Quiet Saturday busy Sunday – July 30-31
Quiet morning working on websites and Facebook, getting caught up after two days without an internet connection.
I was headed to Jollibee for breakfast and met Bishop Dan, so we had breakfast together.
We had a festive lunch with roast pig and all the trimmings with the bishop and some staff. We’re continually overfed. After lunch I presented Osang Imperial and Bishop Dan with an $8,000 check from the Diocese of Olympia Carbon Offset Fund.
Our afternoon outing was to the Grand Mosque in Cotabato City, near the seacoast of the Moro Sea. It’s an impressive facility. Hardly anyone around and we had free access to the outside areas of the mosque. The women with us had to rent a head scarf to be able to enter the mosque courtyard. It is a broad open road from the city to the mosque and along the way are livestock, chickens, ducks, and goats who don’t move for traffic. I’m told if you hit one of these animals, you’ll have to pay for the animal, the meat or eggs it might have produced and the trauma of the owner over the loss of his animal.
Tomorrow is church day and getting ready for the next leg of my trip; headed to Davao city on Monday morning and a tour of some Church community development projects. Bong Bacas is my driver and tour guide for this part of the trip.
Sunday, Pentecost 11 – July 31
Up for breakfast with +Dan at Jollibee then to St. John’s for worship at 8:00 am. It was nice to be in worship with my friend, Fr. Francis. I was with him at St. Francis parish in 2013 during my first visit. Good attendance, my count was 100+ (including the kids). Liturgy directly from the ECP BCP and familiar hymns, some traditional and some contemporary. I preached and presided at Communion. It brought tears to my eye to see the kids coming forward to communion and blessing. I like their custom of the kids receiving first, followed by the elderly, and then everyone else. The liturgy and hymns were in English, but the readings and announcements were Tagalog (good thing I looked up the Propers in English).
After coffee and conversion with +Dan, Fr. Francis, Osang, +James, and some church leaders, +Dan took me to lunch and returned to the diocesan center. He will collect us at 5:30 for dinner at a local restaurant. The wonderful hospitality is almost embarrassing, everyone is so attentive to our comfort and convenience.