Tough Little Girls

I think I have successfully mastered the names of all the 18 girls! Makes me feel much better being able to call girls by names, even if we can't communicate anything else between us. Yesterday we took 6 girls to the dentist to have teeth extracted (it's common here)! It was crazy to see how the hospital system works here. We walked into an office, a girl gave her name and sat down, was given some numbing meds and WHAM! Pulled that tooth right out, put some cotton in and they are set to go. Tough, tough little girls!!!!

After getting their teeth pulled. 

The night before last, i was sitting on the front porch and one of the girls came up to start talking to me. She started with really simple and common questions like "what is your favorite color," and we eventually got to questions with a little more meat like when and how I became a Christian. I got to tell her about how my parents taught me all my life about God and what He has done for me. They taught me right and wrong and I knew Jesus died for me. But I also got to share with this girl how when I went to college, I turned my back on all that I knew and on God, and did what was right in my own eyes. BUT that God didn't give up on me. He kept pulling at my heart and pulling at my heart, and when I finally crashed and fell, He was right there to catch me. And that I have begun to change the way I think about God. He is no longer jsut the rule enforcer or God who was far far away. He has become my savior, my comforter, my friend, my constant companion, my father, my provider, my strength. Anyways, she went on to ask me more about my "backsliding" which I was open with her about. I asked her if she was a Christian and she told me her testimony. It was so similar to mine. But then she told me her story of how she was battered and abused by someone, which is how she got here. She has decided to see the whole thing as a good thing because it has saved her from the road she was going down. I made sure to communicate that God did not cause the abuse or want it. That it was a result of a fallen world and man's sin. But how incredible that such a wonderful girl could turn this situation around in her mind for good. What a big God we serve! I got to pray with her after and now I feel connected to her. It was exactly what I love to get to share and experience hurt together, and work through those emotions and talk through the results. She also shared with me her desire to go on to be a psychiatrist for people with similar problems but that she didn't think it would happen because college costs too much. In my head, I began to wonder how much a college education here could really cost and the effect it would have on her life and those she helped. Surely there is something we can do!

We got to sleep in this morning til 5:30am because it's saturday. Yes, i said "sleep in." :) I woke them up for GST (God's Special Time), but yesterday I saw how sleepy they were throughout GST, so I played some music and we stretched and did some yoga moves! Started the day with some laughter and smiles. I had the girls read Psalm 139 and write down two things that God says about their worth to Him. I asked them to keep it in their pocket throughout the day and read it occasionally to remember how fearfully and wonderfully made their were and how much their Creator has loved them from the womb til now and forever. Things like this sound wonderful in theory, but i am not sure how much they fully comprehend what I saw because some speak english and some don't, so a girl translates for me. I just have to hand it over to God to open their hearts, ears and eyes.

This was a sign at the mall. I thought it was too funny. This is literally a constant game I play of- try to figure out what they meant to say. :)

Donated supplies!

Precious girls! 

After breakfast, we started our general cleaning day. I did my laundry with the girls and it took2 hours of bending over a cleaning pale and scrubbing. Laundry day no longer means separating the clothes and having to remember to switch the loads. It means, rinse them all, then wash them one at a time by applying some soap and scrubbing inch by inch around the whole piece of clothing! Then rinse, then rinse again, and probably turn it inside out and rinse again. Then wring with all the power you can muster. My, oh my. It's tiring! :) BUT there was one little girl who kept coming and hugging me from behind every 5 minutes. Precious! This I can happily do without having to understand Visaya.

This is a Jeepney. They are a very common form of transportation here. This one happens to be Nehemiah's Jeepney but most are public. It holds wayyy too many people. There's always room for one more (not). 

Laundry time

Everyone helps in laundry

more laundry

this is the funny girl of the group :) there are many funny ones actually- she just had everyone's attention at this cleaning time :) 

And we wonder why they are so strong :)

wringing- very important step in laundry

All done today! 

I never stop drinking water here- so hot (init)! 

