Huwebes ako 17
Abril

Haven't posted for a few days. I better get a few things down. After all, this is our journal. We have had a not-to-busy few days, but we did go out Tuesday to Hamtic to teach Lorna Bertilano (sp?). We had a great time and she took the Elders and us up to the barangay at the top of the hill to meet and teach her cousin. That was fun too, and it is nice to be wanted. Sister Lorna's boy, Ralph, is reading the Book of Mormon every day. It is fun to see him diving in.

It rained hard all day and we had a scary time bringing the Elders up out of the canyon. I was cracked up, thinking of Amy on our family trips, and her not wanting to look over the side or sit by the side of the car that looked into the canyons. Elder Catabuondo kept saying, "Oh mama ma ma." He was serious. I was careful and we made it fine.

Wednesday, yesterday, was a day from hell. We walked, then got home and prepared to go to Iloilo to inspect apartments. When we went out to get going, we found the right rear tire of the truck flat. I had to get the manual out to find where all the jack parts are stored, and had to set a block under the jack to make it  high enough to lift the truck. This all took about an hour and I was sweating like crazy from the sun and rain making humidity. The old guy that lives here said, "You know to change a tire?"
"Of course", I said. He stood around and talked and watched the process.

I took the tire to the "vulcanizing shop" to get it fixed, but the guy was gone home, the lady in the chongi next door told me. I took the tire to a shop across from the bus/jeepney depot near the market area and they fixed the flat and put the tire back on and put all but the jack away. They charged me 120 pesos and I gave them a 100 tip; all totaled about $4.50, but it took about another hour and a half and I had to go home and take a second shower before we could go.

We made reservations for what looked like a nice motel/hotel in downtown Iloilo Tuesday night. We drove around to Dao and helped them put church signs up on their building and then drove along the coast to see what we could see:

Load of people going for Holy Week festivities we supposed. Maybe they are just going . . .

Tide was in this morning.

I think this is a concrete ship. I know concrete ships were built for WWII as tankers, mostly. This is some sort of barge, and I think they still use it. The tug is pretty recent. We say no sailors aboard either vessel.

When we got to Iloilo, we stopped at the mission home to get a list of apartments and we headed downtown to find our lodgings. What an absolute zoo. The streets were jammed, we could not find the motel/hotel because the street whereupon we were told we'd find the place ended at a roundabout. We circled around and did a Sessions Adventure hunt for a few hours, then we stumbled on the Bureau of Tourism and I went in and asked an English speaker for help. We had been on the right track several times, but stopped, or turned, a few blocks short. We found the motel.

They were sorry, but they could not supply the room we had booked. They wanted to put us in a little room with no windows and I couldn't do that, so we left. We are waiting to find if they give us our money back as they agreed. We are not holding breath. . .

We went to the S&M mall to shop and I have never seen so many cars and people in one area. Brian tells us India is worse. I can't imagine.

The downtown driving had been horrid, but this place was killing me. We found a parking place, finally, and went in. We ate supper, the first food we had all day, at Shakey's Pizza. Sister S. had pizza and I ordered chicken and fries. The pizza had no pizza sauce, no cheese, but it was round. It had about 4 pieces of sausage and four little ringlets of onion and a few slivers of green pepper on it.

My chicken was a 5 piece meal. I could not actually tell the anatomy of anything but one wing and a drumstick. I think the other 3 pieces were portions of one breast. The breading piled to about 5 inches high on my plate. The potatoes were round slices and had no seasoning. The Coke Zero was fine.

We couldn't find much of what we were looking for at the stores. I have been searching for a pocket knife since we arrived and there are only these cheesy scout type knifes in any store. The blades wiggle and they are cheapo. If it was a Scout knife, I'd buy one. The  National Book Store was of art supplies, so I am trying to figure ways to get enough together to teach a class next month. The class is free, so I hope that not much is expected.

We drove on home to San Jose. The roads were much cleared in the middle of the night and we got home in about an hour and a half. We had a good night of sleep and got up to go walk this morning. The place where we walk was shut down for two days to honor Holy Week. The town has been pretty quiet and a lot of places are closed. The trikes and jeepnies are few. It is like the whole town is taking a rest.

We had a fun visit with Amy and her family this morning and an e-mail from Tommy. I needed a restful city after yesterday and a few other stressful items this morning. The Lord has chosen to refine the family a bit these last months. Our grand children are precious to us and the trials have hit the family hard, especially  the immediate families within the family. All will work out . . . (President Hinkley's quote) that I love and try to remember. Sister S. is looking at the big picture of how the Lord has blessed us, as he knows the end from the beginning, and His thoughts are certainly not our thoughts. Wish I could catch on. It is always a surprise how He carries out His purposes.

Tomorrow, we go to help invite less active youths back to young men and young women's. Saturday I am scheduled to teach the Branch leaders with President Villoso of the mission presidency. He is training on missionary work and I am training on Priesthood Executive Meetings, home and visiting teaching, retention and leadership. I will focus on Handbook 2 items. I am sort of looking forward to that. I am going to be a bit forceful, hoping they will get off their duffs and start working to become a stake, leading by example. Prayers would be appreciated.

The drive around the coast was pretty. We saw a family swimming and they waved and were excited to have their picture taken.