26 November 2023 Week #61: Travel can be tricky
Dear Family and Friends,
Last Monday we had a wonderful FHE at the Taylor’s apartment. The Heaths shared a lesson on “Light”, all kinds of light, and of course focused on Jesus being the real Light. It was very good. The activity was by the Parkers. It was “would you rather”, then you had two choices. You would read the question and both choices and then tell the group your choice. It was fun. Some very interesting choices.
On Tuesday we caught a 6:30 a.m. flight to Iloilo so we had to be up early. The Peters picked us up at the airport. We headed to Calinog and made a quick unannounced visit to San Julian Elementary School. When we had our turnover there in September, we became acquainted with a 4th grade boy who needed a wheelchair. We were able to arrange for him to receive one. It was fun to see he had it. We also saw some TVs in action. However, it was morning recess time so we didn’t see a lot. Then off to Buruanga Hospital and also the Health Clinic and Birthing Facility in Buruanga, Aklan, Panay. It was a long drive to the northwest corner of Panay Island. We arrived at about 3:00. We had good visits at both facilities. Clyda has been working with them. We will see if we can help. Like all hospitals and health clinics they need a lot of help. Then we went back to Kalibo to spend the night. We needed to drop off Book of Mormons at the zone leaders apartment and then visit a Sister in the hospital. She isn’t very sick but has been diagnosed with Dengue. That can become very serious if not treated. She has only been on her mission for three weeks and wants to go home. It was good for Sister Peters to give her a hug and for all of us to visit. Hopefully she will stick it out. We arrived at our motel room at about 10:00 p.m.
On Wednesday we needed to leave at 8:30 for a three hour drive from Kalibo to the Northeast corner of Panay to visit a high school and three elementary schools in the Manoling area. We went to visit a Sister missionary who had a hurt foot first. You would have thought she was going to die when Clyda unwrapped the ace bandage from her foot to take a look at it. We taught her and her companion about ice and elevate. I’m not sure I have ever heard more screaming. Every little movement was excruciating. We left at about 9:00. Ten minutes into our drive and the Iloilo Mission President called the Peters and asked if they could go back and take her to the hospital to get the foot x-rayed. We headed back, went to the hospital to find out where to get crutches. We picked some up at Mercury Pharmacy. Then back to her apartment. The Samoan Sister died 6 times between her apartment and the truck, 3 more times between the truck and the wheelchair at the emergency room. Three hours later and a few x-rays later she used crutches to help herself into the truck and then out and back to her apartment without a sound, since it wasn’t broke, and the doctor said it was a slight strain. No swelling. Hopefully she is soon back out doing missionary work.
We left at 1:30, two hours after our appointment time, and three hours away from our schools. But we were where we needed to be, and Sister Peters did a great job of comforting both of these Sister missionaries that wanted their moms and they were a long way from home. Sister Peters was wonderful! I still have a long way to go on showing compassion.
We arrived close to where we needed to go by 4:30. School would be out but hopefully the administrators would be there to answer questions. Then within 5 km the road was washed out. We tried another route from google maps. A half hour later it turned into a motorbike trail. We were now in the dark and not even close to the schools. Then Clyda finally got a response to her text messages that she had sent in the afternoon. They had testing at the schools that day, finished early and had all gone home at 2:30. They could have answered her a little earlier. She had told them at 1:30 that we probably wouldn’t arrive until about 4:30. On the way back to Iloilo we stopped to eat. We made it to our motel at 10:00. Another long day with tired rearends.
On Thursday morning we were able to sleep in, have a great breakfast buffet, and catch a late morning flight back to Cebu. We arrived back at our apartment in the early afternoon. We could relax for a bit and then join the Senior Missionaries at Marco Polo for a Thanksgiving Buffet. Twenty of us with 10 different kinds of missionary assignments. It was fun to EAT and visit. They had a lot of American food! It was a great evening. I marvel at these other senior missionaries. They are a real strength to us.
We got in a good walk on Friday morning before gospel study. Then off to the office for our 7:30 meeting. The Larsens rocked it with 7 great projects. I like what they are doing. Then Elder Hayne presented an in depth Member Focused Initiative project involving aquaponics, chickens, and Talapia. It will be interesting to see how this goes. The Haynes are in a league of their own. I feel sorry for the couple who replace them and need to monitor all of their projects. Oh baby!