Building forts out of their foam mattresses while they wash their sheets!! 

Some interesting things I have learned:

-The fishier the food, the better. if you can see the eyeballs of the fish you are eating, and the tail-- you have one good fish.
-There are over 7 different kinds of bananas here- red, green, yellow. Some in ketchup, some you cut up and eat with chicken.
-"nu-uh" means "yes" here. Quite the opposite effect in my head!

I am also fighting a cold. Weird that I can get a cold in a place that I am sweating 24/7, but sore throats and runny nose and headaches are not confined to the cold weather I do suppose. And I am in a place where it seems that endless energy would not even be enough, so my prayer request is for health and energy!

To the big city ;)

Mimay's healthy baby boy is now named Mark Joseph! The whole entire family is adorable! I just had to take a few pictures of them to show the world what a handsome family they are! Because they have PhilHealth, the entire labor and delivery is free except for the additional cost of a private room (since she was about to deliver in the waiting room) and the birth certificate and newborn physical. Therefore, my supporters are now the supporters of these few fees :)

Joseph, Mimay, Nina, Venice & Mark Joseph

I am now onto the next adventure in the Philippines. Miss Patti brought me down to Cagayan de Oro yesterday to check in to the YWAM Nehemiah House to volunteer as a "house parent" for awhile. I just arrived yesterday but I can fill you in on what I do know so far. I do know that I will go through a period of adjusting to being in a new place again (I really need God's strength), I do know that this will be a more structured and regimented position than in Pandan (where I mostly just hung out with kids and did Bible studies). I am so nervous. I am scared that the communication barrier will be tougher when I am in a role where I am supposed to enforce rules. God is teaching me new lessons every day and they all seem to point to the fact that I need to rely on Him. For everything. For companionship, for communication, for peace, for comfort, for strength, for love to overflow, for patience, for the ability to feel familiarity.

So, what I do know about my new place and new role:

I am a house parent.
I need to learn these 18 girls' names and get to know their personalities.
I need to learn the 28 rules of the house and how to enforce them through broken English.
I need to wake up at 4am every morning to wake the girls up and have their GST (God's special time).
I am supposed to just be a big sister to these 18 girls.
I need to learn some new dance moves because they love to dance.
I do not have the energy of these 10 year olds but God will just have to provide it for me.
I will love these girls because they are God's children and God loves them so much.
I can be used as God's instrument to be a light to these girls.
I will need God for all of the above (esp the 4am wake up.. no roosters here ;))

I took a few pictures this morning around the house to give yall an idea of where I am. The girls are busy doing their morning chores in these pictures :)

Doing dishes

Cleaning "the surroundings"

Lunches for the day

Sweeping the room

The Nehemiah House, home to 18 girls

The play area out front

Bouncer- the guard dog. Sweet as can be though

Any fun Bible study ideas or games would be appreciated! Love you all!

Lalaki (It's a boy!)

Knock, knock, knock... "Whit, are you up? Mimay is in labor." :) I have been waiting for this wake up call! I throw some clothes on, stumble downstairs, and run out the door to find sweet Mimay draping over a couch going through contractions. With coffee in hand, woman contracting every 1.5 minutes, and about 7 people, we head to the birthing center on a motorella (not to mention the fact that we are bottoming out on the bumping roads and are holding our coffee out the back so it doesn't spill on us, while the whole town waves us goodbye and good luck).

