10\/24 I leave Japan.\u00a0 My suitcase is still empty up until 8:45am.\u00a0 I have to leave by 12:40.\u00a0 The whirlwind goes thru the house throwing away things i thot i couldn’t part with, but when it comes to everything in one suitcase, and one backpack, some things inevitably get left behind.\u00a0 After leaving Japan i remember that i forgot the power pack to my notebook, and left some food in the cabinet above the sink.\u00a0 I hope my 2nd mama wasn’t too upset \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
The grandkids took off school today to go with me to the train station.\u00a0 I was quite touched by their love for me.\u00a0 Already i miss them, and pray they will grow up to love Jesus so we can meet in heaven some day.\u00a0 Friends J and A met me at Kyobashi station to ride with me a few stations to where i had to change trains.\u00a0 There was an accident somewhere, so all the trains were stopped, and i missed my train.\u00a0 It worked out OK because i was able to take a slow train for awhile, and save a few yen on express fare costs.\u00a0 At Nabari i struck up a conversation with a nice lady – S, and she was very helpful in assisting me to the correct platform and everything in Nagoya for the airport train.\u00a0 She accepted a Great Controversy book.<\/p>\n
When i got to the airport the sign said that my 7:40 flight to Manila was delayed to 0:00.\u00a0 After my final meal at Lawson’s convenience store, i made it on the plane and asked a passenger what happened.\u00a0 He said that the plane from Detroit had gotten past Anchorage when it was discovered that the toilets had not been serviced in Detroit, so they turned around and jettisoned lots of fuel and landed in Anchorage to clean the toilets.\u00a0 Sounds very Northwest-like.\u00a0 He was a nice man who worked with the World Bank, and altho he had a Diplomat passport, he was flying economy like me.<\/p>\n
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Even tho i landed after 3am in Manila, my friend was waiting for me with his friend who was driving a 4WD, and we went quickly to the SDA union guest house where i got a few hours of sleep.\u00a0 Lunch in the SDA sanitarium was nice, and after that we went to Philippine Publishing House, arriving there in my first ever jeepney ride.\u00a0 Jeepneys are very colorful vehicles that go for short routes in the cities usually, charging small fares and emitting lots of exhaust.\u00a0 Manila is a very dirty city, but not as bad as Indian cities i’ve been to such as Mumbai, Chennai, or Calcutta.\u00a0 The PPH people were pleasant, and several of the young editors of the various languages asked us questions about the 1858 Great Controversy, with one young man quite insistent that the later versions were as good or better, but he admitted he had not read the original edition?!<\/p>\n
We bot some peanut butter, bananas, peanuts, oranges, bread etc., and ate in the room.\u00a0 The garlic in the peanuts was a bit too strong for my taste, but seems to be popular here.\u00a0 We went to a supermarket, and it was interesting to see that they make you store any bags with the clerk at the entrance.\u00a0 It is unnerving to me to see my backpack being taken by someone else, knowing it has all my money and passport etc. in it, but so far it has always been returned with no problem:)\u00a0 Spent pesos – 1389.<\/p>\n
10\/26,27 When we go to buy ferry tickets we are in a department store at noon when all of a sudden a tape is played (noon) in English saying something like “All hail to Jesus and Mary his mother……”.\u00a0 Everybody in the store stopped what they were doing and respectfully stood at attention while my friend and i, while being quiet, went about our business.\u00a0 In the market we saw Fuji Apples and Ponkan, originally products of my beloved Japan, and sliced bamboo and even tofu – yummy!\u00a0 We bot some tofu, but when opening it to eat found that it was sour, so threw it away.\u00a0 We did find some tofu with basil in it at the sanitarium, and that was quite good:)<\/p>\n
