Picture of the week

You want to learn the language and culture of another people group? 

Well, then you had better get out to where the people are and do what they do, experience what they experience and build relationships.

I would prefer to "study" language at a desk and when I'm fluent then go and hang out...but that doesn't really work.

So, off I went asking my language helper if we could pound rice together.   

To be completely accurate, she pounded rice, I knocked a lot of rice out of the atong.

She winnowed the rice and I threw the rice in the air. 

She pounded it the second time and I tried to find a grip that didn't touch any of my new blisters. She winnowed again, telling me (kindly) that it would be faster if she would just do it. 

I went home with some nice blisters, a few words and a much deeper appreciation of what her everyday life is like. 

When we sat down the next day to talk about what we did, it was amazing to discover all that things you can say about pounding rice!

Clean water

Water.

Here that involves a bit more than opening your faucet.

 First you go to one of the 5 pumps in the village 

Start pumping. 

Once your bucket is full, you get to cart it home. 

While everyone uses this water, it is not clean water. These shallow wells are not deep and have been contaminated by typhoid in the past 

Clean water. This pool of water is from a spring that we would like to tap. 

The spring is about 2 kilometers up from the village. We would like to install a spring box (to collect the water and help build up pressure) and then pipe it down to the village. 

What we need is someone to help. Do you know someone who knows a bit about water systems and would like to visit us? Please be in prayer with us to provide clean water for the Ga'dang people.

Picture of the week

Vacation. Relax. Unwind. Enjoy time with friends.

After the New Year my friends, the Petersons, invited me to join them for a long weekend getaway. We all packed into the car and headed about 3 hours northeast of Manila to enjoy the sun, beach and beautiful scenery of Subic Bay.

 Yes, there are real horses in the Philippines!

Gina (the Peterson's helper) was pretty intimidated by the dolphin but had a great time.  

 Dana, Kylie, Gina and myself getting up close and personal with a dolphin

 Kate got to ride on a dolphin! She was thrilled. :-)

 Kate and I were able to go horseback riding. She loved it and was really brave!

Kylie loving on the dolphin.