We get to the birthing center (it is illegal to birth in the house here because of some practices that midwives were using that were harmful to the babies being born) with Miss Patti trying to get someone to help us. No help. Miss Patti talks a man into letting us have a private room where we set up and all help Mimay through some more contractions. Still no help from anyone in the center... Miss Patti starts getting ready to catch the baby herself. Mimay is doing amazing- looking beautiful as ever [she's such a beautiful filipino]. Finally they come in to take her to the delivery room... where I actually get to follow!!! I won't go into details [although it was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life], but she delivered only a minute or so after we got into the delivery room. Miss Patti grabbed the baby and started checking for breathing and whatnot while I take a nice look over the baby. A week before we had gone in for an ultrasound and found out the baby was a girl. Mimay already has two girls and was hoping for a son, but she was still so pleased! Mimay and her husband (Joseph) decided to name the little girl Whitney after me!!!! Isn't that just so sweet that they would even consider it?! I was flabbergasted! BUT as I look over the baby, I see something that should not be on a baby girl. So I said to Miss Patti "It's a boy, right?" (I was thoroughly confused because I thought ultrasounds are pretty reliable). Miss Patti didn't hear me the first few times as she was checking for breathing, but she heard me finally and her eyes got huge! She turned to Mimay and said, "lalaki! (it's a boy)." Mimay lit up, grabbed Miss patti and kissed her cheek, then turned to me and smiled huge and pulled me in for a huge hug!!!! She was soooo delighted!!! I (being the occasional emotional mess ;)) teared up and just kept looking from baby boy to Mimay with a huge smile and holding Mimay's hand. It was amazing!!!! And this is a big boy too. 8lbs 7 oz which is BIG for a filipino baby!

Making it through a contraction

Beautiful baby boy!

checking some vitals

Praise the Lord, what a morning!!!

Catch Up

So the internet has been down for awhile now, and it feels like living life in the Philippines is becoming more natural. I am used to having dirty, wet feet that tracks sand everywhere, I am used to being in a constant state of sweat, I am used to there NEVER being a moment of silence (roosters, dogs, cats, babies, kids playing in the street, fishing boats, karaoke next door), I am used to ants being a part of my daily food intake, I am used to ducking all the time, I am used to never knowing what is being said around me, I am used to going to bed at 8:30 and waking up at 4:30ish, I am used to walking down the streets of Pandan with everybody saying hello and i am even getting the hang of saying "maayong buntag (good morning)" or "maayong gabii (goodnight)." I am used to little kids running up to me with their hands up meaning they want their try at a high five with the tall girl :) I am used to the fact that a meal is not a meal without rice. I am learning the names of people and realizing that everyone is related to someone somehow. I am realizing that the filipino culture is very social and family oriented. I am realizing that the filipinos pretty much all understand what i am saying, but rarely know how to answer in english (i am surrounded by really good listeners ;)).

Some other realizations: In America, I journal my prayers and thoughts daily. It really makes me focus and come back to the reality of what is important. I brought my journal here thinking I would be madly journaling, but I have come to realize that there aren't so many distractions here. My communication with God and my focus on Him just surrounds me. When I try to sit to journal, i feel like i have nothing to journal because i've been thinking on it all day and talking to God about it. The oddest part is that most times i have nothing to say to God. I just am with God. Does that make sense? I can just sit down somewhere in a room with people or out on the beach by myself and just be with God. My mind isn't going 100 mph with plans and to-do lists like it does when I'm in America. I have nothing to do here but be with God. I'm not trying to make it sound like I have perfected communication or time iwht God, but it's like i have no choice here. It just is. AND sometimes God hits me with the fact that He loves each and every one of these people here just as much as He does in the States. These are my brothers and sisters too even if i don't understand them.

Okay- a few catch up stories:

Saturday morning i got invited to go play volleyball with the members of the Gingoog Volleyball Association. Coya Gong Gong picked me up on his motorcycle at 5:30am Saturday morning along with another guy (rolling 3 deep on a motorcycle, totally natural). As we drove through Pandan, 3 more motorcycles full of guys joined us. We drove up to this outdoor court at the base of the mountains and there were about 15 other motorcycles of volleyball men there. It's like a motorcycle gang of volleyball players :) They were all my age or older and spoke little english (except one engineer who was explainging things to me). We played for 3 hours! It was a blast! They laughed everytime i blocked someone or hit past someone. They all seemed to really enjoy one another and teased a lot (i think at least). They all started putting money down before games and I thought it was betting, but at the end of the games, a guy took all the money and went to buy fresh bread and tang. We all sat down and ate breakfast together. It was AWESOME! Talk about a cool little community of guys here! They invited me back for all my remaining Saturdays so this is something I will look forward to every week.

