Last night I made oatmeal cookies with banana, pineapple, and Tisa,
called canister fruit but it looked and tasted more like pumpkin, plus
chocolate chips. Then I exercised and showered. Tired but good tired.
As I reported last week, Happy 45! Yes,
I had Andrew when I was 45...it is a good number. What will you all do
when you are 45
️
or on your 45th? Really, I am thankful for another day with a man of
God. We spent the morning cleaning--washing clothes and curtains,
mopping, washing fans, cleaning
counters--kind of symbolic: cleaning out old rubbish and starting a
new year, clean and fresh. Next we went to Jalandoni. There we talked
with a couple from Mandurriao Ward who are not attending church because
of work. They are applying for work in the
U.S. "Do everything the Lord's way. Put Him first and He will bless
you in the most important ways." We watched Pride & Prejudice and
ate popcorn. Sorry missionaries, couples do get some perks. Don't feel
too badly. It was a struggle to watch. It kept
stopping.
Saturday 2 Nephi 22:2. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust
and not be afraid. After the morning routine, we went to the Center.
Kate Sorilla stopped to visit. Her parents are working on their
mission papers but her mother's mammogram came back
wanting more exams so an ultrasound was done Friday
and we are waiting for results. Kate is a nurse and is very worried,
as is her mother. We gave Kate a ride to Robinson Mall as we were going
to go to the apartment. We ate lunch of five layer dip and the
fast begins (5th Sunday). At 3:00 o'clock it was pouring rain; at 5:00
there were two baptisms for our district! There was a big turn out for
the baptisms. Rays glass keeps falling out of his eyeglasses, so far
3x's and each time, he has found the teeny
screw.
We visited with the Sorilla's--so many obstacles to overcome in the process of sending in their mission papers. They will be the first couple to go on a senior mission from here.
We visited with the Sorilla's--so many obstacles to overcome in the process of sending in their mission papers. They will be the first couple to go on a senior mission from here.
Sunday we attended Mandurriao Ward; they had missed us. Quennie
and Brakie were there. It is so fun to see her growth in the gospel,
how the Holy Ghost is teaching her. She is reading the Book of Mormon
and the Relief Society manual and she read about
Flora Benson and her motherhood. It was inspiring to her. "In meeting
me", she said, "she wondered if mothers were really so focussed on
their children. When she read about Flora Benson, she knew we were
real." She has been thinking more about her children
and her role as their mother. Wow! She's wonderful. After that we
broke our fast for Sister Sorilla and Charity. Then we went to
Jalandoni to retrieve my iPad plug before we went to the San Miguel
group church. It was not there but what we found there
was a new American sister from Maine just six weeks into the mission
crying. She had an infection in her leg and didn't understand the
language and didn't want to go to the hospital. We took her to the
hospital and stayed with her and watched miracles happen.
They were going to give her a series of six tetanus shots which she
just had in the U.S. Before she came. Only one was necessary there.
We told the dr she did not need that. As it turned out, the hospital
didn't have the shots, so that was mute. Then
she was prescribed three different antibiotics and they cut into her
leg and scooped out infection. Well, I sat down. I felt faint. I put
my head between my legs.
.
How did I make it through eight children! Anyway, Ray had the money to
pay for the medications
and he does not usually carry money of that amount with him on
Sunday's. The Lord really was mindful of this sweet, frightened foreign
missionary. We left the hospital and took them to their apartment
around 3:45 then went to visit 91 year old and family,
Tabujara's. They will migrate to the U.S. on the plane Wednesday am. They have been waiting for permission for twenty years since 1993. They will leave their home at 3:00am for the plane to leave at 6:00am.
Mom, Dad, two teenagers--boy 18 in October, girl
16--great, active in the church, strong testimonies, a really neat
family. Now they are frightened. They will spend a week in New Jersey
with her older sister and then fly to Houston, TX! Wow! What a day! I
love to be the Lords hands and mouth and ears--on
these days when He trusts me to give comfort and cheer, to listen to
fears and lead others to greater trust in Him--to know that He is
leading them Nd He will always be there and His church is everywhere.
It's been a good day in the Lord's work.
Monday 6:00 am we went to the church for Zumba . It is a holiday, National Heroes Day. The Ward is having a sports day from 6am-5pm. After an hour, we went home to shower and eat. We did a load of wash, made carrot/pineapple biscuits ( it was suppose
to be cake)
but I didn't remember the recipe. It is still edible with the cream
cheese frosting. I started making bean soup for dinner and at 10:00 we
headed back to the church for more activities. We lost in ping pong to
Bishop Salazar and his wife in
doubles. At noon we went back to the apartment, ate, took a rest, and
went shopping for a new iPad plug, mine is gone. Ray needed new reading
glasses and we picked up a few grocery items. I did some cooking after
that and studied lesson plans for tomorrow.
