Our Christmas!

Well Christmas Day has come and gone. It wasn't as bad as I had thought it was going to be. Allan and Emily tried to predict what time the tears would start for me, but they both lost because they never came. Our Christmas morning was interspersed with opening a few gifts then talking to family on the Vonage phone. We had great fun being silly with my nieces who were a little envious that Emily and Will were opening gifts. In Georgia it was still Christmas Eve and they wouldn't be opening gifts until after church the next day. It was a little weird that Christmas was over and our kids in bed before most of the US even awoke.
So if you celebrated Christmas in the Philippines what would your day have been like? Well, Christmas celebrations begin Christmas Eve. Families stay up until midnight and welcome in Christmas with a few fireworks and a feast. It is a time for family reunions. Families gather together for a midnight meal and stay up most of the night, returning home in the wee hours to sleep most of Christmas Day. ( **Spoiler Warning for those who read our blog to their young kids)For most Filipinos Santa is just a decoration like snowmen and elves. Santa does not visit most children in the Philippines. Kids are given a few small things from their lola and lolo(grandma & grandpa) and aunts and Uncles. Christmas is more about gathering with family and eating than gifts. (***end of spoiler) So if you were a Filipino what would you eat on this night? Of course no meal is complete without rice, but added to that are ham, and queso de bola which is literally a ball of edam cheese that comes in thick red wax. A special treat is fruit cocktail which seems strange with all the wonderful fresh fruit available here, but they use this for many treats including halo halo(described in an earlier blog). Another treat is to also have spaghetti. So did we Gilmers follow Filipino tradition?.... Well no, we mostly stuck to our own family's traditions. The kids opened one present on Christmas eve and after a supper of lasagna we gathered for a final time around the advent wreath to light the Christ candle, pray and sing some carols. It was very nice. The kids were then bundled off to bed with visions of Star Wars in Will's head. God gave us a wonderful gift as the temperature reached the lowest it has been since we've been here--68.4. On Christmas morning we lit the advent wreath candles again and ate the same breakfast casserole that I have eaten on Christmas morning since I was a kid. If you had been at our Christmas Dinner it might have strayed a little from tradition, but our family has never been locked into a specific meal on Christmas. We opted not to have the Filipino ham. It is not what my kids call "real ham" and I wasn't sure we would like the taste. Instead we had a crown pork roast. I remember my gourmet Aunt Lynn had that one year when Allan and I were first married and when I saw it in the supermarket I knew it would be a fun display! We also had macaroni and cheese for Will, twiced baked potatoes, some of our stash of greenbeans sent from the US, carrot souffle, and rolls. Of course for dessert we had some Christmas cookies and treats.
Will was thrilled with the Star Wars legos he received from the US. I wish our parents could have seen how excited he was with his Star Wars gifts. Perhaps this picture gives them a glimpse! Hope your Christmas was as Merry as ours was!






Dont forget Emily who was thrilled with things to "pamper" herself and a new 220V CD player to replace the 110V one we left at Mimi and Pop's!

Merry Christmas from the Gilmers!

Our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

Remember the old peanuts Christmas special and the sad little tree Charlie Brown buys for the Christmas play. This year we can relate a little to those disappointed kids. Christmas trees in the Philippines have come a long way in recent years so our tree is actually very nice looking. Artifical trees are the only option and we were told to buy early to get what we wanted. So back in September Allan and I bought our new Christmas tree. We of course needed new lights since we left our 110V lights back in the US. When we opened our packages of lights we discovered that the cheap lights sold at Wlamart are high quality compared to what we have available here. Some of our strings were so dim that they barely glowed. We had not purchased enough lights to cover the tree so Thanksgiving weekend we attempted to buy a couple more strands of clear lights. Unfortunately (or maybe not) all of the stores seemed to be out of clear lights until we came to one hardware store. They had a more expensive strand still available. We bought 2 and came home to finish decorating the tree. These lights were much better quality and brighter than the others. Everything was fine though until the last few days. It seems the cheap strands are dropping like flies. Every day another stand goes out. It looks like the bulbs are all burned. Tonight we are down to only the 2 more expensive strands. As portions of our tree have slowly gone dark, we can do nothing, but laugh about it. It seems somewhat typical of quality control here. This picture was taken before the bottom strands went dark. I guess the old saying is true --"you get what you pay for" and as my mom says we will have to just "chalk this up to experience". I guess next year we will have to invest in new lights and I can tell you which ones we wont buy. If only Snoopys dog house was here so we could take the lights from it! Merry Christmas!

Christmas Box

In the old days of missions, Missionaries left their homes, if not for a lifetime, at least for long years. Travel took months instead of a really long day and the lands they moved to were completely foreign with not much available from home. Churches in those days used to gather up new and used items from home and send a box or usually a "missionary barrel" out to the folks on the field. These days missionaries usually return home every 3-4 years and it is not unusual for them to jet set back and forth to their home country in between times. We have many American products imported. Even so, our family at home wanted to send the kids Christmas gifts. This actually worked out well since Will wants Star Wars legos and legos are not sold here. (shh-Don't tell him what he's getting) So last week, Santa came a little early. 7 weeks before, my parents had shipped out a box filled with gifts and the "cracks" were filled with things that we are missing from home and can't get here. Two such things were cans of green beans and cans of green chilis. Em loves canned green beans and they are not to be found in the stores or market. Allan and I love Mexican food and while we can find other products we requested some green chilis to make some special dishes we love. Other items of note that we recieved were: decaf coffee, pecans, ink for our printer, and the ingredients to make my Aunt Linda's Brunswick stew. We have had a great time with all the little surprise extras the family stuck in and the kids are anxiously awaiting Christmas morning. It has made our first Christmas away from home a little more enjoyable. We have also enjoyed getting Christmas cards from home and some surprises from my best friend Amy. For years Emily, Will and I have watched "White Christmas". Our copy was VHS though and we left it in the US since VHS tapes don't survive here. Em was particularly distressed by this and so one of the surprises sent by Amy was truly a blessing for Emily. We gathered close tonight and watched and sang along with the DVD version of "White Christmas". The wind was blowing and with the fan turned on it was almost cold. The kids snuggled under a blanket, but Will did have to take off his shirt to be comfortable.

A Box full of gifts from home!

A pantry full of green beans and green chilis!

Christmas DVD's sent from my friend Amy!

Christmas in the Philippines!

For those of you who like to drive around looking at Christmas lights, perhaps you should plan to look a little farther next year. Filipinos love Christmas and they really love lights. The traditional holiday decoration in the Philippines is a Parol. All through the Christmas season, star-shaped lanterns can be found hanging outside homes and along the streets of cities and small provincial towns, farms and fishing villages. Parols were traditionally made from simple materials like bamboo sticks, Japanese rice paper, crepe paper, and a candle or coconut oil-lamp for illumination. Modern parols can be made from paper or plastic with a single buld or strands of Christmas tree lights inside. Around Manila, we see many parols made of Capiz shell. The parol is a recognizable symbol to all Filipinos and represents the star of Bethlehem that guided the Three Wise Men to Jesus. The parol is a tradition from l0ng ago when the Philippines was controled by the Spanish. It was originally intended as an important part of the 9-day Misas de Aguinaldo or Gift Masses that happen early each morning until Christmas Eve. After coming home from Mass, instead of putting the lantern away in the house, Filipinos would proudly hang it outside the window. At night, they would illuminate their parols to display their art. They would then walk around and see each others' work. While celebrating Christmas here begins with the -ber months--meaning decorations and Christmas music begin showing up in September, the holidays are officially celebrated beginning the 16th of December. People all over the Philippines woke up at 4 am this morning to go to Mass and begin the 9 day Misas de Aguinaldo.


A Parol made from Capiz shells













Plastic Parols for sale in Manila












If you would like more info about Parols or think it would be fun to make one for yourself (what a great homeschool project!) or would like some great coloring sheets of parols in the Philippines, you can find it at the following website: http://www.myparol.com/myparol/index.html

National Geographic

You may not know that Allan had the opportunity to work in Afghanistan last winter. He was chosen by the residency director along with friend and fellow resident Steven Durocher to work in Kabul. They saw some patients, but their main job was to help teach and train Afghan Doctors. One night while they were out eating a National Geographic photographer took their picture. He was there doing a story on NGO's (non-governmental organizations) doing relief work in a war torn region. We filed that away in the back of our mind and asked my parents who get Nat. Geo to keep an eye out. Well this morning we recieved a call from Rob, a friend in Greenwood, who had seen it while flipping through magazines at the store. We called and had mom look on page 36 and when she got there her expression was....."that's Allan!" She scanned and sent the page to us and here it is. I am sure it breaks all kind of copyright laws to post it on the blog. When discussing blogging it, Emily said, "Isn't that illegal?" Will's response..."Not in this country!" He has really begun to fit in well with Filipino society. Well illegal or not hope you enjoy seeing Al in the magazine.

