God is good and adventure at every corner....literally.

Greetings again! Our internet has been in and out, so I apologize for the lack of e-mails, replies, updates and info...but it is working right now...so pray it'll last!

Well, Sunday, Tim had the runs....no he did not run a marathon...."runs" to the bathroom were frequent. Please continue to pray for his belly.....mine, too, as we are fighting a battle for our health right now.....
I have been singing "O Victory In Jesus"...you know...the OLD hymn. Seems to be working. (Thanks Uncle Bob and Sylvia for the e-mail reminder to war in the Spirit!)

We are so enjoying getting to know both the Filipino and the westerners working in the clinic. Last night we had a party at the Orange House (the dorms for the students) to say good-bye to the women who just graduated. A current student named Lois made a fantastic meal of East Indian food! It felt like Vancouver food! Yummy!

This morning, I got up early and went with my new friend Jen and Nini, her househelp, to the biggest market in Davao. Little shacks lined up and down the street reeked of ripe fruit, raw meat, and fresh rain. It was pretty awesome. I will take pictures next time....this time it was a little overwhelming. The market is much like a giant shanty town with makeshift roofs, rotting 2x4s holding up ratty tarps and covering both merchants and beggars. The food is crawling with ants, but it is super cheap and can be washed. It is the best way to give out to the poor here, too, as we have been advised NEVER to give out money, but provide a means for them to make money. The people are so beautiful and though they stare and giggle at my every move, you know that they are dear people with BIG hearts. I just love them. This place is really beginning to feel like home. God is good.

Then today I got a wonderful tour of the maternity clinic that I will be serving in this week! At this point, I have no idea when I will be working, but it will be sometime this week....it amazes me how organized and yet how primitive the clinic is. They are always in need of medical donations such a blue pads, syringes, pitocin and the like, so if you have that available to you and want to donate to a great cause, please let me know. They are sooo blessed when the Lord provides for such needs.

Tim spent most of the day resting as his belly is feeling oooky, but he managed to go to the bank to check out what it would cost to cash Canadian cheques and came home with a really bad report. We are still trying to sort out the money issue and our shipping stuff. Despite the current frustrations, we are falling in love with this city....falling in love with the people and praying that the Lord opens up doors beyond serving in the clinic to bless and share His love with the people here.

I came home from the market and Tim was still feeling poopy and wanted cookies.....so I made some millet chocolate cookies! (They were so good) I made them in our gas oven that would go out every couple of minutes so I would have to re-light again and again.....but hey...at the end of it all, we had COOKIES!

Because everything attracts ants, we have to be uber careful when we cook, put away groceries or store fruit....even the slightest piece of grain, rice or salt attracts THOUSANDS of ants.....they do get into everything.

We also have noticed that the men who work in the warehouse below us, LOVE to pee on our big metal door and allow their nasty (and I mean HIDEOUS) dog to pee and crap all over our door and front step....so the first thing to greet you when leaving home is the intoxicating scent of feces and pee. Ahhhh....the diesel fumes come as a sweet change in comparison! :)

All in all, we sure love our new home and Gos has placed a wall of protection around us with great directors, wonderful and helpful new friends, and a love for this amazing country, its culture, and its people. They do everything to maintain peace wherever they go and that also means that they do not confront....EVER. While my background fights this way of life, I understand how, in this culture, it is a blessing and a strength to forgive, forget, and keep the peace. However, they serve each other with love and grace that it is hard to come up with a reason to confront. What a nice change.

Here are just a few pictures from our just-about-finished house. It just of the guest bathroom and finished guest lounge...the rest of the pictures are having trouble being loaded on to blogger right now. Our internet connection is pretty bad today. Sorry. We are still waiting to get our cargo shipped that we desperately need ASAP....it has all my medical supplies in it!!!! PRAY I GET IT SOON OR I CAN'T WORK IN THE CLINIC!!!! Have a wonderful day and be blessed!

