Happy Thanksgiving from the Philippines!

We woke up Thursday morning, thinking it was just another day. But it was Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is not a holiday that is celebrated in the Philippines (which is a shocker, because they celebrate holidays constantly over here). But with 3 Americans in the house we figured it was the perfect opportunity to celebrate a day of Thanks!

We started with the pie, because thats the most important part. We had to use a Kalabasa, which is kinda like a squash, and peel it, chop it up, and pressure cook it. I was in charge of peeling it....mutilating it, is more what I did. I was thankful that I didn't lose a finger or two. 

The crime scene....

Then we continued to follow a recipe that Wendy had. It called for coconut milk, corn starch, vanilla, and cinnamon, all-spice, and ginger. We made a crust from scratch and put it aside to be baked.

We spent the remainder of the morning cooking the rest of the meal, which was Homemade Stuffing with Tofu (lovingly named 'The Stuffing Surprise' lol), Mashed Potatoes (CAN'T have Thanksgiving without them), Broccoli (Soooo Thankful!), Big Franks (kinda random, but we had to use them up. So we cooked them in McKay's Chicken Seasoning, they fit in pretty well.), Gravy, and a nice Salad. 

We started cooking shortly after breakfast (7 am) and were finally ready to eat around 2pm. During the cooking process we had dirtied every dish in the house....twice...but we worked together nicely, each washing dishes when we had no other assignment. Which definitely helped with clean-up in the end. :)

As we were getting ready to eat and sharing old Thanksgiving stories, I realized that this is my second Thanksgiving in the Philippines. The more I thought about it, the more I realized...I didn't even really remember my last Thanksgiving in the States. Of course, as I was dwelling on this fact, I realized that this was my first Thanksgiving with No Family member present because last year I had my sister. It was then that I noticed my company. All 3 of us were away from family and loved ones on this very special holiday, but we were taking charge and making the most of it. 

Dinner was amazing! I was excited that LeAnne had gotten her appetite back for this special occasion. We ate until we were stuffed...and then ate a little more. :)

We ran into some problems while baking the pumpkin pie. For some reason, the pie filling didn't set. We would have kept it in the oven longer, but the crust was about to burn. So we took it out. It looked extremely questionable, but we gave it a try anyways. It was DELICIOUS! Though, it was nothing like any pumpkin pie we've ever had, it tasted really good. It kinda seemed like a pumpkin pudding on top of crust. We had no idea how it ended up that way though (which is sad, because it was really good! I want to try and mess it up again ;)  )

That night, we attended our last L.I.G.H.T classe. It went by so fast, which isn't hard to believe since we stayed home for about a week of it. But for the nights that we did attend, we learned so much and had a lot of fun getting to know the teachers. I'm very happy we were able to come up for these meetings.

Davin sell the hammocks he makes to pay for his mission
travels.

As I was sitting in the meetings, I was reflecting on the MANY blessings in my life. I have been to the Philippines twice this year alone. I have gotten a lot of "miles" in this year, traveling to various places. It's been a lot of fun! I have a mission family, that teaches me so much everyday and who make these trips SOO much more fun!  I have an amazing church family who are very supportive, both prayerfully and financially, of my missions. I have awesome friends and an amazing travel buddy! And at the end of the day I have an amazing family back at the home base, who are loving and supportive of all my decisions (I promise to not make a habit out of 'Thanksgivings abroad' :) Sorry for 2 years away :(  ). Last but not least, I serve an amazing God who is always there for me when I feel alone and who gives me traveling mercies and adventures along the way. I am a very blessed little girl and I'm very thankful for all the blessings bestowed upon me!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

"Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever."

~1 Chronicles 16:34

And We're Back!

I was so excited Sunday morning when LeAnne decided that she had the strength to the attend the night meetings. I texted Wendy and she stopped by after her morning visitations to pick us up. 

That night we had to go even earlier for the meetings, because they were doing a cooking demo before the meetings. They were going to be teaching us how to make: Soymilk, Tofu, Vegan Cheese, and Vegan Mayonnaise. When LeAnne walked in the room, people freaked! Everyone was constantly asking her how she was feeling and making sure she was comfortable. They were all really nice and LeAnne really appreciated all the moral support. 