Enjoying our new EKG

Scott and I are trying out some of our new equipment. Here Scott has our clinic's pastor hooked up for his first EKG. I had just completed one for Scott during our first trial test. Fortunately, the EKG can operate on 220 volt which will make using it easier. Implementing this in our clinic will save a patient about 1/2 to 1 days pay (which is their cost paid if we have to send them elsewhere to get an EKG).

New Equipment and supplies

Back on Nov 2, I mentioned a shipment of supplies that was being donated from a closed hospital in the U.S. The problem mentioned with part of the shipment has not been resolved yet. However, a large part of the equipment and supplies has arrived. This has been a great encouragement and we have enjoyed unpacking and sorting through the boxes. Among the new equipment: EKG, teaching microscope, new hematcrit centrifuge, surgical and orthopedic equipment, and lots of various medicines. Some of the equipment is planned for future expansion, possibly into surgical Obstetrics. Neither Scott nor I currently do surgical OB but another physician who may be joining us soon does C-sections. I know this would be a big improvement in care for the Nurse-midwives who run a birthing center just down the street from our clinic. In the meantime, I can't wait to incorporate the new EKG, microscope and other stuff into our daily practice.

"Where did you buy that? Walmart?"

Sundays we travel about 40 minutes into Metro Manila to go to church. Our church meets in the top floor of a building that is being renovated to become a shopping area. It is in the business district and there is a really nice 5 story mall across the street. Filipinos love malls! We often go there to look for things we can't find closer to home. This Sunday I decided the kids really needed a pitcher for water in their bathroom. I am tired of Emily tromping down the stairs each night when she should be in bed to "just get a drink of water". Since we can't drink what comes from the tap I decided they need a pitcher they can just keep filled from the filter in the kitchen. OK I ccould find this elsewhere, but I decided this was the time to do it. So Sunday Allan and Will went off to ACE Hardware while Emily and I went to the SM dept store to find some plate stands, taper candles, and some type of plastic pitcher for their bathroom. Being girls, Em and I wanted to find one that matched the color decor. We finally settled on the one you see in the picture. I checked underneath for the price and was pleased that it was just over a dollar. It was then I noticed the tag. Do you see it? It has a Walmart 87 cent sticker on it! We have gotten a big kick out of that. I should have known that a country who would have a whole store in the mall selling Dickies work pants that they sell at Kmart would sell a cheap Walmart pitcher in the equivalent of Macy's---ok so maybe JC Pennys. By the way the pitcher says Made in the USA. My guess is not.

A whole store devoted to Dickie work pants!

What's for dinner?

Do you ever get this question from your kids? or your husband??? I get this alot. I always have. For once my response usually has a common thread to it. "What's for dinner?" they ask----rice is my reply. Filipinos think it is not a meal if you do not eat rice. Bread is reserved for snacks not lunch time sandwiches or meals. You discover this when you see the kids meals at McDonalds are served with a side of rice. So while we forgo the rice for breakfast and lunch on most days, we do eat rice about 5 nights a week for dinner. We have eaten more rice in the 4 months we have lived here that we ate in the last 15 in the states. I used to buy a little small couple pound bag of rice that would last for months, maybe more. Here we buy it in 20 Kilo sacks. (There are roughly 2.2 lbs per kilo) We have been through almost 2 of them! Both kids were OK rice eaters in the states. While Emily has taken to rice like an Italian to Spagetti, Will groans when he sees it coming. He could never have rice again and be perfectly happy.




Here Emily is sitting on the Nelsen's 50 kilo bag of rice. I guess that we will soon move up to this size.















Tonight's dinner--Smoked Bangus,
rice, salad, and fresh pineapple.
A Filipino delight! Not for Emily and Will

Thanksgiving is Over, Christmas is upon us!

We hope you had a nice Thanksgiving with your families. We actually celebrated Thanksgiving two times. We decided to have a Thanksgiving lunch on Wednesday with the clinic staff. It was really special. Sometimes our classes are mainly foreigners and sometimes they are mainly Filipinos. This year there is one American in the bunch. As we came in to eat Allan explained the reason we celebrate Thanksgiving and that in our family we take time to pray for those things we are thankful for. We took some time to pray together and anyone who wanted to could give thanks to God. It was a really neat time as everyone prayed in English, Tagalog, and Ilongo(or Ilacano, I never can remember which one a couple of the girls speak). It was a beautiful glimpse of people from all nations gathering together before the throne of grace. I got a little choked up. It was not to be the last time I would get emotional over the holiday.
Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving again. All of the people we know had meals with their mission, so we just followed suit and had everyone in our mission that was here in Manila over. Since the Nelsen's have been in the states the last 2 weeks for their son's wedding it was a big crowd! It is not the first time it has been just the 4 of us. It was a nice day although very muggy so it didn't feel the least bit like Thanksgiving. The kids went to school, and Allan had fun with the students teaching suturing on pigs feet. I made a turkey, dressing, steamed broccoli, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, pickles, corn and pea salad, rolls, and in lieu of sweet potatoes---carrot souffle. People say that there are sweet potatoes here, but I never found them. Another missionary told me I would have been disappointed anyway. The carrot souffle was orange and the kids actually like it better. The big hit of the evening were the rolls and pickles. I do not think we have had rolls since we have been here and the kids couldn't get enough. We opted to skip rice for this meal and no one seemed to miss it. For dessert on Wednesday we had Pumpkin crunch since it fed more people than a pie, and then Thanksgiving Day we had pumpkin pie with whipped cream since there is no Cool Whip. It was a wonderful traditional feast! I did get a little emotional during the prayer time and supper, but I am sure that was to be expected. My family is all together at my brother's house and they called late that night after our kids were in bed. It was hard to be here alone and have them together on the other side of the world, but I did get to talk to them and that was nice.
This weekend we began decorating for Christmas and the kids are beyond thrilled. Time to get out the Christmas dishes!
The Nelsen's return late tonight and we will be glad. It is very quiet here in the evenings without them.

On another note, Will has a new toy in the yard. Allan designed and Pastor Buddy from the clinic built Will and Emily a swing-set. We had promised Will we would have a swing for him here. Buddy had finished the swingset on Thursday and they got to swing and play on it. They love it. It isn't quite finished. Allan is designing Emily a trapeeze bar for the other side. We brought the swing with us from the states

What we did on Thanksgiving

Since Thanksgiving is not celebrated as a Filipino holiday, the kids had school and I taught our Community health class. Two of our students are leaving soon as missionaries in Thailand so we have been trying to compress as much material as possible to complete the course prior to their departure. Thursday is not our typical class day but the students voted to have 2 extra class days on Thursday. Today, we had the fun of learning basic surgical skills and simple suturing techniques.The students did well and no one complained about the stinky pig's feet.















Of course, later in the day, after the kids arrived home from school, we participated in some "traditional" Thanksgiving activities. We even found a turkey to cook. The only thing we were missing was some family and friends. Allan

Happy Thanksgiving!

We would like to wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving!

When Emily was 5 and Will 3, we began a tradition at Thanksgiving of writing down the things we are thankful for. The first year's list is written on the back of a table runner. I had grand plans to write them on there every year, but, well, the best laid plans.... I look on the back at the first year's list though and I chuckle when I read Will's list of every animal he knows begining with donkeys and elephants. This year I changed it up just a little and I thought we would share what we are thankful for with you. When you read Will's list you will see that the difference between 3 and 8 isn't a lot.

