Huwebes and 31 Julio

Finally, it is over. That was one long month. Looking for a better month in August and one in which I will feel better. I think the Zone had a good month and will start with a bang Saturday, but personally, it was not a great one.

We worked at school yesterday and had a tough time getting there. The rains have washed huge ruts in the roads and the roads weren't all that great to start. I had practically nothing to do in 5th and 6th grade. Sister Sessions took individual 3rd and 4th graders to the kindergarten classroom and helped them with reading and math. I helped a little with decimals.

I fasted last night for medical tests this morning. My tests turned out pretty well, but I have to help my kidneys to heal and stay on a better diet. The meds I am now taking make me feel like I have had no sleep in days. Reminds me of how I felt after a night of guard duty.

Today we did nothing. I did the doctor and Sister Sessions cleaned the walk in front of the house. It was getting slippery from moss due to the rains. It has been pretty warm today and hasn't rained, yet. It is very muggy and not comfortable.

Tomorrow morning we are hauling chairs for meetings to Culasi, about 100 km to the northwest. We look forward to going, just to have something to do. Saturday we are opening the family history lab at the church from 9-noon. I am pretty certain nobody will come, so I have been trying to get indexing going on Family Search.

I did a batch from the Philippines, but had trouble with it, so I don't even know if it went through. I was able to do the data entry, but the order of the entry was all screwed up. I may have wasted my time. We'll see.

A few pics:

Caught this old gal walking along in the rain hootin' on a stogie. The old women seem to love their cigars. I haven't seen any men smoking these, but I expect they do. Not a good picture because we were moving.

Sister Sessions must have taken this one while she waited in the truck. I was waiting to get medical tests and they weren't quite ready for me.

Martes ang 29

One more day in July. We went to Iloilo and met with the Taylors to receive training in CLS so we could help missionaries test in English at the conclusion of their mission. The computer services were down, so we accomplished only a little.

We came back and I went to the doctor. He has taken me off aspirin and the meds I use to control pain from arthritis. He believes the two did little to keep my stomach healthy. He has put me on a blood thinner. And, I am trying to exercise and control the arthritis, but the rain is blocking our efforts.

I had my blood drawn this morning and the doctor checked the results. I am pre-diabetic, my kidneys are not working at peek performance, and I now have to go on a diet, cutting out any unnecessary sugar. Food has been a highlight for our day at times. I am disgusted.

He tells me to lose weight, exercise and miss no more than two days, but to exercise 200 minutes total in 5 days. He put me on a "plate" diet. I can use a normal size plate, divide it into fourths. 2/4 must be covered with vegetables, 1/4 meat (not red) and 1/4 carbohydrates. He tells me I can add a saucer above the plate that contains fruit.

I asked about energy drinks and Coke light. He said, "It isn't light, nor is Coke Zero, Zero". I sort of knew that in that I have never lost a pound or inch from drinking diet drinks. I am bummed . . . Water is so pedestrian; yet, when one is really thirsty here in the Philippines, nothing quite does it like cold waeter.

The doctor and tests cost about $40. But, the medications are rather expensive. Boy, do I miss my health insurance back home. We hope to get some reimbursement from the church insurance we were forced to purchase.

Pics:

Sister Chorley's wedding dress Sister sessions made for her.

Doctor Molina's office . . .

Me waiting for the doc tonight. The results were less than exciting . . .

I see this little dude around town pretty often. I wonder about the old uniform he wears. He seems to get along, but I don't know how.

Domingo ang 27

Did church this morning, then called Chancey to wish a belated Happy Birthday to Reagan. It was fun to talk to them, but the connection was poor. Probably the internet was busy as it was around noon here.

Had the worst night of my life last night. My stomach hurt so bad that I thought Sister Sessions would have to run me to the hospital, and that really scared me. I took some pills and got feeling some better and slept through after. We went to church and had good meetings.

Brother Beriong arranged for me to see a doctor tomorrow at 4:00 pm. We have to go to Iloilo in the morning early to meet with Elder and Sister Taylor and work on CLS testing. I think we can make it back in plenty of time. I really need to get all this figured out.

