So....in four weeks I fly back to Canada for 30 days. I have set a date for a fundraiser/get-together following is the information concerning said event.
A Merienda Evening!
June 13, 2015 at 6:30 in the evening. It will be held at Vavenby Christian Church, Vavenby B.C. The evening will start off with a video about the clinic, slideshow and my ramblings and stories.
Following we will have Merienda! Merienda is something like the English' tea time or coffee time and always consists of some form of food (usually sweet). I am planning on making two Filipino dishes often served for Merienda and am also asking people to bring goodies and finger food. so if any of you feel like doing brining anything do let know. We can then socialize and hang out for the rest of the evening. If you have facebook the page for the event is
https://www.facebook.com/events/471073656380936/ if I have not invited you to the event via facebook please let me know so I can send you an invite!
Many Blessings y'all and looking forward to seeing my Canadian family and friends in a few weeks!
Friday, 1 May 2015
Sunday, 12 April 2015
March update in April
Greetings all!
Before I get too far allow me to start of by apologizing for the lateness of this blog post. It was meant to be written the last week of March but due to a big assignment due I decided to postpone blogging until the assignment was complete (more on that later) anyway here we are in April, Spring for my fellow Canadians and Summer time here in the Philippines. So where shell we begin....
Clinic/Missionary life
I feel like I have been progressing in skills in the clinic. I really do love helping the women through their labour, whether rubbing their back or speaking encouraging words to them. I am also slowly getting more confident in certain areas some of which I wondered if i could ever grasp. My supervises are really great and are wonderful teachers. I had a really good talk with one of them the other day and she was very encouraging and gave me some good sound advice for some of my weak areas. There are still many, many times when I feel overwhelmed and discouraged at my slowness at getting comfortable at doing and learning certain things but there are also many times to rejoice.
Language
I have also been able to use the language a little more in the clinic, in many ways I should be using it more but I have gotten to where I can ask almost all the questions during a postpartum (the checkup after birth) visit which was an exciting discovery. One of the ladies on staff who understands lots of English but doesn't speak it very often (although she can speak English much better that I can speak Ilocano) told me something the other day and I was shocked that I could understand it! Not word for word mind you but I still knew what she was saying which was very exciting! But the language is still a big weak spot for me so I certainly would not object to prayer for this area!
Academics
As mentioned above there was an assignment due (remember i am a student with National College of Midwifery) that was 107 questions long, we had 4.5 weeks to complete it, it required a lot of focus and dedication but it is now complete! The test is also finished which is equally exciting as some of you know I am not a fan of tests. So now I just have to wait for the results, hopefully next by week, to see how we did. To celibate the completion of our assignment Ellora and I took an afternoon and went swimming at one of the local hotels, we enjoyed some lovely food as well. It was such a nice afternoon. The fact that we live, work and study all in the same building can cause a person to really not get out much so going out for an afternoon to get some sun and water was a fantastic reprieve.
News
Although this does not really have to do with babies it is some fun bit of news; some of you may have heard this already but who cares. My little brother Seth proposed to his girl friend several weeks ago and she said yes! so I will soon have a fourth sister-in-law.
Due to the above news I have other news, my break was originally scheduled for August but I was able to change my month break to June instead for the wedding. So I will be returning to Canada, pretty soon, it will be quite brief, only four weeks, but I am looking forward to it. I will have the honer of being in the wedding party at my brother and his fiancee's wedding. I am also hoping to be able to witness some births as well. I have to see 4 more home births and 1 more hospital birth in order to graduate from National College. So if anyone is expecting in June and wouldn't mind having an extra person there do let me know :) I also am tentatively planning an evening where I will share the work that is being done here and fund raise for the last of the money that is needed for my stay here. I am thinking that the event will most likely be in the second week of June, but I will let you all know when I have more details.
I turned 23! Okay well its not huge news but it fills blog space. Here in the Philippines instead of people dong stuff for you, you do things for them on your birthday; this takes the form of making food or buying food to share. It is actually a really cool thing to do. So for my birthday I made macaroni and cheese (the first time I'd had it since I left Canada) and in the afternoon we had banana splits. It was a lot of fun and I had a nice relaxing evening. It was my first ever birthday spent completely away from family let along outside of Canada
We have a lovely lady Midwife from Kamloops who has come to volunteer for the month of April and it has been a pleasure having her, we are already dreading her departure. When she arrived she brought a ton of chocolate that was sent from the family; it made me so happy I thought I might cry, don't worry i didn't.
