I am back in Brook's Point Palawan and will hike into the mountains tomorrow morning. God was good to send me friends along my way here to look after me and make sure I made it where I needed to go. Possibly that story I'll share later because I'm at an Internet cafe and my time is almost up.
Thank-you for your continued prayers and support. Being here to share Jesus would not be possible without you! What a day it will be when we get to heaven and see the fruits of our labors at Jesus' side!!
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Thursday, January 9, 2014
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| Flying over Palawan on the way in. |
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| The hike in |
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| My house in Kensuli |
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| My kitchen |
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| The water tank in Kensuli where ladies wash everything - clothes, dishes, roots, etc. |
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| The kids love climbing this tree right by my house |
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| Loving kids on my porch |
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| On the way to get some coconuts |
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| One of the boys climbing the coconut tree. |
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| Preparing coconuts. They're very mependay (skilled). |
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| One of the girls I teach teaching a Palawano girl violin. |
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| The church group in Kensuli plus a few extra people |
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| All my dear little friends! |
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| These children are just so adorable! |
Thursday, January 2, 2014
A Story From Kensuli
Here is one of the articles I wrote in Kensuli November 5, 2013.
I have been in the village of Kensuli now since October 6. It is starting to feel like I belong here now. I spend my days teaching Sandra and Sheena in the morning. Then we break for lunch and have a little more school time in the afternoon. After school I go visiting different homes and learn the language. One time when I went to visit Nika, who lives just a little way down the hill from me, she asked me if I wanted to learn how to dig cassava, or kumbahang. I was happy for the opportunity to do hands-on learning so we headed to her garden. She first cut down the kumbahang plant and then carved the wooden stem into a sharp point. With this sharp stick she started digging until she hit the root. She let me try and I was definitely slower than her, but she encouraged me and I dug up two of them.
Later, when I was about to leave, she set aside four roots and said, "These are yours, but I don't have a container to put them in."
"I'll just use my hands," I said. But she found a plastic bag and stuck them in it. I thanked her and she said, "No problem, but it's very dirty."
The Palawanos are very quick to give their visitors something, whatever it may be. And when you say thank-you they usuallly are very modest and say something like, "Oh, but it's not very much," or "No problem, but it's very dirty."
There is much to learn from their simple, yet happy, way of life. It makes me wonder sometimes, "If I had only as much as they do, would I still be as happy as I am now?" I pray the answer is "yes" for all of us because we have the best reason in the world to not only be happy, but to have true joy, and that is Jesus!
I have been in the village of Kensuli now since October 6. It is starting to feel like I belong here now. I spend my days teaching Sandra and Sheena in the morning. Then we break for lunch and have a little more school time in the afternoon. After school I go visiting different homes and learn the language. One time when I went to visit Nika, who lives just a little way down the hill from me, she asked me if I wanted to learn how to dig cassava, or kumbahang. I was happy for the opportunity to do hands-on learning so we headed to her garden. She first cut down the kumbahang plant and then carved the wooden stem into a sharp point. With this sharp stick she started digging until she hit the root. She let me try and I was definitely slower than her, but she encouraged me and I dug up two of them.
Later, when I was about to leave, she set aside four roots and said, "These are yours, but I don't have a container to put them in."
"I'll just use my hands," I said. But she found a plastic bag and stuck them in it. I thanked her and she said, "No problem, but it's very dirty."
The Palawanos are very quick to give their visitors something, whatever it may be. And when you say thank-you they usuallly are very modest and say something like, "Oh, but it's not very much," or "No problem, but it's very dirty."
There is much to learn from their simple, yet happy, way of life. It makes me wonder sometimes, "If I had only as much as they do, would I still be as happy as I am now?" I pray the answer is "yes" for all of us because we have the best reason in the world to not only be happy, but to have true joy, and that is Jesus!
The First Few Weeks
I thought I would post one of the stories I wrote early in my time in the Philippines even though it has been a while since it happened.
