October 23-October 30

Friday we returned to the apartment, ate, went to the center.  We looked up holiday games, watched Krueger's Christmas.  Home and cooked and prepared our lunch for Sunday as we will be on a road trip.
Saturday we left at 7:00 am taking the coastal route to Dao for our first apartment check at 8:00😟whoops we didn't arrive until 9:00.  The drive was longer than we thought.  We finished the apartment checks--the missionaries loved the donuts we brought.  All had "celestial" apartments.  We really appreciate their efforts.  The apartments improve every time.  It makes our job more fun when we don't need to make huge corrections.  We went to Gaisanos, a grocery mall and purchased buko shakes and Greenwich pizza.  We checked in at the Pinnacle Hotel, 1900P with cash discount, then went back to Hamtic to do the last apartment check.  How much better we do in cleanliness when we consider the desire to have the Lord's Spirit dwell there.  We returned to the hotel to relax until Villaverts, Grace and Mother, came to show us how to get to their house.  We had dinner with them and visited.  The father is District President; the son, BJ leaves on his mission December 4.  He'll be a great missionary.  Only daughter, Grace, 30 years old, served her mission in Los Angeles, California.  She is very Americanized.  She has returned to the US at least twice and was the one who recently flew to LA only to have her visa rejected and she was sent back to the Philippines.  When Filipinos come to the US, they have to have a round trip ticket.  I guess that is why, so they can send them back.  We returned to the hotel at 8:45 and went to bed.  Yesterday I had a new shingle show up on the left side this time😁.  I hope that will be all.
Sunday breakfast at the hotel.  Internet is really poor but we did get some wonderful Jerome news from Sarah.  I was Maxine Bell's visiting teaching when we lived in her Ward.  Her husband is getting baptized today after all these years.  She is such a great woman, having been involved in politics, doing all the good she could for the country.  I understand that she fell and broke her leg and her husband knew how much it meant to her to go to church so he started taking her and in the course of staying there for her, he was converted.  We drove an hour to church to the Bugasong branch today. Ray, I and Elder Wardle spoke (he is a missionary from Boise).  After the block of meetings, the members share their lunch with us--rice, pork adobo, and pork fat with tamarind and vegetables...kangkong and green beans.  Then they had the 5th lesson in SGMB.  First they had us lead the Foundations lesson - Work: Taking Responsibility and then three left and went to the Education for Better Work class and there were 15 left in the business class.  They led and we watched until Ray felt moved to explain about keeping records and separating personal from business.  They hadn't caught onto that yet and lights in their heads went on as he showed and explained on the board.  They were so excited and filled with hope.  They thanked us and thanked us.  How amazing that the Lord blessed us to be a part of this growth step.  We feel so full and so greatly blessed.  We want to continue having these feelings of an "enlarged heart".  On the way home, we saw Brother Johnny (Miag-ago group leader), the missionaries, and some members.  We were able to give them a ride to the next town square--it gave us just enough energy boost to get home.  Arrived home around 6:30, cleaned up, ate popcorn and went to bed.  Yea!  Traveling is a little tiring.
Monday I have four new shingles on my left side now😓.  I was able to do most of my exercises, still having some asthmatic affects from whatever bacteria or virus is roaming around my system.  Have a load of wash to do today and he got out to dry.  We will go to do English testing at Arevalo this morning for the outgoing missionaries.  The missionaries had fun doing the test.  At 10:30 they finished and we went to the bamboo shop to take Cushings to clear up some business with them.  Then we went to eat at the Promenade and visit.  After we took Cushings to the wharf, we went to Jalandoni and watched some of the piano guys face2face on lds.org.  It was inspiring.  5:00 we left and went and walked the Esplanade a little fast and all the way--no breathing trouble.  Yea!  I am getting more shingles on my left side now😖. Hopefully it will be less than the right.  So fun today we heard from April and Mike; Sandy and Sarah Perry, Rachael and Andrew's mission president, President Arrington.  Andrew will train a new historidor and he will be supply manager.  And we heard from Angela last Saturday!  Thanks for the mail!  Just four and a half more months, keep it up!  😃
Tuesday did a load of wash and hung it to dry before leaving at 7:50 for district meeting with all the missionaries inside and outside the truck.  Wonderful email from Charity!  Elder Robertson gave a great lesson about how to teach the first lesson.  He used Ammon as an example.  Service and Love.  He went through the story and pointed out what he did.  I remember a little quote from primary trainings, "They don't care how much you   K n o w.  Until they know how much you  C a r e."  It was excellent to dissect this scripture story and apply it to today's missionary work.  Went to Jalandoni, back to apartment for lunch, returned to Jalandoni and we were able to help with a resume and some assistance with interviewing.  6:00 meeting with Brother Boiser and the self-reliance volunteer group.  Meeting was just talk.  8:00 took Boiser to his hotel and Butch to his neighborhood.  Ray's not feeling well but a little ginger ale helped.  Sister Streng fell when a chair she was sitting on broke.  She went to the hospital but they can't help.  She is on pain meds and she can't sit or stand for long.  Oh, we are so sad for them.  They are serving in Kalibo and Roxas and have helped us in the "My Path."