Hanging up the jean jacket and Tilly for scrubs and crocks
Well....its April....and for the Moilliet's of Aveley that means one thing....lambs. This marks the second time since my infancy that I will miss a lambing season. I thought that since I had missed one before (when I was at Alberta Bible College) and since I would be surrounded by birth (just the two legged kind instead of the four legged ones) I wouldn't miss the Lambing season as much. But as April first came along and pictures of baby lambs and news about the Aveley Ranch adventures hit the facebook pages it brought with it the emotions of homesickness, but not just any kind of homesickness the kind that makes me miss jean jackets, tilly hats, sheep, lambs, bottles, knives strapped to your belt, afternoon tea, hay bales and water buckets, rain, snow and sun (all in the same day) and everything that spells LAMBING! the April season is after all my second favorite time of year and actually if it really came down to it it would probably win over Christmas which I have typically always said is my favorite time of year. Hence I should not be surprised I find myself greatly missing the busy, exhausting, joyful, difficult, worth-every-minute-of-it 30 days of April.
Lambing is without a doubt a big reason why I wanted to be a midwife, it was during April 2007 that the midwife wheels began to turn. I think I really miss lambing because that is my area of expertise and I feel very comfortable and confident among birthing ewes. But my experience here is still very new and I am still so very green. Whether when it comes to lambing; I have 22 years of experience under my belt, and yes, I counted my first lambing when I was a month old; after all I am pretty sure my mama had me out there in the action even if I couldn't do anything yet.
Has the lambing experience prepared me for human birth experience, actually there has been several moments, especially in the birth room where I think my training as a Midewe (sheep midwife, and yes I just made that up) have helped prepare me. Of course it most ways they are completely different but in other ways there is some familiarity to some of the situations.
So for this year and next year at least, instead of donning a jean jacket, baggy blue jeans and a tilly hat in the morning, I dress in scrubs and head to the field!
A thought of sentimentality - Grandma Alice: It's in my DNA
So instead of a story I thought I would share something a little more sentimental. The other day after a long shift I was feeling a little discouraged about how well I was doing in the clinic and my Grandma Moilliet came to mind. I never knew my Grandma Alice Philips Moilliet. She died several years before my birth but I know her through others. She was the village nurse. She had completed her training before her marriage to my Grandpa. During that time there was no doctor let alone hospital in the area and she was really the only medical person around. This resulted in people bring her their sick, she would lay them on her table or in an extra bed and use all of her expertise to cure them. But nursing the sick wasn't all she did, she was also the town midwife, I even saw her old beg once titled "Midwifery kit". She would cross frozen rivers and go out in storms to help women deliver their babies. For some of these women my Grandma Alice would be all they had. I knew this before I left Canada, in fact the year before I left she had become my inspiration, but I hadn't thought about it for awhile until this recent evening. A wonderful feeling struck me, yes midwifery was hard, learning new concepts was challenging but my Grandma did it. Of course my experience is very different than hers was I suppose but delivering babies is still delivering babies.
I knew I did not want to be a nurse, people suggested that I might want to go that route but I have never really had a desire to be a nurse, not like Midwifery. But even though I am not following Grandma Moilliet's footsteps in nursing I feel honored to be following her steps into Midwifery. Somehow knowing it is in my DNA is reassuring. Of course with this thought comes a new emotion; the great desire to sit over a cup of tea with my grandma and talk babies, I would ask her all about her stories and experiences and soak in all of her wisdom. Although I know I can't speak to her now I am looking forward to that cup of tea in heaven someday where she and I can talk all about babies and mama's giving birth.
Prayer requests and thus ends another post
Well I suppose here is as a good of a place to cease my ramblings as any but before I completely sign off here are a few prayer request
The three usual's - as I maneuver through clinic life, academics, and language
For the clinic - the clinic has been rather slow the last few months and there has been concern that maybe someone has said something bad about the clinic and false rumors are spreading, please pray that if this is the case that they will cease and women will come to the clinic. One of the hospitals also seems to be making some of the patients feel bad about delivering at the clinic the reason: there is no good reason. Please pray that this situation will resolve and for unity among all the health care facilities.
