Philippines Update – January 26th

JANUARY 26, 2012

Today was an “errand” day.  It started out at 0930 when we left for Tagbilaran with Along, Marietta and Vicki to run all kinds of errands.  Vicki needed to check with the sewing machine technician to see if he had repaired the two machines we brought to him the other day.  She actually sat at his dusty little shop on a noisy dirty street in the heat while he finished repairing the second machine.  Denny needed to stop by the bank but when we parked he actually got the lucky spot right in front of Dunkin Donuts.  He sent Along into the bank and that donut shop just sucked him right in.  Next door is the Cebu Airline office so we got tickets to fly to Manila next Wednesday for our return trip to the States.  Marietta had been dropped off at the mall so she could begin shopping for our dinner with church leaders on Sunday night.  In a round robin trip around Tagbilaran we picked Vicki up who carried one small machine in her arms and then returned to the mall to retrieve Marietta and then all five of us proceeded to Dao Diamond to the restaurant run by the deaf and to say hello to Dennis Drake – the founder of International Deaf Education Association (IDEA).  The deaf greeted us so warmly and Dennis introduced us to a volunteer chef from Victoria, Canada who was there to help instruct the deaf cooks. (This chef has actually cooked for the queen of England!). We never got to order off the menu.  Chef Ralph insisted on us trying some different burgers he was creating – mango burgers being one.  They were delicious as were the onion rings he sent to our table.  He cautioned us to save room for a dessert he created – a cinnamon/chocolate torte.  Fabulous lunch.  We all were stuffed and felt like we do after a Thanksgiving meal.  We had fun.  Dennis gave us a tour around the newly remodeled facility and showed us his new model home on skids that is affordable housing for many and a great option for student housing in Tagbilaran. Back to the mall to finish up “the list”.  Denny ran into a small booth in the mall that was advertising a new resort here in Bohol.  Fortunately they were selling a special chocolate cookie and since he’s a chocoholic he felt his day was complete.  By now the time is 3pm and it was back down town to pick up the very large sewing machine – load it into the back of the truck and put Along back there to ride with it so it wouldn’t tip over and spill onto the street.  We returned home by 5pm and called it a day.  Errand days like this seem to take all day but we all had fun together.

Tomorrow Along and Denny will sit together to talk over things pertaining to the running of this house and review monthly financial reports.  I plan to bake American style cookies for our dinner with church leaders on Sunday nite.   I’m going to make snickerdoodles, oatmeal cookies and brownies with mango ice cream.  Sound okay?

We’re looking froward to Sunday night and Pastor Neil’s challenge to these” leader couples” and the future plans to help grow Family Christian Fellowship.  We will keep you posted.

Blessings, Denny and Ellen