Note for Chosen 300 Team

Quick note for those of you who will be going to serve at Chosen 300 on New Year's Day...I'll be praying for you guys. Special thanks to Patti and Jay for covering for me. I'll miss hearing Mark teach for the first time, but I'm sure the homeless guests and all our volunteers will be greatly blessed. I look forward to hearing all about the night when I get back.

Thanks again to Brian, Shandai and the rest of the Chosen 300 board of directors for your support of me on this trip.

And for those of you reading this blog who are unfamiliar with Chosen 300, it's an amazing organization. Please check the link I've got posted on this page.

OK, time to get packed for the trip to Manila.

Happy New Year!!!

Well, almost New Year anyway. It's about 8:00 p.m. Hong Kong time and since I won't likely have internet access at midnight, here are my early wishes!

Wow, what a marvelous day we've had!! Matt and Marilou got here after all...turns out there was a little mix-up on our end about their itinerary. Their plane actually did arrive as scheduled. And our luggage got here, too!!! Woo hooo!! Thanks for your prayers!!

Once Matt and Marilou got here we all headed over to Victoria Peak. On the way we passed by probably hundreds of women, many Muslim, sitting around on the sidewalks in little groups. They were all set for the day with food, drinks, etc. and made themselves at home while spreading out on sheets of plastic. We were trying to guess what was going on and had decided that they must be there to stake out spots for the fireworks tonight or something. Come to find out that they are actually women who are originally from Indonesia and who are working in Hong Kong and they hang out like that on weekends and holidays. They are still there at this hour....just sitting around talking and eating....interesting.

Anyway, back to Victoria Peak...it was about a 40 minute wait for the tram to take us up, but as you can see, it was an incredible, amazing view...check out the picture for yourself...

The weather today could not have been more gorgeous...mid-60's and sunny. And here's a shot of the team...well, except for Kathy who's taking the picture...

Yep, we're having a great time in Hong Kong...check out Matt celebrating at dinner tonight...

Tomorrow we'll be heading to Manila. Our plane leaves Hong Kong around 4:00 (our time) and it'll be a short hop to the PI...a 2 hour flight. Then our "work"...the purpose for our trip...begins. I can't wait to see what God has planned.

On a final note, thanks to all you who have posted comments...they have blessed us all. And Trish, thanks for offering to contact my mom, but she will be checking the blog like all of you guys. (hi mom!!)

More to follow....

We're Here!!!!

Well, after about 20 minutes of trying, here I am with my internet connection. And even more important...here we are in Hong Kong!! It's now about 8:45 a.m. on New Year's Eve and we're about to head off to breakfast.

Thanks to you all for your prayers for safe travel. We got here with no problems whatsoever. But boy...let me tell you...16 hours on an airplane is a LONG TIME!!! Here are a couple of shots of the team at the airport in Philly....

Good news/bad news...bad news first...our luggage didn't make it...yet. But we also consider that to be good news since we didn't have to worry about dragging it through the airport and customs. It's going to be delivered to the hotel for us! But prayers that it will actually arrive as promised would be much appreciated.

And so much for our flying "around the world" on this trip. We actually ended up flying over the North Pole (ho, ho, ho) on our way here...very cool...over Siberia, etc. Of course we didn't see a thing between flying at almost 40,000 feet and it being dark. But they had this very cool tracking system on the video on the plane where we could watch where we were real time on a map.

Prayers for Matt and Marilou would also be much appreciated. They were supposed to arrive in Hong Kong this morning, but we found out that their plane has not even left Los Angeles yet. We're not able to make contact with them, so please pray that they are able to arrive safely.

Well, off to breakfast and to EXPLORE HONG KONG...how exciting is that!!!

And Chuck, Charlie, Kathy, Krisin, Marilyn, Nancy S., Kim and Scott say "hi" to all their friends and loved ones!

Bon Voyage

Well, at 10:45 a.m. tomorrow morning, the team will take off on the first leg of our trip toward Hong Kong and then later, Manila and Mindoro. Prayers for good health, safety and baggage that arrives when it's supposed to would be most appreciated! Please also pray that we all remember to surrender this trip to God, since it is He who predestined it to begin with.

Love to you all! And see you when we get to Hong Kong!

