Recent Birthdays

Salem and I have had moments of disbelief these last several months.  Our youngest, Willow, turned a "very-mature" three in March.  Caleb, our oldest, turned nine in April.  I think the later of these two was more shocking.  Salem and I asked ourselves the question, "Are we getting old?"  In asking our kids, they all agreed yes.  Benjamin even said that he thought I was 92 years old.  Despite all of this, we had some great birthdays.

We had a small family party for Willow.  The kids enjoyed playing at an indoor playground close to our neighborhood, and they managed to eat lots of cake.


She was so proud to be three, and she has started playing the mommy game with us.  This game is simple - Willow pretends to be the "Mommy" and the parents become the children.  It sounds like it might backfire, but it has ended up working well...especially at naptime.  When she's the mom, she goes right to sleep so the babies can sleep.  I like this - including the 15 minute nap I get out of it!

Caleb's party was quite different.  We had a treasure hunt all throughout our neighborhood.  They received a total of 13 clues, a treasure map, and prizes along the way.  They got to climb trees, dig through dirt piles, run from silly-string bandits, and have a water fight on the playground.  Boys at this stage were loving it!  He had lots of friends come, and it ended just in time for Salem to hit swing shift at the clinic.  He is happy to be 9. 

You can see more pictures of both parties below.

YLA

This last month, I (Nolan) was invited to partner with an organization called Global Impact.  Each year, this organization takes 5-6 weeks during the summer to impact teenagers all over the city through their Youth Leadership Academy (YLA).  They work with other churches in Davao and other parts of Mindanao in recruiting top students with leadership potential.  They take these students for the first three weeks and train them in their Christian walk, living in freedom, and how to lead others.  The next several weeks are spent doing youth camps, where these students help as facilitators.  Hundreds of students are reached in these camps.

This April, some of our friends who help direct YLA asked me to teach an elective over youth ministry.  I ended up teaching around 15 hours to 8-9 students about different leadership topics.  We talked about finding purpose, studying the Bible, preaching, being a leader of influence, how to disciple and mentor others, and many more topics.

Here the students are doing puzzles blindfolded. 
I used this activity to talk about purpose.

It was a great time helping shape these young people and getting to know students who are desiring to be ministers.  These students all came from different backgrounds and perspectives.  Several wanted to be missionaries or pastors - others were interested in leading worship.  One young lady (15) had just been saved 3 months prior to coming to camp, while one student (22) had just graduated from Bible school as is going to be a pastor in a poor neighborhood here in Davao.  It was a wide-range of students - but God was faithful.  I was so amazed and humbled to hear the testimonies of how God used this elective to challenge and motivate them to be ministers for Him.  Thank you so much to all those who prayed! 

I have included some pictures below with prayer requests for these students.

This is Lloyd.  He just graduated from seminary and is now a pastor in Agdao, a very dangerous, poor neighborhood in Davao.  Salem does an outreach on Thursday's to this neighborhood.

This is a group picture. (See below: left to right / back to front)

J.C. - He came to camp last year and was an intern this year.  He has a heart to serve - pray that God would give him specific purpose.  He is very involved in his church and desires to follow God.
Mawie - This guy is amazing!  He was my interpreter and now a new friend.  He has a heart to be a missionary.  He also led worship, and he desires to be used in a healing ministry.  He has worked with other Missionary Organizations here in Davao and is solid.
Cierra - She was the only American in this elective.  She is from California (please don't hold that against her).  Her heart is to serve as a missionary.  Please pray for this 15 year old - that she could hear God's direction clearly.
Angel - She was shy - but did an amazing job during the sermon she delivered for the class.  She has potential to be a great leader.  Pray she will have faith and not fear, and that God would give her opporunities to lead.
Lloyd - 22 year-old new pastor / Pray for the church in Agdao.  May they be a light in a very dark neighborhood.
Arvin - His desire is to be in worship.  He plays the saxophone and is involved in his church.  Pray that God opens up opportunities for him.
Bebe - Brand new Christian / Pray God would give her a mentor to teach and disciple her.  Without someone like this, chances are slim that she will continue to live out her faith after this summer.
Ronnel - He lives in Agdao.  I am afraid that his environment may bring him down.  Pray that he meets other Christian friends and can have courage to live out his faith.  He also needs a Godly mentor, as his dad just died before coming to camp.

The Bukid - Day 3 and 4

Back at the first village, we all went back to work seeing more patients.  Brenda and I sat in a room with several pregnant women and discussed all the personal matters that go with pregnancy, labor/delivery, family planning, etc. The "community" atmosphere took over again - stories began to flow.

One woman was 30ish years old and pregnant with her 6th baby.  Her first husband had died, and she then became the 3rd wife of an older man.  Two of her children had died.  Her third pregnancy was twins.  The boy died after 3 months.  The mom said, "he was weak from birth."

