Thursday 20 November 2014

Back from Bugnay

The last you heard from me (on my blog) was that I was going to a mountain village for two weeks of outreach.  Well, on Tuesday Ellora and I returned, so here is a little update. 

The actual outreach was very relaxed, it ended up being a time to really observe the culture and be involved with some of the activities that the midwifery clinic in the village do and we also fit in a little missionary support.  Some of you may have heard that prier to this trip I threw my back out and was laid up for about two days literally.  Even if I wasn't in bed I was lying down somewhere.  Anyway it healed up enough for me to go on the planned date and feels very good now.  Thank you all so much for praying!

Activities
The day after we arrived the Midwife clinic where we were staying (the clinic is an extension of the clinic here in Tabuk with their own midwife ( a missionary from the states) supervisor and local midwives who live and work there.) had their prenatal day where expecting mothers come for devotionals, teaching on a topic related to motherhood, their medical prenatal checkups and for Merienda (a term used for snacks in between meals; it's wonderful!),  Ellora opened in prayer and I closed in prayer after the  devotion.  
The next day we walked down to the village (the clinic is situated above the village with a few other dwellings) and it is quite the walk; complete with a catwalk like suspended bridge.  The purpose of the strip was for a teaching time for mothers called a "Well Baby Seminar" This included lots of women and their children all packed into a church watching an hour long teaching video and as always, complete with Meriends (Merienda is included in everything here which is absolutely wonderful in my opinion.)   From there re received a wonderful tour of the town,  It is an amazing village I would love to show pictures but I seem to have misplaced the object that transfers my photos from my camera to my computer, when I find it I will post them. 

The next day I got to go to the village again and it was so neat to see the people there, their homes, and their families, they are all such wonderful and beautiful people.  

A speed bump in the plans
Later that day I got a text saying that I needed to sort some paper work out for my enrollment with National College of Midwifery: my high school transcripts had not been signed by a school official, the cutoff date I needed to get this in was November 20th.  the sudden panic was my fault as I had not had my head in the right place and although I sent an e-mail asking for it to get signed I had not fully dealt it with it yet and had not realized the urgency.  So back I cam from Bugnay to Tabuk to sort it all out and I received some killer motion sickness on the bumpy ride back.  Fortunately when I returned I had an e-mail waiting for me from my high school overseer with the scanned signed transcript so I sent it to the college but then remembered they wanted the overseer to send it.  Thankfully I was able to get a hold of my dear mother and she miraculously found the phone of the teacher (we have not used this number in about three years) so she calls my former teacher/overseer and actually gets a hold of her.  Apparently she had just got in the door and the next morning she was leaving for three weeks (thank you God for your timing!).  She sent it right away.  But before I went back to the world of no internet access I knew I should confirm with National College to make sure everything was well.  But in order to do that I had to wait for Tuesday or midnight Monday  in the Philippines which is Monday in New Mexico (where the school is stationed).  So I figured I'd just hang out for a few days and maybe get in on some births...good plan right?...well....

A speed bump on the speed bump
I woke up at 4 the next morning with a nasty stomach flu.  So for a full 24 hours I was out of commission except to lay in bed watch movies and sip the occasional fluids,  I was well taken care of though the girls made sure I had lots of fluids and that I wasn't dying (which had crossed my exhausted mind at about 7 that morning).  Monday dawned with wellness and that night (or early morning) I stayed up till after midnight to skype call the college: I got the confirmation that everything was in order and Tuesday morning I took a buss back to Bugnay

Bugnay trip continues 
so the adventure in Bugnay continued with beautiful walks great talks with our host (the midwife missionary) about midwifery and missions, helping the said person with cleaning her future little house and assisting in some paperwork organization as well as doing some midwife book reading.  The last day before we came back we went to the next province and visiting one of it's cities.  Ellora and I visited the museum which held artifacts and history of the local tribal people, it was fascinating!  Then on Tuesday we made the journey back.  Hopefully I can get these photos to you soon so you can get an idea of how gorgeous this place was.  

