A trip and a bit
As a treat Georgia help to finance a special trip for us missionaries, Keri, Jess, Ellora and myself at the end of October/begining of November. It was a really great time together and we had a lot of fun. The first day we traveled to Bugnay (which if you remember from a previous post is a mountain village where Ellora and I spent 2 weeks a year ago.
After we arrived we spent the afternoon and evening visiting with one of the midwives that was working at the maternity clinic (which is where we stayed) that day and just taking it easy, we even pulled together and made a Filipino dish of lumpia (spring rolls) which tasted quite good!
The next morning we hiked up to Buscalin which is a beautiful village set among the rolling Kalingan mountains and rice terraces. We met some tourists from manila and had some great conversations, Keri loves to pray for people so we prayed for several people while we were there, including a local lady who invited us in for coffee.
We made the beautiful hike down that afternoon, Keri and Jess went down into Bugnay to visit some of their friends that they made while they were staying in Bugnay last summer, while Ellora and I had a nap and a relaxing evening of heartfelt talks and then made a supper of spaghetti.
The next morning we caught the local transit (a jeepney) which took us to Sagada the famous town where a lot of tourist find themselves. It is a great place! we checked into our guest house, and then had an amazing lunch. The town is famous for many things, one of them being yogurt which we all had took part in for our lunch and it was so good!!! We hung our for the day, exploring, having coffee and cake and each getting a full body massage which was amazing!
The next day three of us (as Jess stayed back due to a fever) went to do some caving. Sagada is also famous for its caves and guided expeditions. We chose a cave that we all felt we could handle (that didn't involve anything too physical) and headed out. It was AMAZING we headed into the depths of the mountain where except for our guide's lantern was completely dark, we saw rock formation and took our shoes off so we could easily tread through the streams and pools of water and climb over rocks that you could pretty well scale with your bare feet due to its texture. It was a great experience and amazed me at how amazing our God and Creator truly is.
That evening we went on another tour of the area, and te next morning we were taken to see the sunrise. Sagada is one of the coldest places in the area and that morning it was about 15 degrees, i had not been anything that cold for about a year and half, and I was not dressed properly so it was very cold, but it was also very beautiful. After that our tour guide took as to catch out jeep but we missed unfortunately, but our was guide was very nice and took us to the next town where we were able to catch the bus that would take us all the way back to Tabuk city.
and now for some photos....
making supper all Filipino like
The Philippines really is beautiful!
Medical Mission
After the trip we then drew our attention to a medical mission that was coming from Canada with Sameratins Purse. It was a group of nurses, doctors, an eye doctor and dentists. All of the staff at the clinic had the opportunity to join them whenever they could. They went to a different tribal village every day and offered their services. Many of the people they saw had never been to eye doctor or dentist before. People who needed them received a pair of glasses that allowed them to actually see! hundreds of teeth got pulled and a ton of fillings were done. Many people got to express their medical concerns to the doctors and receive advice and medicine to help their various ailments.
I was able to go for three of the days that they did their mission. The first two days I mainly just escorted people from point A to point B and helped in the flow of traffic. The first day I realized how much Illocano I could speak as I was forced to use a fair bit, however the local language is different than Illocano so it was still a challenge.
The last day I went which was also the last day of the mission I helped in the pharmacy area, where I helped to fill out prescriptions and got to mix up cough medicines which was fun. In the afternoon I got pulled into the dental area where I held a flashlight for the dentist while she did fillings. It was incredible to watch her work, and see what really happens when you get fillings. I watched as she turned blackened teeth into pearly whites as if there had never been a problem.
That night we had a party at the last village; Pakak which is a personal favorite of mine among the villages. The children preformed a traditional dance, people sang and then we ate, it was all so good!! After the meal the adults preformed a traditional dance, which was simply amazing, I even got to get up and dance for one of them. it was all wonderful experience and lots of fun
Sunday night there was a final party that they mission group put on for everyone who helped, it was at the really nice hotel in town, we swam, visited and ate more good food and then said our final goodbyes. They really are a great group of people and I sincerely hope that our paths will cross again in this world.