Another woman told us about one of her babies who had a cleft palette and only lived 4 months.  She believed the cleft palette was caused because she fell down while she was pregnant.  After she shared, I took out a full color magazine showing pictures taken inside the womb of babies in each month of development.  These pictures allowed us to discuss some common "old wives tales" including the true causes of cleft palettes.

The stories went on....
By the end of the day we were so tired.  The emotional tole, the strain of communicating in a second language (Visayan - the local language), and caring for so many women with so many risks had worn us out.  We were rewarded with a swim in the river - fully clothed.  We jumped in and played for an hour.  It was so refreshing.

Afterwards we went to the well to wash.  We weren't able to avoid an audience this time - in fact we became the evening entertainment for the village as we once again bathed in our clothes.

After supper, we found ourselves headed to bed.  The roosters, children, and pigs awoke us again around 5:15 a.m.  I was thankful that there were no nighttime visitors this time!  Breakfast was rice and a local version of Spam.


Thursday was a bit more relaxing.  Brenda and I caught up on our paperwork and then went to watch the VBS team.  They did a fabulous drama of the story of Peter in prison and the angels releasing him.  They made homemade swords out of bamboo and the Roman soldier's "skirts" were made out of palm leaves.  They even fashioned a Roman prison out of tree branches and God's throne room  out of tropical flowers.





 

 

  Later, Joy did a great job teaching the villagers about the importance of drinking water, and how to make an oral re-hydration drink for use with vomiting, diarrhea, and/or fever.  The circumcision clinic was also set up again.


 

 The rest of the afternoon was free - some went to the river for a swim, some played basketball on an old hoop with a dirt court, others played pool on a random pool table set under a thatch roof.  This table mystifies me.  It is ancient and not in good condition, but for the life of me I have no idea how they got it that far into the jungle.  It serves as a multi-purpose table.  It was the clinic table for the circumcisions, the demonstration table for health teachings, and then it was cleared for afternoon pool.

Late in the afternoon, we headed to the village church for a worship service.  It was quite amazing to worship God in a thatch roof church in the jungle.

Earlier in the day I had admired the handmade bamboo swords made for the VBS skit, and later in the afternoon a couple of the guys presented me with three swords made for my boys. I was so touched!  As the day wound down, we were all tired from a long, productive week - but glad for all we had been able to do.  The next morning we would be hiking out - back to the city.  But you already know that story....

Thanks for reading about this journey.  It was truly one of the hardest things I've ever done.

The Bukid - Day Two

The second village was significantly bigger and nicer.  The yards were fenced and many had gardens.  After our arrival we were happy to eat rice and veggies and then we (Brenda, Joy and I) found a few minutes to sneak to the well for a "bath".  Thankfully we were alone - even though we bathed in our clothes and washed our dirty clothes at the same time.  By the end of our bath we had a small audience, but not too bad.

Soon after, we started our afternoon clinic.  The doctor and Joy saw 150+ patients with a variety of ailments from a broken arm to many respiratory, skin, and gastrointestinal problems.  Brenda and I did prenatal appointments - again we heard too many stories of infant/child deaths - although this village seemed better.  The women seemed to have better nutrition, but without exception were chronically dehydrated and still malnourished, which increased their risks and problems.  We did our best to teach some basic nutrition/hydration information - especially related to pregnancy.

Our interview room was the kitchen of the home we were staying in - it had no light, so we had to work fast before the sun set at 5:30 p.m.  After dark we pulled out flashlights and finished our last couple of appointments.  We took the opportunity to give the women a full physical - as they don't have that chance often - if ever.  I was reminded yet again how relational this culture is when going over medical and gynecological history everyone chimed in to help a woman answer her own questions.  When talking about preventing STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections), we would talk about how having more than one sexual partner increases their risks.  Somehow my Visayan got mixed up and instead of asking "How many partners have you had in the past two years", I asked "How many times have you had sex in the past two years?"  Whoa...did that get them going!

While we were doing prenatals, two primary health care workers were doing circumcisions.  Here most boys are circumcised between the ages of 7-12 - what a sight!  The team did 60+ circumcisions in a few hours.  Two tables were set up in the middle of the community building, and the boys got in line.  One boy would walk up to a table, drop his pants, and climb up and lay down on the table with an arm over his eyes.  A little anesthesia, a few snips, and a couple of stitches later and he was given some tylenol and sent on his way.  When it got to dark to see, a generator with lights was set up and the entire operation was moved outside.

After work was supper - rice, veggies and bulad (a dried, salted fish) was served.  Then we went to bed early.  This time we had a bamboo bed, but no mattress.  We were either more tired or our bodies were adjusted a bit as we all reported sleeping a little better.  We were up by 5:30 a.m. and planned to start back to the first village by 7 a.m. - but another pregnant woman came from a distant village so part of our team went ahead while we visited with her.

