Mama said there'd be days like this!!!

Many of you can probably remember the song that was popular in the 70's...'Mama said there'd be days like this, there'd be days like this my mama said...' well, my friends, last Sunday was one of those days!

In the Philippines, the people are very thrifty and sometimes, that desire for thrift twists their thinking...take electricity for example.  When there is a storm, rain, wind, anything OR when it is very hot, they think they need to conserve energy so they produce a 'brown out'.....someone who is apparently in authority flips the big switch in the sky and the entire city is left in darkness for an undetermined amount of time.  Now if we had just had a typhoon, people, I can understand it but when there is a rainstorm?????  COME ON!!!!!!  Not only is it 'stinkin' thinkin'' it is so frustrating!  They haven't figured out yet that the people here will purchase the energy you buy so what is the big deal???   Just buy enough and then sell it to the customers...I think it must be a third world thing..but anyway, last Sunday was one of those days.  We arrived at church about 8:30 and were visiting with some of the members about the upcoming week's plans when all of a sudden...wham!  No electricity.  Not everyone panics immediately because occasionally, we will have a 5-10 minute brown-out and things will go on as planned but not this day!  We don't have any a/c in the building except in the chapel but because it was Roxas I Branches Primary Program, we thought we would just attend Sacrament Meeting in both of the branches as they are held back-to-back.

Cute little people all dressed for their program.

The Primary Presidency in Roxas I must have been planning for months.  Someone had purchased pink satiny fabric and created ties for each of the boys and corsages for each of the little girls.  They looked so darling and were so ready BUT...without power, we have no microphone or piano.  It was so sad-they all did their best to speak loudly for their parts and they only sang one song because there was no piano accompaniment.  Afterwards, I had them all assemble so you could all see how cute they looked.

Now I mentioned that it was raining, didn't I??  Well, my friends, it was not just raining, it was POURING!!!  When the meetings were over, Randy and I decided to go home.  We had a District Choir practice planned but Filipino's are afraid of the rain and if the weather is wet, they usually stay home.  They are all scared they will get sick so avoid getting wet.  As we went to the parking lot, through the pouring rain, someone noticed that we had a flat tire!!!  Last week Randy had just had that tire fixed and we were less than thrilled.  He and Elder Ward [one of the Zone Leaders] grabbed umbrella's and went to assess the situation.  Yes, it was flat but where is the spare and the tools????  One of the branch members also offered his help so the process began.  In the best of circumstances, changing a tire on an unfamiliar vehicle with unfamiliar equipment is a challenge, but IN THE POURING RAIN??  Well, thanks to these other two men who decided to play in the rain with Randy, the job was accomplished and we were ready to head home when a jeepney arrived in the parking lot and out climbed 14 members from another branch who had hired their way to the choir practice!!!  Was I ever thrilled.  We practiced for about an hour, decided on a time for the next three weeks and arrived home around 4 in the afternoon.   Yesterday, I had a few errands to run while Randy spent the day in bed with the stomach flu and the driver's seat was still damp!!!  What a day!!

Notice that he finally just took off his tie and shoes and got to work!

On a lighter note, we had a Family Home Evening with the Delphine Family last Monday night-I didn't attend as I had fallen the previous Sunday morning [those of you brave and curious minded people can ask Randy about how I fell..haha!] and in the process, hurt my back.  The Friday before I spent the day at the doctor's trying to ascertain that I had no serious problems as a result of the fall.  I hit our tile floor at full speed and was very concerned when my back pain was so severe.  He sent me to the hospital for an ultrasound of my back and innerds and all was fine.  Just a sprain that the elixer of time took care of [with the help of some muscle relaxers and pain pills]  Notice the 'guard' at attention with his gun in front of the hospital picture-there are guards at every door of every store and they are all armed.  What do they think we are going to steal????

This beautiful family is loving the discussions...we are hopeful!

Interior of the hospital-reminds me of a 1930's movie...

The local 'hospital'...can you see the guard at the door??

I need to tell you however that my doctor day with a doctor visit, urinalysis, body ultrasound, plus prescriptions total bill was less than $100 US!!!  There are a few perks...