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.

Teacher, student, baby and baby-sitter

Oh the joys of language learning!!!

Talk about mulit-tasking! Mildred asked her younger sister to care for her baby, but she just wanted mama. So, Ivy jumps in and gets to watch Shannon learn the words for sun, hill, mountain, etc. 

Please pray for Shannon and myself for sharp brains, great memory and tongues to cooperate.

Ansa Anggan na yaw?? (What is the name of this?)

The time has come and the time is now....

to plan for language session

to prepare....

and finally search far and wide....my front porch...for someone who speaks the language. :-)

Please be praying for Shannon and myself as we get into learning the language and culture of the Ga'Dang people so that we can one day tell that all that Christ has done for them.

What got done in 7 weeks?

Check out what we were able to get done during our last 2 months in the tribe. 

Check out my partner's blog to read all about it.

A visitor

It has been long since I last updated so here goes. My partners and I were able to move into the village last August. We've spent the last 7 weeks living, adjusting and....of course...house building! :-) The end is in sight and the to-do list is getting shorter.

Shortly before we left to go to Manila we had an unexpected visitor. Jonathan Bamford is our Regional leader and through a series of events was able to visit us for a bit. Check out his story.

We hit Manila expecting to return to the tribe in 10 days. As we all know our plans aren't the ones the usually happen. As it looks now, Typhoon Juan (international name, Megi) is hitting Northern Luzon and will postpone our plans for a bit. For the Talbots and I, it really only means staying with friends a little longer. For our friends in the tribe, it means getting their rice harvest in as fast as they can. Pray that there will be minimal damage and that they would be able to harvest all of their food.