In the afternoon we go to the Pasay Central Church near the union offices and meet pastor Israel Bucdayan to promote this GC book.\u00a0 He seems skeptical, and asks questions about copyright etc.\u00a0 I was praying very hard that the Lord would work on his heart, and he suddenly changed and became very positive about the book even suggesting that we make a poster to promote it so he could put the poster in his church!\u00a0 When leaving the church i had goosebumps thinking how i had just witnessed a miracle – praise God!\u00a0 I breathed a prayer of thankfulness to God for strengthening my faith in this GC project just at the beginning when i needed it.<\/p>\n
We make it to the ferry by taxi and have to cross a busy road and then wait outside in a dirty area where trucks are going back and forth, mostly carrying huge loads of bananas.\u00a0 Why don’t they make a nice waiting area and allow vendors to come so they can make money and the passengers be happy too?\u00a0 This country is very haphazard.\u00a0 Our 9pm departure becomes 5am, so a one nite stay becomes 2 nites.\u00a0 We are in economy and it is hot, noisy, and tobacco smoke is bad.\u00a0 But to stretch the funds God has entrusted to us, this seems like the best use of 780pesos (14usd).\u00a0 Sure, we could ride in air-conditioned cabins for about twice as much, but would it enable us access to the many people who walk by, look at our GC books laid out, and ask questions, or even purchase them as 4 people do?\u00a0 The ferry was made in Japan in 1973, so that is a bit comforting to me, but please, take down the old b\/w pics of some old Japanese guys off the walls – ha!.\u00a0 Most of the electrical connections are busy servicing cell phone chargers, so i have to explore around the ship before finding a lone one up on the top deck.\u00a0 I plug in there and happily work on graphics for a GC translation.\u00a0 Working on a computer even draws a crowd, and before long i’ve given up, and am showing them various things on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thanx to Nisshin, we have a nice lunch fishing out beef parts of the noodles.\u00a0 I’m more thankful for Japan every day – ha! 3798php<\/p>\n
10\/28 Even tho it is late at nite, why on the speakers do they play loud rap music?\u00a0 ouch.\u00a0 Now i have some rap song going thru my brain: “E I E I ut-ohhhhh”.\u00a0 Actually, it reminds me of my English students in Japan, and makes me a bit homesick……\u00a0 I wonder how everybody is doing back there?\u00a0 Cebu City seems to be nicer than Manila, but maybe it’s just that i’ve become accustomed to the Philippine level? – ha!ouch!\u00a0 After a nap and shower i feel really fine.\u00a0 We go to Central Visayan Mission press to see where our GC books were printed – what a surprise!\u00a0 They have a little, old place, and several ladies are folding the inside signatures by hand.\u00a0 The cover is printed one color at a time, 4 times to get all the colors.\u00a0 I’m surprised at the nice quality they can do with the primitive equipment at hand.\u00a0 We make a plan to print a poster to put on the notice boards of the various churches to promote this Great Controversy book.<\/p>\n
The little hot-water heater i bot in Manila for 35pesos is used to try and heat some water for noodles, but it melts in the process.\u00a0 Not counting the first time used for test purposes, we got service from this device exactly 0 times. \ud83d\ude41\u00a0 Some little moyashi (bean sprouts) heated up in a crockpot are nice, and after supper we go to church where there is a powerpoint presentation about health.\u00a0 A few members ask about our book, but we do not get up in front to promote.\u00a0 637php<\/p>\n
10\/29 We go to 4 different churches today.\u00a0 The big Capitol Center Church that burned down last year meets in a tent now.\u00a0 No one invites us to their home for lunch, so after our usual peanuts, bread, some fruit etc. for lunch, we head off to visit some churches to promote the GC book.\u00a0 The first church has 3 dogs and around 15 young people inside.\u00a0 They are interested to hear, so i give a 15 minute talk about my life experience growing up SDA, and then show what is being done with the book.\u00a0 No one has ever read the whole Bible thru, so i get 8 of them to make promises to read the entire Bible thru page by page.\u00a0 The other 2 churches allow us some time too, and i’m very appreciative of the response, altho it is not enthusiastic.<\/p>\n
