewhere in the Philippines are migrants from that particular region.  I really enjoyed my time there. I was able to spend the whole day hiking and come back to a big meal and a cold beer. The inns were all sold out, so I stayed with some local Episcopalians who had made friends with Melanie, the last YASC volunteer. They were the best hosts I could have ever asked for.

I had started to go a little stir-crazy in the office, so I took some time last week to get back to my roots, and help teach a week of VBS in the very rural village of Saliuk. I say get back to my roots, because I really got my start in mission work at St. Christopher’s mission in Bluff, Utah. For 6 weeks since 2000 I have flown down to the mission on the outskirts of the Navajo reservation to assist in teaching a vacation bible school to the Navajo children there. I learned many great lessons there that came in very helpful last week, such as the attention span of 10 year olds and the expansive definition of the word “projectile”. My job in Saliuk was songs, memory verses, and games. I introduced some of the Navajo’s favorite songs such as “in right out right”. I also taught them a classic game with a twist. It’s called pato, pato, gezu. If you don’t know what that means, read my last blog post. I spent the week living in Saliuk, where I had the opportunity to eat ants, ant eggs, and snake. Anyway, I must not have screwed up too bad, because I might get a chance to help with help with another VBS week in the nearby village of Abra soon.    

My aunt bought me a Toledo Mud Hens hat so that everyone in the Philippines would know where I came from. Sadly, in Benaue, I lost my hat. The next week I search through all the 2^nd hand clothes and hat shacks in Baguio to look for a replacement. I actually found one! I've been wearing it with pride ever since. I didn't put the hat there. The thorns were so sharp on my hike that it actually took my hat right off my head while I was hiking.