Wednesday we were to meet at Jalandoni at 9:00 with Boiser but at 10:00, he is not there yet.  10:30 Boiser came and we discussed ideas for the last four months.  Ray will begin making some business presentations of Lessons 4 & 5 from SGMB to those facilitators or participants who haven't quite understood.  We had lunch buffet at the Promenade with Boiser hosting and Butch and Michele attended, along with Darlene Cases and husband, Sister Cagape, and Brother and Sister Cadiz and us.  Boiser isn't feeling well.  He thinks he got sick from brushing his teeth and gargling with the hotel water.  It smelled like sewer.
We returned to Jalandoni --Ray is working on his presentation.  Home 6:00. I gave Ray a hair cut.
Thursday before we left for apartment checks the water in the apartment wouldn't get warm so I was taking a cold shower😓 then it turned into a drizzle--no water.  Ray checked all the power sources, then climbed up on the two story roof, the floater in the water tank was stuck and so it didn't give the message for water to come into the tank.  Tomorrow I will get a warm shower.  There is renewed hope.  South Zone apartment checks.  We visited the Oton sisters first then picked up the zone leaders.  Stopped for the zone leaders to purchase an iron for some missionaries at Gaisanos then went back to the Arevalo office to pick up boxes of Books of Mormon and pamphlets to take to the missionaries.  Tigbuaun-Guimbal-Miag-so-Tiolas; we will do checks for the office elders tomorrow with Central Zone.  Finished at 3:15 and picked up two more boxes of candy bars for the missionaries tomorrow.  Returned to the apartment at 4:00.  At 5:00 we were requested to pick up 3-8gb USB drive (computer language for a stick that goes into the side of a computer) and arrived at Jalandoni to meet with the stake president and the stake self reliance committee with Brother Boiser.  We got "punted".  At 5:55 President Insigne texted Boiser that he was in Jaro, maybe we could do it tomorrow morning.😓. I guess Boiser will move forward with North Stake.  Home 8:20.  Bed.  I took a theophylline for the first time in 15 years probably, so I could breathe.  Just too much of a struggle.  But I will get well soon.

Friday started at 7:30 am with Central Zone sisters apartment check, then zone leaders, apartment above us, then to the office elders to finish up South Zone, (they couldn't be checked yesterday).  Then to the office to pick up books and supplies to take to Central Zone missionaries.  One set of missionaries "punted us"😟. That was a surprise.  They left their apartment early but we just moved on.  We finished around 12:30.  I was starving.  We took our zone leaders to McDonald's for a Big and Tasty Meal and apple pie.  They were happy.  We took them home, I drank a bunch of water and we laid down for a bit, stopped at SM to get some fruit to take to Sorilla's tonight for their farewell party and Kyles birthday.  He turns 21 today.  He will be taking care of business while his parents serve in Manila as executive secretary to the area presidency and his mom serves as a nurse.  We then came to Jalandoni to work.  Met with Sister Eulene Sotero, who I had thought about yesterday and had written her a note with a scripture that reminded me of her and left it with Nina, the Institute secretary to give to her.  Well, as the Lord would have it, she got the note today as she came in having a bad day--the school would not accept the church's PEF payment for her schooling because they had changed their school name and the check had the old name on it.  She was in tears, so the note really warmed her and took care of her.  I am so grateful for the times that I respond, unknowingly, to a prompting and it blesses someones life as Jesus means it to.  Anyway, she was leaving just as we came in the parking lot, so I was able to give her a hug and hear her story.  Hopefully, it will get fixed quickly because school starts November 9.  We will leave soon to prepare the fruit and go to Sorilla's party at 6:30.  We will miss them.  They feed all of us missionaries about twice a month and we always have such a nice visit.  Love, Mom, Grandma, Teresa