We go to a big mall in the evening and buy some walnuts (762pesos\/1.4kgs), and have buttered Japanese Sweet Corn on the cob along with some asian vegetables – all very yummy, but over a 20 minute wait for fast food seems strange to me. 1320php<\/p>\n
10\/30 My watch battery is dying, or i touched it in a bad place, because it’s as crazy as all the Filipino clocks here.\u00a0 This is the main thing i notice on this trip regarding the Filipino mindset: They are very haphazard.\u00a0 They aren’t totally out of touch with the world like most of India, where it is hard to find clocks of any kind, but there aren’t near as many as in America or Japan, and the ones they do have are nearly all off by varying degrees.\u00a0 I took a video of one restaurant, where it was very unusual to see one clock there, and another clock at the same time in an adjoining store.\u00a0 They were around 30 minutes apart!<\/p>\n
This week is a big holiday where they believe the dead spirits come back, so there is a long line at the bus terminal.\u00a0 We finally get on one, and our shirts are drenched in sweat.\u00a0 Even me.\u00a0 I hardly ever sweat, and my friend can be soaking while i have only a little wet spot under my arm or under my backpack straps, but today is hot.\u00a0 For some reason i don’t remember my scented Japanese folding fan yet….\u00a0 We get off and go to a ferry terminal.\u00a0 We buy some little onigiri (triangle shaped rice balls) that are wrapped in some bamboo for the whopping price of 1.5peso, or less than 3centsUS.\u00a0 They have no taste, but eaten with some peanuts and corn helps.<\/p>\n
We ride a bicycle taxi to the bus station from the ferry terminal, and take our first ride in this country that can be called pleasant.\u00a0 We climb some mountains, and see rolling hills and beautiful greenery with very few hints of the dirty dwellings pressings close to the road.\u00a0 Filipinos love to play billiards and basketball, and it is funny to see way out in the countryside, some young people crowding around a billiard table smacking balls.\u00a0 I remember playing on Saturday nites when i was in academy too – ha!<\/p>\n
We arrive around 10pm at the Ilonggo GC translator’s house.\u00a0 They have a very nice place by the beach called “Sea Mystic” that their son in America sent them money to buy.\u00a0 The husband is a retired pastor who worked in a nursing home in Chicago for 3 1\/2 years, and boy, can he ever talk your leg off!\u00a0 Anyway, in getting ready for bed, i took off my glasses in the toilet\/bathroom, and started to dip the water in the big bucket to pour on my body which is the Filipino custom.\u00a0 Knowing to be cautious, i looked at the water to see if it was clean.\u00a0 It was moving.\u00a0 No, the water wasn’t, the mosquito larvae in it were.\u00a0 Unfortunately, they have forgotten to turn on the water to the guest house, so there is no water from the faucets either.\u00a0 I took my “bath” dipping my cloth in some bottled water and then wiping the sweat off my body – whew!!!\u00a0 1779php<\/p>\n
10\/31 The beach is nice, but not sandy.\u00a0 I strolled around after breakfast where i shared my walnuts with the family, picking up pretty seashells.\u00a0 After lunch and a tour thru their flower gardens with the lovely orchids etc., and seeing where they plan to build a church, we head back to Bacolod city where we flop in a conference guest house that is free if you choose the rooms without airconditioner.\u00a0 There is a pastor there who is somewhat interested in the GC book, and after stepping gingerly in the fairly gross toilet\/bathroom, hit the hay.\u00a0 I sleep pretty well, but the next morning my friend says that his blanket reeked of urine, so he could not sleep well.\u00a0 I was afraid of mosquitos before coming to the Philippines, but have not seen many at all, and at nite the fans are put on high, so the mosquitos can’t fly too close even if they want to.<\/p>\n
The books for sale in the Adventist Book Center there are not bad quality, and a few are even quite high quality.\u00a0 I see we need to make our GC book a big smaller, so that people can carry it easily in their pockets and read while waiting for their friends etc.\u00a0 It looks like most paperback books are for sale between 60-80pesos.\u00a0 I don’t think our 50 pesos is too high.<\/p>\n
