Thursday, March 27, 2008

Tickets booked!

I booked my flight today. I fly home on August 5th! Due to funny time zone stuff I leave at 6 in the morning on Tuesday but arrive in Baltimore Tuesday in the afternoon. I'll be home for about 6 months, catching up with family and friends, going to my Grandmother's 90th Birthday party and speaking in some churches. I plan to return to the Philippines about mid-January 2009. See you all soon!

Monday, March 24, 2008

TB

Going to the clinic every week Dana and I see some rather sad cases. Last week a mother brought in her two sons. The younger had an ugly burn on his thigh and the older looked sickly. Well, skinny, lifeless and coughing would be a better description. Since Dana and I are in the process of learning we examine the patients after the Dr does. So the older boy had his belly rubbed, ears examined and chest listened to three times. Did he object? Cry or fidget? Nope. His chart showed that he had lost 2 kilos in 2 months (5 pounds). As you know a growing child should never be losing weight. A chest x-ray was ordered just to confirm the dr's diagnosis. On the way out the mom mentioned that the younger had the same cough, so he got a chest x-ray too. One week later the x-rays were brought back, and it confirmed that they did indeed have TB. The mom then said that their uncle who lives with them and cares for the children has TB. In the one weeks time the older boy had gained 2 kilos and the ribs of his chest weren't as pronounced. Its one thing to see stuff on TV and another to sit in front of this child and listen to his chest.
But praise the Lord he and his brother are on medicine and should make a full recovery. Its not all sad stuff, we will get to know these guys as they come in for follow ups and see how they progress. Maybe one day they will know who Jesus is and what He did for them.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

I finally made it!

I had my big language evaluation on Monday. The interview was pretty challenging but I guess thats the point of it...to stretch your language ability to see where it stops. For example, one question was, "When teaching about the Bible what would you teach differently here than you would in the States?" But it was good and now I've reached the required language proficiency level needed to go into a tribe. Salamat sa Dios! Capable Low na ako! In May I'll have a 'stamp of approval' final. That one doesn't really matter since its more of a formality. So that just leaves Chuck and Shannon to reach their level. They have their evaluations in the next week or so.
Anyway, now we can focus on the next step, where will we go? We are praying and meeting together that God would show us clearly which place He would have us go.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Recap

The end of the road and the beginning of the hike.
This is the vehicle that took the guys to the end of the road.
This is on the way to Payao...the way back was the same just upstream and it was raining.
On the way to Payao. That was the path the whole way, either over rocks or through the river (with rocks in it)
This is the view of the airstrip on the approach. Its the itty bitty strip of normal green by the tip of the wing, in the center.

I seem to have gotten the pics loaded backwards. Bottom pic is the beginning and scroll up.
Sorry, I don't seem to be too techno-savvy.

Here is a quick timeline our survey. We flew into Maragat on a Friday, Saturday we hiked to Payao, Sunday through Thursday we got rained in and flew out on Friday. That same Friday I went straight to Manila by bus so that the girl who was taking care of my dog could come up for her niece's funeral. Monday the guys went to Ga'Dang and returned to Manila on Thursday.

Hiking to Payao was quite the adventure, 17 river crossings one way! But we got there and met the people and saw lots of potential. We also saw a possible airstrip area and an area to build houses.

The guys trip to Ga'Dang was a bit more rugged. They were driven to the end of the road and then hiked through pyscho sticky mud for 3 hours. They had to haul all their food and drink with them. Needless to say they came back beat and skinnier.