The End

It's all coming to an end. Sunday night marks my last shift at Glory Reborn, and the next morning I'll be heading to the nearby island of Negros ("knee-gross", not "knee-grows"), for 5 days of relaxation and sightseeing. Next Saturday I fly to Manila, and say goodbye to all my friends there. Four days later I hop another plane to cross that big, big ocean and make my way back to the cold of GP.
I'm ridiculously excited about home, albeit frigid, and a couch in my folks basement! But leaving is never easy, especially for an emotional wreck like myself. Here in Cebu I have had the privilege of working with more than a dozen fabulous Filipina nurses and midis, then there's the ever-so-helpful guards, the gym-folks, and Church friends. My Can-American friends Jen and Andrey have been God's great blessing to me! And I will seriously miss the cooking and eating of mouth-watering homemade meals, enjoyed with great conversation, local beer and The Office!

Cat's Out - My New Job

Well, the Official Cat is out of the bag, so I thought I would finally write on here and share with all of you my news about "The Next Step." And what I'll be doing after I head home in a couple weeks.
What I'll be doing is actually surprising to me, because I never saw it coming. I received an email a couple months ago and sat in the internet cafe with my mouth gaping, at the strange idea it presented to me! The suggestion that I consider serving the GP Church of Christ as youth pastor, or at least pray about it! In that moment I thought it was just craziness, why would anyone ask me that question? I assumed I would write back the next day and tell him, "nope, that's not for me." But I did pray about it, and in fact the idea itself grew and grew in my mind until both the praying and thinking began to push me towards the opposite answer. I began to really want to do it.
So now it is official. Starting in January I will be on staff in my home church, working full time as the Interim Youth Ministry Director. Yikes! And Yay! I'm pretty excited for this, there are just so many amazing Jr. and Sr. High-ers in our congregation! As I have been in and out of GP in the last few years I have had a lot of fun with them, leading in youth group, sunday school and conferences. And now my job is to plan those things and keep having fun, and point them all to Jesus! That's pretty exciting to me.
So the Cats out of the Bag. I figured I should finally blog this, as even my own poor brother found out by accident the other day. So now between the Chronicle and church and this blog, you all should know! I'd appreciate your prayers as I head into big responsibility, and lots of learning!

Rain

It appears that it is storm season here in Asia. I was beginning to think that "rainy" season here in the mid-Visayas actually meant "not-really-really-dry" season. But the last 2 days have proved me wrong as the rain has poured down outside. Cutting power, and dripping through my roof to land in strategically placed buckets. I love rain, have always loved it, I even love those gray days that look like rain and don't deliver. And these days I am learning that it is because I have never had to deal with the violence of nature, or with the lives of ones I love being snuffed out in a storm.
As far as I know rainy season has not disappointed inhabitants of Luzon, with the usual typhoons, and floods hitting them for the last few months. And as I read in the news today it appears that storms have been claiming quite a toll in Bangladesh with estimates of some 10,000 dead in the wake of a cyclone last week! My God! It's unimaginable, and perhaps you've been watching it all on the news, perhaps you don't have to imagine it now. But this is the first I've heard, and my heart is heavy with the weight of all those lives lost so violently. So meaninglessly.
I will NEVER understand the meaning of all the world's suffering. I will never have answers to my questions about disparity or brokeness. And as a storm rages outside, and I am safe right here, I wonder how it's fair that I have the privilege of safety. The privilege of loving rain storms.

Bushes of the Amazon

Yesterday was Marielyn's birthday. She's the one in the middle. And she turned 21. That's only one year younger than I am. We are out for lunch to celebrate the occasion and the other woman is also 6'0" tall. We look Amazonish.

And in case you didn't know Bush is now recruiting Filipino nurses for America, England, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. I didn't know that he represented the wishes and needs of so many countries!

