Monday, January 30, 2012

We spent the morning with Along going from the Loboc end of the property to the camping area to go over general maintenance and planting of trees.  Denny wants any spare space to be planted with fruit bearing tress of all kinds.  He wants the staff and their families to have all the fruit and even sell it if they wish and have extra income for their family.  During lunch it rained cats and dogs so we delayed our afternoon meeting with Along until he could escape the deluge and make it back from his house. Along came back to Silangan Balay with Pastor Neil and Mimi and all their belongings.  They really needed to move into one of the new camping guest rooms/Sunday School rooms (provided by Glasgow) because it was becoming impossible to live in the loft at the CPC.  We’re glad they are here and look forward to the Pastor’s house being finished within the next eight to ten weeks (hopefully given funds availability).  With Along here we continued more discussion concerning repairs that need to be made on this house (many).  The termites are beginning to eat this house, and the climate is very hard on the house paint, so constant upkeep is the norm for us.  Of course Along and Denny can’t end the day without talking about the budget.

Tomorrow Denny and Along are going to Loboc to pay Mayor Leon a friendly “Happy New Year” visit.  It looks like it shaping up to be a guy trip, so I’ll just stay home and clean out the refrigerator – we’re leaving for Manila on Wednesday morning.  Our time here has run out.  At 11:30 the teachers have invited us to the school for lunch, a short meeting on needs and a hello/good-bye. Denny will be discussing the finishing of the canteen, the feeding program for the children and the possibility of partnering with the DepEd for other projects or needs.  Our visits to the school are always a joy.

In the evening Along and Enday have invited us for dinner and so that will be a wonderful way to spend our last evening this trip.

We have to stop by Seattle and take care of our five grandchildren before returning to Big Timber February 10th.  We hope you’ve saved us some snow – we’ve been really hot here!

Blessings, Denny and Ellen