I Cut Down My First Banana Tree!

This past Saturday I helped build a church for a tribe up in the mountains who's previous church was destroyed during a typhoon.
The towel was one of the tools hanging off my tool belt its for wiping sweat every couple seconds and the bananas, well the tree was in the way so I cut it down.

I spent most of the afternoon on the roof with the man on the left and no I did not go barefoot!
The man on the right is Pastor Toto he is the pastor of the church we've been attending.

comfort

Every Sunday, the children in Sunday school provide special music for the worship service.
Last week we experienced another brown out which left us without power for the night. This means no aircon or fans! Extremely hot and sticky! We were trying not to be too discouraged!
That day I went to see one of the women from church who had recently had her 7th child and I knew that we expect way too much! Her living room consisted of a concrete floor and one grass mat, absolutely no furniture at all. The bedroom for the whole family was a room with a bamboo floor, open to the ground outside, one bamboo bed, one hammock. The kitchen floor was completely mud and gravel, a primitive table, not one chair.
Later we were led to another buntis (pregnant woman) to do a prenatal. Her home consisted of an 8x8 shack on stilts, for every piece of bamboo on the floor there was an opening to the ground below.
It was a stark reminder of the poverty! Why am I complaining about no fan for one night? What does God want us to do? 

Curt as caregiver!

Veronica was away for a few days in Manila doing a well woman clinic. This is how Curt kept track of the kids!
Everyone made it safely out of the sand by the end of the day!
We are thankful to have a place for the kids to run, swim and play nearby.

We are noticing stings from tiny jellyfish, not enough though to stop us from swimming in the ocean.
 

Nerissa

Notice how the baby is wrapped and tied after it is born. There is a tie around the waist, knees and ankles to keep the blanket snug. The babies calm down immediately. I've been very busy this last week with births, prenatal checkups and well-woman exams. People here are very appreciative of the care we provide. Every time we make a home visit merienda (snack) is offered. Usually a coke and skyflakes (crackers) are served. This is great unless you have 5 home visits in one morning. This means 5 cokes! 

Fresh Coconuts!

We had our first taste of fresh coconut milk the other day. Our nieghbors taught Curt and the kids how to open the coconuts. The lady with the big knife is Grace and her husband Charlie is standing in back, Grace is a local midwife that Veronica will be spending a lot of time with during our time here.

Happy Birthday Alayna

Alayna was pampered on her birthday by the beach vendors.
For just 500 ps (about $12) she had her hair put into braids and then given a one hour massage. 

Talking via the internet with grandma!

We are happy to be online at home now.