A day with the Medical mission team
Clinic life
the clinic has been busy! the day before we left on our trip there were 4 births within 12 hours. One woman was pushing as I arrived on shift, after she delivered I was helping with another labour, then another woman starting pushing I went to go help with that labour, an hour or so later the third starting pushing which we all helped with, her baby got stuck on the way out so it was good we had lots of help. The baby girl came out safe and sound but a little help to breath at first but she cried showing off her lungs. She was such a cute little thing. In the midst of all these babies another woman came in with labour pains, she delivered later in the afternoon. That was just one day! Just yesterday I was unable to finish this post due to them needing an extra person in the clinic since there were two ladies pushing at the same time, Then I was on night shift and there was a another labour which I continued with until after the shift was over which resulted in a very tired midwife who was very eager for nap this afternoon :). I have been able to help with many births the last few weeks and it has been really grand; I am learning lots for sure!
The other day we had our well-baby seminar and the subject was family planning (birth control methods) I had the privilege of teaching on Intrauterine Devices and Condoms. I actually managed to get through the whole condom explanation and demonstration (with banana) without blushing. Sorry I hope this isn't too much information. I am talking more and more like a midwife every day!
Teachings
God has been working lots on my heart of late, well actually I think He is always working on me, I just feel it more times than others. He has definitely been teaching me about humility and how to let go things. I am also learning that I need to give m fears over to Him.
I have discovered that I struggle with being confident in who I am and who God has created me to be. Often I look at Christians and think that I ought to be like them, that they have it right and that I am failing in the areas where they are strong. All though I believe it is important to admire people's strong areas and look up to certain kinds of people, God has brought the verse from Romans to be me saying "the thing molded will not say to the molder "why did you make me like this?" will it" (Roman 9:20) I realize that I often I have done this, sometimes wishing I was made a little bit differently. But God has been showing me that He has made me as I am and although of course he will keep molding me and forming me I have to allow God to use me as He made me and try and be like someone else. This is something that I never realized that I struggled with until I came here where people think differently than I do an the environment is different than what I grew up with
Missing home but happy to be here
This is the time of year that I miss home the most why? the snow of course! this will be the second year in my life where I will not see snow and I miss it so much and all that it comes with....fire places, snow men, sledding, skiing, clear night ske ect, ect.
Of course that is not the only thing I miss, I miss my brothers an sisters (that includes all me in-laws ;) and all the people in the North Thompson Valley, I miss the sheep and the boarder collies, horses and milk cows. The interesting thing is that despite missing all this so much I am in no rush for my time here to end. The longer I am here the more relationships I build, the stronger friendships form and the more I love the people. I am not necessarily saying that I will stay here forever, but it is becoming a very special place in my heart. It is such an interesting emotion to miss home so much but also feel at home away from home
Prayer request
Fear: I tend to be very afraid of making mistakes or messing up, I have found this fear is a tremendous obstacle in being able to care and love the patients. It causes me to be so nervous that it gets in the way of being to be the midwife that I want to be.
Skills: I won't go into detail but their are certain skills that I have not overcome yet and in order to be a better midwife I really need to get a handle on them, of course I always have a supervisor near to preform them when I cannot but it is something that I need to learn.
Rain: these last few months are supposed to have been the rainy season but there has hardly been any. On top of that there was a big dam that broke which has left a lot of the rice farmers without their irrigation. The rice farmers therefore have not been able to harvest as much rice as they would usually be able to which is going to make for a difficult year for them as it is going to be challenging to make any profits. Please pray for rain, and for the rice farmers.
Grandma: my grandma just recently underwent surgery and is recovering please pray that she gets better soon!
A baby on the way: one of our supervisors is expecting her first baby very soon, please pray that the birth goes well and that she will have strength and joy bringing this baby into the world, we are all very excited!!!!
Computer charger: yep you heard right, I am still having computer charger problems, turns out the one I bought is a bit of a dud so now I am going to have to pay another 30 dollars for yet another one and I have been having problems being able to order it. Please pray I get a hold of one soon and that it will be the last one I will need to buy. Also that my old laptop will keep on keeping on!
Well I think that is all I will go into today, but it has been a pleasure, I hope this post has found you all well, until next time my dear family friends!
Love you V and praying for you!
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