Things we are thankful for:

Allan: a house we could move straight into with out shuffeling from place to place, all the encouraging emails, Pizza Hut (though it's not quite the same), that we get along well with Scott, Cindy, and Ling our supporters who make it possible for us to be here

Ginger: Our new home and the now completed paint project, Vonage and the ability to talk to family and friends often without costing a fortune, The Nelsens- who have befriended us and made our transition easier

Emily: Faith Academy, Our pet Bunny-Swirl

Will: Bonnie- the Nelsen's dog, School, new friends

Things we miss from the US:

Allan: Driving on orderly and well maintained roads, fresh milk!, good steak and beef, the ability to talk to people where I don't sound like a 2 year old or need an interpreter

Ginger: Being with family for the holidays, or anyday!, the lake house, fall, and cool weather

Emily: Mimi, Pop, Nana, Gramps, Laura, Beth, Aunt Chris and Uncle Tray

"That's basically the only thing I miss...people"

Will: old friends, and the dress up clothes I had to leave in the US. (mom's note: which were to small anyway!)

Increasing Asian Poverty

With the recent journey of President Bush to Asia, many news stories have focused on the problems that affect this area of the world. South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun brought to light some of the issues during Bush’s visit. “By the numbers, Asia is home to 7 in 10 of humanity's poor—about 700 million people—who subsist on $1 a day or less. Even more people dangle one rung up the socioeconomic ladder, earning just $2 a day per capita. In all, about 1.9 billion Asians live at or below that global poverty line. Put another way, Asia's impoverished masses now exceed the region's total population at the end of World War II."

With the inability to maintain subsistence farming in rural areas, many Filipinos are moving toward the larger, more industrialized cities. This rural flight leads to another region-wide phenomenon linked to poverty: unchecked urbanization. Statistically, migrants out-earn their brethren in the fields. But first they must enter an urban milieu that can be openly hostile and filled with uncertainty. Many of those who move into the cities find themselves trapped in a cycle of occasional work and increasing drug and alcohol dependence. Many of our patients, especially men, are being treated for problems that are directly related to drugs and alcohol, compounded by miserable living conditions and a poor diet.

Some of the information above was obtained from an online Newsweek article at:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10019829/site/newsweek/

Painting project

While we are busy here in ministry, it seems as if this blog mainly tells you about the everyday-ness of our life in the tropics. I hope it is fun and you are enjoying it. Allan often blogs about things going on in the clinic and our newsletter is usually ministry related, but here is where I get to tell you about how we live. Adjusting to a new culture is... well...for lack of a better word, an adjustment. Since we arrived one of the things I have wanted to do is get the inside of the house painted. They haven't been painted since the house was built and being white and having many children living here over the last few years plus the windows open at all times they looked a little dirty and dingy. This is also our new home and so I wanted it to reflect us and our style and taste. So we have embarked upon having some painting done. My first obstacle in this project is that we can't just go down to our local Home Depot and gather up all the paint samples we think we might like to choose from. The only place I have seen paint chips is at the ACE Hardware in the big mall by church. Those samples are bound together and bolted to the counter top so there is no taking them home to check them out or even see them in natural light. Being very indecisive in most things, paint colors included, I knew this would never work. In came my best friend, Amy to save the day. She went down to her local Lowe's and mailed me about 150 chips in the colors she knew I was interested in. Who knew there were so many choices in kaki's, golds, and yellows! The next step of the process involved finding a painter. We had a recommendation from another missionary and so we contacted a painter. He agreed to come work for us beginning the following week. But "that week" never really materialized as we were pushed off again and again. OK so far hiring a painter is not much different from hiring a contractor in the States----except he spoke English about as well as we speak Tagalog so having a conversation was a laborious process. Our next painter recommendation, never really panned out. Finally we had a recommendation for a Filipino pastor. Currently, he and 2 others are here painting the walls. The next obstacle was actually buying the paint. As I said ACE was the only place with paint chips and also the only place with color matched paints similar to the states. Unfortunately their prices reflect this and when painting a whole house we decided to go with a cheaper option...the local paint store. We have now been to this store 3 times getting colors mixed. It is always a very interesting experience. We have a great opportunity to use our Tagalog since there is very little English spoken in the paint industry. We also get to watch them take our paint chip and mix the paint by hand. He pours a little red, adds a little yellow, now a little black or green or whatever and then stir, stir, stir, muscles bulging. It is amazing how close he gets to the color. The problem with this method is, there is no going back for another gallon of that color - so get all you need now! We had them mix up 10 gallons of our main wall paint. They did it in the back in a big bathtub. Mixing all at once. It has been an experience watching the artistry of paint mixing. So far I love all the colors!

More International Week Photos!

This week's theme:
Go "GLOBAL" for Jesus
Gods love overcomes
boundaries and languages









Emily marching in the parade







Will by the Flags of Nations
in the Elementary School




Some of Will's 3rd grade friends from New Zealand the US and Australia

We enjoyed an international party in Will's class. Everyone brought a food from their home country. We enjoyed Australia's vegimite (I didn't like it), 3 dishes from Korea (2 of them I really liked. The other Kim Bop is a little like Sushi and I could live without it), something from India, and from America Ritz crackers and lots of desserts. The kids got to choose what they wanted to bring during class last week. Will's choice: As it says on the package "America's favorite cookie!" and he should know since it is also his----Oreos!

International Week

This week is the highlight of the elementary school year at Faith Academy. It is International Week. The kids have spent the last 2 weeks in school gearing up and preparing for this week. On Monday, the kids had to come to school dressed in the colors of the flag of their passport country. Kind of a strange way to word it I know, but some of these kids have lived more years overseas in the Philippines and else where than in their "home" country and some don't consider their home country "home". The kids began the day as they normally do by lining on by class on the elementary covered playground for announcements and the beginning of their day. They then called alphabetically each of the 14 countries represented by students in the Elementary school. The chosen flag bearer and citizens of each country marched around the playground to their national anthem. It was neat to see the countries like India, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Norway who only had one student from that country and the others with 2 to 6 and then to see South Korea and the US with many students from those countries. I felt choked up as the countries ended their procession one by one, lining up at the end of the covered basketball court. So many nationalities and cultures joining together in one common purpose--to reach the Philippines for Christ. It was then that they called the last nation in the alphabetical listing--the USA. It was the first time I have heard our national anthem since we left the states. I felt emotional as I saw the multitude of nationalities within our own country proudly walk single file behind our flag.
The rest of our week has been filled with fun filled non-uniform wearing school days. Each grade has been studying a different continent and today they had to dress like someone from their continent would. If you can't tell from the pictures-- Will studied Europe and is dressed like a medieval knight. Emily studies Asia and is wearing a Chinese outfit. Friday will be another parade and that time they can dress from any country they would like. Emily is going as a prairie girl and Will as an Auburn football player. (His other idea was an army guy, but I didn't know if that was the image he needed to project at school)




Emily's best friends at school
Keisha from the Philippines
and Jaina from the US











Brave Knight Will

This weeks Lunch!

We have gotten so many comments about the lunch on the lanaii post below that I thought I would share with you this week's menu. Cindy was in charge this week and Scott decided they should serve a fish that Allan and I hadn't tried yet. It's a small fish commonly referred to as "gg". It was a little disconcerting when after the prayer Scott said, "Ahh, I love the head! It's just like potato chips." and then proceeded to crunch right into it. The fish itself was good although there is very little meat and teeny tiny bones. I gave my head to Scott who I think appreciated it more than I ever could. I realize it is a psychological thing, but I just couldn't gear myself up to eat it. Maybe next time. Allan on the other hand had no such qualms and ate 2 whole fish.
Tonight we are having another Filipino dish recommended by our helper Dhel. We are having Siomai (pronounced Shou My). If you have ever had potstickers (one of our favorites) at a Chinese restaurant, I think these are very similar. They are steamed in the top of our rice cooker. I snuck one as Dhel took them out of the steamer a few minutes ago and they were fantastic! We are also having fresh pineapple. Pineapples, Mangos, and Bananas are amazing here. We may be spoiled for life for eating fruit in the US. Tonight the pineapple will be so sweet you would think we had sprinkled it with sugar. YUM!


