Lunes and 7th ni Julio

The day started well. I got an e-mail from President Gingery. He answered some questions for me to help local leaders. We facetimed Michael and Chance and Ryan and their families. We tried to catch Amy and Tommy, but they were probably out and away from home. Porter celebrated his 8th birthday We had a good lesson with Francis in Kinaray-a. We reviewed some things and started working on the words and sequences of prayer. It was pretty fun and the hour and a half sped by.

We went to Gaisano's and bought some folders and a pyrex pan. We needed to get some eggs, but they were out. Then we went to the hospital to see President Amar and his little girl. The hospital that we tried was the wrong one, so we drove back near Atabay to the Salazar Hospital. We went in and inquired about little Sister Amar. "Diin si Amar baby", I tried. The guy was pretty nice and directed me up the hall to the nurses station.

Pre

The place was a little funky (way funky for a hospital) and when we turned up the hall we saw a sign that, I think, said pediatric wing or ward. I was so distraught by the sight of sick and hurt people lining the halls and rooms filled with beds and sick children, large and small. The rooms were dirty. I saw a little girl with red spots all over her head and arms, another little girl with a cut foot and an intravenous tube and bottle lying in the hall. Her mother sat beside her eating a sandwich. It looked like they had been there for a while. These were only a few of the bunch. . .

We approached the nurse and asked, "Diin si Amar baby?" We were told that she had been released at 10:30. We left, not saying a word until we got to the truck. We were both shocked at the conditions. It was like something seen in a war movie, or documentary about a disaster hospital.

We drove slowly to the Amar house and gave them a "Tag balay". President Amar's older daughter and some other children and a younger man came out of the house. We asked for President Amar to his older daughter who was home for lunch. She was in her school uniform and she tried to communicate with us, but we only found out that President was gone. He texted us a little later and told us he had left for medication and that he was going to rest after his bout in the hospital.

We went to lunch, feeling guilty that we were going to spend money on food when we had seen such conditions in the hospital. Man, there are so many people who need help here. We are still struggling with how to think about this day.

We went to Brother Beriong's house to ask about procedures in the government regarding the hospital and how we might be able to find a wheel chair for a lady in Sibalom. Brother Beriong has been a long time government official and Antique supporter. He is the Sunday School President and a good teacher and wonderful musician. He was not home.

We stopped and visited with Brother Kib's mother and little brother for a few minutes and asked after the family. They told us they would let the Uncle know we had visited.

We were to go with the Sisters to see a couple who are investigating the church. Actually, the man is a member and they want to be married and be involved in the church. They cancelled on us, so we took the Sisters to see another couple, but they were gone and their house locked. We dropped the Sisters off back at their apartment and returned to town.

We decided to stop at the provincial capital building and inquire about getting help on a wheel chair.  Grace Villavert facebooked us and told us to check with the Provincial Capital. There are two buildings near the plaza and they were holding a funeral in one, so we went to the other. It read "Antique Provincial Capital" on the front, so I went in. I ran into Brother Copertino . . . a bright spot in our day. He told me I needed the name of the sister in Sibalom and how she was disabled, and I would have to go to the other building.

We came on home and have been resting and texting to get information. Tomorrow we have district meetings in the morning and we look forward to meeting the newly transferred missionaries who came in last week. We hope for a better, more productive day tomorrow.

We haven't seen the sun for a few days and it rains a lot. I am okay with it as I still hate the hot sun coupled with the humidity. Andam (same as halong, but kinaray-a). Sorry about this post, with all the paragraphs starting with "we". Too bothered by the day to worry about the mechanics of a blog.