We're Here!

Asalamo Alaikom! (Peace be unto you)

            That’s the first phrase that we’ve learned in Marinao, the language of the Marinao people whom are the Muslims on this island. We arrived here Thursday night and I think today is the first day I actually am waking up feeling refreshed. The 25 hours of flying over a three day period really wiped us out, along with being on a completely opposite schedule. So here is a recap of the last few days:

Tuesday (1/18)- left Dallas at 10am, arrived in LA and visited Santa Monica beach for a few hours before returning to the airport for our midnight flight.

Wednesday- we lost this day when we went over the International Date Line, but it was practically spent flying

Thursday- arrived in Seoul, South Korea, continued on to Manila, and then on to Cagayan De Oro, Philippines where we met up with our host missionary, Tom. He drove us back to his house, another 2 hour drive from the airport. After a quick call to our parents, we went to bed immediately!

Friday- we went on our first ministry outing, visiting a village with Muslims and beginning our language training. We also were able to meet the team that we’ll be spending most of our time with and see the house we’ll be moving to today. Friday night was a party which we almost slept through but it was great to meet different team members here in the Philippines.

Saturday- A day off to go shopping for some food and out to eat, along with catching up with the homework I had to do and for Tommy to relax a bit and we were able to TALK!! We had been so tired or with people up until then, I think this was the first day that we were able to talk together of what we had been experiencing. A much needed conversation.

Sunday- Another ministry outing with the LRF students. The LRF is the Life Resources Foundation, a Bible school along with a training center on how to reach Muslims. This time we went to two villages. The first I was able to share my testimony to an older Muslim woman, then we played with the children on the beach. At the second village, Tommy was able to share his testimony with a household there. Afterwards we visited with different people.

Monday- Today we are moving to our permanent location, the “white house” as they call it. More pictures forthcoming.

As far as other details, the weather is hot and humid! It’s cool enough at night to sleep comfortably with a fan blowing on us and a light sheet, but it’s the cooler rainy season right now and it will only be getting warmer from here on out. The main concern with sleeping is the loud rooster who finds it his job to cockledoodledoo at 3am and the pig that responds with an even louder squeeling! It only lasts about 10 minutes though so we’re able to fall back asleep.

The people are so welcoming and friendly here, always giving snacks to the “Americans”. One man said that we looked like movie stars haha! Another child was practicing her English while pointing to the features and saying, “blue eyes, white skin, sharp nose” and then the last one caught me off guard, “orange hair”! We were laughing. At another house we were sitting there and the family was very interested in the fact that we were married. They asked how much Tommy paid for my dowry and laughed when they heard that in the US the girl’s parents pay for the wedding. Everyone asks us when we’ll be having our first baby too. That’s very important to this culture. The man who was asking Tommy these questions had four wives, 19 children and over 80 grandchildren!!

So far the food has been normal, lots of rice and some type of meet, either chicken or beef in a sauce. We even ate BBQ ribs with vegetables and rice for the equivalent of only 4 dollars! Try that in the states! So far the food has been delicious! Sorry there aren’t many pictures. With moving today, we are all packed up so my camera is in the suitcase. We’ll post more later.

Lastly, we are hoping to get some sort of schedule where we’ll be able to come into town and use the internet once a week. We’ll have more stories to share then!

Onward and Upward... sometimes slowly

Okay, so there have been a few things that has made this trip difficult. The organization that we are going with, Christar, has been in a transition period. They have taken on the daunting task of moving all their staff, offices, computer systems and everything else from Pennsylvania to Texas. I found it hard to move from New Hampshire to Virginia to start school with just an apartment full’s worth of stuff, yet imagine moving a whole building plus all of the staff moving their families as well. None the less, it had slowed down our process of acceptance as there was some miscommunication, nothing that hasn’t been worked through. Yet that was a time of faith as we worked with our short term coordinator to get all the paperwork in.

            Over the past few days, another difficulty has come up… vaccines. Eh! Thankfully I have had many of the required shots, and Tommy was able to get the others at a clinic here at school, yet there is still one, Japanese Encephalitis, which has been elusive. The shot comes in two doses 28 days apart. Our difficulty has been that we are not in the same state, either Virginia or Texas for 28 days!! It has taken phone call after phone call to try to straighten this out, not to mention that it is a $600 shot for each person. Over and over God calls us to faith and to trust in him, even with annoying things such as shots… and we are doing just that! It appeared that some doors were closing, yet with some determination and encouraging words from friends, we are back on track to still leave at the time we have been expecting. Thank you Jesus!