Friends and Family

On December 17 the team hosted a small gathering to express our appreciation and love for the family and friends who are supporting us on our adventure for Christ. We're so glad you could join us and learn more about what we'll be doing. It was also a blessing for me to be able to meet everyone else's loved ones. Wish you all could come with us! And we know that there were many others who wanted to join us that day, but could not. You were missed...we love you all.

Some photos from the day...first, the family and friends of Marilyn and the other Nancy....

Some of Kim and Scott's gang...

And my crew...

Merry Christmas everyone! May the love and presence of Christ be as real for you today and it was 2000 years ago when He walked among us on earth.

Geography 101

Have any of you guys wondered just where the Philippines is? Well, if you had one of those round globes of the earth, it would be almost exactly on the opposite side of the globe from where we are. And the Philippines is made up of over 7,000 islands, if you can believe it. A view of the Philippines from space is below. And if you REALLY squint, you might be able to make out where Manila is on the map. And at the upper left corner of the map is Hong Kong, where we'll be spending New Year's Eve...yippee!

Side note...I snagged these images from Google Earth....the URL is http://earth.google.com. If you really want to have some fun, go to that website and download the software...you will be blown away by what all you can see.


Anyway, the image below shows the island where we'll be working when we leave Manila. Again, if you squint really hard you can probably make out Mindoro on the map. Or go to Google Earth and check it out for yourself. And track Santa and his sleigh, while you're there!

Lastly, they are 13 hours ahead of us over there. For that matter, so is Hong Kong. So, pretty much while you'll be busy in the middle of your day here, we'll all be sleeping there. I tried to figure out a way to post our itinerary here, but looks like you can't post attachments with this blogging software. But I'm not complaining...this is a great site.

Dry Run

Wise leaders, our Chuck and Kathy. Rather than have us land in the PI to see how we all function as a group, we had a practice work session, so to speak. Of course, we were REALLY working…not practicing! Anyway, this way, not only would we benefit by being able to work together before we leave, some worthy organization would (hopefully!) benefit from our help.

So, on Dec. 2 the team gathered at the WEC headquarters in Fort Washington to provide some much needed assistance installing replacement windows. For more information about WEC, check out the link on this page. They are amazing people there. I can’t describe how I felt working with them. We were all strangers, but yet brothers and sisters in Christ. I felt immediately at home…with family. They could not have been more gracious hosts. And Lee…those chocolate cookies were something else!

Anyway, what a magnificent building they have…they call it “the castle” and they aren’t kidding! Come to find out that it was the Drexel family SUMMER home! Yep, that’s how the “other half” lived alright. Incredible rooms…the stonework, the woodwork, twenty-some fireplaces! And they needed a bunch of windows replaced. Here’s Dan giving Scott and Chuck a preview of what needed to be done.

Nancy and I volunteered to drag all those vinyl windows from the ground floor to the second floor where the work was being done. Hey, Dan D., we need to talk about what constitutes “not heavy!”

The guys did the actual installation work, Kathy did some of the prep work (and helped out wherever else needed) and Kim and Marilyn did all the finishing. And here they are, showing off their talents…

And what’s going on here…Kim and Marilyn giving directions or taking notes??!!

We happen to have some very talented folks on our team. Chuck and Scott doing their magic...


And we found out that we all had a GREAT time working together. WARNING….WARNING….WARNING…we have a practical joker among us…yes, that’s the other Nancy with a mouse (a headless one at that!!).

After a long, productive day filled with many, many blessings and lots of fun we were all too pooped to go out to eat together afterward. As for me...a long hot bath and slipping into my jammies was just what I needed. I have a feeling I won't have that luxury in the PI!

Oh, before you go, scroll down and check out the pictures I added of our dinner at the Filipino restaurant in Philly!

Introductions and Corrections

Woo hoo…at long last…a photo of the team!!

Drum roll please…introducing from left to right, seated on the front row - Marilyn and Kathy; standing in the back row - Nancy, Kim, Scott, Chuck and me. Kathy and Chuck are our leaders and 2 of their kids, along with 2 of their friends will also be joining us. But they are now scattered in parts far and wide and weren’t around for this picture. I’m sure we’ll be posting shots of them once we get to the PI.

Scott’s the one with all the construction experience and he will be leading us in our project work once we get over there. But recently I’ve come to see that both Kim and Marilyn are pretty darn good with their own construction skills and knowledge. But more about that later!

Kim and Scott are our newlyweds…and I’ve never told them, but…they got married on my birthday!! August 18. Guess now I don’t have any excuse to not remember their anniversary.