Joey eating gg

Lunch on the Lanaii

Each Wednesday Cindy and I take turns hosting lunch on our lanaiis (screen porch) for those working at the clinic. We usually prepare lunch for 11 to 13 people. This meal is usually Filipino fare and I rely totally on Dhel, our Filipino helper to help me out. When it is our week to host I always ask for her recommendations for the menu. Today we had fish called Talapia that was fried and then wrapped in petchay leaves and cooked in coconut milk and of course a meal wouldn't be complete without rice. Dhel and the Nelsen's helper, Elena are responsible for doing the bulk of this cooking. I usually take care of the dessert which is never Filipino. Filipino desserts have not become one of Allan and my favorites. While we have tried many different sticky rice desserts, we have yet to try a Filipino specialty called "Halo-halo" meaning mix mix. It is basically a mixture of sweet preserved beans(red beans, chick peas), coconut meat, jackfruit, pounded dried rice, ube (a root crop like a sweet yam that is purple in color), cream flan, and banana, filled with crushed ice, milk (or coconut milk) and topped with ice cream. There are different variations to the filling. The halo-halo basically is sweet and creamy, but I can't seem to get excited about a dessert with beans. We keep promising the kids we will go try one at Chowking- a Filipino fast food restaurant that supposedly has a good halo-halo. The kids for some reason are not looking forward to this. For now those brownies we had for dinner filled our sweet tooth. Thanks for the recipe Laura Lawrence!
Ginger

Prayer Request

Recently, our clinic had a substantial amount of supplies and equipment donated from a hospital that was closing in the U.S. During a trip home, Scott (our partner here) arranged for some of those supplies to be shipped "door-to-door" from the States to the Philippines. (This was the same method we used to get our personal belongings here. This method is supposed to have customs and fees arranged prior to arrival.) The first 3 boxes of supplies were held up at the shipping company here in the Philippines. This company stated that our supplies were subject to customs charges, despite the fact that we were a Filipino non-profit organization. They have demanded thousands of U.S. dollars to retrieve our boxes. However, they will not give us the contact information to the Philippines customs in order to verify the charges. In the meantime, we have many more boxes that were shipped just prior to this problem, headed this way. Please pray that this needed equipment and supplies will be released without incurring a "fee" and that the future boxes will not be held up.

Araw ng mga Patay--All Saints Day

While American children were busy getting dressed up as their favorite character and going door to door "Trick or Treating" on the evening of October 31, we were waking up to one of the biggest Filipino holidays- All Saints Day. During the Araw ng mga Patay (literally- day of the many dead), Filipinos go to the cemetery to remember their dead, clean the graves, and decorate them with flowers, balloons, and candles. While the purpose is somber, the effect is a picnic or a tailgate atmosphere, full of merrymaking and laughter and so we've heard lots of alcohol. Crowds flock to the cemetery, and some even stay overnight. It is a party like atmosphere with family reunions among the tombs. This custom which in parts of the world is a Catholic holiday is actually thought to predate the Spanish introduction of Catholicism in the 16th century. Asian cultures are generally known for a great reverence, love and respect toward their ancestors. It is thought that Catholic missionaries encouraged them to move this day to November 1st or 2nd so it would coincide with the Roman Catholic feasts of All Saints Day and All Souls Day. It is not really a Christian holiday, but one steeped in tribal spiritism. It is also a day of large crowds. We opted to just stay home. There is a large cemetery just down the hill from us and we didn't want to get caught up in the traffic surrounding it. That road is crowded enough on a regular day. This is a picture of a cemetery here in Manila. You can see the tents set up in the background getting ready for the big event.

From the October 20th PM News . . .

As I mentioned in the most recent PM News, the clinic faced a major hurdle in October. While applying for a renewal of the clinic’s business/medical license and my Philippine Medical license, we came under close governmental scrutiny. This kind of scrutiny is not a judgement of how well you treat patients or a measure of the quality of care given; rather, it is often whether one person finds you favorable (or willing to pay to be found favorable). Our "roadblock" person was one of the local medical officials (the equivalent of a County medical society). She had previously indicated that she was very concerned that we were “foreigners” treating Filipino patients who would be better served by Filipino doctors. She was particularly concerned about any surgical procedures and the amount of follow-up that occurs after procedures. After much prayer, that official finally visited our clinic and was favorably impressed. Of course, the fact that we had a mutual physician friend who spoke with her prior to her visit helped, also. Not only did she give her approval but she offered to build cooperation between her Filipino indigent care and our clinic. She is a plastic surgeon and offers to repair cleft palates for the cost of the hospital supplies/fees. The total for an adult cleft palate repair being around $150 - 200. I view this as a positive event since I had hoped to build some types of relationship within the Filipino medical community.
You can alway download current and past issues of "The PM News" at:
http://philippinemission.com/services.html

A Few Days of Fun!

The kids are off from school for 13 days for fall break! While a lot of missionaries take this time to leave the smog and pollution of Metro Manila, we decided to stay home and do some things around here. Because the kids are used to being home for school I think they have actually enjoyed a few days of doing nothing but relaxing at home. Monday we went bowling. They love to bowl and we rarely did that in the states. Here it is very cheap--30 cents for shoe rental and about $1.05 per game. The alley was very nice and updated. We had a great time despite being in a fish bowl. We were the center of attention as many Filipinos sat at the tall tables behind us and watched the white people bowl. I am sure we provided a few laughs, especially me. I bowled the worst game of my adult life. Both kids beat me(of course they did have gutter guards and I did not). It was really pitiful and a little humiliating. I really just didn't want Will to feel he was the worst bowler in the family. At least that's my excuse and I am sticking to it. We rounded out our afternoon with lunch at Shakey's pizza. Remember that old chain? It is alive and well here in the Philippines along with Kenny Rodger's Roasters; another American flop.
Yesterday, we went to a "resort" near our home. There are many of these type places here. Developers build amenities to attract wealthy people to buy homes in their subdivisions. After a while they open these places up to the public to use for a daily fee. This resort, Club Manila East, actually has Cabanas and Cottages so you can stay over night. I am not really sure who wants to stay in TayTay Philippines, but maybe men on business. The kids had heard about this place when we were here last fall and have been wanting to go there since then. It was a lot of fun. They have 2 large pools, a big slide, a shallow pool with kidsplayground, and another larger pool with 1 person kayaks. One of the larger pools had a sun shade over it and that was a nice break from the sun for us pasty white people. The Filipinos like it too because they don't want to get darker. The kids had a blast. It was worth the wait. Emily invited Keisha, a Filipino girl friend from school, to go along with us. The only downside is somewhere along the way a few of us got a touch of food poisoning. Emily had it the worst. This is only the second incidence of this for us since we have been here as far as we know. Not too bad. Next time we will pack a picnic, although we could have gotten sick from our own dinner last night.
In case you are wondering about the above pictures, we seem to have a problem. We never remember to take our camera anywhere. The bowling picture is from Greenwood last January. We (except for Will)haven't really worn long sleeves and long pants here. The picture of Club Mania East was taken from their websight. I thought you might like to see what it looks like. The pools come together to form the shape of Laguna de Bay (a big lake near TayTay that we can see from our house) including Talim Island.
Ginger

It's beginning to look a lot like.....Christmas???

This afternoon I ran to the grocery store to pick up a few things. When I drove up, the store had been decked out for Christmas--It is a "ber" month after all and that is when you begin celebrating Christmas in the Philippines. Over that last month, we had already heard a Christmas song or two and seen some stores selling decorations, but even Wal-mart usually starts selling Christmas stuff just after they get rid of school supplies. This on the other hand is a whole other ball game. The outside of the store had big plastic decorations mounted on the building. Pink glittery ribbons with cute animals in Santa hats and big lime green stars. (OK so not your traditional Christmas colors) It looks like the whole thing will glow from the inside at night. The kids and I will have to go check it out. The grocery stores at home might put up a wreath or 2, but this is like the outside of a mall would be in the States.
I was greeted with a "Merry Christmas, M'am!" when I entered into a Christmas wonderland. Glowing 3 foot stars and the same cute critters hung from the ceiling about every 10 feet. Christmas displays of food and decorations abounded. Blaring over the store's PA system were classic American Christmas songs. I found myself humming and singing along to the 12 days of Christmas, Rudolph, and It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. I got into the spirit of things and returned my cashiers greeting of "Merry Christmas!" I walked from the cool airconditioned winter wonderland feeling the spirit of Christmas and into the 90 degree humidity of the Philippines. I stepped quickly back into the reality that it is only October and it feels like July! We are supposed to have cooler weather as we move towards the month of December, but Im not sure the low80s will feel much different. I guess if you live in Florida this is what Christmas feels like, not that it's much cooler in S. Carolina,Georgia or Alabama either. It will be fun to see all the decorations as the Philippines prepares for the biggest holiday of the year.
Ginger