An Inspiring Dream

Below I have a poem, better described as a story, written by Amy Carmichael. I had first heard of Amy Carmichael while I was 7 or 8 at a summer camp called Goodnews. It was at this same camp that I committed myself before the Lord to full-time missions work in one way or another because of Amy Carmichael's incredible story of determination for Christ. Amy was a missionary in India from 1896 to 1951 (55 years) and worked to save children from forced prostitution in the temples there. This narration, written as though it was a dream she had, is absolutely inspiring to me and such a challenge to truly pursue what is worth while in this world. It is graphic in its description of people's lostness yet describes perfectly what we so often do not pay attention to or wish not to think about. I hope this short story challenges you as it did me.


Amy Carmichael's Dream:
The tom-toms thumped straight on all night and the darkness shuddered round me like a living, feeling thing. I could not go to sleep, so I lay awake and looked; and I saw, as it seemed, this:
That I stood on a grassy sward, and at my feet a precipice broke sheer down into infinite space. I looked, but saw no bottom; only cloud shapes, black and furiously coiled, and great shadow-shrouded hollows, and unfathomable depths. Back I drew, dizzy at the depth.
Then I saw forms of people moving single file along the grass. They were making for the edge. There was a woman with a baby in her arms and another little child holding on to her dress. She was on the very verge. Then I saw that she was blind. She lifted her foot for the next step . . . it trod air. She was over, and the children over with her. Oh, the cry as they went over!
Then I saw more streams of people flowing from all quarters. All were blind, stone blind; all made straight for the precipice edge. There were shrieks, as they suddenly knew themselves falling, and a tossing up of helpless arms, catching, clutching at empty air. But some went over quietly, and fell without a sound.
Then I wondered, with a wonder that was simply agony, why no one stopped them at the edge. I could not. I was glued to the ground, and I could only call; though I strained and tried, only whisper would come.
Then I saw that along the edge there were sentries set at intervals. But the intervals were too great; there were wide, unguarded gaps between. And over these gaps the people fell in their blindness, quite unwarned; and the green grass seemed blood-red to me, and the gulf yawned like the mouth of hell.
Then I saw, like a little picture of peace, a group of people under some trees with their backs turned toward the gulf. They were making daisy chains. Sometimes when a piercing shriek cut the quiet air and reached them, it disturbed them and they thought it a rather vulgar noise. And if one of their number started up and wanted to go and do something to help, then all the others would pull that one down. "Why should you get so excited about it? You must wait for a definite call to go! You haven't finished your daisy chain yet. It would be really selfish," they said, "to leave us to finish the work alone."
There was another group. It was made up of people whose great desire was to get more sentries out; but they found that very few wanted to go, and sometimes there were no sentries set for miles and miles of the edge.
Once a girl stood alone in her place, waving the people back; but her mother and other relations called and reminded her that her furlough was due; she must not break the rules. And being tired and needing a change, she had to go and rest for awhile; but no one was sent to guard her gap, and over and over the people fell, like a waterfall of souls.
Once a child caught at a tuft of grass that grew at the very brink of the gulf; it clung convulsively, and it called-but nobody seemed to hear. Then the roots of the grass gave way, and with a cry the child went over, its two little hands still holding tight to the torn-off bunch of grass. And the girl who longed to be back in her gap thought she heard the little one cry, and she sprang up and wanted to go; at which they reproved her, reminding her that no one is necessary anywhere; the gap would be well taken care of, they knew. And then they sang a hymn.
Then through the hymn came another sound like the pain of a million broken hearts wrung out in one full drop, one sob. And a horror of great darkness was upon me, for I knew what it was-the Cry of the Blood.
Then thundered a voice, the voice of the Lord. "And He said, 'What hast thou done, The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.'"
The tom-toms still beat heavily, the darkness still shuddered and shivered about me; I heard the yells of the devil-dancers and weird, wild shriek of the devil-possessed just outside the gate.
What does it matter, after all? It has gone on for years; it will go on for years. Why make such a fuss about it?
God forgive us! God arouse us! Shame us out of our callousness! Shame us out of our sin!

The First

Hey everyone! This is more of a test to make sure that everything is working right. The support letters are done and the Lord is encouraging us daily with verses and words from friends. It's hard to explain how we're feeling right now since there is so much between us and actually being out on the field. From raising the money, to finishing school, to Tommy graduating, a friend's wedding to go to, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years! It all seems so far away, yet then I think about the fact that Tommy and I have been married for nearly 5 months now and I understand that the time will fly by. I can't wait to write more about this new adventure that God has us on... 'til then!
~Kim