We had a good day yesterday in the service project. It wore me down and I got sicker, but we had a good time. I have got to get over this sickness. It sucks . . .

We did it the Pinoy way. We totally loaded the truck and rode missionaries on top, Sisters Rappleye and Dotillos. Hope President Aquino and Sister Aquino don't see this. I drove very slowly and they were safe. They enjoyed parade waving to the residents along the road.

The little lady in front of Sister Sessions was the one we were doing the service project for, at her house. Eleder Ortiz took the picture.

It was sort of a typical church service project, with little planning and not much thought. We parked up the hill from the ocean and could have filled our sacks with sand right from behind Elder Miguel, but noooooo. We walked down the hill and filled them, about 50 meters away and carried them up the hill to the truck. We took two loads, so the second load we behaved a little more intelligently and loaded from close. Glad the Sisters are strong to help us carry the bags. It wore me out. . .

Sister Winward and Rappleye showing their stuff.

Elder Miguel tried a twoski here. He got over that pretty fast. A few minutes later he had to drop out and get in the Air Con in the truck and drink water. The heat got to him. He was sweating huge drops . . . He got better after a rest.

Elder Ortiz. He is an animal . . .

Sister Viliami hauled a bunch of sacks. I'm thinking she is the toughest of us all. Tongan tough.

Biyernes

Happy Pioneer Day back home . . .

We went to Iloilo yesterday and met the Elders in San Joaquin (finally found out how to spell the name of the town). We checked the apartments, except for some of the office Elders. We took our Zone Leader guides to MacDonalds . . . weird. It is a highlight place here. Never thought I'd see the day when MacDonalds was a highlight for anything.

I have had diarrhea for two weeks. I am thinking it is part of the ceiliac disease and I am starting a different, more strenuous, carbohydrate specific diet to help heal my stomach. I am up about every 30 minutes all night and go through a roll of toilet paper a day. I am pretty good during the day, but now and then I have a bit of an emergency. We carry paper and wipes all the time.

Walked this morning for the first time in a week. It only drizzled slightly. The forecast is for more rain today, but it sort of comes later in the day and really pours. I am going to get the truck washed this morning. That sounds stupid, but going through the mountains really messes up the truck and I want to get the top layers of mud off.

Anyway . . . not much on the agenda for today.

3:08 pm here, about 1:15 am in Idaho. I went to get some medicine at one of the drug stores that I frequent. They had some pills, but I asked, "May Pepto Bismol?" The lady looked at me sort of funny and told me, "Only  . . . ." whatever it is.

I went to get the truck washed and they were pretty busy, so I went to buy some floor mats for the front seat area. The ones that were in it were shot. I took the floor mat up to the windows with me and asked, "May floor mats?" They all said no. I asked, "Diin find ako?" I was told Gold Hill, an upgraded auto parts store, but they didn't have any either. I tried my question and they told me to go to the upholstery shop over by the church it turned out.

I took the mat in with me and asked again, "May floor mats?", holding the mat up. The man took it from me and started looking for woolen materials. I watched, not really understanding what he was up to, but by looking around, it was obvious that there were no floor mats for autos there. He started repairing the mat. He found the material he wanted, cut a new mat using the old one as a pattern, chose a material to finish off the edges and started in.

Long story short, I had him do both mats and they look brand new. He charged me 450 pesos each, about $10 each. I gave him 50 pesos each for a tip. He did a really good job.

I got the car washed after and went to the market to buy some stuff. I bought some marbles . . . It will be fun next Wednesday to show up at school with marbles. I also bought some bananas, but I tried one at the car wash and it stank. I threw the bunch in the garbage. I bought 2 kilos of clams (brown shells). And, I bought some Monggo beans to try to make a soup later.

I tried to cook up the clams when I got home, steaming them open. They had almost no taste and I think they are fresh water. I added salt to some butter and dipped them, but they were still a little poor. Looking for new things to eat with this lousy diet. I have been on the diet for about 5 hours and it already sucks.  All around, a pretty good day.

