Jet Lag And More

So after essentially begging people to continue reading my blog, I found myself so "beat up" by jet lag and overall exhaustion from the previous six weeks, that I had little energy to do much at all -- let alone write a new entry on my blog. I apologize for those who kept coming by but finding nothing new.

Just a scene from Bohol.

I think that is one of the issues that does need to be addressed and acknowledged by both the short term missionary, the missionary's family, and those who have supported and followed that missionary during his or her travels.  Although I came home with a great deal of excitement and exuberance, I quickly found out that I was running on borrowed energy and that I would soon collapse into a state of "uselessness".  Now my pastor did warn me of that a little, urging me to relax and get my feet back under myself.  But you know how well I listen when I have a mission to pursue! Yeah, well, it kicked me hard, much harder than I thought it would.  So for those groups at church who are anxious to hear me talk about my adventures and accomplishments on the mission field . . . give it another week or so.  And with Christmas right around the corner, maybe we should wait until after the first of the year.  I DO want to visit with everyone and share as much as I can, but I think I would do everyone, including myself and those people I worked with in the Philippines, a disservice by responding too quickly to speaking engagements and so on.  Let me spend a little time processing what happened during those previous weeks so that I can give an honest and accurate accounting of my time there.

A few from the "old" port at Ubay.

I also have to get back into a routine regarding my income work -- I really fell way behind while over in the Philippines and that has put a crunch in my life here at home.  To say the least, we're behind a little.  I'm not concerned, but I am needing to be focused and a little more aggressive regarding my work schedule.  And that is another reason why I'm not anxious to start traveling to do speaking engagements -- I have to put some food on the table, make a house payment and all of those other things all of you have to do too.  Oh, and I had a visit to the dentist just yesterday as well -- it was planned already, although I confess I totally forgot about it.  Anyway, my mouth is in need of some work, so that requires some extra monies and scheduling of time.  (There's always something!).  Some good news is that I have been asked to tutor a local high school student -- I will meet with her for the first time this afternoon, so will see how that works out.  If we are a "match", than there will be a little more income to help take care of all of those other things.

I do plan that my next article will be back to things that happened in the Philippines.  I have many more stories to tell and photos to go with the stories.  I still have several dozen video clips to sort through and play with as well, and I hope to post those here as well (or at least links to them on YouTube).  With that, please accept my apology for not having posted something sooner, but please also understand my need for a little break.