a strange talisman

In most 3rd world countries with a history of tribal religions, often some of those old superstitions and beliefs remain in modern life. Each Wednesday Cindy Nelsen and I take turns having the clinic staff in for lunch at our houses. One Wednesday a few weeks back, we all giggled as our Filipino friends poked a little bit of fun at themselves by sharing some of what I guess we would call "old wives tales" that are still prevalent. One belief is that hurrying just after eating causes appendicitis. You should also never shower or get wet with cold water when you are hot or just after exercising or it will cause a Filipino word I think might best be translated as malaise. This is something to be avoided at all costs and also a little hard to do since it is always hot here. The rituals surrounding new borns and children are of course numerous. New mothers often squirt breast milk in their baby's eyes to prevent eye infections.
Well Friday at the clinic I was introduced to another strange superstition. While Scott was examining a 3 year old boy, Cindy and I were busy goo-gooing at his 4 month old brother. He was a strong baby and big for a Filipino baby his age. Pinned to his little yellow outfit was a little red pouch. Scott turned to me and said it was a talisman to ward off evil spirits. He then wanted me to feel the pouch and guess what was inside. I felt something smooth about the thickness of a AA battery with a point at one end. Surely they didn't have pinned to this baby what I thought I felt. I felt again and Scott asked what I thought it was. I was afraid to give my answer--"a bullet?". Unfortunately I was correct. Pinned to this little guy was a live 38 caliber bullet. I guess that is one way to ward off evil spirits. Scott then told me of another common practice that maybe I wish I had known when my own kids were little (OK so not really). People are really the same the world over and in the Philippines, just as in America, when you take your baby out in public, people, often strangers, will bend over your baby and touch his little face. I remember my sister-in-law, Chris and I discussing how we hated taking Emily and Laura out to Wal-mart for fear they were going to catch something from all the hands that touched them. A solution to that here in the Philippines is to use red lipstick or other such substance to draw a cross on the baby's forehead. This will keep the bad germs and evil spirits away when people touch him. As humorous as this sounds, it is also tragic that these beliefs are so common. It helps us to remember our main purpose in being here is not to heal the many illnesses that abound or to educate about some of these misconceptions, although we do these things. Our main purpose is to share with them the True One who can keep away all of the evil that abounds in this world. Our prayer is that they will see This One living in us as they come to the clinic and meet us in the community.
Ginger

We live in the Philippines!??!

When thinking of a typical missionary it is often not the sharing of the gospel that seems to hallmark them as such in my mind. Rather I think of the stereotypical living conditions that seem typical of those living in the rural third world--no electricity, phones, or technology, dirt roads, little running water, and beautiful vistas unspoiled by urban development. While we do experience these things on an occasion they are not an everyday occurence in the urban area bordering metro Manila. You will remember that we have had a couple power and phone outages. We have lost contact with the outside and inside worlds on 2 somewhat long occasions. Our backyard is a beautiful oasis in an otherwise concrete jungle, and daily I get to drive on a unpaved road filed with pot hole as I drive the kids to school. While these make me realize that I live in a place far different from the US they haven't made me think--"Oh you're finally a missionary!" Until now....
Unfortunately, we have woken up to the 4th day without water. There seems to be no apparent reason except that we live in the Philippines and that seems reason enough. If we are lucky it seems to come back in the evening though. I skipped a shower the first day because I had taken one the night before, but on day 2 I took my first bucket bath. There is nothing more refreshing than standing in the bathtub dumping a bucket of cold water over your head to rinse out shampoo. bbbuurrrr! Did I say I haven't been cold here?? Well here is the way to cool off! We have even had to teach the children how to do this. That was an experience.
Ginger

It's a small world after all! Part 2

Early on in our time here, I posted a blog about Will's teacher having gone to Auburn. The coincidences keep growing the more we get to know them. First off, She is from Birmingham and so is Allan. Secondly her husband Dan grew up in Pensacola and lived there at the same time we did. Ok so these aren't such odd things--just wait. At Auburn Dan and Ellen met through the ministry of the BSU(Baptist Student Union now called BCM- Baptist Campus Ministries) Same as Allan and myself. We all attended the same church, and Allan and Dan both went to a class led by the pastor on Thursday mornings for guys interested in full time ministry. Commonly refered to as the preacher boy class. Ok so all these things could very well be said of many students to pass through the hallowed gates of Auburn in the last 20 years. Here is where the similarites begin to get bizarre. It turns out that on a campus of 25,000 in which 80% live off campus mainly in some hundreds of apartment complexes that Ellen and I lived in the same complex. Not only did we live in the same complex, but the same unit, and....not only the same unit, but the same bedroom. Just 11 years apart(boy do I feel old) Kind of freaky huh that here we would meet on the other side of the world. We are enjoying having our WarEagle Club Mainla branch with the 3 AU familes. Friday night we got together to watch the AU Miss. State game. It takes a while for the games to arrive so we are seriously delayed. In fact the first game against GA Tech has been floating out there for over a month now and no sign of it arriving. My sister-in-law said the big loss is painful to watch and it may be for the best if it never arrives!
War Eagle! Ginger

Our new car!

The van above is our new mode of transportation. You can see part of our house in the background and the kids in their school uniforms. While this van is new to us, it isn't new to our mission. The ministry bought 2 matching vans in 2002. This one we inherited along with our house and furnishings from the Holmes(the Doctor we replaced). The Nelsen's drive a van exactly like it. We did have to add an Auburn sticker to the rear window so it would truly be "our car". The only thing it lacks is an AU license plate because we have a tag in front and back here. This is the first time since I began driving that I haven't had a AU tag on the front of my car.
I mentioned in an earlier blog that driving has taken some getting used to. One reason is because this car is so very long. It makes our old mini-van look short. Think narrow suburban. There are 4 rows of seats with seat belts for either 10 or 11(sorry Dad I was wrong about how many rows we had). Although this doesn't mean we are limited to that # of passengers. The rule of thumb seems to be if they can fit they can ride. Having a big car is almost a necessity here not only because of the teams that come in, but also because of the amount of carpooling we do. We carpool with 2 other families to school everyday. This morning we had 8 in our van and no sat on the last row of seats.
Here is a funny thing about driving here--we don't go very fast. I remember one day early on that I came home from the morning school run and I had gotten up to 40 kilometers per hour. This was the fastest I had driven at this point(I have hit 70 KPH now). My friend, Amy, from the states called shortly after I walked in the door. She was calling me on her cell phone while driving. I asked her how fast 40 kph is. I almost fell down when she said, "it's almost right on 25 mph." I felt like I had been flying along when in actual fact I was traveling at a speed I found hard to go in my neighborhood in Greenwood. This explains why it took us an hour to drive only 20 miles to the place we got our driver's license.
We are becoming very adept at swerving--ok not swerving because that's illegal--maneuvering around the obstacle course more commonly called the road. I am dodging people, trikes, Jeepneys, other motorists, a multitude of stray dogs, basket ball games, chickens, goats, and cows without flinching. I did learn the second time I drove what the mirror on the rear window is for when I backed into a low concrete pole. So far no major accidents. Keep praying!
Ginger

Our Old Car!

To be fair, I had to add a picture of my "baby" back home. My brother graciously bought my Woody to keep it in the family. I know it's wrong to love an inanimate object, but I still LOVE that car!

Malinaw na ba? (Is it clear now?)

Our clinic regularly has short-term teams visit to provide specialty care, particularly in ophthalmology and dentistry. The optho team visited just before we arrived in July. During their stay, they obtained the measurements to fit some of our patients with new glasses. These new glasses arrived a couple of weeks ago and we have had fun passing them out to their respective new owners. It's strange how different people react to receiving their new spectacles. Some are very excited and show it with much joy. Others treat them as treasured items to remain stored in the transport bag - too valued to be brought out and worn. (They might get scratched!, one exclaimed) Sometimes very small things can make a big difference in a person's life. These donated glasses from the States are such a small thing, however, they can make an eternal difference when they are given in the name of Christ . . . To show His hope in a people who are constantly barraged with feelings of hopelessness.

Ginger's addition-- Ok so I have to put my 2 cents in on Allan's blog about glasses. This has become my favorite part of my clinic time. I love to see the older ladies get their glasses. It is so fun to watch them as they smile big, some of them bashfully some almost giddy. It has been great fun being there for the end result. I wish the optho. team could be here to see it. The lady in the picture above was too embarrassed to smile for the picture, but she was so cute when she got her new specs.

Huh? you don't say.