After a snack of jackfruit (which tastes a little like a mix of strawberries and bananas) we were off.  To be continued...

Bukid Outreach - The Beginning

The beginning:  Monday morning our team met at a local church at 6 a.m.  This church was hosting the outreach to two villages where they had planted churches last August.  Our team consisted of the primary care team, the buntis (pregnant woman) care team, the VBS team, the circumcision team, and the kitchen team.  Some people's duties would overlap.

Unfortunately our ride - a truck from the local neighborhood government office - was late.  We finally left at 9:20 a.m.  We piled into the back of the open truck - sitting and standing as we were able.  We traveled 4 hours by truck into the mountains until we reached a river unpassable by truck.  So we got out and hiked.  We rested after an hour in a village and hired some horses to carry our gear.  Then we continued to hike another 2 hours into the mountains.  We arrived near dark at a small, poor village.  Lots of mamas and small children greeted us as we dragged into town.  Several women wore combs in their hair.  Many of the babies had skin disease covering their heads and big distended bellies full of worms.  My two friends - Joy and Brenda - along with myself were quite a novelty in the village as several of the people had never seen a white person before.

We hoped our kitchen team had a supper plan as our baggie of rice and single 2x2 inch piece of chicken that we had eaten in the back of the truck earlier in the day was long gone.

In the meantime the pastor welcomed us to his village.  He arranged a home for the women to sleep in.  Wood floors made our beds, and 4 of us shared a 6 x 9 room.  Our meals were served in the pastor's home.  We ate rice and noodles before heading to bed about 8:30 p.m.  Sleep was nice, but we tossed and turned as we weren't used to the wooden floor beds.  In the middle of the night, a curious rat made his way across my feet and around our room.  I laid still and hoped he didn't find his way up by my head.  Suddenly I was glad to be surrounded by sleeping bodies.  The early morning noises - pigs, roosters, and babies came with first light.

We tried to figure out how to do our morning routine without running water or electricity.  The view from our "window" was incredible - coconut trees and tropical flowers surrounded jungle huts as the sun peeked from behind the mountains causing the morning mist to rise up.  I enjoyed the view as I brushed my teeth with water from my water bottle.

 

The CR (comfort room = bathroom = in the bukid - outdoor outhouse) view was not as nice, but it was enclosed which was a nice change from the banana trees I had hid behind the day before.  Somehow fears of rebels kidnapping you or snakes surprising you become more daunting when your pants are down.

Our original plan/schedule had already changed several times as we were late the day before.  So we decided to do a small medical outreach in this village (Mandagason) before hiking another 2 hours to the next village (Tapak).  The doctor/nurse (Doc Ann and Joy) team did a primary healthcare clinic while Brenda and I took care of the pregnant women.  We were given privacy in the pastor's home and had three women come for care.

The first girl was 17 years old and pregnant with her second baby.  Her first baby died in childbirth after getting stuck in her small 15 year-old pelvis.  I asked her if she is scared of labor.  She looked at me questioningly and said, "no, should I be?"  Chances are she'll be fine this time around.  But with no trained birth attendants in the area, even minor problems can become major emergencies.  Especially when you add in malnutrition.  We encouraged her to come to the city to deliver, but we don't really expect to see her.

Another woman - reportedly 21 years old - although no one really seems to know their age or birthday - is pregnant with her 6th baby.  Her first child is 12 years old, 2nd - 9 years old, 3rd and 4th died at ages 3 and 2 respectively from diarrhea, and her fifth baby is 11 months old now.

The last woman we saw that morning just came because she hasn't been feeling well.  Her 9 month old baby was nursing.  We checked and sure enough found a baby's heart beat.  She seems to be about 3 months along.  This woman's first words were, "Lord give me strength."

As you can imagine, family planning options aren't readily available in the bukid.

While we did prenatals Doc Ann and Joy were busy with primary healthcare.  The rest of the team went ahead to the next village to start VBS.  About 11:30 a.m. after a quick snack of fresh coconut and some peanut butter, we set out in the heat of the day to hike to the next village.  The sun had dried some of the muddy areas, although I still managed to sink above the ankle in mud at one point.

The scenery was amazing and we followed the river through the mountains crossing it several times as it snaked back and forth.  At some points I was reminded of the scenery in the New Mexico and Colorado mountains and at other times I thought of the sand bars in a river near Austin.  But always the coconut and banana trees and lush tropical growth brought me back to the Philippines.  Snakes and rebels were never far from my mind, but our guide led us confidently through the jungle with his three-year-old daughter riding on his shoulders.  I decided not to worry about things that weren't in my path at the moment.  A good lesson...one I continued to remind myself of throughout the week.

We arrived in the next village red from the heat and soaked with sweat, but the villagers didn't seem to mind.  They greeted us with clucks and shouts and chatter.  The children ran along with us - afraid to get to close, but still curious.  Others clung to their mother's legs.

To be continued....

To be continued...