Paalam Enero

31 Enero . . . So long to a long month.
We have been doing very little after Wednesday, but yesterday we went to Iloilo to get groceries and have lunch with the Robinsons and Elder and Sister Cushing. We wanted to meet them and we had a nice lunch and visit.

Selfie, minus self. I like it that way.

The waiter took this one. We had a nice time and a great lunch.

We got home about 8:00 last night. The drive to Iloilo is getting more and more difficult, long, and boring. If one could catch more than glimpses of the ocean through the huts and trees, it would be a beautiful drive, but . . .
We saw President and Sister Aquino yesterday. President is feeling better, but he was pretty low because he received some negative criticism from Antique. I tried to bolster him some and wrote an e-mail to him last night. I hope he lets the criticism go over his head, forgetting all about the comments. They are of no account anyway.

He is a good Priesthood man, who wants the blessings the Lord has in store to be given to Antique, but until leaders become worthy and lead and magnify their callings, the blessings will be withheld (to the detriment of members). President Amar appears to be on the right track. . . There is no problem with Pres. Aquino, it is Antique leadership that is weak. President Aquino and Sister Aquino have a huge number of missionaries to watch over. It is unfortunate that adult leaders in Antique cause him any heart ache.

Today I went to the Binarayan track to meet the baseball team. We walked Thursday evening and met them at the fields. The coach asked me if I could help and I jumped at the chance. They practiced this morning. We worked on throwing, fielding, and hitting. The guys are from two area high schools and will play tomorrow in Sibalom. I am hoping the time will not conflict with church, but it probably will. It is okay. practicing with them is fun.

They practice on the soccer field at the track. I have seen no baseball fields anywhere, but they say there is on at the University in Sibalom

Semi-serious pic of the "Stealers" the name we decided upon. They are the Antique Stealers. (stealing bases)

When they wanted wacky (pronounced walk-ee in Filipino English) The coach is the man in the light blue cap, back row.

I taught them how to play "work-up". They have nobody close to compete with, so this little hitting competition is good and fun. I played with them from right field to hitting. They got me out and I was out of gas. We will practice again this afternoon at 3:00. Now this is missionary work I like. Still trying to rationalize it as mission work.

Tomorrow I take President Amar and Mark Cabreros to Bugasong to do more with the audit. I am hoping they can get the accounts reconciled for Bugasong to the satisfaction of the area.