They Know

The other night I transported a patient to the hospital, as I've done a few times through the months here. Each trip is a test of my language skills as I try to talk with our patients, the doctors and nurses, all in Bisaya. And thankfully this trip wasn't an emergency and the hospital staff were kind.
But no matter how many trips I take; to admit patients, or visit ones already there, I will never become immune to the shock of the place. Can you imagine an overfull, understaffed hospital, with paint peeling and floors crumbling. With cats and roaches running through, with blood on the floor. With a sign in the Pedia ward that says "Dengue Express Lane". With patients sharing beds, sharing diseases. This place is beyond imagination. But its all that is here, the only public hospital. It's what the people have.
So we arrived at the ER and then went on to the front desk, and back, and to the ward, and back, and to wait in the hall, and back. After an hour and half, the patients husband had bought all the necessary medicines and supplies at an outside pharmacy. And they were finally ready to be admitted. Time for me to go.
So I headed outside, and crossed the street to wait for a taxi to take me back to the clinic. The street was dark, but certainly not quiet, and I thought how strange it seemed to be there on that corner, across from that place, alone and at night. I wasn't worried, I never am, I don't feel in danger here. I don't think there's a time with less than a half dozen people watching me, and across form the hospital there was likely two or three times that!
As I'm waiting there is a constant flow of jeepneys passing by, urging me to board, and there's a lot of foot traffic even though it's late. As one man passes me he turns and tells me the name of my street. My address! And as I stare at him incredulously, he grins, says "I know", and walks on. There I am, a good 10-15 min drive from my place, and someone, some stranger knows where I live?? I expect than everyone in my neighbourhood knows where I live, as far as I know, I'm the only white person around. But standing on a street corner in the middle of the night, people know where I live! There are several million people in this city!
What I've decided is that he was probably a taxi driver I've had in the past. And harmless to boot, he certainly didn't do anything threatening. But what a strange feeling, I guess it's like Cheers, but instead of just a bar, its a whole city where "everybody knows my name".

Leviticus 15?

In church this morning the speaker tells us our passage for the morning, and everyone opens up their Bibles. I didn't have mine, I never have mine, so I just pulled out my journal for the notes. And they start to read the passage out, in Bisaya of course, and I'm listening only vaguely. I know enough to know, that I only really know maternity-clinic-Bisaya.
But as their reading I begin to think - Wait a second, I know these words. What are they talking about??? I can't wait for them to get to the English translation, so I peak over at my roomie's Bible to see if what I'm thinking is what is being read. And sure enough, my maternity-clinic-Bisaya has served me well. We are reading the passages of the Law that discuss menstrual periods and semen. In church. Yes, that is our inspirational passage for the morning! Around the church people are getting shifty and uncomfortable, there are grins and nervous chuckles. Seriously, Leviticus 15?? My nurse-roomie and I are quietly laughing in the back row, and the poor translator is totally embarrassed and trying to make it through the passage.
In the end, sense was made as the speaker moved on to Mark 5 and the women who touches Jesus and is healed. He lets us know we can boldly approach Jesus, even when we feel "unclean" we can still go face-to-face with Him and ask for healing and restoration. And Jesus even calls this women Daughter, apparently the only time He ever speaks the name.
But I was lost, the start of that sermon was unfathomably awkward! I'm proud of the man for going for it, it takes a great level of confidence to address menstruation in Church. I've tried to picture a Sunday at home and Alan basing a sermon on, quote - discharges - end quote, but I'm afraid I don't have the imagination for it. Men here do a lot of things I can't imagine men doing at home, guess this was just one of them.
I have to say, it was a sermon I'll never forget!

Ta-Da!

I am officially done my numbers!! I have delivered 20 widdle babies! 18 of them within the last 5 months!! Not only is that just great. But from now on I am stress-free, my clinical requirements have been met and the rest is just extras and more learning and fun. My first delivery was little baby Andrea way back in March, and my latest was a young Harley David. Yes, that's right, Harley David.
I have to say, its pretty cool - I've delivered 20 babies!