For the women and babies - as always there can never be enough prayer for every women, baby and family member that pass through our doors, for them to be keeps safe and healthy. There is one mother right now who was transported to the hospital from the clinic and her baby was confined for several days she was unable to hold the baby for quite some time, this was probably unnecessary but such is the protocols of the hospital. Although they are both out of the hospital this young woman and her family could definitely benefit from your prayers.
Thanks - My round trip flight for June to come home for that month has been paid for! Family and friends pulled together and the money came through, I was quite shocked at how smoothly it all came together Praise God and thank you too all his people who gave. Thank you everyone for your prayers they truly mean so much! Also there was a guest speaker st church this last Sunday that God really used to yet-again confirm my calling here, and that I am where God want me.
On this note I shell leave you all and sign off, until next time, the sheepish midwife, serving in the Philippines
here are some photos of a walk that Ellora and I took the other week to the river.
a water buffalo
our favorite walk to the river
making friends
Before I get too far allow me to start of by apologizing for the lateness of this blog post. It was meant to be written the last week of March but due to a big assignment due I decided to postpone blogging until the assignment was complete (more on that later) anyway here we are in April, Spring for my fellow Canadians and Summer time here in the Philippines. So where shell we begin....
Clinic/Missionary life
I feel like I have been progressing in skills in the clinic. I really do love helping the women through their labour, whether rubbing their back or speaking encouraging words to them. I am also slowly getting more confident in certain areas some of which I wondered if i could ever grasp. My supervises are really great and are wonderful teachers. I had a really good talk with one of them the other day and she was very encouraging and gave me some good sound advice for some of my weak areas. There are still many, many times when I feel overwhelmed and discouraged at my slowness at getting comfortable at doing and learning certain things but there are also many times to rejoice.
Language
I have also been able to use the language a little more in the clinic, in many ways I should be using it more but I have gotten to where I can ask almost all the questions during a postpartum (the checkup after birth) visit which was an exciting discovery. One of the ladies on staff who understands lots of English but doesn't speak it very often (although she can speak English much better that I can speak Ilocano) told me something the other day and I was shocked that I could understand it! Not word for word mind you but I still knew what she was saying which was very exciting! But the language is still a big weak spot for me so I certainly would not object to prayer for this area!
Academics
As mentioned above there was an assignment due (remember i am a student with National College of Midwifery) that was 107 questions long, we had 4.5 weeks to complete it, it required a lot of focus and dedication but it is now complete! The test is also finished which is equally exciting as some of you know I am not a fan of tests. So now I just have to wait for the results, hopefully next by week, to see how we did. To celibate the completion of our assignment Ellora and I took an afternoon and went swimming at one of the local hotels, we enjoyed some lovely food as well. It was such a nice afternoon. The fact that we live, work and study all in the same building can cause a person to really not get out much so going out for an afternoon to get some sun and water was a fantastic reprieve.
News
Although this does not really have to do with babies it is some fun bit of news; some of you may have heard this already but who cares. My little brother Seth proposed to his girl friend several weeks ago and she said yes! so I will soon have a fourth sister-in-law.
Due to the above news I have other news, my break was originally scheduled for August but I was able to change my month break to June instead for the wedding. So I will be returning to Canada, pretty soon, it will be quite brief, only four weeks, but I am looking forward to it. I will have the honer of being in the wedding party at my brother and his fiancee's wedding. I am also hoping to be able to witness some births as well. I have to see 4 more home births and 1 more hospital birth in order to graduate from National College. So if anyone is expecting in June and wouldn't mind having an extra person there do let me know :) I also am tentatively planning an evening where I will share the work that is being done here and fund raise for the last of the money that is needed for my stay here. I am thinking that the event will most likely be in the second week of June, but I will let you all know when I have more details.
