Butterfly's First Solo Flight

One of Annalise's goals for our time at home was to learn to ride a bicycle without training wheels. On our second day at Lisa's parents, that goal was accomplished! She has been racing around since.

Great job Butterfly!

So Far, So Good!

Saturday morning our friend Rudy came with his truck to help us move our small mountain of baggage so we could get on the bus to Baguio. When you have a family of 6 moving to the other side of the globe for several months, you have some stuff.

Here we are fresh and excited about the journey before us. We had a newer bus than we usually do and the six hour trip was without incident. So far, so good.

Because the rainy season has arrived, we planned a few extra days into our travel from Bontoc to Manila to avoid being trapped in the mountains by a landslide. We spent these extra days in Baguio.

While we were at the YWAM Baguio Training Center, one of the staff was preparing for her family's trip out of the country as well. She told us of a van company which could take us directly to our hotel in Manila.
So, instead of catching another bus to take us from Baguio to Manila, we decided to take a van. We were a little nervous when the van arrived over 2 hours late, but it worked out really well. I loathe trying to get around in Manila. (Loathe may not be a strong enough word to convey my emotion about that.) It was great that they took us (and the small mountain of luggage) to the front door of the hotel. Even with our stop for lunch, we made it in to Manila in 7 hours. So far, so good.

Wednesday morning, we got up early to get to the airport in Manila. The hotel had a shuttle (not free, but cheaper than we expected) that took us right to the airport. (Yeah! no need to get taxis in Manila!) So far, very good!
At the airport, we got our bags checked without any problems. Even though somebody said something about our bags being 7.5 kilos over, nobody brought it up as a problem. Maybe because we only checked 10 bags instead of the 12 allowed. So far, so good.

We then went to immigration. Here we hit a little bump. Because we have a 2 year visa, we needed to get an i-card. An i-card is an identification card that helps you get through immigration faster. But that only works if your i-cards did not expire 2 weeks prior to you standing in the airport with your family wanting to catch a flight out of the country for which you paid a huge sum of money. Fortunately, the folks at immigration helped us complete the paperwork for temporary i-cards. It was not as quick as it would have been if the cards would have been good, but it did not make us late either. So far, so good.

Here are my princesses waiting for our flight from Manila to Hong Kong. (Aren't they beautiful!?)

Here Alexie, Adriana, and Alayna are waiting for our flight from Hong Kong to Chicago playing a game the Filipino children call Chinese Garter. It is a jumping game using rubber bands.

Are we there yet? Our flight from Hong Kong to Chicago was a 14 hour and 31 minute flight! The video screen would often show updates. At this point, the answer would be "No."

It was a good flight with only some minor turbulence.

Somebody was a little tired while waiting for our last flight from Chicago to South Bend. But isn't he cute when he's sleeping?

She's always cute! Even after traveling 22 hours and 35 minutes - not including the 3 hours of check-in in Manila or the 13 hours of travel from Bontoc to Manila.

Indeed, they are cute too!

So far, so good. In fact, all of it went well. Often when somebody uses this phrase toward the beginning of a story, it foreshadows problems later on. But we are so thankful that God brought us safely home to a reunion with our family and friends. Even now we can thank Him because... So far, so good!
We were warmly welcomed at the airport. It was great to get the hugs we have been anticipating for so long.

When we got to Lisa's parents' where we will be staying during our time at home, the girls found this sign above their doorway...

God is good! We are so thankful for our trip and the great times we have already had being with people we care about and who care about us.

Heading Out!

In the morning we will leave Bontoc and take the bus to Baguio. Our bags are packed, so it is just a matter of getting everything - and everyone - to the bus. Six twisting, turning, and bumping hours later we should be there. Fortunately for us, the road is much better now than when we first came into the country two years ago.

Baguio is the first step of our journey back to the US for a visit. We will spend a few days there before making our way to Manila where we will begin our 22 hour and 35 minute journey back home.

PNP, Over and Out

This post is a little bit late. It was over a week ago that this took place, but things have been moving so fast lately that it seems only a day or two ago.
Last Monday was my last appointment with the officers of the Bontoc Municipal Philippine National Police. My friend and companion, Steve, and I were both awarded certificates of appreciation for our work with them through the Moral Recovery Program. The certificate states:

In grateful appreciation of his invaluable service for the conduct of the Moral and Spiritual Recovery Program (MRP) that contributed to the continuous exhortation among the personnel of Bontoc Municipal Police Station to uplift their moral and spiritual needs.