Oh dear so much for the "little update" this is getting really long i apologize and give you all permission to skim read.  

Since then
Since returning I got my confirmation that I am an official student of Natinal College of Midwifery.  So begins the coalition of being a long distance education student and a missionary volunteer.  Ellora (as she is also enrolled) received our first assignment, it's quite exciting! 

Since returning Bugnay I have been feeling really good emotionally.  I won't lie; it has not been easy adjusting to a new living environment and routine.  But I have felt really happy and content the last few days and I am eager to study and ready to embrace what ever comes next.  Thank you everyone so much for your prayers and support.  Do keep praying for continual language learning as I begin to force myself to speak little bits of ilocano here and there and prayers for understanding as I begin to learn new concepts. 

love you all so much!
Vienna 

Monday 3 November 2014

November Beginnings....

Well, here we are at the beginning of another month......

Whats new? 
 Well I have seen 13 births now which is pretty exciting!  I am slowly becoming more involved with each which also comes with much excitement.  This last Friday was our last regular language class, no i am not fluent but i know more than when I started.  Fortunately our wonderful teacher will continue to come every Friday, so we won't be completely on our own.

Whats next?
tomorrow morning we are going to Bugnay; a mountain tribal village for outreach.  We will be staying in midwifery clinic above above the village.  The town has no internet and limited cell service so if you are wondering why I am not replying to e-mails and facebook messages I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.  They do have electricity and tv.  Do be praying for this trip that we have an opportunity to make a difference,  we will be encouraged to connect with people and we have heard whispers of maybe doing a Bible study, so pray that Ellora and I have confidence and words of wisdom as we talk and connect with the people of the village.

A Setback
Saturday night I threw my back out bad enough that for about 20 minutes I couldn't stand, fortunately it has improved since then and I can move but sitting is not very good, so I am lying down lots and walking a little bit, basically I am limited which is coming at a bad time for us leaving tomorrow, please pray that this improves so that there will no pain or little enough that it is not hindering, it is getting better but in small increments so I don't think I did any major damage just pulled some muscles or threw something out.

A cool answer to prayer
a few days after I wrote my last blog Ellora and I were walking back from the market and two little girls started walking beside us, we didn't pay much attention as we were lost in conversation.  But then they started talking to us in the language; we couldn't understand all if it (partly because there was loud traffic going by us) but we figured they were asking us if we spoke ilocano, of which we able to reply simply "Bassit" (little) from there we had a very, very basic conversation in ilocano which was very exciting! Even though it wasn't much I was very much encouraged that I knew more than I sometimes think.  But do pray that we will have importunity to practice the language.  a few other situations like this have come up and they are wonderful little answers to prayer concerning language learning.

Some sad news and some good news
As I think I mentioned last time I found a church I am trying to go to regularly, sadly the pastor and his wife lost a son to a heart attack so if you could please for their family during this time.

Out of the 25 books that have to be read (besides our assignments) I am currently working on the 12th, I had read I think it was three and a half before I came so I had little head-start,  I am very thankful for this as soon we will be very busy with clinical and assignments and there will be limited time for extra reading.

I want to close by saying how grateful I am to all of you at home and in Vavenby Christian Church, your prayers, actions and words of encouragement have meant more than you know and help when I have days of being overwhelmed or homesick.  Thank you so much for your love and support.

and finally as promised here a few pictures.....
                                                               the rice fields being planted
                                   dong laundry....yes...that is a hand pump...my mom used to laugh at me when I would hand wash something for fun....little did either of us know....

                                               Canadian Thanksgiving with our Abundant family!
right before my first official shift
a section of the market (not a very good picture) on hot days they put curtains up to avoid the direct sun light 

                                             walking home from the market (about a 25 minute walk, we've learned not to do it when it is REALLY hot) in front of us is a tricy-a motorcycle with an attached cart-this is our main way to get around.
                      eating a much craved hamburger (we don't eat a lot of red meat because it id very expensive)
in Tuguegarao wihch is our big city where we have to go for certain immigration stuff (and has great hamburger and pizza)