30 May 1999

I was angry today.  Church was nice.  We watched "Ang Kordero ng Diyos": The Lamb of God in Tagalog.  It was very spiritual.  Some of the young women were crying.  Sacrament meeting went overtime, and then there was a special meeting about the ground-breaking ceremony, so we didn't get out of there until 1:30.  We went straight to our appointment that was supposed to be after lunch.  We were very hungry, and it was just a follow-up visit, so we planned on staying for only 20 minutes.  We ended up being there for an hour.

We came home for a quick lunch.  I made spaghetti.  When I was straining it, the steam was burning me.  I put the pot down to grab it differently, but it tipped over.  All of it went right down the drain.  I was pissed.

After that, we went to the terminal to catch a ride out into the bukid (wilderness) to visit an awesome investigator family.  Nelson Pintoy and his family.  They were referred to us by the Ormoc zone leaders.  They were very promising.  The only way to get to their house is to ride a single motor (a taxi that's just a motorcycle with an extended seat).  The cost to ride is 15 pesos per person.  We get to this group of single motor drivers and ask one if he'll take us to Barangay (closest English word is subdivision) Cruz.  He said yes, but for 25 pesos each.  We said no, whenever we go to Cruz it's 15 pesos each.  "25 na lang," (25 now only) the driver said.  His friends were backing him up, and other drivers were gathering around.  One said, "30 pesos na lang."  Stupid Filipino can't negotiate very well.  We told them that we couldn't afford that, which is true, and then some prick came up to us and said, "You have much money."  Which we promptly denied, because we don't have much money.  Some other guy said, "Lisod dinhi so Pilipinas."  (Financially hard here in the Philippines)  "Fine, then, we'll walk."  We got to our appointment late, but we got there for 9 pesos each without walking.  (Another single motor driver picked us up along the road as we walked.)

When we got to the Pintoy's house, the barangay captain was there, because he was "concerned" about why the "Amerikanos" kept coming there.  They have been receiving a lot of persecution.  So much, in fact, that they aren't in our teaching pool anymore.  It really pisses me off.