Tuesday we showed up for the 6:30 am
Institute class and Brother Hernaez, the real teacher showed up also.
We were thrilled so we listened to his presentation but left early so
we could get to our district meeting on time. During district meeting,
the
Institute called us and informed us that we had prepared the wrong
lesson, not Deuteronomy but Joshua and Judges. So, after district
meeting, we went to the apartment, I made us lunch to go; we went to
Arevalo for medical reimbursement from the hospital and
medications, for south zone apartment check information, and for
monthly car mileage information. I left our lunch there
. We quickly studies up for the class at 2:30. Crazy day! (We did go back to retrieve our lunch.). The class was great, full of the
Spirit! The next class started at 5:30
and I switched up my part of the lesson a little--they read as small
groups and reported on different parts of Judges. So many came in very
late that it turned out helpful. Ray took the first held in
Deuteronomy, so
imagine having probably 8 come in after the first half. Anyway, they
were very kind to us and we enjoyed them. Home around 8:00pm. We're tired, early morning, all day, and no exercise--first time in a year to miss entirely.
Wednesday
back to normal routine. Played "Not Quite Christmas" for exercising.
This is a "ber" month so Christmas celebrations begin here in the
Philippines--Septem"ber", Octo"ber", Novem"ber", Decem"ber". Last year
it was funny and strange but this
year, it feels great! 2Nephi 32:1. ...ye ponder...that which ye should
do after ye have entered in by the way...:2 ...ye could speak with the
tongue of angels." It occurred to me that the tongue of angels might be
speaking words of love, of hope, of cheer,
of encouragement. In the Institute lesson it spoke of how prophets do
not speak of doomsday; they speak of warning and of love, hope, cheer,
optimism. In my lifetime as laws have been made which are contrary to
the true and living God, prophets have not
spoken of doom but rather of encouragement and of keeping the
commandments, and of feasting on the words of Christ. I can't change the
world but I can change me. Last verse 32:9" pray unto the Father in
the name of Christ, that He will consecrate thy performance
unto thee, that thy performance may befor the welfare of thy soul." It
seems that this is a never-ending learning for me. Sister Maximo and
her daughter Christine came to clean...they would not stop. They
cleaned the car park area, pulled weeds, cleaned
the bathroom, floors, walls.... The family has eight children. The
oldest girl died in a motorcycle accident when she was sixteen.
Christine is the oldest now at 20. There are six younger brothers.
They are good little basketball players. I worked with
Christine in Job Search about nine months ago. They joined the church
about three years ago, went to the temple a year ago. Super great
family. We fed the ladies lunch at 1:20, they went home and we returned to the Center at 3:30. Our class started at
5:30-7:40. It was a large group. It went great! 8:ish we got back to the apartment and ate a little. To bed.
Thursday at 8:30 am we did apartment checks for two apartments,
office elders, in south zone. They had us worried but it was better
than before. I was pleased. After that we went to Sister Magno and
Sister Mitchell's apartment to check on them. Sister
Mitchell is the one we took to the hospital Sunday. The swelling is
about halfway down and puss is still coming out. The area was already
bandaged for the day, but she said it is better. When we got to the
center, we received a text message to check on
the Jaro sisters. Someone there isn't well
. Ray says I guess you are the mission nurse now
.
Sister Thaynes feet are swollen and it is morning still. From what we
could tell, she isn't drinking enough water so we told her to measure
and make sure she
drinks minimum of 2 liters a day and to drink cranberry juice with
fresh lemon or lime each morning. Yes, she got a foot massage. She
thought that felt good. I was grateful for the Nauvoo experience so I
could tell her to check the urine color. We reported
to Sister Aquino after we shopped at the Atrium and had lunch at the
apartment, and took a little rest. We picked up some mail at the
mission office. A reminder that I am turning 65. It is great to be in a
country that remembers my birthday. We visited
with Sister Aquino over an hour. We returned to Jalandoni by 3:30 and then taught the Institute class at 5:30-7:10.
It went well. About eight students with one non member visitor. The
visitor said she liked it. We talked with Darlene afterward, then gave
two girls rides, and home at 8:00.
Friday we did some laundry. It looked so perfect for drying our
clothes when we started the wash but as we took it outside to dry, it
looks like rain
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