They said that even before they knew that Lisa was bringing brownies - or that my exhortation was going to be very short because of the brownies. Later they also gave me an official PNP ball cap. But that was after the short message and brownies.

After meeting with them for the past 2 years, my exhortation was to put into practice the principles they have heard, not hear of God's righteousness and ignore it. (Read Matthew 7:24-27 for a more complete explanation.)

It has been an honor and a privilege to share God's righteousness with these men and women.

Steve and I with the members of the Bontoc PNP

I invite you to pray with me that God will protect the officers from anything that will bring harm to them physically, mentally, or spiritually. Pray also that Steve will be able to continue the work which we have been doing.

Grace,
Tom

Taking the Jeepney to Church

It is a real blessing to see the fruit of YWAM efforts from years ago. Sunday we again traveled to Maligcong Christian Fellowship. The church was originally founded through YWAM efforts and is now functioning independently. Pastor Augustin has told me the story of how YWAMers introduced him to Christ many years ago in his home village. He later went to Bible college and became a pastor. He and his wife, Evelyn, have been serving in Maligcong since the mid-1990s.

We took the jeepney over the mountain to Maligcong. Since I was wearing dress clothes, I had not intended to ride "top-load". But the inside was really packed and a little old lady, hunched over and using a cane came up - so up I went. It is not like I mind, though. The ride was beautiful and the weather was perfect.

This is inside the jeepney before Lisa counted 29+ people inside.

The top probably had another 15-20 by the time we left Bontoc.

When we arrived, Pastora asked the girls to lead Sunday School for the children. So Adriana, Alexie, Alayna, and Annalise spent the morning outside with the children. (The church is working on building a room for the children, but need funds to purchase the next phase of materials.)

My sermon was based on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - worshiping God alone. Pastor Augustin translated into the local dialect.

Afterwards, we had lunch with the Pastor Augustin and his family. At one point, Pastor's mother pulled her sleeve up a little and revealed that her arms were tattooed. As we talked about it, we found that she had the tattoos done when she was a young lady about Adriana's age by a man who traveled from village to village doing tattoos. Her tattoos were done using thorns and it took about two days.

She said that her tattoos were just decorative and had no real meaning but that the men could only get a tattoo after taking an enemy's head. She said headhunting continued through World War 2 when the men would stalk the Japanese soldiers.

Adriana was not interested in matching Lola Carlos's decorative arms.

Kennan, Alayna, and Asher

Check-up Check-out

This morning we held our last health clinic before our return to the US. We were a little surprised because we normally have about 20 people per week and today we had 54! Ten of them were first-time patients.

Throughout the 20 months of this ministry:

• 608 different people have come
  
• 1516 times
  
• 364 have screened positive for hypertension
  
• 216 have screened positive for diabetes
  

We have enjoyed the opportunity to serve the people of the Bontoc area. In cooperation with the Bontoc Municipal Health Office and our supporters in the USA, we have attempted to encourage physical and spiritual health within our community. In exchange for this service, our patients have become our friends.

Even though we were very busy today, it was a lot of fun. For the first two Fridays of the month, patients who attended were entered in a prize drawing. This week we drew from all of those names to see who would win the prize.

Vincent (he was holding the balloon in an earlier post) helped us out by drawing the name. Many shouts of laughter and teasing erupted when he drew his grandmother's name! But since he can't read yet, no accusations of corruption were made.

Some of the items in the prize bag were an Ilocano Bible and all the ingredients needed to prepare a healthy meal.

Vincent helping Lola Augustina inspect the prize

Innocencio - patient, mailman, and friend

Lisa with our friend Jeannie. Jeannie came to our clinic more often than anyone else.

Some of the staff of the Bontoc Municipal Health Office - and us and Jeannie

Our patients really enjoy it when our daughters join us. Many will ask about them when we come alone. Today Adriana and Alayna helped us out. Alexie often comes, but this time Adriana came and Alexie stayed home with Annalise who finds 1-2 hours a little too long to find enjoyable.

After the prize drawing, the patients surprised us with a thank-you song. Somebody had handwritten many copies of the words and distributed them to the patients awaiting their turn. Together they all sang to express appreciation to us.

It was a fun morning.

Just 2 More Weeks...

Two weeks from today we will be coming home! After two years living in the Philippines, we will arrive back in the States on June 2. We look forward to many special times with our family and friends before we leave to return to the Philippines on September 9.