People here in the Philippines LOVE their cell phones.\u00a0 Everywhere you go you see people “texting” each other etc.\u00a0 Usually one text costs 1peso, or even 1\/2peso, so you can see why they are very popular.\u00a0 Thanks to their wide acceptance, our Seventh-day Adventist brothers and sisters can keep in contact well, and we can coordinate activities with our book nicely. 267php<\/p>\n
11\/1 While waiting for a GC distributor to come meet us, a man approaches and strikes up a conversation.\u00a0 Turns out that he is the Health and Communication director of his conference, and is interested in getting me to sponsor him to get a new health van.\u00a0 He talks some more, and shows me his office, and tells me of his need for a printer.\u00a0 He then says he will take some pics of me and write a story in the next Conference paper – Mispah.\u00a0 This is like an answer to prayer, as i had been praying that God would open some way to get this book promoted in some SDA paper that is read widely.\u00a0 No matter how hard we work as individuals, we are only in one place at one time.\u00a0 But when we print, the printed page can go many places at one time.\u00a0 This seems like the 2nd miracle to occur on this trip, and i thank God:)<\/p>\n
We walk 5 minutes to the distributor’s house after he fails to show up for one hour (why did we wait so long, i don’t have a clue).\u00a0 Brother Om. is a very nice man, and i thank God for his willingness to help in distributing the book.\u00a0 He wishes for exclusive permission to distribute in his territory, and i think that is fair, providing he really does work.<\/p>\n
We take the bus over the beautiful roads to San Carlos, and then the ferry to Toledo.\u00a0 Then we have a big problem.\u00a0 Because of the holiday i guess, there are no busses.\u00a0 There are 2 long lines of people – maybe 500 in all waiting in the sweaty terminal.\u00a0 A few make it into little minivans, and then finally a bus shows up after waiting around 1 1\/2 hours.\u00a0 Even tho i know it’s going to be super-crowded, does that bus ever look good!\u00a0 What do you know, i even get a seat, and altho there are elbows in my back and a backpack in my side, it is good to be moving to reach a destination.\u00a0 It is too late to eat when we get back, so after being happy about my big suitcase being watched carefully for the 2 days we were gone, we go to bed.\u00a0 823php<\/p>\n
11\/2 Morning was spent washing clothes (by hand of course!)\u00a0 The internet cafe is cheap at 20pesos\/hour, but it is slower than molasses and i can’t accomplish anything.\u00a0 After that we go to the Cebuano translator’s house, Pastor Mor., and talk nicely for about 5 minutes.\u00a0 He seems very dedicated.\u00a0 At CVM press we pick up 500 English copies just printed.\u00a0 They have them all in one box, but we can’t carry it, so the fastest worker i’ve ever seen in the Philippines takes it apart and gets another box and tapes it all up in super-record time.\u00a0 We lift them into the jeepney, and then carry them about 150 meters when getting off.\u00a0 Carrying around a 20kg box of books along with the normal backpack, it is tiring, but glad to be able to get these books.\u00a0 At this point we don’t realize that the books have a big mistake with the page numbers not matching the index-listed page numbers.\u00a0 Also, the cover is quite blurry, as evidently the somewhere in getting the 4 colors on, the printer slipped up.\u00a0 Not nice…..<\/p>\n
I thot there would be a problem getting to the ferry, but we took a taxi which charged only 55peso, and then at the port hired my first ever porter in my life that i can remember.\u00a0 The 60pesos paid to carry our 2 heavy boxes of books and one heavy suitcase of close to 30kgs up to our deck in the ferry is well worth it.\u00a0 All the ferries in Cebu port leave at around the same 8pm time frame, and it was kind of scary seeing our big boat headed right into the side of another big boat.\u00a0 I doubt we missed by any more than 100 meters.\u00a0 Driving on the road is chaotic, but there seems to be a certain unwritten rule to it.