A Young Coconut

The missionaries who are at CFM for a couple of months took us out for lunch at a restaurant called the Boulevard in Bambang. This is Beef Ampayala. There were seven of us, and it only cost them around $12 to feed all of us together.

Bob sang on Sunday morning with Margie and three of the students who stay at CFM.

The Village of Imugan-March 25, 2006

Bob and I went to the somewhat modernized village of Imugan in Nueva Vizcaya on March 25, 2006. We went there for the 40th day commemoration of the death of one of his aunts. We missed the worship service part of the commemoration, but got in on some food, and also got to see some of Imugan.

We were waiting for a ride to Imugan when I took this picture.

Imugan

This is Bob buying something from a Sari-Sari store in Imugan.

Imugan

A Papaya Tree

Imugan

Imugan

In Imugan

This is the grave of the woman who died forty days ago. She had wanted to meet me, but now it's too late.

You can see the line to the food in this picture, though it's a little bright.

This is rice with rice wine. People eat it like pudding. Sometimes they taste sweet, and other times they don't.

These are some of the people who came to the 40th day commemoration of the death of one of Bob's aunts. I don't know if more people showed up to eat than came to the worship service because we accidentally missed the worship service, but I know it's normal and acceptable for people to show up to eat at weddings without being invited or going to the ceremony.

We ate boiled pork, the boiled pork juice with salt added, pork liver, and a mound of rice for the 40th day of the death of one of Bob's aunts.

After the Feast

Cleaning Up After the Feast

In Imugan

Children Playing-Imugan

A Foot Bridge in Imugan

Chicken With Chicks

Walking Back to CFM

My First Birthday In the Philippines, March 24, 2006

Here I am at the special table at my Birthday party. We had fish, three vegetable dishes, and jello cake with fruit inside. The American couple here were the missionaries to Bob's village when the people there still sacrificed to and lived in fear of the spirits. They now only visit every year to do some checking for the Kalanguya Bible translation and some other things. The Filipina here is Margie, one of Bob's nieces who is also a Mother Tongue Translator.

In the Philippines, it's the custom to feed people for your Birthday by preparing a meal for your friends, or taking them out to eat or bringing a snack to work (opposite of what is generally done in America). I had my party at CFM and invited everyone who lives there to come. Some of the students who stay there prepared the fish and vegetables. It only cost about $30. to feed around 50 people.

This is one of the Birthday jello cakes with fruit inside that Sarah made (one of Bob's nieces). The vegetable in this picture is a type of sweet potato leaf, or Camote Top.

My Birthday Party

My Birthday Party

My Birthday Party

My Birthday Party

Bong

My Birthday Party

My Birthday Party

Bob and I ate at Chow King for lunch on my Birthday. This is the view from the window.

Bob Eating Pancit

We ate Pancit Canton in Bambang for our afternoon snack on my Birthday in a very cute restaurant.

Bob Holding Justin (a little girl who lives at CFM with her parents)

A Better Picture of Walter Mart (I posted one a long time ago). It's actually a mall, not a store like Wall Mart.

Update/Prayer Letter

I’ve decided that it’s time that I start sending out update/prayer newsletters on a regular basis. I am, after all, planning to become a missionary. In fact, I think the sooner I figure out how to start raising support and the sooner I join a mission’s organization, the better. I’ll probably start applying to SIL soon because the organization that my boyfriend, B, works for, NPMTTA (Northern Philippines Mother Tongue Translation Association), is part of SIL, and would probably know what to do with us.

I’ll probably be moving out of my current apartment in April or May, and moving in with some of the other Applied Linguistics students because I thought it would be good for me to live with Filipino students, mainly because I want to learn the culture and language. Most of the people that I’ll probably be living with work as Mother Tongue Translators for NPMTTA. Please pray that if I do move in with them, it will be a situation that God put together, and not something that I thought of and made happen. I sometimes have trouble waiting for God’s direction and peace, and then end up wondering if what I did was really from Him. Not knowing if I’m doing the right thing can be very stressful, especially since I tend to be a person who second guesses my decisions.