PS. For those of you who are coming to visit soon...(mum, dad, Heidi, Kate?, U.Bob, Syl?) YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE SOOOOOO MUCH FUN! THIS PLACE ROCKS! And we have just about finished your room, bathroom and 'quiet' lounge! See you soon!

The Patient Aliens

Bethany's been writing our blog so far, but I think it's time I share my side of the story. I noticed on yesterday's post that I appear as a bit of a slacker. Well I'm no McFly (you wouldn't get a Back to the Future reference from Bethany, would you?). As she pointed out, I've been battling with a bit of illness, so I wasn't able to help out around the house very much a couple of days ago. Yesterday, however, I was feeling much better and I proved myself very helpful. This picture of me putting up curtains is proof. (Yes, I know it's sideways, but I can't fix it)


I'm learning that everything takes longer in this country. I suppose that is good for me because it means there is a lesson on patience waiting for me at every turn. Yesterday we went grocery shopping. Wow. It took forever. You may be aware of my "mild" distaste for SuperStore (a grocery chain in Canada). I'm afraid the checkout stand at SuperStore is a Utopian paradise compared to yesterdays experience. With the Lord's grace I was able to stay positive and keep smiling. Okay, maybe I wasn't smiling much, but I didn't scowl or roll my eyes, which is a personal victory for me.

In our orientation meeting yesterday, Matt reminded us that we are the aliens in this land. Sometimes it is so easy for us to assume that the Filipinos around us should conform to our way of thinking and do things the way we are accustomed to. We are praying that God will give us the grace to understand their culture without pushing our ways on them, even if it means standing quietly in line at the grocery store while they find every way to be inefficient.

After we finished up our work for the day, we joined some of our new friends for a game of Settlers. There will be rumours that I had an accident, but I assure you I simply spilled some water on myself. We had lots of fun.


Please continue to pray for my health. I was suffering from a cold, but now I seem to be wrestling with some sort of stomach virus. We were hoping to visit a church tonight, but that may not happen. Bethany has done a fabulous job of making our apartment feel like home. Even with her limited resources (our cargo still hasn't arrived), this place is looking great. In fact, I'd better go help her out.

Cheerio.

Tim.

"These are a few of my favorite things...."

Greetings! I apologize for not posting more photos of our city....the truth is, we have been so busy running one errand and another that we have hardly been able to pull out a camera! I wish I had today, though!

We set out early this morning to fully move into our place! We first went to the hardware store (that was an awesome experience....there are men and women EVERYWHERE wanting to help you find whatever you are looking for AND they hold your basket while you shop, too! Eat your heart out Home Depot!)

Then we went and bought pillows! That, too, was a very pleasant experience!

And then we had our first day of orientation. Matt, our director, shared how Newlife came to be and what their vision for their marriage, the city and the school was......then he explained the immigration policies and heavy duty paperwork. It seemed only slightly overwhelming...but encouraging, too.

Then we took a little bikecart home....a little old man was peddling this gigantic cart for two....we couldn't resist....for P 15, he peddled two overweight Canadians to their home with all his might....all of his co-carters giggled at these two whities piling into his cart....they even gave him one good SHOVE to get him started. What an adventure. He was a good sport.

Then I got to work! I hung curtains....Tim fell asleep.....I washed the furniture....Tim fell asleep, I set up the living room....yeah, Tim was still sleeping....He hasn't been feeling good....so please pray for him. Thanks.

And so the last thing I did tonight was kill big bugs....lots of them....my two favorite things? Baygon and Chalk. Kills ants AND roaches! Sweet!

And the feet? That's what they look like after working in our house on the tile floor. You see the diesel fumes blow through the window and settle as soot on our floor and linens. At the end of the day, I wipe my face and the same comes off of my face! Eeew! Maybe I'll be brown after two years here! Tee hee!

Thank you for all your prayers and encouragements....we sooooo need them! Thank you, thank you! We'll have the house ready for visitors in no time! Stay tuned and please pray for Tim's health as he has a bit of a bug.....Be blessed.

Working hard.....almost there....

Greetings! Yesterday proved to be an eventful day!