And two Nancys…we’re still trying to figure out the name dilemma…

OK, now for the corrections…forget what I said earlier about our itinerary! We are leaving Philly on Friday, Dec. 29 at 10:45 a.m. But we’ll be getting in to Hong Kong on Dec. 30 around 8:00 p.m. And I’m so confused at this point I’m not sure if those times are local times (Hong Kong) or U.S. times! :) Then we’ll leave Hong Kong at 4:40 p.m. on Jan. 1 and will arrive in Manila around 6:40 p.m. If any of you want more info, just drop me a note to let me know.

More soon…

You Ate WHAT for Dinner?!?!?

Magandang gabi! (That's "good evening!")

Well, I'm overdue for this update...so much has been going on since my first note! Our team had dinner together at Manila Bay two weeks ago...that would be the restaurant in Northeast Philly...not the city in the Philippines!



I knew the moment we walked in the door that we were in the right place. It is owned and operated by Filipinos and that night all the customers (well, other than our group!) were also Filipino! Of course we were excited about being able to talk to them about the Philippine Islands (PI), but once they found out we were going there, they were excited to talk to us, too! If they are any taste of what the Filipino people are like (no pun intended!), we are going to be so blessed by the people there! Below is a photo of our waiter, the cook and the hostess.


Anyway, in the restaurant they serve all traditional Filipino fare and to get a good sampling we ordered about 7 different dishes and then passed them around the table so we could all get a taste. How about a little adobo sa-gata or pork inihaw or lechon kawali?? Forget my trying to explain the dishes...let's just say that we had a variety of chicken and pork dishes (and pork parts!) cooked any number of different ways. For dessert all of us ordered flan...that's pretty safe...except for Scott who ordered halo halo. I believe I read someplace that means "mix" and that is an understatement. The dish is served in a large sundae-type glass and has layers of different types of beans (yes, I did say dessert!), mango, coconut jellies (think large gummy bears!) all served in a sweetened iced milk. Well, he hated the dish and it started making the rounds around the table. No one really liked it...except me...I LOVED it!!! ("Let Nancy eat it...she'll eat anything!") I was joking that how often can you say you got your day's worth of fiber from your dessert! Here's a look at me with my halo halo...
Don't know if I've mentioned, but on the way over to the PI, we'll be doing our R&R in Hong Kong...yes, I realize we're doing this backward! Anyway, I'd volunteered to take on the task and what a task it was! I had no idea how expensive Hong Kong was! And imagine the challenge of trying to line up rooms for 12 people (figuring out how many to put in a room, who gets to be with who, etc.). But thank goodness for to Kim and Scott for the Frommer's Travel Guide!! After sending out a bunch of emails asking for quotes, I found what looks to be a marvelous place in the Causeway Bay area of Hong Kong. If any of you want to take a look, here's a link to the hotel (our dormitory accommodations in PI will be nothing like this!) http://www.rosedale.com.hk/en/home/index.php And the price was GREAT...easily within our budget! It's right across the street from Victoria Park and Victoria Peak. Frommer's says the evening views from the Peak are among the best in the world...so I'm sure hoping we can take a tram car up there and do a bit of exploring. We'll be spending New Year's Eve in Hong Kong...don't know what they do for our new year's eve, but our hotel's location will be perfect if they do have fireworks or anything.

We've also had 2 training sessions since my last note. One of the sessions was related to cultural sensitivity and understanding how Americans are perceived by other cultures and how Americans often view cultures in poorer countries. For example, we learned that other cultures view Americans as loud and a couple of people in our group shared how when they've traveled overseas you can often tell who the Americans are because you can hear them! Not that it's a bad thing...that's how our culture is. And we learned how other cultures value relationships as the most important thing...not that we also don't, but that they will sacrifice honesty to protect a relationship. One of our leaders, Kathy, shared a story of a building project they were working on in Thailand where they asked their Thai leader if the construction method they were using was correct. Out of respect for Kathy and her team, the Thai leader said the method was fine, but she and their group went to lunch the Thai leader had his crew redo their work the way that he wanted it done. So as you can see, understanding where we're each coming from can be very important!