We attended the 4:30 session at the temple. Only 4 sisters and 5 brothers. Then a quiet evening at home. Clyda fixed spaghetti and a salad.
Another good walk in on Saturday morning. We went to the market with the Taylors and Koyles. We picked up some good produce. During the day on both Friday and Saturday we worked on communications with a few people and developing projects. It is difficult when you try to be pretty specific about items you need purchased and quotes from different vendors come back with a big difference. You wonder if they are quoting on the same brand or what. We try to be specific on brand names etc. We are finding ourselves getting worse at this process instead of better.
Sunday was a good Sabbath Day. The Bishop’s wife and his sister-in-law spoke in church. They are young ladies with young families. They shared how they are trying to guide their children on the covenant path. They did a great job, at least the part of the talk that was in English.
We invited the Koyles and Taylors over for dinner. Clyda prepared a great beef stew and apple pie. They brought banana chocolate chip bread and a wonderful fruit salad. We had a great visit with them. We marvel at their strength in the gospel. In Priesthood meeting, with the topic of “For the Sake of Your Posterity” by Carlos A. Godoy, Elder Koyle commented on how several years ago his sister and her husband left the church because of a disagreement with a priesthood leader. Their two teenage sons have stayed strong in the gospel, but the other six children never were baptized. Now they have grandchildren that aren’t being raised in the covenant. That couple were the weak link and now a posterity will go astray. Who knows how long this will continue to multiply. All church leaders are human. We all have short comings and imperfections. We must overlook the short comings in others and hope they will do the same with our imperfections and remember this is all about us personally trying to develop a relationship with our Savior. In order to do that we must be willing to be obedient to the Lord’s commandments and continue on in the covenant path no matter who or what mistakes are happening around us. It is one of our many tests. This gospel is true and we must tighten our grip on the iron rod as Satan throws more bolders in the path and the mists of darkness become even darker. The tight hold on the iron rod will guide us safely home. It will be a wonderful reunion as we sit around the tree partaking of the wonderful fruit and enjoying our families, while the people in the great and spacious building who mock us, end up in the great fall of that building and the destruction of those in it.
Holy Habits
Righteous Routines
Lift Where You Stand
With love,
Dad and Mom
Grandpa and Grandma
Briant and Clyda
Week #61 11/20-11/26
Last Monday we had a wonderful FHE at the Taylor’s apartment. The Heaths shared a lesson on “Light”, all kinds of light, and of course focused on Jesus being the real Light. It was very good. The activity was by the Parkers. It was “would you rather”, then you had two choices. You would read the question and both choices and then tell the group your choice. It was fun. Some very interesting choices.
On Tuesday we caught a 6:30 a.m. flight to Iloilo so we had to be up early. The Peters picked us up at the airport. We headed to Calinog and made a quick unannounced visit to San Julian Elementary School. When we had our turnover there in September, we became acquainted with a 4th grade boy who needed a wheelchair. We were able to arrange for him to receive one. It was fun to see he had it. We also saw some TVs in action. However, it was morning recess time so we didn’t see a lot. Then off to Buruanga Hospital and also the Health Clinic and Birthing Facility in Buruanga, Aklan, Panay. It was a long drive to the northwest corner of Panay Island. We arrived at about 3:00. We had good visits at both facilities. Clyda has been working with them. We will see if we can help. Like all hospitals and health clinics they need a lot of help. Then we went back to Kalibo to spend the night. We needed to drop off Book of Mormons at the zone leaders apartment and then visit a Sister in the hospital. She isn’t very sick but has been diagnosed with Dengue. That can become very serious if not treated. She has only been on her mission for three weeks and wants to go home. It was good for Sister Peters to give her a hug and for all of us to visit. Hopefully she will stick it out. We arrived at our motel room at about 10:00 p.m.
On Wednesday we needed to leave at 8:30 for a three hour drive from Kalibo to the Northeast corner of Panay to visit a high school and three elementary schools in the Manoling area. We went to visit a Sister missionary who had a hurt foot first. You would have thought she was going to die when Clyda unwrapped the ace bandage from her foot to take a look at it. We taught her and her companion about ice and elevate. I’m not sure I have ever heard more screaming. Every little movement was excruciating. We left at about 9:00. Ten minutes into our drive and the Iloilo Mission President called the Peters and asked if they could go back and take her to the hospital to get the foot x-rayed. We headed back, went to the hospital to find out where to get crutches. We picked some up at Mercury Pharmacy. Then back to her apartment. The Samoan Sister died 6 times between her apartment and the truck, 3 more times between the truck and the wheelchair at the emergency room. Three hours later and a few x-rays later she used crutches to help herself into the truck and then out and back to her apartment without a sound, since it wasn’t broke, and the doctor said it was a slight strain. No swelling. Hopefully she is soon back out doing missionary work.
