I hope and pray that wherever you are in your part of the
world your Christmas is a special one.
Last night I was sitting up on our roof contemplating how
this year is a historical one for me.
Not just because I am in the Philippines and having a tropical Christmas
but because it is the first Christmas I am spending away from home. I have spent 21 Christmases in Vavenby,
British Columbia on Aveley Ranch in the home I grew up in. There is definitely some homesickness going
on but that is to be expected. My love
to all of you at home!
Now here is to Christmas number 1 in the Philippines. But I am jumping ahead of myself; it has been
awhile since I have updated my blog so I better bring you all up to speed. In my last post I told you all about
Bugnay. Well, after Bugnay it was time to
do the final steps to get my missionary visa…..
The saga of the photo and fingerprinting for Visa
The last stage for getting our visa involves a trip to
Manila to get our photo ID and fingerprinting.
However this is no small feat since Manila is a 12 hour night bus ride from
Tabuk city. There was an idea that I
could get all of my needed material from the much closer city of Tuguegarao because they had the special fingerprinting machine. So I had submitted a letter to the Manila immigration
office asking if I could get my photo and fingerprinting in Tuguegarao. When I returned from Bugnay I had letter saying
basically that they were giving me permission to get my photo and
fingerprinting in the said city. So off
I went to Tuguegarao, to get this complete.
However when I arrived, the bottom line was that they could not complete
the task. So then they had to write
another letter for me to take to Manila explaining that although the Manila immigration office had given them permission to get these things done, they were not able to
process them. This whole thing took
awhile but meanwhile I met some very interesting Christian people from
Ghana. After this was done and I texted
the person who was helping with the whole process about what happened I was
instructed to get to Manila that
week. Fortunately one of the other
midwife volunteers, Deborah, said she would go with me. For those of you who know me really well, you
can just imagine me, a farm girl from little tiny Vavenby going to Manila by
myself.
The Manila trip
Instead of taking the 12 hour night bus, doing
our deed, and then taking the next 12 hour night bus home that same night, we decided to make use of the long trip and try and enjoy it and see
some of Manila. So we found an
inexpensive hotel and stayed over night.
We enjoyed the luxury of hot showers and a very comfortable bed, and
Western food (not that I don’t like Philippine food, it actually is very good, but
it is fun to eat food from your homeland, which one tends to crave) And yes we
even took in a movie. We got to see some
beautiful historical sites in Manila and explored a beautiful mall. I even found almond milk! Following are a few
pictures. Oh and do you want to know the ironic
thing? I didn't time it, but the Immigration
task probably only took around 12 minutes to get my photo and
fingerprints. Yep, that’s right 12 hours
for 12 minutes. Or actually it was 24
hours for 12 minutes. But, we enjoyed
our time very much!
In the courtyard of an old Church
The end result was a good one, I now have my visa! So it all
feels very official now!
One of the most interesting things about taking the two
trips so close together, first to Bugnay and then to Manila and being in Tabuk
in between, was to see the vast culture difference between a mountain village
and the capital of the Philippines.
There is really no way to stereotype the culture here because it is beautifully
different everywhere you go.
So that was November.
Clinical hours increase!
December brought regular shifts in the clinic. I now have three shifts a week. The funny thing is that so far there has not
been one birth on my shift. So the other
night after one of my shifts where nothing happened I asked the night shift if
I could stay. That night there were two
births that I got to be in on. Both births
were an honor to be a part of and went very well. By the end of it all I was tired from having
been up for so long but I was also very happy.
I definitely still have a LOT to learn but I think that small bits of progress are being made. While I was holding the newborn baby at 5 in the morning it struck me at this amazing road and journey I am on. It is so hard to imagine myself as a midwife because of how important and grand it seems. But God keeps confirming in little ways that this is where He wants me. I could definitely use prayer for confidence and knowledge increase.
I definitely still have a LOT to learn but I think that small bits of progress are being made. While I was holding the newborn baby at 5 in the morning it struck me at this amazing road and journey I am on. It is so hard to imagine myself as a midwife because of how important and grand it seems. But God keeps confirming in little ways that this is where He wants me. I could definitely use prayer for confidence and knowledge increase.
Work load increases!
The first assignment is out of the way and the second one
(which is much larger and overwhelming) has been received. There will be lots of memorization of
concepts and probably lots of pots of tea in the office to keep me going. Please pray that I keep focused and get
things done on time.
Fun December things
We had a wonderful baking party at our Directress'’ house for
the staff Christmas party. It was quite a scene; cookies coming out of the
oven, pots simmering, bread being kneaded and incredible smells. Did I mention we got homemade pizza afterwards?
On the 19th we had our Christmas party. There was a LOT of wonderful tasty food. I ate far too much. There were lots of amusing games that
followed! It was a very enjoyable
evening.
prier to the party
prier to the party
Philippine version of the Pinata! no worries it's not as dangerous as it looks!
Tonight being Christmas eve there will be a
gathering for a Christmas movie party and tomorrow will find us with a small
gift exchange among the foreigners. My understanding
is there will also be a brunch and we intend to get together for a dinner. I will let you know how it all turns out in the next update!
P.S. VCC has sent me a package that has not yet arrived; I
am told that Canada post is in the process of an investigation. Please pray
that it arrives eventually. Not just
for my sake but for the time, effort and money everyone at the church put into
it.
Once again
Merry Christmas dear Family and Friends! And a Happy
New year! you all mean so much to me
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