\u00a0 People most stop at the few stop lights, and except for big busses, usually keep to their right side of the road.\u00a0 To think that the pilot is under the same unwritten rule as the landlubber drivers tho is a bit unnerving.\u00a0 We eat our bread, nuts, bananas, and mango on the ship.\u00a0 This is my first mango in the Philippines, and as most mangos in Japan are from the Philippines, i was expecting a smooth feast.\u00a0 Imagine my disappointment to cut the half off, and dip my plastic spoon into the soft fruit, only to get a sour taste in my mouth \ud83d\ude41\u00a0 Too bad.\u00a0 After waiting for the cell phone chargerists to get done with their thing, i plug in the computer and finish the graphic work for front cover of the Ilocano version.\u00a0 We are hoping to print the Tagalog and Ilocano versions before the end of this year.\u00a0 1568php<\/p>\n
11\/3 We get off the ferry in Cayagan de Oro and this is the first ferry terminal i’ve seen in this country that looks like this is something resembling a system – good!\u00a0 But not so good when the porter tells us 100pesos to take the baggage down.\u00a0 We finally get the price down to 70pesos when telling them many times that the porters in Cebu city did it for 60.\u00a0 Then we meet pastor Casanos who has graciously left his post at the crusade in the hills to come to the port to visit us (over 1 hour journey by not pleasant means).\u00a0 There are a bunch of screaming tricycle drivers grabbing at our boxes and suitcase, and we enter one – big mistake.\u00a0 We ride a touch over 5 minutes, and get out at the SDA Northern Mindanao Conference compound.\u00a0 When we do, we are told “150 pesos”.\u00a0 This is just outrageous.\u00a0 Usual fare for this distance for one person is 6pesos.\u00a0 Even admitting that we basically filled up the whole thing, anything over about 30 pesos is outrageous.\u00a0 We finally agree to 60pesos, with him leaving curses behind, and several undedicated SDA workers laughing at the spectacle.\u00a0 Next time we know to take the metered taxi, air-conditioned, with no fuss or hassle about fares.<\/p>\n
So i have a very bad first impression of this, the largest of the Philippine islands – Mindanao.\u00a0 Pastor Casanos is very nice tho, and after eating with us in the canteen, we go to our room (100peso\/person\/nite) and have a good talk.\u00a0 He knows there are problems in the church, but he is working his best to spread the 3 Angel’s Messages, even entering new territory to start new churches when he is already the district pastor in charge of 14 churches.\u00a0 He has been diligently promoting the Great Controversy book, and my friend says this is the man, so i give him a Toshiba notebook i had bot in Japan just for this purpose of giving to someone who is in need, and working hard to help spread this book.\u00a0 He is soooooo happy.\u00a0 “This is the most valuable object i own” he exclaims thru tears of gratitude.\u00a0 I’m a bit overwhelmed by all this, and try to dampen his enthusiasm a bit by telling him that in Japan, this computer is not very expensive.\u00a0 He seems to really enjoy the Bible software and Ellen White writings i’ve pre-installed for him, and when we meet again after lunch he says his wife is really excited too, saying that now she can study he CAD\/CAM.\u00a0 May it be used for God’s glory.\u00a0 I’m very happy to see it so joyously received, and am glad a bit too that my suitcase is now around 4 kilos lighter – ha!<\/p>\n
After a nap (not much good sleeping on the ferry last nite), we meet pastor and head out towards his “crusade”.\u00a0 I’m told it’s way up in the hills, having to ride the last 2 hours on a motorbike.\u00a0 Well, the motorbike ride is very interesting, with me sandwiched between the driver and my friend, but just when i’m starting to overcome my fear of wheeling along rocky, bumpy, sometimes muddy roads at maybe 40kms\/hour without a helmet, we arrive at our destination.\u00a0 It is a relatively clean, little village, and we stay in a little house that has been taken over by the crusade workers.\u00a0 They are mostly students at a SDA college, i would say around 20 of them with one elderly layman worker, and my pastor friend and another pastor providing direction.\u00a0 The house has a dirt (read “mud”) floor, with the toilet being a hole somewhere in the backyard that everyone seems\u00a0 to strictly avoid.\u00a0 Dogs wander in while we eat – yuck!\u00a0 Of course some other creatures wander in and out too.\u00a0 Fortunately there are few mosquitos, but i give myself my first good rubdown of the anti-mosquito stick i bot in America several years ago.<\/p>\n
