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?