I don’t want to add stress to my life because I’ve been getting sick almost every few weeks since I arrived in the Philippines almost eleven months ago. I’ve also developed something that the dermatologist thinks is “Schambergs Disease,” a harmless bunch of reddish brown patches on one of my legs, which might not go away for a few years. There’s not much known about them. I also seem to have developed some mild gout. It can be controlled by avoiding certain foods, but I think it’s very strange that I would develop it at my age, especially since it usually only affects men. I also spent several days feeling very lightheaded, and suspect that I might have become anemic. I’m planning to visit another doctor this week or next week because one of the other international students here knows of some doctors who are good at diagnosing people, unlike the doctors I’ve been seeing. Please pray for my health and healing. I believe that God can heal me through His grace.

The semester here is almost over. I’ve been taking Greek 3&4 in one 6 credit class, as well as Old Testament Prophets and Personal and Spiritual Formation. In May, I’ll be starting the Applied Linguistics classes which were cancelled this last year. It must have been through God’s provision that the classes were cancelled because that was the reason B invited me to the province for the first month I was here, allowing us to get to know each other. It’s a great blessing that God brought us together.

I’m looking forward to going to the province this weekend to go to a village and attend the 40th day of one of B's relatives deaths, and will get to meet many more of his relatives there.
Thank you for your prayers. I hope my letter wasn’t too depressing. I’m sure I’ll have a lot more interesting things to talk about next time, but for now, it’s the end of the semester and I must finish my assignments.

Cell Phone Text Messages

• Real friends never leave each other…never part…they just sometimes sit silently, deep within each others heart, sayin’…I’m just here cause I’m your friend!
• If we are the stars adrift in nothingness, never think that your spark is worthless amidst a billion others cause somewhere, somehow, someone is thankful for the light you shine. I know I am.
• Great Faith is the product of great fights. Great testimonies are the outcome of great tests. Great triumphs were once great trials… so, go on with life with great courage.
• No one has ever damaged his or her eyesight by looking at the brighter side of life.
• God is a friend Who is close beside us. Anytime we’re feeling lost, His light will surely guide us, and anywhere we go, His love will always reach us.
• At times, LIFE never seems to be the way we want it; but we LIVE it the best way we can. There’s no PERFECT life but with GOD, we can fill it with PERFECT MOMENTS!
• Forget the things that made you sad and remember those that made you glad. Forget the trouble that passed away and remember the blessings that will come today.
• The one who gave us this life is the same One who made all things beautiful in our time that we may live it with footprints on which others would follow…let someone see that he or she can follow what you thought, said, and did today!
• The storms in Life reveal the Strength of our FAITH. FAITH doesn’t eliminate trials but it determines whether we fall or stand in the storm…
• God is always at work in you. That is why you always have to be confident in everything you do. He is not just beside you, or behind you, but He is in you.

This is an old picture of Bob and I with some of his relatives (sisters, nieces, and an aunt and uncle, I think) in Bambang.

This is one kind of fried, dried fish snack. This type of fish fried, dried fish can also be eaten with rice, especially for breakfast. If you buy the dried fish and fry them yourself, you get an extremely pungent fish smell.

This is a "pedicab." It's like a tricycle (a motorcycle with a small passenger car attached), but it's powered by a bicycle instead. Pedicab drivers must have very strong legs.

I found a huge mound of boiled peanuts for sale outside of the grocery store that's inside of the mall near my apartment. Many of them were "four-peanut peanuts."

The rice stalks that stand tall and straight are empty. Those that are bent and lowly are heavy with grain. Be happy as we bend to God, and humble as we toil.

I went to the 20th Anniversary of a Japanese Filipino church. Here I am with Chari, Rev. Mori, Ka Wing, Yuki (Ka Wing's husband). I think the Japanese women in front of Yuki is married to the pastor, and the guy beside her in is the pastor.

This is the Rev. Akira Mori who spoke at the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Philippine Japan Bible Church in Metro Manila. He's Japanese, and is a pastor in Japan. He's married to a Norwegian missionary. His English is so good that he sounds like an American. He gave his message in both English and Japanese.

The Worship Service

Both Filipino and Japanese people like to celebrate church anniversaries with a lot of food. Most of this food is Filipino. I took this at a strange angle.

There was a magic show after lunch.

They had someone from the Japanese Philipino church drive us home. Ka Wing and I were dropped off by SM, one of the malls.

Sunday Afternoon Along EDSA- The guy leaning out of the bus is anouncing the direction that the bus is going to get people to ride it.

This is the street that my school is on.