There is a Korean man here who went to Mountain View College here, and married a Filipina.\u00a0 He is a dedicated missionary worker, working as a literature evangelist.\u00a0 He gives me some Korean nori (sheet seaweed), and i feel i’m back home in Japan for a bit – yummy!<\/p>\n
I’m asked to talk a bit at the meeting, and when i see the rows of kids singing songs, it gives me a bit of a flashback to 1998 when i was in India.\u00a0 The flourescent lighting, the smiling upturned faces, the kids up front, and the teenagers and adults milling around the back edges – very similar.\u00a0 I show some of the various languages the GC book has been translated into, and they seem interested.\u00a0 Later i go sit in the crowd while the pastor gives his main speech using powerpoint to show the silliness of evolution, and the truthfulness of the Sabbath.\u00a0 It is strange to me that many of the things are written in English, but i find out that many people read English, but like to speak their native tongue.\u00a0 It was cool to hear the little kids reading the English shown on the screen out loud.\u00a0 There was a squall, so we all gathered on the stage.\u00a0 There was a health lecture about arthiritis, then the Korean man showed a movie.\u00a0 The presentation of the pastor’s talk was a bit too long – over 45 minutes, but to have a secular movie shown right after the spiritual talk, that was a shame.\u00a0 As can be expected, the restless youngsters and oldsters all got quiet and intently watched the screen when it came movietime.<\/p>\n
I’m a guest, so am given half of a futon matress on the floor upstairs in the little house that looks and feels more like a small barn.\u00a0 My friend sleeps in a hammock strung half over my head.\u00a0 I sleep pretty well, waking up many times when the Korean guy on the other half whacks me in his sleep scaring me silly that it was the huge lizard coming after me that lives under the roof giving out a creepy “Gecko, Gecko” call every once in a while.\u00a0 Fortunately i can get back to sleep very easily, but it all ends at 5:30.\u00a0 We eat “corn-rice” for breakfast.\u00a0 It looks like rice, but is a cheaper corn substitute.\u00a0 I hold out a dish with some walnuts, and find out that no one has ever eaten them before.\u00a0 I ask them to use their hands instead of their spoons already put in their mouths, but some do it anyway.\u00a0 I think later that probably toilet paper is not used, and i see very little handwashing……..\u00a0 Son-san and i look at what is on my USB stick, and he copies most everything over to his computer.\u00a0 I’m sorry i don’t have the GC animation of the first chapter on it, and promptly do that when returning to the guest house.<\/p>\n
It was great to see those out in the hills and byways calling all into the kingdom of God.\u00a0 The crusade is for 3 weeks, and they say they will ground the people in the faith before baptising them.\u00a0 The dream is to build a small church there.\u00a0 Does anyone wish to donate around 3,000usd to help build a church in a beautiful rolling hill area several miles outside of Cayagan de Oro, Philippines?\u00a0 130php<\/p>\n
11\/4\u00a0 We get back to the guest house, and a Brother Lagra who is distributing the books comes visiting.\u00a0 He is really genki and on fire, and his 6y.o. daughter is too cute.\u00a0 I wonder how my kids in Japan are doing…… We give a bit of an explanation of the work of distributing the books, when another man comes in and my friend goes thru it all again.\u00a0 In the evening we go to Carmen church with this Brother, and he introduces us, and we each spend around 10 minutes introducing the books.\u00a0 Around 50 are in attendance, and after the talk, a man comes up to me and says he is very interested in that i worked at a vegetarian restaurant in Japan.\u00a0 He says he would like to start one here in Cagayan de Oro.\u00a0 His wife and son are there, and the son is already reading one of the GC books just purchased for 50pesos.\u00a0 His mom says that he has tried to read the large GC book with no success.\u00a0 I talk with him a bit, and we make a pinky-promise-lock with our little fingers saying that he will promise to finish reading this entire original GC:)\u00a0 520php<\/p>\n
