Life in Davao

Well, first of all, our internet connection seems to be rather unreliable at present. We've come to the conclusion that it works for about an hour a day. I just now got connected, so I want to type this quickly.

We've been kind of busy the last three weeks. That's right. Three weeks ago today we left Oregon. This Wednesday it will be three full weeks that we've been here in Davao. It actually feels like it's been longer. Christina has been busy with orientation and meetings. She is also spending lots of time in her books. I have been going shopping quite a bit, picking up all the little things we need around here. I've also been doing most of the cooking. I actually enjoy it. We bought a rice cooker, so cooking rice is such a breeze!

Filipino Day Outing~We definitely used all 5 senses!

Here's a couple of pics that don't really quantify how much stuff we got to try and experience on our Filipino Outing on Aug. 14th. but it does give a brief overview...ENJOY!

Josh trying Durian for the first time

Day 3

Today is our third day in Davao. We arrived early Wednesday morning, and it's now Friday morning. We've slept well the past two nights. It really does help to have small aircon unit to help us sleep. It cuts down the humidity and also the noises of the city. Hopefully we'll adjust to the heat and won't need the aircon every night, but for now in this adjustment period it's a great blessing.

Update

So yesterday we hiked up Mt. Neahkanie along the Oregon coast. The weather was less than ideal as it was cool and a bit rainy. There was no view from the top because of fog and a good mist blowing up the mountain. But it was interesting looking at some of the vegetation that is quite different from being on a damp coastline. But now I can say that I've seen the Pacific Ocean. We walked out to the beach but we didn't walk out to the water itself (it was cool and we had hiking boots on). Then we had supper and hung out at Gary and Lynn's house. We were all rather exhausted so we went to bed kind of early.

Clatskanie, Oregon

Well, we made it to Oregon. We got up around 3:00 a.m. EDT and my parents and two friends dropped us off at the Philadelphia airport. We got through security and everything with no problems and our flight was leaving at 7:10. I heard a flight attendant comment while we waited to take off that something must be wrong as they normally don't wait that long. Not a good thing to hear! But soon the pilot told us that a plane had experienced a "bird strike" while taking off and they had to check things out to make sure it was safe to take off. So, we soon were in the air. We couldn't sleep much, but we got to Salt Lake City about 10:00 CDT (about 12:00 at home). Our next flight left about an hour later and we arrived in Portland, OR about 12:00 PDT (about 3:00 at home).

Praise God!

Saturday morning we signed a lease to rent our house, effective August 1! The couple was ready to start moving this week already. And this is a tremendous answer to prayer.

Also, it looks like we should be receiving the go ahead from Second Tunic. We have not met the 80% required, but because of time constraints, it appears that we will be given special permission to let us go. We still need to hear official word, but it looks promising.

So we leave from Philadelphia on Friday morning at 7:30 and we arrive in Oregon (via Salt Lake City) around 12:00 p.m. (I think PDT). I'm not sure about the rest of the flight information; I'll have to post that later.

Thank you all for your interest and support and prayers. It is all very much appreciated.

Winding down to gear up!

Just a quick update:

We are leaving on Aug. 6th-right now that seems to be approaching way too fast compared to my laundry list of to-dos.

Please keep Joshua & I in your prayers as we pack-up and head-off to the Philippines so soon. We need prayer for safety, sanity (don't let stress & tense emotions get the best of us) and unity in forming friendships with these other wonderful ladies I will be training alongside.

Thanks for your interest in God's work in this corner of the vast globe-it's quite exciting to see how God can use us when we are willing to be open & vulnerable.

Below is a picture of our lovely home stateside that we need rented out. Hopefully we will soon find someone-we've had some people who were interested!