The Elders stopped by this morning and lined us out to help with a csp (church service project) in the morning. They need the truck to haul gravel/sand from the seashore and they will use the bags to build a walk across some low muddy areas for a sister in the branch; actually it will benefit the whole barangay. I'll add pictures of the project and baptisms tomorrow.

Miyercoles and 23 Julio
Last night, the Sister Missionaries brought Chorley and her husband to be, Tobias, over to get Sister Sessions to fit/make her a dress to wear for their marriage. They are cute kids. Tobias (pronounced here, toebeeas) is a member and they are getting married next Tuesday, then Chorley is getting baptized and they can start preparing for the temple. We hope to see that before we go home.

Tobias has a trike, hence the green arm cover to guard from the sun. He wears the reverse cap and has his fanny pack change bag. Good guy. He wants to learn English . . . He is pretty good already.

Chorley. She is a cute little thing and I think Sister Sessions is going to put a little extra into this dress. She bought it at a second hand store and the Sisters bought some frilly stuff to go on, bu the color is a bit off. We bought some more today and Sister S is hard at work. Call this a before shot.

 We got up early and got ready for the pretty long drive to the Brngy. Salvation (Salvaseeone) school. It was a pretty clear day, so the temperature was high and the humidity equally high. Sister Sessions didn't have as much fun as I. Her teacher didn't let her do much. Mrs. Solomon let me talk a little about nouns and I walked around helping 5th and 6th graders with prime and composite numbers. Anybody want to tell me why they should care about prime and composite numbers?

They broke at 10:05 for recess. During recess, they had a rice, macaroni, vegetable soup for a snack, then the girls played a weird game with some little collector's cards. Couldn't figure it out. Then . . . the boys pulled out marbles and got my attention. They played a sort of chase taw and a lagging game, so I showed them how we used to draw a circle and shoot the marbles out of the center. I didn't tell them the rules, but they had a great time shooting and they were pretty dang good.

Add caption

They were nailing all the marbles, so I increased the size of the circle. That slowed them down some. Look at those fingers. They developed some technique.

This picture is of the new wash stand that Brother Potato's charity is donating. The building on the left is a single classroom used by the 2nd grade and was payed for by a government grant. The hut at the rear is the cookhouse/kitchen. When it is not raining so hard, the snacks and lunch is prepared there. They really need a better kitchen, situated uphill on the campus.

We told them, "Kita-ay kita ma next Meiyercoles alas nueve", I think. It was supposed to mean we would see them next Wednesday at 9:00. I may have told them, well, just about anything. They smiled and walked us to the car. We will try again next week and hopefully, Sister S. will have more fun and will be of more use in the classroom. She is plenty busy sewing tonight. . .

Another interesting fruit. I found this under some trees in the driveway, but I have seen it for sale downtown at the markets. It is very pretty and red. I peeled it off and the center is a pearly white and has a seed in the middle. Again, a citrus taste was discovered, but the flesh around the seed really does not want to come off. We sucked on it a while, getting all the flavor we could then discarded the pit.

Domingo ang 20 ni Julio
alas 1:35 pm

Entry to the Sibalom Chapel. It was raining pretty hard this morning and most of the night. Folks leave their umbrellas outside, as out of the rain as possible to keep from tracking water inside. Pretty colorful.

Not a clear picture, but Elder Asi (left) and Elder Alforque looking on . . .

We just got home from Sibalom where we attended church this morning. They are doing pretty well, but the heavy rain kept the members away this morning. We had a good Sacrament Meeting, with the Elders speaking. Elder Aflorque talked about doing things that keep us from going inactive. He cited scripture reading as one of the major things that help. He compared the scriptures to the Liahona, as has often been done, but the idea that reading the scriptures keeps us from sliding into inactivity hit home. I hope the family, all of them, will take up this important part of following the Savior.

We have been able to help with procuring a wheelchair through the church (Latter-day Saint Charities) welfare services. President Aquino got us onto it by contacting the Area in Manila. Then they gave permission so purchase one from Mercury Drug using fast offering funds . . . then President told us there was a chair on the way from LDS Charities. We received it at leadership meeting yesterday and hauled it over this morning to the lady who needs it and then hauled her and her chair up into the mountains between Hamtic and Sibalom to her home.