We arrived in Puerto Princesa, Palawan on Thursday, September 12. That afternoon we drove the 4-5 hour drive down to Brooke's Point where we spent the next few days at Minan's (Mrs. George's) house. The following Sunday the three of us new student missionaries moved to the farm for Boot Camp. The farm is where the project grows rice to support all the workers and to provide work for some Palawanos. There at the farm we stayed in a roomy thatch roofed hut and learned to live and talk like Palawanos. We had a native lady teach us how to cook the local way, wash clothes by hand, open and grate coconuts, etc. We also hand pumped our water from the pump nearby for showering and washing dishes and clothes.
The farm is a very peaceful place, and I enjoyed it there although at times the different lifestyle was tiring since I was not used to it. During those times though, I would look up at the beautiful mountains in the distance where Kematian lies nestled, and I would remember why I was there at the farm. Learning the Palawano way of life would help me better relate to the people in the mountains when I got up there.
This last weekend was my first big lesson in flexibility. It was my last weekend in the lowlands before going up to the mountains. Plans literally changed overnight. Friday evening we were planning to go to visit a church in Malis, a town nearby. The next morning I learned that Kaylin, another student missionary who has been on Palawan a year already, and I would accompany two patients to Puerto for testing.
It definitely was a different Sabbath as we rode up to Puerto in the ambulance and then worked on coordinating care for the patients. The tests ended up not happening until Monday so we stayed in Puerto longer than we had planned.
Thankfully both tests showed no major problems. Monday night both patients and I were able to leave Puerto while Kaylin stayed behind to take care of the hospital bills. When we got to the hospital in Brooke's it was nearly midnight. The patient needed a bag of fluids which I had to go get from another hospital just down the street. Thankfully there was a helpful man who took the patient's husband and I there and back in his trike. The patient was taken to her toom and her husback came with me to try to find a trike to Minan's house. It was getting more towards 1 am now and there were no trikes available. Again God provided and a willing person took me home on his motorbike.
I went to sleep that night very thankful for a God who takes care of all the little logistics in life and who I can trust to care for the bigger things too. Thank-you for all your prayers! I know prayers can do some powerful things when they are directed to the One who holds all power. He even has the power to drastically transform lives -- ours included.
We arrived in Puerto Princesa, Palawan on Thursday, September 12. That afternoon we drove the 4-5 hour drive down to Brooke's Point where we spent the next few days at Minan's (Mrs. George's) house. The following Sunday the three of us new student missionaries moved to the farm for Boot Camp. The farm is where the project grows rice to support all the workers and to provide work for some Palawanos. There at the farm we stayed in a roomy thatch roofed hut and learned to live and talk like Palawanos. We had a native lady teach us how to cook the local way, wash clothes by hand, open and grate coconuts, etc. We also hand pumped our water from the pump nearby for showering and washing dishes and clothes.
The farm is a very peaceful place, and I enjoyed it there although at times the different lifestyle was tiring since I was not used to it. During those times though, I would look up at the beautiful mountains in the distance where Kematian lies nestled, and I would remember why I was there at the farm. Learning the Palawano way of life would help me better relate to the people in the mountains when I got up there.
This last weekend was my first big lesson in flexibility. It was my last weekend in the lowlands before going up to the mountains. Plans literally changed overnight. Friday evening we were planning to go to visit a church in Malis, a town nearby. The next morning I learned that Kaylin, another student missionary who has been on Palawan a year already, and I would accompany two patients to Puerto for testing.
It definitely was a different Sabbath as we rode up to Puerto in the ambulance and then worked on coordinating care for the patients. The tests ended up not happening until Monday so we stayed in Puerto longer than we had planned.
Thankfully both tests showed no major problems. Monday night both patients and I were able to leave Puerto while Kaylin stayed behind to take care of the hospital bills. When we got to the hospital in Brooke's it was nearly midnight. The patient needed a bag of fluids which I had to go get from another hospital just down the street. Thankfully there was a helpful man who took the patient's husband and I there and back in his trike. The patient was taken to her toom and her husback came with me to try to find a trike to Minan's house. It was getting more towards 1 am now and there were no trikes available. Again God provided and a willing person took me home on his motorbike.
I went to sleep that night very thankful for a God who takes care of all the little logistics in life and who I can trust to care for the bigger things too. Thank-you for all your prayers! I know prayers can do some powerful things when they are directed to the One who holds all power. He even has the power to drastically transform lives -- ours included.
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