Tim got to go to coffee with Matt and Krys' pastor who was visiting from Oregon along with the other husbands of the students.....and I was dropped off at our new home......

I worked like MAD! Scrubbing the furniture, killing more ants, hooking up appliances and doing 5 loads of laundry with our new washing machine! What's nice is that the washing machine goes outside (on our porch...pictured) so when it leaks (which it SO does) it leaks outside right into the drainage system! This is good!

However, we don't have a dryer, so I spent a good portion of the day hanging sheets, towels, and clothing on our clothes line.....by the end of the day, my arms were so tired. But I'm pressing through.

When Tim arrived, carrying a borrowed vacuum, I was so relieved. The cushions and foam mattresses are caked with dust, so having a vacuum was such a blessing. He got started there and then we set up our huge bamboo bed! That was an adventure! It took forever and by the end we desperately needed a shower. We were able to shower in our home for the first time and it looks like today we will MOVE IN! YEAH! There is no hot water and we still have to fix a bunch of screens so we don't get eaten alive by mosquitoes, but the majority of the place is finished enough to sleep in. Praise God!

Then last night we attended Newlife's graduation ceremony (pictures posted) and met the students....what beautiful ladies! Some are going directly on to the mission field to serve while others are heading home to raise support to go on the field. It was exciting to hear more about the clinic and the program....I definitely have my work cut out for me. And Tim was able to get to know the other families that are hear and it sounds like the husbands are going to be ministering together not only to the Philippinos, but also to the other students. He is getting blessed often these days.

Today, after we do one more push in our home to make it clean (we have to go to the hardware store and get bug traps, baking soda, vinegar, toilet seats, hammer and nails, screw drivers, etc.) then we have our first day of orientation at the clinic! Whohooo! The next few days are gonna be busy, but we're excited to jump right in.

Please continue to pray for God's gracious provision of our stuff that is supposed to arrive here from Vancouver, but we still haven't heard from our contact guy. And please pray that the Lord would give us strength to get all the things done that we need....please also pray that Tim sleeps better...he's been having a bit of tummy trouble and isn't sleeping through the night.

Thank you so very much for your prayers and for keeping us posted on what's up with you! Be blessed this weekend!

Oh....for those of you who do not know...we're roughly 15 hours ahead of Vancouver...so it's 6:30 am on Friday morning!

Getting to know our new home....

Greetings! Today Tim and I got to clean and sort our new home! After assessing it yesterday, we definitely needed help cleaning it. We arrived at our fortress-like home at 8:30 am and we greeted by a big dog poo pile and a man peeing on our wall. This was going to be an interesting day!

We were told to get three ladies to help us clean the apartment and here they are! The three of them came around 10 am and didn't leave until 6 pm! They were such a blessing and had a great sense of humor....you had to working in our house! :)
And three guys came to hook up our water pressure tank, too! They all worked extremely hard and so did we!

It is customary that you never wear shoes inside the house even though everything is tile and concrete, so at the end of the day, our feet were SOOOO dirty and sore. But the place is significantly cleaner than yesterday! Praise God! We may get to have our first night there by Friday! YEAH!

One of our helpers, Mimi, even killed two honkin' cockroaches for me! When the house is fully fixed up, I'll post some better pictures!

After trying to wash as much of the linens as possible and then hanging them on the porch line to dry, it began to rain....and then it poured. It was beautiful, though and forced Tim and I to take a break and get some water. The ladies were so great and were thankful to be done at the end of the day....we were, too. Then we got REALLY hungry...fortunately another family here, the Germains, invited us to dinner with them and their seven kids! What a blessing! Jenn even gave me a back rub! Her son, Josiah, gave me a foot rub AND we had a delicious meal without MSG! I was thoroughly blessed. God has been so good to us this week despite all the changes.

Tomorrow we start round two with the house. It's time to tackle the insects and move the furniture. Then we need to fix a bunch of things. And in the evening we get to go to Mercy Maternity's graduation ceremony for the ladies who have been there for two years! Fun!