I turned 23! Okay well its not huge news but it fills blog space. Here in the Philippines instead of people dong stuff for you, you do things for them on your birthday; this takes the form of making food or buying food to share. It is actually a really cool thing to do. So for my birthday I made macaroni and cheese (the first time I'd had it since I left Canada) and in the afternoon we had banana splits. It was a lot of fun and I had a nice relaxing evening. It was my first ever birthday spent completely away from family let along outside of Canada
We have a lovely lady Midwife from Kamloops who has come to volunteer for the month of April and it has been a pleasure having her, we are already dreading her departure. When she arrived she brought a ton of chocolate that was sent from the family; it made me so happy I thought I might cry, don't worry i didn't.
Hanging up the jean jacket and Tilly for scrubs and crocks
Well....its April....and for the Moilliet's of Aveley that means one thing....lambs. This marks the second time since my infancy that I will miss a lambing season. I thought that since I had missed one before (when I was at Alberta Bible College) and since I would be surrounded by birth (just the two legged kind instead of the four legged ones) I wouldn't miss the Lambing season as much. But as April first came along and pictures of baby lambs and news about the Aveley Ranch adventures hit the facebook pages it brought with it the emotions of homesickness, but not just any kind of homesickness the kind that makes me miss jean jackets, tilly hats, sheep, lambs, bottles, knives strapped to your belt, afternoon tea, hay bales and water buckets, rain, snow and sun (all in the same day) and everything that spells LAMBING! the April season is after all my second favorite time of year and actually if it really came down to it it would probably win over Christmas which I have typically always said is my favorite time of year. Hence I should not be surprised I find myself greatly missing the busy, exhausting, joyful, difficult, worth-every-minute-of-it 30 days of April.
Lambing is without a doubt a big reason why I wanted to be a midwife, it was during April 2007 that the midwife wheels began to turn. I think I really miss lambing because that is my area of expertise and I feel very comfortable and confident among birthing ewes. But my experience here is still very new and I am still so very green. Whether when it comes to lambing; I have 22 years of experience under my belt, and yes, I counted my first lambing when I was a month old; after all I am pretty sure my mama had me out there in the action even if I couldn't do anything yet.
Has the lambing experience prepared me for human birth experience, actually there has been several moments, especially in the birth room where I think my training as a Midewe (sheep midwife, and yes I just made that up) have helped prepare me. Of course it most ways they are completely different but in other ways there is some familiarity to some of the situations.
So for this year and next year at least, instead of donning a jean jacket, baggy blue jeans and a tilly hat in the morning, I dress in scrubs and head to the field!
A thought of sentimentality - Grandma Alice: It's in my DNA
So instead of a story I thought I would share something a little more sentimental. The other day after a long shift I was feeling a little discouraged about how well I was doing in the clinic and my Grandma Moilliet came to mind. I never knew my Grandma Alice Philips Moilliet. She died several years before my birth but I know her through others. She was the village nurse. She had completed her training before her marriage to my Grandpa. During that time there was no doctor let alone hospital in the area and she was really the only medical person around. This resulted in people bring her their sick, she would lay them on her table or in an extra bed and use all of her expertise to cure them. But nursing the sick wasn't all she did, she was also the town midwife, I even saw her old beg once titled "Midwifery kit". She would cross frozen rivers and go out in storms to help women deliver their babies. For some of these women my Grandma Alice would be all they had. I knew this before I left Canada, in fact the year before I left she had become my inspiration, but I hadn't thought about it for awhile until this recent evening. A wonderful feeling struck me, yes midwifery was hard, learning new concepts was challenging but my Grandma did it. Of course my experience is very different than hers was I suppose but delivering babies is still delivering babies.
I knew I did not want to be a nurse, people suggested that I might want to go that route but I have never really had a desire to be a nurse, not like Midwifery. But even though I am not following Grandma Moilliet's footsteps in nursing I feel honored to be following her steps into Midwifery. Somehow knowing it is in my DNA is reassuring. Of course with this thought comes a new emotion; the great desire to sit over a cup of tea with my grandma and talk babies, I would ask her all about her stories and experiences and soak in all of her wisdom. Although I know I can't speak to her now I am looking forward to that cup of tea in heaven someday where she and I can talk all about babies and mama's giving birth.