On the way up to Barangay Inabasan. Prettier than it looks even here.

93 year old Sister Abundia with her new ride. The Elders wanted her to do a wheelie . . .

We had good classes. Brother Weaver, one of the Sibalom branch presidency taught the gospel doctrine class about Old Testament Prophet Elijah. It was good. Priesthood was led by Elder Fogavai and was sort of thrust upon him. We talked about lesson 12, President Smith talked about Priesthood and Keys. We had a fair discussion.

Got a few candid shots of the Branch Missionary Coordination Meeting. They were cooking pretty well.

Sisters Percy and Sister Villalobos, I think. Elders Asi and Elder Fogavai up front.

Happy posers for the camera. I wasn't too disruptive I hope. Good looking group.

We are preparing for a cottage meeting at the house tonight. I think our program of leadership visiting with missionaries and inviting back (ministering) is waning rapidly. Ministering is the process of the church, and it has been successful. Hope/pray I am wrong. It is the right track.

President Amar is coming over at 5:00 to help me with the computer. He is always a smiling happy welcome visitor.

Miyercoles and 23 Julio
Last night, the Sister Missionaries brought Chorley and her husband to be, Tobias, over to get Sister Sessions to fit/make her a dress to wear for their marriage. They are cute kids. Tobias (pronounced here, toebeeas) is a member and they are getting married next Tuesday, then Chorley is getting baptized and they can start preparing for the temple. We hope to see that before we go home.

Tobias has a trike, hence the green arm cover to guard from the sun. He wears the reverse cap and has his fanny pack change bag. Good guy. He wants to learn English . . . He is pretty good already.

Chorley. She is a cute little thing and I think Sister Sessions is going to put a little extra into this dress. She bought it at a second hand store and the Sisters bought some frilly stuff to go on, bu the color is a bit off. We bought some more today and Sister S is hard at work. Call this a before shot.

 We got up early and got ready for the pretty long drive to the Brngy. Salvation (Salvaseeone) school. It was a pretty clear day, so the temperature was high and the humidity equally high. Sister Sessions didn't have as much fun as I. Her teacher didn't let her do much. Mrs. Solomon let me talk a little about nouns and I walked around helping 5th and 6th graders with prime and composite numbers. Anybody want to tell me why they should care about prime and composite numbers?

They broke at 10:05 for recess. During recess, they had a rice, macaroni, vegetable soup for a snack, then the girls played a weird game with some little collector's cards. Couldn't figure it out. Then . . . the boys pulled out marbles and got my attention. They played a sort of chase taw and a lagging game, so I showed them how we used to draw a circle and shoot the marbles out of the center. I didn't tell them the rules, but they had a great time shooting and they were pretty dang good.

Add caption

They were nailing all the marbles, so I increased the size of the circle. That slowed them down some. Look at those fingers. They developed some technique.

This picture is of the new wash stand that Brother Potato's charity is donating. The building on the left is a single classroom used by the 2nd grade and was payed for by a government grant. The hut at the rear is the cookhouse/kitchen. When it is not raining so hard, the snacks and lunch is prepared there. They really need a better kitchen, situated uphill on the campus.

We told them, "Kita-ay kita ma next Meiyercoles alas nueve", I think. It was supposed to mean we would see them next Wednesday at 9:00. I may have told them, well, just about anything. They smiled and walked us to the car. We will try again next week and hopefully, Sister S. will have more fun and will be of more use in the classroom. She is plenty busy sewing tonight. . .

Another interesting fruit. I found this under some trees in the driveway, but I have seen it for sale downtown at the markets. It is very pretty and red. I peeled it off and the center is a pearly white and has a seed in the middle. Again, a citrus taste was discovered, but the flesh around the seed really does not want to come off. We sucked on it a while, getting all the flavor we could then discarded the pit.

Martes ang 22 Julio

District Meetings this morning at the church. We had a good lesson and the missionaries reported great work. The baptisms for Julio are starting We had a good lesson from Elder Gan. He taught about the Spirit, always a great subject.