We sat in the 2nd row to watch the cooking demo. It was funny, Filipinos are the funniest people ever. When the demo started, everyone was scattered throughout the room. As it went on, they started moving to seats closer to the front, then closer, and closer, until finally they were all standing around the table pushing to get in closer to see what came next. It was really quite the sight.

After the cooking demonstration we continued with the regular classes. LeAnne did her best and managed to stay awake for most of it...but then she started to get tired. Wendy had suggested that she bring her pillow just in case something like that happened. So she took her pillow and went to a bench in the back to lay down for a bit.

During the time LeAnne was sick, they had switched from teaching hydrotherapy to teaching massage. I made sure to pay close attention so I could pick up what I had missed the last 5 days. Wendy was really nice and helped to fill us in on what we had missed.

As they days went on, LeAnne didn't have the strength to return to visitations every morning, but we attended the classes every night. The last couple nights, it was "final exam" for massage. This is when people would have to perform a back massage in front of the instructor, so a lot of dummies were needed. I don't know that you can be considered the "dummy" when you're the one getting the massage...I'm just sayin' ;)

At one point, 2 ladies, nervously went up for their exam and Irene asked if anyone wanted to volunteer. LeAnne and I stood up and the ladies freaked out! They were already nervous to be tested and now they had to test on the Americans?? lol, They did fine...it was quite amazing!

We only have a couple days left up here in Santiago, we'll have to make the most of them!

"For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith."

~1 John 5:4

The Adventures of Malaria Jane!

I'm ashamed to admit that I woke up Tuesday morning with excitement. I heard the rain falling outside and thought to myself, "Yay! Maybe we won't do visitations and we can bum around all morning." 

Then LeAnne came back in the room and I shared with her my hope for that day. She replied "I don't know if I could do visitations today. I don't feel so well." I figured maybe she caught my cold. We went out to breakfast and she couldn't eat very much or sit up for very long. Wendy took her temperature and saw that she had a little bit of a fever. So she had her go back to bed. After awhile she began complaining of pain in her lower back and we checked and saw that her temperature had gone up again. Wendy figured that she had malaria, from spending the 3 days up in the mountains.

And so continued the next 5 days of our life. At first, due to the classes and the fact that all the natural remedies we've used so far have worked so well, we decided to to try and deal with it naturally. The book and teachers suggested giving her a hot foot bath with a hot towel underneath her back. We tried this, but Wendy was really afraid because LeAnne already had a fever and she didn't want to raise her body temperature too much. After that we applied a lot of cold mitten friction, which is basically when you take 2 cold, wet washcloths and rub them down her arms and legs. I spent the next day constantly switching the cold washcloth on LeAnne's head, giving cold mitten friction treatments, and checking her temperature. However, the treatment only seemed to be encouraging her fever to go higher and higher.

Me: (takes thermometer from LeAnne) Hmm...40o C.

LeAnne: So, what is that?

Me: I don't know, I'll check. (types number into temperature converter) OH MY GOSH!

LeAnne: What? How high is it?

Me:....uh...its not so bad....Let me put some more ice in this water....

At one point, LeAnne's temperature hit a high of 40.3o C or, as it is more easily understood, 104.54o F. That night, Wendy came home and suggested we use medicine. Wendy has seen MANY Malaria cases. She worked up in the mountains of Palawan for 7 years and knows pretty much everything there is to know about the dangers of untreated Malaria. She decided to start LeAnne on the medicine because she didn't want to risk it. We all agreed and LeAnne started Malaria medication. 

I try to convince LeAnne to eat some Pomelo. It was huge! The size of my face!

LeAnne continued with the medicine, and spent most of the day just laying in bed and sleeping. We did our best to keep her eating, but she was never really that hungry. She usually just took a couple bites and spent the rest of the time moving it around so it would look like she ate more of it. 

