Finding peace in God in these times is essential. We are also thankful to God for the small comforts He has been blessing us with Things like familiar songs on the radio- yes some may be 20 years old or more- but that makes it even better!). A Starbucks coffee with new friends after a long week of work is a treat and a blessing. Finding comfort in familiar things like a Mc Donald's sundae really helps to make you feel better after a week of kitchen difficulties (chicken that smells weird...from the day you buy it at the open air chicken section at the grocery, rotten eggs exploding on you, bacon that is not really bacon, etc...) Food is so often a source of physical and mental comfort and I am thankful that though those things may seem silly- they really are a blessing of comfort in a time of homesickness. It is amazing how our grocery shopping has grown each week- but we are finally getting to the point where we have enough food in the house that we are eating enough. It has been an adjustment- with eating new foods and walking to and from work every day there is a different demand on your body and figuring out how much food you need for a week to cope with this wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I think we've finally got it under control. The first 2 weeks here I was always hungry, now I am doing much better.
We have been enjoying the fellowship we have with the church body here. At work, in our social lives and at church on Sundays. Our church on Sunday is great- there are Americans, Canadians, British, Koreans, Filipinos and last week we had a Dutch speaker. It is awesome to come together with a diverse community of believers and worship God together. We may look into other churches as time goes on- but for now having this place of comfort is important when we are dealing with so many other new things.
I described half of our walk to work to you in our last post- the other half- takes us along a main road of town. We go past shops, rice stores, gas station, mechanics shop, lots of little roadside shops selling meat and other small meals, children walking to school and other adults walking to work. There are no other white people along this route- and people often stare and/or take our picture as we walk past. OK sometime I can't blame them... sometimes we have rain pants, boots, jackets, umbrellas and often a poncho to be sure our backpack stays dry. Oh right and we all have large backpacks on - Craig has his big blue hiking pack. So sometimes I can't blame them. :) We walk past a Catholic church and kids playing basket ball, a rushing river (sometimes we can see rats the size of your head along the rock wall embankment). Going to work this is all downhill, but coming home it is all uphill. Good exercise for body and faith that God is going to get you up that hill. We have had 2 scary situations walking to or from work so far. 1. There are dogs in our neighborhood- lots of them and they are all really nice except 2- which of course we have to walk past every day- to get anywhere. Well these dogs apparently are very protective of their home- and the road in front of it. Any time we walked past they would lunge out and bark at us and they would get pretty close- I am convinced that they were trying to bite us. I don't like dogs much to begin with- dogs trying to eat me- I am terrified of. I didn't want to leave the house to go to work or church or anything. We found a back way to get around them- but it was muddy and out of the way. We prayed and prayed for safety from these dogs and after a few days- God answered in a miraculous way. God has literally closed the mouths of the dogs like he closed the mouths of the lions for Daniel. One day the dogs were out barking at someone else go down the street- when we came down they literally RAN inside the house. WOW! Since then they have sat in their driveway and watched us walk past or have not been out at all. Praise God! He cares for our safety and our emotional needs! Second scary situation- Filipinos are very friendly people- but we have had several times where people start asking us TOO many questions- where do you live, where are you from, where do you work. etc.. They are so friendly about it- I feel bad not answering their questions- but these are danger questions and you can't answer these specifically to strangers. When it's in a store or something - it is scary but manageable. When it is someone following you home- it's quite terrifying. Thankfully- b/w the 3 of us, God gave us the wisdom and words to tell this man to leave us alone. He too literally ran from us when we stood up to him.
I am sure our neighbors might feel uncomfortable or curious about what we are doing in their neighborhood. We are trying to shop in their stores and ride the Jeepney with them and get to know people better while also keeping ourselves safe. Continued prayers for safety are always appreciated. God is with us and taking care of us- we learn that each day.
This stage we have been in so far has been an acclimation phase- learning how to live. We have experienced and learned a lot. It's not always easy- but it is amazing to see God with us through it all. While doing this we have formed many new relationships and can see God working in our lives. One of my favorites was the day Lindsey and I took 2 girls from church to get our nails done. Both of their moms are away visiting their families for several weeks- and Lindsey and I too are without our moms - obviously. So we had a girls missing their moms day and got our nails done together. It was fun and we made better friends with two young girls. (also 4 manicures=$20!) $10 each and a time of fellowship and ministry and 2 new friends. That was a good day.
Well these are a few updates on our life here and how we are doing. I feel defeated before I begin in the attempt to convey our life to you with mere words but I will continue to try to do my best.
- Meghan
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