Prayer requests and thus ends another post
Well I suppose here is as a good of a place to cease my ramblings as any but before I completely sign off here are a few prayer request
The three usual's - as I maneuver through clinic life, academics, and language
For the clinic - the clinic has been rather slow the last few months and there has been concern that maybe someone has said something bad about the clinic and false rumors are spreading, please pray that if this is the case that they will cease and women will come to the clinic. One of the hospitals also seems to be making some of the patients feel bad about delivering at the clinic the reason: there is no good reason. Please pray that this situation will resolve and for unity among all the health care facilities.
For the women and babies - as always there can never be enough prayer for every women, baby and family member that pass through our doors, for them to be keeps safe and healthy. There is one mother right now who was transported to the hospital from the clinic and her baby was confined for several days she was unable to hold the baby for quite some time, this was probably unnecessary but such is the protocols of the hospital. Although they are both out of the hospital this young woman and her family could definitely benefit from your prayers.
Thanks - My round trip flight for June to come home for that month has been paid for! Family and friends pulled together and the money came through, I was quite shocked at how smoothly it all came together Praise God and thank you too all his people who gave. Thank you everyone for your prayers they truly mean so much! Also there was a guest speaker st church this last Sunday that God really used to yet-again confirm my calling here, and that I am where God want me.
On this note I shell leave you all and sign off, until next time, the sheepish midwife, serving in the Philippines
here are some photos of a walk that Ellora and I took the other week to the river.
a water buffalo
Monday, 23 February 2015
Winter Tales
And thus our winter here in Tabuk comes to an end and the Philippine heat begins to ascend. First of all let me apologize for the long delay in getting this posted, about two weeks ago I started this post and between bloggers block, (the blogger's version of writers block) my computer charger dying, lets be honest, pure plain distraction/procrastination, here I am at the end of February sending off my 16th post I think it is, here we go folks....
Learning
I have been able to learn lots in the last six weeks and have experienced being able to help lots in the clinic. Of course there are still times when I can get rather tense and can let me fear of doing something wrong overcome me. However I have started developing a technique to help me think things though which helps me be prepared and calm. I love working with the women and babies and find myself enjoying each shift all the more. Each woman is so special and beautiful and it is a complete honer to serve them. I am also so privileged to be able to work and learn alongside such wonderful midwives whom are so skilled and caring.
As far as my long distance academic education goes, the first big assignment (we had a smaller one earlier) and test are done and I was shocked at how well I did on the test so that's a good sign :) I am now in the middle of another assignment. So far I have been able to meet deadlines although I got considerably behind last week when my charger gave out, fortunately my fellow volunteer has connections and called "the computer guy" who got me a lovely new one and it is doing a marvelous job, he even delivered it to our door!
Now that I have been spending more time in the clinic it has forced me to speak some Ilocano which is the only way I will ever really learn the language hopefully (by practicing). Hopefully the more comfortable I feel working; the more comfortable I will feel speaking the new language but I do still have a loooong way to go to get where I would like to with the language. But I know it is all about practice.
Holding a baby that I had the privilege
of being present upon her arrival into the world
helping to dress and examine a 1 hour old baby with one of the midwives
A Musical Story
Ellora and I got asked by the church that we are attending if we would sing a special song one Sunday. You would think since both of us sang on our worship teams at home we would accept with delight and I did a first but after the fact, the whole thing seemed a bit intimidating after all it is a whole new group of people, so Ellora and I just sort of never brought it up again and neither did the individual who asked us. We avoided the Sunday that we had originally been asked to sing on (well actually I had a skype date with my family on their Christmas day and didn't want to miss that so that was my excuse) Since no one brought it up again we thought maybe we were off the hook. Not so! the next Sunday the same guy asked if we would sing the following week. We couldn't say no and the truth was both of really did want to do we were just nervous. So all week we practiced "Come thou fount" which Ellora had been learning on the acoustic guitar.
Sunday came and we went early to practice then went for a walk and returned. We got called up after the worship and I was so nervous my stomach was in my throat. In addition we had also been asked to say something so throughout the whole worship time I was racking my brain for what to say and how to say it. When we got called up Ellora ended up having to use an electric guitar because there was a problem with the acoustic, yep that's right we did "Come Thou Fount" electric style and it went really well! As well as did the brief mini speech where I introduced Ellora and I and explained how the song we were going to sing had really helped me through my young Christian years. As it is about overcoming Christian struggles, the song went equally well, electric guitar and all, at least i thought so.