We left at 1:30, two hours after our appointment time, and three hours away from our schools. But we were where we needed to be, and Sister Peters did a great job of comforting both of these Sister missionaries that wanted their moms and they were a long way from home. Sister Peters was wonderful! I still have a long way to go on showing compassion.
We arrived close to where we needed to go by 4:30. School would be out but hopefully the administrators would be there to answer questions. Then within 5 km the road was washed out. We tried another route from google maps. A half hour later it turned into a motorbike trail. We were now in the dark and not even close to the schools. Then Clyda finally got a response to her text messages that she had sent in the afternoon. They had testing at the schools that day, finished early and had all gone home at 2:30. They could have answered her a little earlier. She had told them at 1:30 that we probably wouldn’t arrive until about 4:30. On the way back to Iloilo we stopped to eat. We made it to our motel at 10:00. Another long day with tired rearends.
On Thursday morning we were able to sleep in, have a great breakfast buffet, and catch a late morning flight back to Cebu. We arrived back at our apartment in the early afternoon. We could relax for a bit and then join the Senior Missionaries at Marco Polo for a Thanksgiving Buffet. Twenty of us with 10 different kinds of missionary assignments. It was fun to EAT and visit. They had a lot of American food! It was a great evening. I marvel at these other senior missionaries. They are a real strength to us.
We got in a good walk on Friday morning before gospel study. Then off to the office for our 7:30 meeting. The Larsens rocked it with 7 great projects. I like what they are doing. Then Elder Hayne presented an in depth Member Focused Initiative project involving aquaponics, chickens, and Talapia. It will be interesting to see how this goes. The Haynes are in a league of their own. I feel sorry for the couple who replace them and need to monitor all of their projects. Oh baby!
We attended the 4:30 session at the temple. Only 4 sisters and 5 brothers. Then a quiet evening at home. Clyda fixed spaghetti and a salad.
Another good walk in on Saturday morning. We went to the market with the Taylors and Koyles. We picked up some good produce. During the day on both Friday and Saturday we worked on communications with a few people and developing projects. It is difficult when you try to be pretty specific about items you need purchased and quotes from different vendors come back with a big difference. You wonder if they are quoting on the same brand or what. We try to be specific on brand names etc. We are finding ourselves getting worse at this process instead of better.
Sunday was a good Sabbath Day. The Bishop’s wife and his sister-in-law spoke in church. They are young ladies with young families. They shared how they are trying to guide their children on the covenant path. They did a great job, at least the part of the talk that was in English.
We invited the Koyles and Taylors over for dinner. Clyda prepared a great beef stew and apple pie. They brought banana chocolate chip bread and a wonderful fruit salad. We had a great visit with them. We marvel at their strength in the gospel. In Priesthood meeting, with the topic of “For the Sake of Your Posterity” by Carlos A. Godoy, Elder Koyle commented on how several years ago his sister and her husband left the church because of a disagreement with a priesthood leader. Their two teenage sons have stayed strong in the gospel, but the other six children never were baptized. Now they have grandchildren that aren’t being raised in the covenant. That couple were the weak link and now a posterity will go astray. Who knows how long this will continue to multiply. All church leaders are human. We all have short comings and imperfections. We must overlook the short comings in others and hope they will do the same with our imperfections and remember this is all about us personally trying to develop a relationship with our Savior. In order to do that we must be willing to be obedient to the Lord’s commandments and continue on in the covenant path no matter who or what mistakes are happening around us. It is one of our many tests. This gospel is true and we must tighten our grip on the iron rod as Satan throws more bolders in the path and the mists of darkness become even darker. The tight hold on the iron rod will guide us safely home. It will be a wonderful reunion as we sit around the tree partaking of the wonderful fruit and enjoying our families, while the people in the great and spacious building who mock us, end up in the great fall of that building and the destruction of those in it.
Holy Habits
Righteous Routines
Lift Where You Stand
With love,
Dad and Mom
Grandpa and Grandma
Briant and Clyda
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