In our last training session we learned more about what we'll actually be doing in the PI. Initially we'll be spending about 2 days in Manila getting inter-cultural training and visiting the Dump. From Manila we will travel to Mindoro Island where we will be working on rehabilitating the meeting facility that was donated to ISACC. We saw pictures of the facility and if we're able to line up the materials we need, we think our main goal will be to replace the roof of their chapel which must have blown off at some point. But there's so much that needs to be done...we'll be praying about it and what we do will be largely dependent on supplies.

Now some of you might be wondering why ISACC needs us to do the building rehab...why do we need to go halfway around the world to do it for them? I can only answer that by saying that it's God's plan! Six of us had signed up for this trip because of what we thought was going to be the opportunity to minister in the Dump area outside Manila. But God obviously has other plans for us! And beyond this, ISACC does not have the financial resources to rehab this facility, which is so important to their organization being able to grow. Part of our trip money goes to purchase the needed supplies, etc. We are all very excited to see where God leads us on this trip.

Please continue praying for our team. Please pray for Bill's knee and that the troubles he's been having do not prevent him from being able to go along. Please pray for relationships among the team members; that we continue to get to know each other and grow together. And please pray that we all remain open to God's leading and direction on this journey.

Well, I guess you're up-to-date! Now I'm going to sign off and see about getting a blog spot set up...looks like we should have internet access everywhere we're going to be.

Thanks again to you all for your love, support and encouragement. Each one of you will be coming along with me on this trip!

Love,
Nancy
Matthew 25:35-40

10/28 - Philippines Here We Come!

Greetings all! Kamusta pô kayo? (that's "how are you" in Tagalog, the principle language in the area around Manila)

Well, it's official...we're really going to the Philippines! We purchased our plane tickets last week!! Our itinerary has us leaving the U.S. on December 29 and returning on January 13.

I've gotten my hepatitis A vaccine and will begin taking my typhoid vaccine this week. It's only 4 doses (pills), but it will immunize me for 2 years...good in case I want to take another one of these trips! I'll take along a prescription of anti-malarial medication, which I will take while I'm there. I opted for the more expensive of the two options, even though it's not covered by insurance. My physician was explaining to me that the inexpensive version, the one our government gives our soldiers, has a very common side effect of nighttime hallucinations!! No thanks!

For those of you curious about the details of our itinerary, we'll be flying out of Philly to JFK. From there we'll be flying directly to Hong Kong, where we'll be staying until January 1 when we'll be flying on to Manila. Interesting side note...we'll leave here around noon on the 29th...and get to Hong Kong around noon on the 29th...that's what happens when you go halfway around the world! Anyway, that means we'll be doing our R&R at the front end of our visit instead of at the end. We're doing it this way primarily because our host organization in the Philippines is expecting us to be able to really hit the ground running when we get there (as in...no time to recover from jet lag!).

The exact plans for what we'll be doing in the Philippines are still being developed by our host organization, the Institute for Studies in Asian Church and Culture (ISACC) along with our church's group leader. One of ISACC's main objectives is training pastors and mission organizations to be more effective witnesses in Asia. Someone has donated a building (in need of repair of course!) to ISACC for this purpose and since they presently have no training facilities, the need to rehab this building is a priority. From what we understand at this point, this building is not on Luzon (the largest Philippine island, where Manila is located), but on one of the other islands. Hopefully by my next update I'll have more information.

We're all somewhat disappointed in that it doesn't seem as if we'll be able to spend as much time working and ministering in the Dump area of Quezon City as we'd hoped. Building a community center there is in the infancy stages for ISACC and it looks like not enough of the pieces will be in place for us to get underway on that project. Maybe on my next trip to the Philippines??!!

Our group has had two training sessions so far. The first was a hoot...imagine having to find out from someone what their favorite food is, how many siblings they have and what their favorite sport is...without speaking!!! We're learning common phrases in Tagalog and are spending time in prayer, considering God's plans for us on this trip.

We've all offered to take on various duties for the trip and provided we can find an internet connection where we'll be, I've offered to post a blog, along with photos. Stay tuned on that one! Don't you just love this amazing technological world we live in?!

Well, I think that's about it for now. I cannot thank all of you enough for your support, love, encouragement and prayers. And speaking of prayers...would you be praying for the health of all the team members? Also, that we all will be open to God's leading on this trip, whatever it may be? Finally, would you please pray that God lay the foundation for our visit?

Again, thank you all for partnering with me and our team on this trip. Till next time...paalam! (good-bye!)

Blessings,
Nancy
James 1:14-17