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.