I am very glad that the guy from Church asked us again to sing because it was a lot of fun and was a great way to connect with the people at church. The interesting thing was that after the service in honer if it being the pastor's birthday they had a slide show and guess what the music was? that's right "Come Thou Fount" you would have thought we planned it! I am thinking God may have done that just for fun!
Moilliet tradition meets Tabuk City
Well as some of you know, my family have an interesting tradition of every February 2, watching "Groundhog Day" and eating pizza. So I decided to being this tradition to the Philippines. I made homemade pizza which actually turned out! and we all gathered around to eat pizza and have coca cola and watch "Groundhog day". It was a very enjoyable evening!
can you Groundhog fans tell what seen this is in the movie?
Kalinga Day
A few days ago was the province's (Kalinga) celebration of it's province and her people. Unfortunately I didn't make it to a lot of the events, but I did go to the Miss Kalinga Pangent and visited the special market which was very much like a fair ground, I went first with some of the other midwives and again with Ellora. There were beautiful handmade items, amazing food and fun sights to behold.
at the Miss Kalinga Pangent
At the Kalinga Market: Ellora and I's chocolate waffle and pineapple juice.....it was sooo good!
Ellora and I right before we ate our chocolate waffles the waffle tent
was set up like a little restaurant
Saying goodbye to a new friend
Well, we said goodbye this morning to Deborah a woman from Switzerland who has been volunteering here for two years. She is heading home to Switzerland now and there were lots of tear in letting her go. We had a big party in her honer the other night. At the end of the program Ellora sang "Let it Go" and I did an interpretive dance to it. Sorry you'll have to take my word for it since I don't think anyone took pictures of that particular event but here are some from the party
Last picture of the white girls with Deborah (the one in the traditional Kalinga dress that was a gift to her from the Filipina Midwives) before she left two days later
party on the rooftop
Ellora and I expressing our gratitude to Debora for welcoming us and encouraging us upon our arrival and for her friendship
Well I think that gives a brief summery of the most recent events in my life.
A few prayer request
language, learning, grasping concepts and knowledge, for health, spiritual growth, and finding opportunities to show and share God's love.
love you all and keep safe!
God Bless!
signing off from another post, Vienna, the sheepish midwife
Learning
I have been able to learn lots in the last six weeks and have experienced being able to help lots in the clinic. Of course there are still times when I can get rather tense and can let me fear of doing something wrong overcome me. However I have started developing a technique to help me think things though which helps me be prepared and calm. I love working with the women and babies and find myself enjoying each shift all the more. Each woman is so special and beautiful and it is a complete honer to serve them. I am also so privileged to be able to work and learn alongside such wonderful midwives whom are so skilled and caring.
As far as my long distance academic education goes, the first big assignment (we had a smaller one earlier) and test are done and I was shocked at how well I did on the test so that's a good sign :) I am now in the middle of another assignment. So far I have been able to meet deadlines although I got considerably behind last week when my charger gave out, fortunately my fellow volunteer has connections and called "the computer guy" who got me a lovely new one and it is doing a marvelous job, he even delivered it to our door!
Now that I have been spending more time in the clinic it has forced me to speak some Ilocano which is the only way I will ever really learn the language hopefully (by practicing). Hopefully the more comfortable I feel working; the more comfortable I will feel speaking the new language but I do still have a loooong way to go to get where I would like to with the language. But I know it is all about practice.
Holding a baby that I had the privilege
of being present upon her arrival into the world
A Musical Story
Ellora and I got asked by the church that we are attending if we would sing a special song one Sunday. You would think since both of us sang on our worship teams at home we would accept with delight and I did a first but after the fact, the whole thing seemed a bit intimidating after all it is a whole new group of people, so Ellora and I just sort of never brought it up again and neither did the individual who asked us. We avoided the Sunday that we had originally been asked to sing on (well actually I had a skype date with my family on their Christmas day and didn't want to miss that so that was my excuse) Since no one brought it up again we thought maybe we were off the hook. Not so! the next Sunday the same guy asked if we would sing the following week. We couldn't say no and the truth was both of really did want to do we were just nervous. So all week we practiced "Come thou fount" which Ellora had been learning on the acoustic guitar.
