Sunday the 21st of December

We zipped up to Culasi for church this morning. I wanted to meet Francis Garcia about preparing for his mission and getting his papers going. We had a nice meeting and a "Godly Walk", as there is no place to meet at the house/chapel. We had a nice meeting.

Elder Robertson is the group leader now and presided over the meetings. Elder Kellerstrass conducted. The new Elders bore testimonies and Elder Egama's was very strong. He is from Mindanao and I expect he will be a leader missionary very soon.

We took desks to the Tibiao Elders, which was our real reason for going back up today. We bought a desk at Gaisano's and one that was hand made from a furniture maker here. The hand made desk only cost 2000 pesos, 1500 less than the store bought pressed sawdust beauty we found. They were pleased to have them and they had 13 at Sacrament this morning. Culasi attendance was about 40.

Sister Ortega told Sister Sessions the story of her son, when their family lived in Iloilo. Sister Orgeta was working and each afternoon, her son was to report to where she worked right after school. He did so, but he started arriving wet with sweat and Sister Ortega asked, "What is going on?" He replied "Nothing. Everything is alright." This behavior went on for a long time.

When it came time for young Brother Ortega to go on his mission, he had saved 18,000 pesos by running and walking to meet Sister Ortega after school, rather than riding a trike or jeepney. Faithful . . .

Culasi Elder's apartment and meeting house. It is meager, but the Spirit knows where it is.

The group has already outgrown the meeting place, but they need abut 6 more full tithe paying Melchizedek Priesthood holders to become a branch. The members here are faithful and I expect this will all come to happen before long. The Lord is expanding the Church here in Antique with the help of his missionaries.

From the left: Francis Garcia, Elder Robertson, Elder Coronel, Elder Egame, and Elder Kellerstrass. Interesting to see the growth of the Elders. The Lord leans on them and they get stronger and grow. Pretty cool (astig).

I saw John and Marisett at Tibiao. John told me is making 150 hooks for an order he has to fill.

That is a ten peso piece, about the size of a quarter. These are the hand made hooks I bought from John.