Your suppose to eat the soup! But still, Clever. ;)

Finally after 4 days of being in bed, she was finally able to walk around a little bit. She would come with me to the kitchen to eat and then would go back to bed and sleep for awhile. On Saturday, Wendy suggested that we try to go outside and get some Vitamin D. So we walked outside the house, for the first time in 5 days. It was amazing...although the view wasn't so great, as Wendy and Dwayne live in a busy subdivision, and it kinda had a bad smell, but STILL it was something different :) We didn't want risk walking too far, but LeAnne enjoyed the sunlight so I went in the house and found a nice bench to sit on. There is no such thing as a driveway or sidewalk in the Philippines. So we just plopped in the road. It was awesome, Filipinos drive by and see 2 white girls sitting on a bench in the middle of the road...TOTALLY normal ;)

Sunday morning, after days of praying, LeAnne woke up with no fever, no nausea, and no pain. Praise God! We were overjoyed. LeAnne was a trouper. Those who have had malaria will tell you how awful it is. The illness is bad enough, but then you add the medicine! From what I've heard (I have never had malaria...*knock on wood*) Chloroquine, the medicine, is really bitter and the side effects are worse. It makes you very emotional and can give you some really weird nightmares. But through it all, LeAnne would still smile at me when I came in the room. So proud of her! As for me, I felt guilty. Tuesday morning I wanted nothing more than to spend the day bumming around. We ended up spending 5 days bumming around the house at the expense of my best friend being incredibly sick. It definitely wasn't worth it :( Now, I will be more careful what I wish for.

I leave you with this...if you come to the Philippines and decided to visit the island of Palawan and find yourself compelled to climb the mountains or even go near the base of the mountains...

Wear Bug Repellent...

and lots of it...

That is all.

"and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

~Psalms 50:15

Some good deeds and some good eats

Monday morning we went to Purok 6 again for visitations. Wendy wanted to visit Cherry Mae and Davin was going to give Hydrotherapy treatments to a patient named Franco. LeAnne and I decided to split up. She took one camera and I took another and we were off!

I went with Davin to see the Hydrotherapy treatment. I was really interested to see a real treatment done because in class its all simulated, so you don't get the full picture. 

Davin and Early, another L.I.G.H.T. missionary who lives in Santiago, found Franco when they were doing visitations in Purok 6. He was a smoker for many years and had finally quit in March of this year. But recently he would have shortness of breath while doing simple activities. Even while getting out of bed in the morning, he would have a difficult time breathing. He was afraid that he may have lung cancer and went for a consultation and learned that he didn't have cancer (hooray!) but still didn't learn what was wrong (boo!) 

Davin decided to put him on a 10-day Chest Fomentation Hydrotherapy Treatment. Fomentation, as we have been learning in class, is the application of a hot, wet cloth or towel to a body part (in this case the chest). Each hot application is usually followed by a brief, cold application to the treated body part. Fomentations benefit the body by: *Increasing the circulation of the germ-fighting white blood cells. *Helping to remove body wastes through the skin by increased sweating. *Relieving pain in the nerves, muscles, joints, and internal organs and *Reducing congestion of the internal organs by increasing blood flow to the skin surface.

Davin's thought was that the hydrotherapy could be used to get all of the wastes out of his system from all the years of smoking and that it would relieve any congestion in his lungs that could be causing his shortness of breath.

At the beginning of every treatment they would take his blood pressure. Like everyone else in the Purok, his blood pressure was very high the first time they started treatment. Every day they saw his B.P. drop. Today, 5 days into treatment, his blood pressure had lowered to a normal 120/70.

It was very interesting being able to see an actual treatment done. There were many things that I noticed that weren't explained as clearly during class as it was to see it being done.

While I was doing hydrotherapy with Davin, Early, and Franco, Wendy and LeAnne were visiting Cherry Mae. They were very excited to see that she was walking again. Though she was still weak, she had been able to walk by herself all weekend. The medicine was making her feel so much better and you could see it in her face. She was also starting to get her appetite back, so that was another plus! 

While visiting, they learned that her younger sister was starting to get sick. So they gave her a little check up while they waited there and learned that she had flu-like symptoms. So they, inspired by our nightly meetings, suggestive some natural remedies to help her feel better.

After our visitations, we were invited over to the missionary house for a "Traditional Jamaican Meal".

Wendy: "What do they eat in Jamaica?"

Me: "I'm not really sure."

Wendy: "Do you think its like a rice and bean type thing?"

lol, We truly had no idea what to expect, but it ended up being a Rice and Bean dish with a ToFu Curry. We were able to help prepare it. Irene, one of the other L.I.G.H.T. missionaries, did most of the cooking. LeAnne and I basically just help chop things for her.

I like to look super fierce while I chop garlic. lol.