I was going out to paint for a while with Paolo and Rodel, but they were no shows. I was a little bummed, but some other time I suppose. It all worked out . . . Brother Potato from Guimaras was in the area today. He works on rural schools, building wash stations and I think he helps renovate buildings. He took us to Barangay Salvation, way out of Sibalom. The name of the school is Maasin School.

It is a small school with multi-age/grade classes. The teachers are sweethearts and we volunteered to work with them on Wednesday mornings from 9-noon. It is a very poor place, but obviously, they are pretty creative. Look at the flower pots in front. They are made from old tires for the pot and palm frond branches painted to hold the pots.

This place is way back in the hills. It took us 40 minutes to get there from San Jose. The road was terrible. But, the area is fabulously beautiful. When the mountains can be seen, it is spectacular.

At the bottom, starting up the hill to the barangay.

Not a great picture, but this is grade 5/6. Mrs. Solomon is their teacher. She stands mid classroom. Mrs. Tubale is the head/lead teacher and teaches 3/4 I believe.

Mrs. Tubale on the left and Mrs. Solomon

We are excited to go tomorrow and start helping. We plan to go and see how we can fit in and help. It is just good to have a place to go and do something of value. They already started teaching us language. . .

Locals, probably waiting for their children to get out of school.

More on this and our experiences there tomorrow.

Lunes morning ang 21st ni Julio

We talked to Tommy and his family this morning. It was fun. Reece is still full of it . . .Sister S is showering and then will have to mess with her hair and we can try to contact Michael and his family and maybe Amy. As we go later in the day, the internet gets slower and more loaded up from this end and we have trouble connecting.

President Amar and I are driving up to Dao to take President Vidal information on the PEF/SELF RELIANCE information for members to receive schooling/training. We leave at 1:00. Not much goiing on yet today, but usually the Elders or Sisters need laundry and we will likely go shop for groceries.

We had a great cottage meeting with branch and district leaders last night. The missionaries reiterated the district/branches mission plan and asked for feedback on how things were going. There have been a goodly number of re-activations and baptisms from the process. The leaders seem to be very interested in growing and expanding the work. There was a suggestion of branch family evenings, temple trip preparation and family history. Sister Sessions and I are going to open the family history lab at the church from 9-noon on Saturdays starting in two weeks. The leaders will get the word out. We finally have internet service to the church, so we can assist there. Good meeting and good food. Spaghetti, garlic bread, and Chinese salad were hits. 

Brother Demata giving a thumbs up, President Gindap eating and President Guilingen looking on. Of course, that is Sister Viliami with her beautiful grin at right. Spellings may be off . . .

The Sister Missionaries brought apple crisp, and Sister Sessions made an apple cake. Many added whipped cream to the cakes and they were pretty much wiped clean.

Elder Lundgren can really put the chow away. He is a nice size man, lot large, but he can really knock down the food. It reminded me of Chancey.

Our meeting began with "Families Can Be Together Forever" and an opening prayer by Sister Dotillos. We went over what has been going on for the past 10 weeks and the success and improvements that have been made. President Gindap testified that in all his years (13 I think) in the presidencies, he had never visited. It is the Savior's way (Handbook 2 under Chapter 3 Leadership). It was touching.

I shared how Bishop Horsewood came to our house in Boise many, many years ago and invited me back. What a difference for the leaders to invite. Members expect to see the missionaries and assigned home teachers come to the door, but it is very special to have the branch president/bishop come and "minister."

Bottom line, the youth in the branch at San Jose is a great example to us in ministering and we intend to invite them to help, emulate there efforts to minister, and increase our effort one brother/sister at a time. In the Savior's way. Of course it works, He doesn't fail.

President Villavert in the foreground and Sister Villavert to Sister Sessions left (right when looking at the pic). 

We had a good meeting with "buy in" and extra commitment to move forward with the mission plan. Our vision/goal is to build a branch family and see as many as can in white at the Cebu Temple. Of course, our final vision/goal is for Antique to become a stake.