When American GIs returned from Asia at the close of World War II, besides Victory they brought home a new word to add to the lexicon -- "boondocks". It is derived from bundok the word for mountain in most Philippine dialects, including Tagalog. "Bundok" was used by the GI's to decribe a place that is remote and inaccessible.

Feeling a little guilty

What would you do if every time your doctor ordered a test it would cost you 3 to 5 days wages? It would certainly make you concerned when your doctor suggested a test be done. This is the situation for most of our patients. I don’t order many tests in our clinic and when I do, I feel a certain amount of guilt about doing so. I know that each test ordered will impose a hardship for the family involved. For some it may even mean choosing between eating and getting the test done. You can imagine the look of disappointment and pain on each face when I mention the need for a test. From an American perspective, the tests are a bargain. A Complete Blood Count is about $4 (compared to $80 in the US). A Chest Xray is $5 (compared to $30 or so in the US). However, when our patients make only $1 - $4 per day these can be a burden. I pray for wisdom and discernment when choosing to do any tests. Wouldn’t it be nice if physicians in America had the freedom to use wisdom and discernment when choosing tests rather than choosing them to defend against legal suit?

War Eagle

This past weekend we had the first meeting of the Auburn fan club (Far East Manila section). If you have read earlier entries, you know that Will's 3rd grade teacher and her husband are fellow Auburn grads also. There is also one other teacher at faith who recently graduated from Auburn. So in all, we have 8 members total. We had hoped to have a VHS tape of the first game of the year against Georgia Tech arrive here by Saturday so that we could watch the game together. But as with many things on the mission field, a delay somewhere in route prevented the tape from arriving on time. All was not lost though, using the internet we were able to listen to last week's game against Ball State. The game was not that exciting with AU scoring some 60 or so points against Ball's 3, but it gave us a chance to meet some fellow missionaries. We found out that we attended the same church in Auburn. We enjoyed talking about our time in Auburn and making new friends. Maybe the tape will arrive by next Saturday? War Eagle! Allan

Communication restored!

Well we are back in the land of the internet once again. After a delay of over 12 days we are once again able to get online at home. For those of you praying for our house sale, we lost communication just hours after faxing the final contract back to our real estate agent. Isn't it neat how God worked that out!
We have sorely missed being able to just email our family at will and even more we have missed being able to talk with them. Through the internet we can talk to our family using a regular phone. They can call a number in Pine Mountain, GA and it is routed to us through our computer to us here. It is just like calling a # in the states so our parents and my brother call us on their cell phone and it is free for them. Everyone just has to make sure it isn't the middle of the night somewhere. Although recently I would have gladly gotten up at 2 am to talk to them. It is wonderful to hear beloved voices from home. Hard to believe when our partners the Nelsen's arrived in 1994 that there wasn't even the internet here. The world is constantly shrinking!
We are still having power outages though. It is making life an adventure because we never know if we will have power or water. We haven't lost it for more than 6 or 7 hours since the bad storm 12 days ago so that is a blessing.
Ginger

Rain, flooding and no power

Well here we are again with no power and no internet. When we were looking and praying for a missionary position we looked at many where power was limited or sporadic at best. While we knew the power here could go out, the reality of it has been an adjustment. 10 days ago it began to rain. We had heavy rains almost constantly for over 4 days. This has caused flooding in some of the areas around us. It is a common occurance here and people just begin clean up and move on with life.
During the night of day 3 -Thursday, we also had a severe wind storm. Allan and Will woke up and shut not only the windows on one side of the house like normal, but all the windows because the rain was coming from all sides. This storm knocked out the power which also means we had no water. Thankfully we are able to get reliable drinking water from a spring-fed well at the kids school. Power was restored on Saturday just as we were preparing to turn on the generator. (Scott was out of town and so we were hesitant to do this for the first time with out him) We also have big storage tanks of water on the roof that has water for a few showers and flushing the toilet, but is not drinakble. We also couldn't get this to work. After the power returned the water was a little spoartic for another day, but we were able to catch a few showers under a drizzle and by Sunday we had full water again. Well the rains have continued off and on since that time. We have enjoyed the coolness of the weather. The Filipinos call it cold. We call it nice! Our power has had some trouble though. It has continued to flicker and today is once more off completely leaving us with no water again. While our phone lines are not down. Our dsl has been since last Thursday so we are once again out of touch with what is going on in the world. We are learning where some internet cafes are and can check our email at the school library. I am now at the Santa Lucia mall doing some grocery and hardware shopping.
We knew that life and power and water in the third world is not as reliable as in the US, but actually living with it has been an adjustment for us. Can't wait to see what happens during a Typhoon!
Ginger

Contract on house

Ginger and I have just signed and sent a contract to sell our house! What an answer to prayer. Selling the house will allow us to pay our medical school loan in full. In July, we had to begin paying back our loan and to continue to do so for any length of time was going to adversely impact our budget. I am sure there were people who knew our situation who could not believe that we would leave the country to start our ministry before the house sold. But we knew God had given us the timeframe to arrive and start work here. And as Bro. Al Jackson says "delayed obedience is disobedience". So we left in full confidence that our needs would be met as they always have been.

Learning Tagalog with Ate Susing

This picture is of our language teacher, Ate Susing. Ate is a term of respect meaning "older sister". (The pronunciation is ah tay) Respect in the language is big here. If speaking to someone older you should always use "po" which kind of translates into Sir or Madam. They use po often even when speaking in English; ie "Thank you po". We spend 3 afternoons each week trying to learn the language. We then study and try to put into practice at the clinc the things we have learned.
If you've never been to the Philippines, and I assume most of you have not, then you might not know that Filipinos love words that repeat themselves. Our nurse's name is Ling Ling. This is common here. The pastor at the clinic has a son named Bo Boy. Now these are not actually their real names because Filipinos also love nicknames. Their philosophy- Why go by your real name if a nickname will do. Not only do people's names repeat the same word or similar sounds, but the language also repeats itself. Here are some examples--sing-sing: ring; bukong bukong: ankle; dibdib: chest; gabi-gabi: every night; bulaklak: flower. This is quirky, but it doesn't make the language difficult to learn. There are many things that do make Tagalog difficult. The main one is syllable emphasis. I think every spelling must have multiple meanings depending on which syllable you emphasize. For example hapon means either afternoon with the emphasis on ha or Japanese where you emphasize pon. I think until just this week I have been telling people "Beautiful Japanese!" as opposed to Beautiful afternoon. Allan and I are constantly placing the emphasis on the wrong syllable.
Another thing that makes Tagalog difficult is that it doesn't follow an English pattern of sentence structure. When I learned French at least the sentences followed a noun verb; subject then predicate pattern. Not so here. The sentence usually starts with the verb and then gets crazy after that with the other words changing "classes" depending on what you are saying. Here is another thing that is crazy--words change their spelling by where they are in the sentence or what you are saying. This goes way beyond I see, I saw, I said. We are constantly having to add something on to the end of a word called a linker. Sometimes you change the first letter of a adjective like when you ask how something is--"how sweet is the juice?" Sweet is matamis unless you ask this where it becomes katamis. Here is another "quirk"---most of the adjectives start with Ma. There are many that might only change one letter and have totally different meanings--malalim-deep, matalim-sharp, madilim-dark.
All these things combine together to make us want to scream or pull our hair out. Our teacher makes it worthwhile. She is very funny and has taught Tagalog to missionaries for the last 22 years. She is patient with us as we struggle to learn. Ate Susing is 58 and has never been married. When we asked her if she minded us putting a picture of her on our blog, she said that was great, but to let you know she is looking for a husband...an old husband. If you would like to hear a little Tagalog you can go to the main page of our website at www.philippinemission.com and hear Ate Susing read John 3:16 or Juan 3:13. It takes a while to load if you are using dial up. Oh here is another quirk--we have had to learn 3 sets of numbers. Ok so we already knew English, but we also use Tagalog and Spanish #s as well. Spanish is used for date(except the year which is English), time and Bible verses as well as occasionally price. So today is - a kinse ang Siptiyembre two thousand five. Well time to study
Ginger

Walking into a trap

Since Scott has been gone, I have been the only doctor in the clinic. This doesn't mean I have been the only one seeing patients. We have others who are able to see and treat many different problems. Our resident nurse (her name is Ling Ling) is pretty much at the level of a Nurse Practitioner. She is very capable of evaluating and treating many of the common problems seen in our clinic. We also have volunteers who are at various levels of training, including our newest students, who apply what skills they have to each patient encounter. For some that simply means observing for now, others are capable of obtaining vital signs, and some who have been working with our clinic for years can triage and evaluate patients themselves. The key is that we stress to everyone not to exceed their capabilities and comfort level in treating patients. Everyone has someone else they can call on for assistance.