We did another outreach last night through The Father's Hand ministries here in Pandan. We handed out food and clothing. It was so fun to see the peoples' face light up like it was Christmas- and the really cool part about doing it in Pandan was that I knew most of the people and have started building relationships with them. I even helped walk some ladies home with their new gifts and by the time i walked back to my house, I saw one of the elderly women taking some of her food to her neighbor to share!!! How awesome is that?!

On Saturday we went to finish buying the necessary wood and cement for the beach courts (soccer and volleyball). Then the rest of Saturday was spent digging eight 3x3 holes and putting posts down in cement. It was hot and tiring!!! But today we will put the rope down and have the finished courts! praise the lord!!

Sign in the PhilHealth pregnancy center :)

I got a picture of our Elroy Baylor Bear fan! His mom is Ate Alma- my filipino momma! 

The Wednesday bible study- it's huge! kids running around constantly. 

My neighbors on the rooftop next to me :)

A special presentation in church. Sing and dance is really big here. 

Road work. The gov't needs some english lessons :)

The Father's Hand Ministry outreach in Pandan

The clothes being picked out! :)

Everyone pile in for church. Yes, this is normal. 

The happy Nehemiah girls

This might be my favorite. There is a guy driving this motorcycle and they have two more guys balanced on either side of the driving motorcycle and then this motorcycle is strapped on top with a guy texting on it. Only in the Philippines!

A Few Days Late

I wrote this on the 19th- we haven't had internet... so it's a little late. 

I am about to just ramble. I have so much to say because today was such a blessed day!!! I started out the day going to the doctor’s office with Mimay who is now 41 weeks along. We were going to have a biophysical done and found out she is having a girl! One thing I am so surprised about here, is that in the states we would have parties about finding out the sex, and tell everyone and get excited. Well, we when we were walking back through Pandan she saw her husband and told him and they just kept walking like it was no big deal. So odd to me, but it must be a cultural thing! But I did get to walk Mimay to her house while I held her little 1 year old daughter. The daughter clung to me and put her head on my chest and I think I melted a little bit! I got to ask Mimay about her life. The most amazing part to me (and so humbling) was that she loves living here even though her home has no walls (basically it’s a porch) because they don’t have enough bamboo yet. But she is happy, and has a beautiful family. I hope I got to show her God’s love today because she sure reminded me of storing my treasures in heaven and not on earth! 

Double teaming a patient with my wonderful teacher

Rain doesn't stop us

Health area for the outreach

After this I went to bible study where 17 women showed up & about 15 little kids running around us the whole time! We talked about how Jesus calls us to have faith and there can be power in our faith if we only pray and believe! He says we can direct the mountains to move! Powerful! As I sat in this circle of women, I realized that I know most by name by now. This made me incredibly happy because even though I don’t know what they are saying half the time, I know that they know me and I know them, and that we pray for and with one another. It is easy to get to know this community because even though there are 198 families in Pandan, you walk through the streets every day. And as you walk through the streets, you say hi and stop to talk to everyone multiple times a day. The word chica-chica here means like gossip or small talk. I can totally see why that can go on in a community like this where there is constant talking to everyone throughout the entire day!

Also as I walk down the street, I often get told “Ate Whitney, you are beautiful,” (geez, I will miss all that when I get back to the states ;)), but I always reply with “Dili, you are gwapa (beautiful).” They smile and we continue this game back and forth until I finally conclude it with “We are both guapa because God made us in His image.” I do not know if they understand me or not, but it is a true statement that is also a good reminder for myself. [Funny side note: they think my taas (long) nose is a thing of beauty, they all mention it. I tell them in America we have surgeries to get our noses to look as cute and little (gamay) as theirs ;) ] My signature thing with all the kids here is high fives (which they call “up here”). I use my height and make them all jump to hit my hands though. This usually ends up in a group of 10 kids trying to hit my hands all at once. So much giggling and so many smiles with no communication. I love it!

