Sunday Night

I'm sitting in the quiet of the apartment emotionally feeling satisfied, happy and content; physically I am feeling like I've had too much sun and been running all day. I have done neither.
On Friday after work I picked up Sister Stewart and took her with me to Activity Days. All of the Primary children were invited instead of just the older children because they needed to practice a song to sing in church on Sunday. Sister Stewart was of tremendous help because she could play the piano and knew how the songs should go and could 'coach' the song leader about little things like rising together and sitting at the same time. Sister Stewart didn't use many words just a few actions and of course having a piano player was fantastic in helping the children learn the song.
But the whole church building was very humid and hot and the air-conditioners we turned on were as effective as ice on a hot stove. I could feel the sweat rolling down my back and watched Sister Stewart's hair slowly plaster to the back of her head. Even the children complained that it was too hot to sing.
I divided the kids into 1's and 2's and sent them downstairs to other rooms (that we hoped were air-conditioned by now) to 1- learn some songs from Sister Stewart in sing language and 2- make corner bookmarks and write notes of gratitude to their teachers. On Sunday the ward was going to acknowledge all the teachers.  This fit right in line with an activity in the Faith in God booklet.
Well, the rooms were not cooled off there either though my room with the book marks was better. We switched the kids so they could learn both and then finally cleaned up and went home.
That sounds like a small quick thing but instead we talked for about 45 minutes in stop and go traffic for about 3 maybe 5 kilometers. The air-conditioner sucked in all the exhaust. Sister Stewart told me you could get some water from a man in the street for 20 pesos (about 40 cents) and I started looking around. We found a man sitting on the median and got our water bottles which we drank straight down as I inched a bit further down the road. We laughed when we talked over how every one of our senses had been assaulted by children yelling, heat, exhaust, hunger, thirst and time crawling.
I personally do not deal well with heat. I took a cool shower while Jeffrey went and bought take-out salads after which I fell into bed. Around 3 in the morning I woke up not feeling quite the thing and started making book markers for the teachers. I had to prepare a sharing time for Primary and write a talk for Sacrament Meeting too. At five its was wonderful chatting with Andrew. Though Jeffrey and I spent a little time together he had to go into work. Jonah came over at 11 with a dress she needed to lengthen. I prayed silently for the ability to accomplish my tasks. I quickly typed up my talk to email to Jeffrey to print off. I asked for two copies so Jonah and I could have one as I asked Jonah to translate for me on Sunday.
Jonah and I had such a delightful day! We walked a few blocks over to choose material to lengthen her Sunday dress and choose some material for her brother's wedding. Then we walked back over to the mall and  had a fun time running around trying out new foods and shops. Jonah loves spicy food and they were having a chili festival. Wow, who knew a touch of chili would make chocolate taste great?!!
Then back to the apartment to finish her dress, the markers, sharing time. When Jeffrey got home a little after dark we were hand hemming her dress, she on one side and I on the other. I took her home had to inch back home, and again fell into bed early.
On Sunday I woke with one of those hollow headaches. The ones that aren't really an ache just an awareness of something off with yuck feeling. I asked the Lord if he could please help me out with my responsibilities. I had packed everything up the night before in my church bag, so in the morning I went over my talk again, re-read the sharing time lesson and re-read the conference talk I had been assigned for the talk, then decided to add a few more things to my talk. Then I relaxed and prayed again. We went off to church and found the Stake Presidency had come for a visit. We thought they would speak but they decided to hear what we had to say. I realized I'd left my talk on the kitchen table. Luckily Jonah had her copy of my talk with translations in Tagalog, so I got out my iPad with the scriptures and conference talk in English. It all worked out!
It was interesting how the talks all meshed together. The first young woman talked about the power and effectiveness of prayer, I talked about throwing yourself into work for Christ and Jeffrey talked about rising beyond the basics and striving for another level of understanding and strength.
Then it was off to Sharing Time. The children went fishing for fish with letters and then talked about how to respect and love one another. They talked about how serving each other is showing respect and love for the Lord. Then the children who had been to the Friday activity taught the other children the songs they had learned from Sister Stewart in sign language. The Primary president gave out the page book markers and a sheet of quotes that Jeffrey had assembled for me to all the teachers in the ward.
When I got home I dropped on the bed and slept for two hours. Now that it is dark outside I was wondering why I am tired even after a nap early afternoon and realized that the Lord has been enabling and sustaining me all this weekend when I asked for help.  It is so awesome and wonderful to work for the Lord!