As for things to pray for, please continue to pray that we'll get our cargo shipment here.....we really need that stuff. And also pray that we will be a true reflection of Christ to our new neighbors and friends. We are really wanting to bless our new country. Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers! Be blessed!

This is our new home. Reality is setting in a bit. The picture below is our resident ants feeding on a cockroach...the ants are much smaller here than western ants, so they move REALLY fast and are EVERYWHERE. We were advised to just eat them if they get into your food and shake out your clothes before putting them on. Mmmm.

But then there's the beautiful aspect of our home, too....it attracts moths...beautifully HUGE moths that are the size of you face!

But then there's all the work that has to be done in our place before even attempting to move into it. Whew. Feeling overwhelmed today.

Our apartment is HUGE, but very dirty....many insects reside and need to be "taken care of", much of the furniture is musty, dirty, and smelly from sitting, many of the lights will need replacing, some of the toilet seats will need replacing and the walls are pretty rough....some of the window screens need replacing, too. There isn't any water, so we had to buy a pump today, so we're getting that installed. So you asked, "why the overwhelming feeling, Bethany?" Because the start-up costs are far more than we were told and money is getting very tight already....the cost of cleaning supplies alone put us over $80.

We were told to hire women to help clean the place and hire men to put in the water pressure tank....we had to buy cell phones (instead of a landline), the list goes on of crazy costs.

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel and God is still showing up. We have been able to stay with our directors, Matt and Krys, until we get our place set up, our new and old friends here are giving us great advice on who to use to help out as well as where to purchase things, we're healthy and happy to be here, we're clean!...sleeping well....and loving our new city.

There are things to get used to, though....like the ants crawling out of my keyboard on this computer as we speak....the incredible hot weather that makes you feel like you've wet your pants all day long!...the heavy diesel fumes that get lodged in your chest on the roads....

But the Filipino people are BEAUTIFUL, friendly and smile all the time...they always say hello and call me "ma'am"....the shanty towns are colorful and I look forward to visiting people in the market....we've been to the mall...it's HUGE and has quite a bit of imported items.....like Millet and Quinoa! It's air conditioned, too, so that is a blessing.

The people here LOVE their processed foods and MSG....it's clear as soon as you get off the plane....but the fresh fruit is amazing and the avocados are the size of cantaloupes! We wake up every morning to the crazy sounds of native birds and insanely barking dogs that sound like something BIG is eating them....it was jarring at first, now I just want to own a gun. :)

Yes, God has been faithful and we've been told of some of the opportunities we have to serve this country and have been moved to tears. This is definitely where God has called us for such a time as this. It has been hard, but it already feels like home.

Please continue to pray for us...we really need God's continued provision in our finances and our shipping is having trouble getting here. It is still stuck in Vancouver and we really need that stuff ASAP. Tim's mom has been working on it for us, so that has been a huge blessing. Please keep us updated on all your lives as we do so love to hear what's going on. Many blessings to you all!

We made it! Praise God!

Greetings! We just wanted to thank you all for your prayers as we made it to Davao City at noon today, June 9, 2007!

Our flight from Vancouver was delayed, but after in and out sleep, we made it safely to Manila where we waited 5 hours for our flight to Davao....hence Tim reading to pass the time away and the pic of the new and improved Manila airport wing we waited in.
It was pretty quiet at the airport and we were definitely the minority in a sea of Filipinos.....we got quite a few stares....and then smiles. I even got to entertain one of the bathroom cleaners with my hair washing in the bathroom sink!

We were met by friends and the directors of New Life International, Matt and Krys McNeil. We headed to their house to drop off our stuff (we'll be staying with them for a while as we have some settling to do before moving into our apartment). Then we hit the town.....the bank to open up an account, the mall to find out where to get food, and finished it off with a taxi ride back to the directors' house.

We only have a few pics, but I will write and post more later! Thank you for all your prayers and please continue to pray for God's blessings as we settle in....especially for our stuff to get shipped here without a hitch.

Thank you for praying for our car to be sold, too! It sold Friday morning and just in time for us to pay off our loan and get moving! God is so good!
Be blessed....more to come when I wake up!