The Outreach

Nehemiah girls preparing to hand out the food rations

Today is worship and wash Wednesday, so I took all my nasty laundry (believe me, by now it is nastttyyy) to the river. Ate Alma has really taken on the role of my Filipino momma (Miss Patti is my American momma in the Philippines ;)). She helped me with all my laundry again!! Ridiculous! There was a girl who is 10 years old next to us doing the laundry for her entire family. She was straight muscling tshirts and shorts with her soap and brush, completely focused and content. I thought about 10 year olds that I know in America that throw fits and defy their parents about simply picking up their toys! And this little girl was slaving away at her entire family’s laundry with a smile on her face!!! BUT as I was standing in this crystal clear water, listening to worship songs, surrounded by these hard working Filipinos and I was praising God for allowing me to be where I am. Praising Him for the people around me. Praising Him for loving each and every one of us, as different as all of us are. I know that I came here to serve and show people God’s love, but my goodness, I feel like my cup is filling up and overflowing from all that I have seen and experienced and that God is doing!

Today I got to experience my first outreach. This is basically where we go to a surrounding baraguay (village/community) and provide healthcare, tell them about Jesus, perform dances and sing songs and distribute food. I don’t even know where to begin with this story because my hands are so excited and wanting to type everything at once. Let me start by saying that I for sure want to be a nurse. We started taking patients in and were straight taken over from people needing their BP checked or blood sugar checked or had a fever or an infection or any other odd ailment. I think I checked about 30 BPs tonight and took about 15 blood sugars. I got to treat some high blood pressures, some low blood sugars, a fever, see a shingles outbreak on a little kid, some goiters, a major infected wound from post surgery, and more. But I also got to pray over and with every patient. It was powerful. It says in Matthew that where two or more are gathered in Christ’s name, there Jesus is. Well, Jesus was there tonight. The Healer heard our pleas. There was such God given peace in the midst of complete chaos going on with all the patients. I loved every single second. I could have stayed there for hours upon hours seeing more people. Miss Patti was wonderful. She had a smile on her face the whole time even though she had the tougher job. Her medical assistant (and who I almost feel is a sister to me here) Grace and I were screening patients and would send the huge problems to her. She taught me the whole time. It was unbelievable. I just can’t quite find the words I want to use to let you guys experience what I experienced tonight. After all the medical work (it got too dark, we were using cell phones for light to continue seeing people), I played the “up high” game with these kids. They loved it. About 30 of them surrounded me and I said “well alright” and slapped my hands together and they all mimicked me. It was so funny and precious. They even ran after my motorella while I was driving off. It totally rejuvenated me!

The outreach

Checked so many BPs... Thanks hiltons for the supplies :)

Smiling probably because i don't understand her

Notice how packed it is

Pastor and the missionary who donated for the outreach

  

Oh yeah, I don’t think I ‘ve talked about motorellas here. Motorellas are motorcycles with like a cab attached to it that people can sit in the front and back of. They are super cheap to get around in (7 pesos per person… less than 25 cents in US) and completely gas efficient. They replace taxis here, and I love them.

Well I have more I could ramble about, but if I ramble too much, yall might not keep reading so that’s all for tonight! It’s my usual bedtime (8:30 ;)). Internet isn’t working here tonight so I’ll post this in the morning.

Thank you all for your prayers. God is huge. God is making His presence known here in the tiniest/poorest villages I’ve seen and He is making His presence known in America. Ah- one last thing. I was reading in Matthew 24 today. I challenge you to read it and then tell me you don’t feel like you have to tell everyone about Christ and His offer of salvation. The ending is coming like a thief in the night, we have work to do Christians. 

I've mentioned basketball practice, so Miss Patti caught a few pictures from it

Yes, all the kids play with no shoes and we play on a dirt court. I have gone butt down a few times trying to stop :)