Happy Thanksgiving!
I'm talking to Michael about his recent proposal to Christina on the cell phone in one of the few "hot spots."
The pantry in our hut, outfitted with dozens of garbanzo bean cans!
A month has already passed since our arrival on Palawan. It’s difficult to believe that we’re already at Thanksgiving. A lot has happened since our coming here. Here are some stories:
Last week a ten-day-old baby was brought to the clinic. Her mother died a week after she was born. The ten-year-old sister was caring for the infant because the father was going to sell it in the lowlands. The sister, wanting to keep the child, brought it to us. The baby was surprisingly healthy-looking, considering the circumstances. Supposedly an aunt had been breastfeeding it for the last several days. It was difficult for Becca and I to comprehend a father wanting to sell his baby. After giving the baby a bath and food, we discussed with the sister and aunt of what to do. Apparently, this is not the first time this has happened here. Sometimes, mothers will die shortly after birth and leave a father with a new baby and multiple other children. Most of the time relatives will pitch in to raise the youngster, but, sometimes the family sells the baby. The end result of this experience was the aunt agreeing to take care of the infant. It was pretty much the easiest adoption process ever.
Another event that happened last week was our Sabbath hike to Kensuli. Our fellow missionaries assured us that the trek would only take about thirty minutes and was easy enough to do in sandals. Becca and I have climbed Mt. Rainier, tall cliffs, and done other difficult things, but this beats them all. It had rained shortly before our hike so the trails were extra slick. The others who went with us had not been on the particular route before because a new trail had been cut. It was shorter, but much steeper. Crampons and an ice-axe would have been helpful. When we reached the Kensuli village we looked like we had just taken a shower in sweat. Becca kept saying, “I would rather have climbed Mt. Rainier!” The recent bout of malaria didn’t help any, but, it was a challenge none-the-less.
This week I made my first batch of authentic sticky rice. For sweet-tooths, this is a great dish. First of all, you have to have a niyug (coconut, pronounced ‘nyoog’). You shave all the niyug meat into a bowl, add some water to the shavings, then squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. After this, you take out the pulp (squeezed niyug shaving), strain the coconut milk and put it on a frying pan. Then, you add some brown sugar, ginger, kalamansi (small lime-like citrus), and vanilla. Fry the mixture until becomes a little sticky, then add it to the cooked sticky-rice and tebes ne (finished)! I also made banana pancakes/flat bread, but the results were not quite as impressive. It would be more accurate to call them banana goo-cakes!
Becca has fully recovered from her first bout of malaria. She is now hard at work in the clinic saving lives! Her highlight this week was a hot bath! I boiled up a big pot of water for her and got our large laundry buckets. She marinated in the buckets while I doused her with the warm water. She kept saying, “This is the best thing that has ever happened to me! I want this every night!” to which I replied, “You will have to choose between food and bathing, there is not enough propane for both!” So, we agreed that once a week might be a reasonable amount of warm bathing time. For now, she’s gonna have to brave the cold shower.
Chickenpox spreads like crazy here. When one person gets it, the whole village gets it. Kensuli, the village Becca and I hiked to last Sabbath, came down with chickenpox this week. Becca treated 10 kids one morning! They all looked pretty miserable. The treatment here is somewhat conservative. The kids get some calamine lotion and a bag of oatmeal. Apparently, if you make oatmeal into a paste it helps temporarily relieve the irritation.
Well, that’s a few of the experiences we’ve had. Though time goes by quickly, its passing seems different here. In America it’s not uncommon for me to come to the end of a day and wonder what happened, how did the day end so quickly. Here, the days seem full, but I have yet to be surprised by the greeting of the night. This is probably because our lives here are quite simple. There’s no pressing appointments, no trips to Wal-Mart, no need to gas-up a car, no utility bills, etc. That doesn’t make it easier, just different. Time here not running errands is time spent preparing food, keeping the hut free of pests, washing/drying clothes, cleanup after eating, filtering water, seeing patients, etc. We have found a beauty in simplistic living. It seems to birth more gratitude for things often for-granted and also seems to generate more reflective thinking. Some of the insightful thoughts gleaned from this experience are the power of a positive attitude and refraining from complaining. I thought coming here was primarily to be of medical help to the natives. However, God has shown that the medical aspect of our mission was the lesser of lessons to be learned. The power of memorized scripture has topped the list of important things to learn. Being in a place with few distractions has given us the opportunity to sharpen our spiritual swords for life now, and forever. We thank God for leading us here. We also thank you for all your prayers, love, and support.
With love from a bamboo hut,
Jon & Becca