Sunday came and we went early to practice then went for a walk and returned. We got called up after the worship and I was so nervous my stomach was in my throat. In addition we had also been asked to say something so throughout the whole worship time I was racking my brain for what to say and how to say it. When we got called up Ellora ended up having to use an electric guitar because there was a problem with the acoustic, yep that's right we did "Come Thou Fount" electric style and it went really well! As well as did the brief mini speech where I introduced Ellora and I and explained how the song we were going to sing had really helped me through my young Christian years. As it is about overcoming Christian struggles, the song went equally well, electric guitar and all, at least i thought so.
I am very glad that the guy from Church asked us again to sing because it was a lot of fun and was a great way to connect with the people at church. The interesting thing was that after the service in honer if it being the pastor's birthday they had a slide show and guess what the music was? that's right "Come Thou Fount" you would have thought we planned it! I am thinking God may have done that just for fun!
Moilliet tradition meets Tabuk City
Well as some of you know, my family have an interesting tradition of every February 2, watching "Groundhog Day" and eating pizza. So I decided to being this tradition to the Philippines. I made homemade pizza which actually turned out! and we all gathered around to eat pizza and have coca cola and watch "Groundhog day". It was a very enjoyable evening!
can you Groundhog fans tell what seen this is in the movie?
Kalinga Day
A few days ago was the province's (Kalinga) celebration of it's province and her people. Unfortunately I didn't make it to a lot of the events, but I did go to the Miss Kalinga Pangent and visited the special market which was very much like a fair ground, I went first with some of the other midwives and again with Ellora. There were beautiful handmade items, amazing food and fun sights to behold.
at the Miss Kalinga Pangent
At the Kalinga Market: Ellora and I's chocolate waffle and pineapple juice.....it was sooo good!
Ellora and I right before we ate our chocolate waffles the waffle tent
was set up like a little restaurant
Saying goodbye to a new friend
Well, we said goodbye this morning to Deborah a woman from Switzerland who has been volunteering here for two years. She is heading home to Switzerland now and there were lots of tear in letting her go. We had a big party in her honer the other night. At the end of the program Ellora sang "Let it Go" and I did an interpretive dance to it. Sorry you'll have to take my word for it since I don't think anyone took pictures of that particular event but here are some from the party
Last picture of the white girls with Deborah (the one in the traditional Kalinga dress that was a gift to her from the Filipina Midwives) before she left two days later
Ellora and I expressing our gratitude to Debora for welcoming us and encouraging us upon our arrival and for her friendship
Well I think that gives a brief summery of the most recent events in my life.
A few prayer request
language, learning, grasping concepts and knowledge, for health, spiritual growth, and finding opportunities to show and share God's love.
love you all and keep safe!
God Bless!
signing off from another post, Vienna, the sheepish midwife
Wednesday, 31 December 2014
Christmas and New Years photo album!
Christmas evening dinner and Christmas presents
New Years Eve meal
firework all around us!
Happy 2015 Everyone!
Monday, 29 December 2014
Christmas package arrival!
Thank you all for your prayers, because my package arrived safe and sound!
The amazing part is I didn't have to pay one peso to pick it up which is what Canada Post said I would have to do. Plus there is usually a fee to pick up any parcel. There isn't really a reason for this except that mom said she was praying that I wouldn't have to pay. Thank you God for little miracles.
Thank you so much everyone who put time, money and effort into this, it was a wonderful Christmas present and you have no idea how excited I am to open up some of that wonderful tea!
love you all!
Thank you so much everyone who put time, money and effort into this, it was a wonderful Christmas present and you have no idea how excited I am to open up some of that wonderful tea!
love you all!
Wednesday, 24 December 2014
Merry Christmas from the Philippines!
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
Friday, 5 December 2014
a few pictures from Bugnay
Managed to get my pictures on to my laptop so here are some pictures can give you an idea of where I was when I was in the mountain village of Bungay.
View of Bugnay from where we were staying. If you look closely you can see the suspended bridge
On the way home (blurry due to the bumpy ride :)
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