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