What's for breakfast???

How about some Quail eggs? They are tiny and good and surprisingly taste like....chicken, well chicken eggs anyway.




The kids love them

Lord I stand in the midst of a multitude

Lord I stand in the midst of a multitude
Of those from every tribe and tongue

We are Your people redeemed by Your blood

Rescued from death by Your love

There are no words

Good enough to thank You

There are no words to express my praise

But I will lift up my voice

And sing from my heart

With all of my strength

Yesterday. as we sang the chorus above, a parade of 15 flags decended fom the balcony of our sanctuary. Most of them unfamiliar flags from the nations of Myanmar, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Turkey, Pakistan, Thailand, Sri Lanka. The flag bearers, dressed in traditional attire, came across the podium where they stopped and shouted words of praise to the Lord in the national language. I've witnessed similar scenes at missions conferences in America as churches celebrate the different places they are involved in missions, but this one was different. These 15 flags were from countries all in Asia, all in the 10/40 window, most predominately muslim, and all resistent to the gospel. All of these flag bearers were from these countries. They have come here to the Philippines to go to Seminary. Our church is working in conjunction with Campus Crusade for Christ to provide training for Christian leaders from all over Asia, particularty from countries where this type of schooling would be illegal. During the past month of mission emphasis at church, many have shared of their salvation and God's faithfulness through persecution in their home countries. Rejected by family and friends, loss of jobs, governmental persecution, and fear for personal safety have filled their lives since choosing to follow Christ. It is something most American Christians have never experienced. They have come here to study and learn, to then return and be Christian leaders in places where it is hard to be a Christian. They know the risks in returning, yet they have a passion for their fellow countrymen to come to Christ. It was quite inspiring to see these fellow Christians as we praised the Lord together, one congregation from many nations lifting up the name of God. The above chorus continues:

Hallelujah hallelujah

hallelujah To the Lamb

Hallelujah hallelujah

By the blood of Christ we stand

Every tongue, every tribe

Every people, every land

Giving glory giving honor

Giving praise unto the Lamb of God

If you are unfamiliar with this song you can hear a 30 second sample at: http://www.audiblefaith.com/music/realclips/sample.ram?song=200879

***By the way a prize goes to the first person who can email me with the correct names to the flags on this page. (all of the coutries are named above)

Wal Mart of the Philippines

Well, not quite... but you get the picture (pun intended):
Some of these pictures were taken by our recent guests when we took them to the local market for a shopping/sightseeing/cultural adaptation trip.

This would be the housewares section.













And the produce section.

The Health and Beauty Aisle- notice everything comes in a single use size

The Bakery: sticky rice anyone?

Poulty: No need to worry about freshness

New class begins

This February we began a new Healthcare Workers Training class. This class is unusual in that it contains all expatriates serving as missionaries here in the Philippines. Most are from New Tribes Mission and plan to work in some of the most remote areas of the Philippines. This class was fortunate to have Dr. Jim Davis begin their training with an introduction to dentistry, including discussion about proper anesthesia and dental extractions. Before and after the lecture, the students had the opportunity to put their skills use with hands-on training in dental care.

One of the interesting points that Jim made during his talk was the comparison of proper anesthesia to the love of Christ. He commented that often times when medical care is provided to those lacking in either routine medical care or lacking in money, shortcuts are often taken by the medical professionals (often with a rationalization about why the shortcuts are taken). However, we as Christ's ambassadors, should seek to love the person as Christ does, which in his work, means providing a completely numb tooth prior to repair or extraction. The Bible states it likes this, "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Col 3:17 NIV

Dentistry Again

Once again we have a dentist working in our clinic. A longtime friend of the Nelsen's has been here for the last week taking care of some of the many rotten teeth that need to be pulled in our patients. Since 1998, Dr. Davis and his family have come to the Philippines and worked in our clinic 7 times. He was actually supposed to be teaching at a CMDA(Christian Medical Dental Association) conference in Kenya, but due to political unrest it was canceled. While we grieve with the turmoil currently continuing in Kenya, we are thankful to have Jim and his daughter Bethany here with us. Last Wednesday over 125 people showed up for dental care. We will try to take care as many as possible during the rest of this week. Tomorrow, Jim will be teaching some basic dentistry to our current Health Training Class. (our new class began last week. I am sure a blog about them is coming) Maybe one of them will be able to take care of some minor dentistry in the coming weeks.

Here is a quote from an email Jim sent out last week. I thought it was a good glimpse into our patients mouths....... "Today (Wed) we had a busy day at clinic. I set up both chairs and had them both going at the same time with Edna as translator and assistant. Bethany and one of the students helped keep up with the sterilization of instruments. We saw about 30 pts and took out a lot of really bad teeth, some of the worse I have seen. Had a number of repeat customers who remembered me from past trips. Ling had not told anyone we were coming, and hadn't made out a "schedule" because of the last minute plans we made, yet we had a steady stream of pts and had to tell a lot of folks to come back next week. Some of the extractions were very tough, but all went well and the pts were wonderful to work with. Much more tolerant than pts I see in the states. Thanks for your prayers, they made a big difference. They were very appreciative of the care, especially being numb for the extractions. Inspite of a full clinic, we were able to pray with each pt and show them Christ's love thought the dental care."

I love the second picture above. For those of you who haven't seen her, the lady in the middle is our nurse Ling Ling. She is the one who keeps everything running for us here. Without her our life would be a lot tougher. The masked lady next to her is Edna. She is a Filipina midwife who volunteers in our clinic once a week. She is such a blessing to our ministry.

Kung Hei Fat Choi

or Happy Chinese New Year! The streets of Manila are once again festooned with red Chinese paper lanterns. With a large Chinese population in the Philippines, this is a day for celebrating. Today we begin the Year of the Rat! When we lived in the US, I couldn't have told you what time of year Chinese New Year occured. Now I not only know the date each year (it moves by the way), but also the yearly animal. So I will pass along to you the greeting given here in the PI "Kung hei Fat Choi!"
On a personal note- Em and I were out at the store yesterday and one of the salemen said this greeting to me. I didn't understand what he said and asked him to repeat himself. Again not understanding him, I repeated back..."I have a choice?? of what?" His response..."No, Happy Chinese New Year! Kung Hei Fat Choi!" How embarrassing!

Grocery stores and markets have out boxes of Tikoy (Chinese New Year pudding) This is a standard delicacy for Filipinos during the celebration of Chinese New Year.