During the past 2 weeks, I have returned to the clinic after our afternoon Tagalog lessons to make sure that everyone is seen and that any difficult cases are evaluated. The first day that I did this was just after Scott left and I felt like I was walking right into a trap. When I entered the clinic, there to one side was gathered in a huddled mass of chairs the sickest and most difficult patients of the day... and they were all waiting on me to arrive. It was then that I felt kind of sick myself! But I started one by one to hear their stories and decide what should be done. The day ended well and we were able to show the love of Christ to each one.

After our next Tagalog lesson, I returned to the exact same scenario in the clinic. But, this time I returned with a completely different perspective. Here in that huddled group sitting off to one side of our clinic was our group of sickest patients. I didn't have to sort through the runny noses, the coughs, and the aches to get to those who I may be able to truly change their health (hopefully for the better). I've enjoyed this filtered group of patients recently. It's a little like being on call in the hospital - you get called to consult on the "good cases".

I have added a picture of our new missionary training class to the blog below describing them.

Burn the Ships

Emily is studying explorers in school this year, something we did in homeschooling 2 years ago. She is currently writing a report on an explorer. That got me thinking about one explorer we studied in homeschooling. (so you don't think I am some brilliant scholar, it is also one that I know a song about) In 1519, Spanish explorer, Cortez, landed in Mexico to build a colony in the New World. In order to make this a success, he burned the ships so that there would be no way to give up and return home. We feel a little like those men must have felt. Leaving everything that is familiar and dear to us, there are times when each of us feels a little voice whisper, "go back to the life you knew." I think for Emily sometimes that voice is louder than for the rest of us. We have learned it is tough to be a 5th grade girl at a new school, but through it all we know this is where we are supposed to be. I am more confident of this than almost any decision I have ever made. "The one who brought us here is saying...

Burn the ships, we're here to stay.
There's no way we could go back
Now that we've come this far by faith.
Burn the ships, we've passed the point of no return.
Our life is here, So let the ships burn.

Nobody said it would be easy
But the one who brought us here
Is never gonna leave us alone."

Not that life here is bad. We are actually enjoying most of it. When we talk with friends from residency that have started "real dr jobs", we realize, we are enjoying life with no call, no insurance red tape, and none of the hassles that make American medicine a chore. After years of the busy-ness of residency, Allan and I are spending 20+ hours together most days. We eat 3 meals a day together. Where else could I be both nurse, pharmacist, and lab tech with no formal training. Life is very simple here and we like it, if only it weren't so far from home!
By the way, Emily and I had a "date" today for lunch. It cost us less than $4 to eat at KFC(her choice). I alone couldn't have eaten for that in the states.

**" Burn the Ships" by Steven Curtis Chapman from Heaven in the Real World

New training class starts

If you've seen the Philippine Mission brochure, you know that one of the goals of our clinic is to train missionaries (both Filipino and other nationalities) in community health and basic primary care. This week we had our first meeting with our upcoming class. We have a very interesting group who share different visions of using this medical training to spread the Gospel. Let me introduce you to our group.

Joey and Narlin are Filipino Southern Baptists who are training to go to Chiang Rai, Thailand which is in the heart of the "Golden Triangle". They will be working as church planters in the remote northern area of Thailand. The location where they will serve is a very strategic area within walking distance of Laos, Burma, and China. This area contains a variety of unreached people groups, many of whom are very difficult to reach with the message of Christ.

Tess is a Filipino church planter. She works with the missionary who first helped Scott begin our clinic. Currently she is using a children's ministry to begin a new church in the squatter area surrounding a river. She will use her skills to help improve the living conditions around their new church. She has over 100 children whom she works with weekly.

Sierra is a MK (missionary kid) who graduated from Faith Academy last year. (Faith Ac. is the school that Emily and Will now attend). Before starting her freshman year in college, she wanted to return to the Philippines to work with a few of the local ministries that are caring for the poor and developing the squatter areas. She plans to work this year with us and then return to the States for college and medical training. After that, she is open to but still undecided about full-time mission service.

Our fifth student, I have yet to meet but I know she is Korean and helps with teaching Bible in the Manila area.

Next Tuesday will be our first lessons. Please pray for me as I am starting this class by myself. Scott is enjoying a long awaited trip to Alaska to spend time with his son who is stationed there with the Air Force. Also pray for our students, the training is packed with information and trying new skills. We are excited about their potential to impact Southeast Asia for Christ which is the very reason this teaching/discipleship exists.

Self diagnosing Diabetes Mellitus

From the Clinic . . .
This is a patient's story that Scott and I shared in the clinic the other day. A middle-aged gentleman came in with an odd complaint. He said, " I think I have diabetes, because the ants like my urine." What he was explaining to us was a pretty astute observation, I thought. Whenever he urinated on the ground, all the ants around came in for the feast, sort of like dropping watermelon juice during your picnic. He was diagnosed with diabetes which causes glucose (sugar) to be lost in the urine. He is now seen in our clinic for follow-up.

During all of my training of medical school and Family Medicine residency, never had I been taught to ask someone if the ants flocked to their urine as a way to diagnose diabetes. Maybe that should be added to the standard "Review of Systems" questions?

A date interupted!

Tuesdays is the day that the clinic has minor surgeries and their training classes in basic healthcare for non-medical missionaries going to unreached people groups. This Tuesday was an introduction for this years class. That being said Allan finished early in the morning, went with Scott to the bank and then they met Cindy(Scott's wife) at the mall. Allan and I had some shopping to do including groceries because no self respecting mall in the Philippines isn't anchored by a grocery store. This mall is called Santa Lucia and it is the closest to us--about 30-40 minutes. We go here almost weekly for our groceries and other items we might need that we find at the bookstore or hardware store. Isn't this what your mall has--Ace hardware and a grocery store? These malls are actually huge and the 4th or 5th floor is always a wonderland of video games and a movie cinema. Since Cindy was picking the kids up from school, Allan and I decided to get some lunch and go see a movie. We saw "The Great Raid" A great true story about the rescuing of 500 POWs held here on Luzon by the Japanese after the Bataan death march during WW2. I highly recommend it. I think it has had a bigger hype here than in the states becasue it is about the Philippines.
So Allan and I are sitting in the movie, which by the way cost us less that $2 a piece, when my cell phone rings. It's Emily telling me the boxes we shipped from the US have arrived and they won't let Scott or Cindy sign for them so can she? Here we are 40 minutes away and our stuff from the US has arrived, but they won't leave it. I texted Scott and Cindy and asked them if they could contact Ling Ling our nurse. She was the cosignee on our shipment. Scott texted back that everything was fine they let Emily sign. So we live in the same walled yard as the Nelsens and they couldn't sign, but they let our 10 year old with no id sign for delivery. Something just isn't right about that. This is typical of how things work here. We have been told to never ask why. It is a good lesson. Everything arrived here intact. We have one picture frame with broken glass, but that was all. All our stuff is finally here so I guess there is no going back. We are "home". If only that empty shell in Greenwood would sell.

What stinks?!

First of all, let me say that we try to write about are real experiences, good and bad, spiritual and not-so spiritual. We want to give a glimpse of what it is like to live a new missionaries in the Philippines. That said, if you are easily offended by gross stories, please stop here. If however, you want to experience everything with us, then read on brave soul . . .

For days now, I have been smelling something very weird whenever I sit down to use the computer. . . something a little like stinky feet smell. After many sniffs around the computer, around the computer desk, and generally just around, I could not figure out what the bad smell was. This happened to me repeatedly over the past week. I even thought one of the kids had been sitting in my chair with their feet and that was the smell. (Of course, this is on top of all the other weird smells that are around also.) Then today I noticed the same weird smell at the clinic and I began to really worry - was it ME?! It suddenly struck me that the smell was dependent on my sitting position which at the time was: fingers interlaced, elbows propped on a desk and chin resting on top of my fingers (sort of a "thinking position") With a direction finding sniff or two, I finally solved the stinky mystery. It was my watch, or more specifically my watch band which is made of canvas. Slowly over the past 4 weeks, it has absorbed water from the very high humidity here and was evidently growing some very funky stuff as a result. So another missionary lesson learned here in the Philippine Islands - everything, and I mean everything can and will grow fungus under these conditions.
Allan (Ginger made me sign this one so you wouldn't think she was the stinky watch person)

Our New Pet!