Davin, taking time between cooking, to make hammocks.

By the time the food was ready to eat, I was starving....so I forgot to take a picture of it. But it was REALLY good :) It was fun eating lunch with the other missionaries, since most of them were our teachers we were also able to ask them questions that we didn't get around to asking in class. It was a good time.

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

~Hebrews 10: 24-25

Day of Rest...ha, ha. Yeah, right!

Ok, we'll admit it. After 4 days of busyness, we were pretty tired. But it was nothing a nice, restful Sabbath couldn't fix....if only we had known that wasn't in the cards for us.

We headed to church around 8:30am and arrived in time for Sabbath School. The Church sermon was really good, it was done by one of our L.I.G.H.T. teachers, Davin. 

Davin is from Jamaica and is a very powerful preacher. He studied at Wildwood in the U.S. and is very passionate about teaching all things Health, Natural Remedies, and God. His sermon was about the foundation of the Adventist church and how the structure seems to be leaning (figuratively speaking, of course) He did a great job! LeAnne and I were just thrilled to finally hear a sermon in English again. So the fact that we could understand what he was saying made us like it all the more! ;)

After church we headed to Potluck. The Potluck in Santiago is much different than the potlucks in Palawan. Here, potluck is a lot like in the States: Everyone brings a dish to contribute to the Meal. However, unlike in the States, they don't understand the concept of THE LINE. Any Filipino potluck/meal I have ever been to is very stressful, in the way that, nobody waits in line to fill there plates. They all just go at it.

The best description I could give you, would be that scene in the movie "Hook" when all the Lost Boys are eating. They say "grace" and go at it. Heres the clip on Youtube. (The part i'm referring to is in the first 17 seconds, so you don't have to watch the whole video.)

Anyways, so getting food at potluck is incredibly stressful. Especially if there is a dish that looks REALLY good, you really have to fight. But anyways, so we had lunch and then, to our surprise, headed to a medical mission.

Every Sabbath, Wendy and Dwayne's Sabbath School class (which consists of many Doctors from the Adventist Hospital) go to different subdivisions and give free medical missions. A lot of people turn up to take advantage of the free check-up, diagnosis, and medicine.

Though Wendy is a nurse and has done consultations on many medical missions, she usually leaves the doctors to do the consultations on these trips and helps out in the counseling department. The people come by the "counselors" before they pick up their medicine, so that they can receive tips on how to change their health and diet for the better. 

We helped her in the counseling department for awhile....though "help" is an understatement because we didn't really offer too much information. So we just chilled there and prayed with patients.

Then Wendy helped to give massages to
those who needed one.

There were many people there.

After awhile we began to realize that there were a lot of kids there. Most had come with their parents, but others were just neighborhood kids who followed the commotion. LeAnne and I decided to put our years of Christian education to good use and sing songs with them.

We gathered them all together and sang EVERY song with hand-motions that we had learned in our Adventist careers (as well as a couple Tagalog songs I had picked up from my last trip to the Philippines) We spent about 45 minutes entertaining them with songs, and even repeated the ones that they liked the most. Then we started to lose our voices and we sat down.

However, by this point, we had captured the kids attention and they weren't about to let us go. So they sat around us and we spent the next hour or so being entertained by them. They asked us questions with the little English they knew and we asked questions in the little Tagalog we knew ("Ano ang pangaalan mo?" aka "What is your name?") and we spent the rest of the time learning little words and phrases in Tagalog. 

Then I brought out my camera and started to take pictures of them. As usual, they loved it and started crowding around and doing different poses, just so they could see themselves on the screen. They were so funny and made the time go by super fast.

After the medical mission we headed over to the meetings. Then, after 3 hours of meetings we were finally able to go home. We were exhausted! At the meetings, one of the teachers had made the comment that, "People think that Sabbath is suppose to be a day of Rest. But actually, God says that we need to rest from our weekly duties and spend the day with him. And the best way to spend time with him, is to share him with others. So on the Sabbath we should be doing Outreach, so that we share His love with others."...There is logic to that statement...however...we were really tired! So Rest was what we were looking forward to...lol, but regardless, we made it through the day and managed to have a really good time considering our exhaustion. Maybe we'll get some "Rest" in tomorrow....but we won't hold our breath ;)

"...Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."

~Matthew 12:12b