11\/5\u00a0 Today is Sabbath, and we go around to 3 churches.\u00a0 At Bulua church Brother L and my friend Brother Bayani and i each talk a bit promoting this GC book.\u00a0 Around 150 are in attendance, and around 15 minutes after we finish, the pastor gives a few announcements holding this book in his hand, promoting it to his flock.\u00a0 No one invites us for lunch here either, so we go back to the room and eat some rice and eggplant and cashew nuts and tomatoes, then head for Vista church with Brother L again.\u00a0 Here is the first time i’ve ever had a public showing of the animated first chapter of the GC.\u00a0 Unfortunately, i forget to turn up the volume, and have to try and read the script while it is flashing up on the screen.\u00a0 People ask where chapter 2 is, so i guess they enjoyed it.\u00a0 One elderly lady who escaped the Japanese in WWII by going to the mountains for several years, asks why God allowed Satan to come to this planet.\u00a0 I say i don’t know, and she replied: “It’s nice to hear an honest answer”.\u00a0 My companions don’t leave the church at the agreed-on time, and i’m upset that we will probably miss our next appointment at the main Central church.\u00a0 I walk by myself back to the road, and then of course wait for them there as i have no money, and very little idea of how to get back to where i need to go anyway – ouch!\u00a0 They come a few minutes later after listening to some rich church member complain how the book is too expensive, and we make it in time to the Central church where they are having Bible games etc. for the youth mostly.<\/p>\n
Even tho it is around 5pm, there are probably around 150 people in attendance.\u00a0 It seems the program directors thot we weren’t coming, so our 30 minutes became 15, but we each talked promoting the book for 5 minutes.\u00a0 The main pastor had just come in before we started talking, and he was quite an imposing man, so it was a bit frightening, but not as bad as teaching English to 28 kids at nursery school – ha!\u00a0 Then it seemed like a miracle occured, as after the service quite a few people came up to the front requesting books.\u00a0 I went to the guest house to pick up 20 English ones, and when i gave them to Bayani, he asked for the key.\u00a0 Huh?\u00a0 We need 100 books.\u00a0 What?!\u00a0 Yes, some lady wanted to buy them to give away to her friends.\u00a0 Of course we were very happy to accomodate her, and even gave her 10 copies free.\u00a0 When we all got back to the room we gave a prayer of thanks to God for impressing on this lady’s heart to buy the books.\u00a0 She asked Bayani if there was something in the book written about the Sabbath, and praise God, he has read the book enough to point her right to chapter 18.\u00a0 We must know our product well.\u00a0 Companies of this world spend lots of time and money training their workers, and we should be at least as diligent knowing what we are promoting – the inspired words of God.\u00a0 Brother Lagra is very happy too as the distributor, saying that now he can afford to buy a tank of LPG gas for his wife to cook with (500p).<\/p>\n
We go out to the mall for the evening meal and have delicious chopsuey with broccoli and cauliflower.\u00a0 We need more fresh food!\u00a0 What a great day today!\u00a0 I praise God to have this little position to work at in his vineyard, and ask for prayers of all, that God will give wisdom and strength to carry this out and widen it further.\u00a0 386php<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
10\/24 I leave Japan.\u00a0 My suitcase is still empty up until 8:45am.\u00a0 I have to leave by 12:40.\u00a0 The whirlwind goes thru the house throwing away things i thot i couldn’t part with, but when it comes to everything in one suitcase, and one backpack, some things inevitably get left behind.\u00a0 After leaving Japan i …<\/p>\n