Last fall when we were here, Scott began raising bunnies as part of his agricultural project. He tries adapt new agricultural and livestock techniques to help Filipino farmers increase their yeild. This always causes a stir among our neighbors. They do not respond well to change and are a little sceptical of Scott's methods. It was hard to get this bunny project off the ground. Of the numerous bunnies Scott bought last fall only one survived. The kids named him Magic. Not because he did survive, but because he has black ears that look like a top hat. All winter we have received updates on Magic's progress.
It was with great joy that we arrived the same day Magic's "wife" gave birth to baby bunnies. The kids were thrilled with the little guys and often can be found hanging around the bunny pen. Bethany, the Nelsen's daughter, says these aren't bunnies, but rabbits. Bunnies are pet, rabbits are raised to eat. Emily and Will know this in principle and have even rejoiced when a mean one was killed for dinner one of our first few days here. It wasn't long though before they began asking couldn't they raise one until he is grown. So Friday, when they were weaned, they chose the runt to come be a part of our family for a while. They accepted this knowing full well that these are raised to eat, but I can already tell they will have a hard time letting "Caramel Swirl" become bunny stew. I have to admit I have also grown attached to the little guy. He is cute.

A view from our balcony

Here is a view of the clouds and trees in our backyard. Don't be fooled by the idyllic setting. This land is unihabitable and the only patch of woods for miles. It is nice to come home to after passing the trash heaped up on the sides of the road. It also doesn't smell as good as it looks. Someone is always burning something, that includes rubber and plastic. If you have never smelled burning plastic as the sun rises you've missed a treat!
We are also in the flight path for the airport, so if you ever come to see us you will fly right over the house.

Getting paid in a free clinic

The medical care given in our clinic is always free to the people we serve. That doesn't mean that we aren't paid though. Almost always, we are given gratitude with the commom phrase "Salamat Po, doc" or sometimes a mixture of english with tagalog, "Thank you Po". (The "po" indicates you are placing the hearer in the respected position.) Occassionally, I'll get a smile or "high five" from a child which is always welcome since doctors are known for doing some painful stuff to little kids. Sometimes the offering of thanks is more tangible and one of the most common is a gift of bananas. I would say that at least once a week or so someone brings in a fruit of their garden with bananas being the #1 gift. Considering that our patient group makes about $1 per day this is a big gift. And when I bring my portion of the bananas back home, I remember our patients while I eat and enjoy them. I remember how blessed I am to have enough food to eat, clean water, toilets, clean clothes, electricity, phone service, internet and so much more. I remember these things because the person who gave me the gift may not have any of these. And in remembering these blessings, I pray and thank God for them because it was by His grace that I am where I am.

"and a great cry arose from the people"

It is Friday at 1:45 (pm here, am there) After 8 days of no phone we are back online. Just moments ago the phone rang next door telling us service had been restored. You have never seen such happy people. Even Elaina the Nelsen's katulong(helper) cheered and I am not sure the phone being off has effected her life too much. Al had already left for clinic so I took it upon myself to replug the dsl back into the wall and voila' here I am. It was wonderful to feel connected to the world again. I read the emails from family and friends with tears in my eyes. Our lives weren't too impacted by the loss of phone service, but it sure is nice to be able to find out what is happening a world away. Didn't even know there was another hurricane!
Ginger

Welcome to the Third World!

In case any of you have tried to get in touch with us over the last few days, we have had been unavailable. It doesn't just feel like we have been run over by a cement truck. We have--literally. Well not actually us, but our communication systems. Thursday evening, the kids were in bed and we were enjoying some dessert and conversation on the Nelsen's lanai when we were suddenly plunged into darkness, followed by 2 small explosions. According to Scott this is never good. The explosions are a sign that for some reason a transformer has blown. In this case it was 2 transformers. A cement truck had some how caught some powerlines near the house, pulling them down along with a couple of power poles. Fortunately we were only with out power until early the next morning. While it was a little hot sleeping without the fans, at least it wasn't longer. The bad news is that during the night people came and cut the phone lines and stole the wires. Power is restored, but we are without phone service. This means no local phone and no dsl. Scott says it could take a couple of weeks for the phone company to replace the lines. Meanwhile we are experiencing mission life before the internet.
I am blogging this from an internet cafe in Mega Mall after church. We will soon be going to Ace Hardware for curtain rods and 2 new fans for our porch.(humidity and dampness means things often break here) Then we will have some lunch before heading home. There is a big debate on our lunch choice for today. Will wants to get his weekly hamburger in at Wendy's while Em thinks she would like to have something else. Who knows maybe Allan and I will win and we will eat at a real restaurant. We will probably avoid any type of Asian cuizine since we have rice almost daily at home and Will might start a rebellion if we ate it out too. Hope all is well with you.
Ginger

Will's Class

Here is a picture of Will's 3rd grade class. There are 2 Australians, 6 Americans, and 6 Koreans. His new good friends are Lawrence, Caleb, Noah, and Erika. He loves school, his class, and especially his teacher--Mrs. Brooks. Who by the way graduated from Auburn. War Eagle!

Old Yeller Update

OK here is an update to the below post "Old Yeller". If you haven't read it you might want to read it first.....
I (Ginger) have now eaten dog! I had to have a true Filipino experience and try it. Not too bad. If I hadn't know it was dog, I might have just assumed it was beef that was a little gamey. I am not saying I want to add it to our weekly menu, but in the case of a famine......Bonnie beware.

Manalangin - Please pray

Please continue to pray that our house would sell soon. The equity in our home is what we had planned to use to pay for our medical school debt. In every month that passes, we must make a payment on the student loan that we had not planned for.

Old Yeller

If you read the below post about driving, you know that there is an abundance of dogs here in PI. We had a special treat yesterday. Our neighbors by the clinic came to bring us a special treat---barbequed dog. It seems the dog was barking too much at night so they decided to put it out of it's misery and enjoy a delicacy at the same time.

Actually, I (Ginger) opted not to try this Filipino favorite. Maybe today I will get a little. I hope the Nelsen's didn't eat it all.

This Picture is of the Nelsen's new dog Bonnie. She is a great little Dachsund and Will adores her.(Emily too!) Don't fear - she is not on anyone's menu . . . Yet.

Driving!

Well, it wasn't long after our arrival that we had to jump into the world of driving. We picked up our van the Monday after our arrival and began driving in this crazy world. If you have ever been in a 3rd world country you know what I am talking about because I think they are all pretty much the same. The lanes are really just guidelines of where you might want to drive. All along the roadsides are people--people walking, people talking, kids playing, people going to catch a trike or a Jeepney, people basically not watching for you coming down the road. So we are constantly watching out for people and the multitude of dogs that seem to abound in this country and choose to nap in the middle of the road. If that was our only concerns it would be Ok, but traffic is heavy and as I said lanes are only a guideline.Cars, trucks, trikes, Jeepneys, and motorcycles are constanly swerving, changing lanes, and generally trying to get ahead regardless of what we are doing. The general law in regards to wrecks is that whoever is ahead is not at fault. Which seems crazy since that guy probably pulled over in front of you and tried to get in front of you. I try to drive without flinching and there have only been 2 major incidents when I have actually gasped. Both times Allan was driving. Once was when a semi truck began pulling over into our "lane" and literally came with in centimeters of our mirror and side of the car. I am not joking. I could have touched the side of his truck with out reaching very far. Much closer that what we would consider a close call in the states. The other incident was that same day on the way home. The truck next to us quickly slowed down. Allan began to slow too just in response, when a child darted out from in front of the truck. She was running across a major 6 lane road with outeven looking. This is so common that the truck drivers didn't even seem flustered, surprise, or anything. We on the other hand were shaken and had a nice check of our heart functions (they are working well). Many children (and adults) are killed from crossing the road. They don't even watch for cars. They seemed surprised we're there when we honk at them to watch out. I am not finished telling about driving. I am going to post again about my driving in particular. I will also attach a picture of our van which seems to be a question we are asked alot from the states. Above you can see a picture of a Jeepney and a trike. Both are forms of transportation for hire. A trike is kind of like a really cheap taxi and a Jeepney is like a bus. The Jeepneys are owned by individuals though and the places it travels between are listed on the side.