Back in the States

I arrived back in the States on Friday. My trip home was pretty uneventful until I got to the Twin Cities--my plane had a flat tire. After arriving my parents and I headed to Doon for my friends Monica and Jeremy's wedding. Saturday I spent the day resting in Edgerton. Sunday night after church in Sioux Falls I arrived in Orange City.

It feels really good to be back at school. Now I am in a period of transition. I am processing what I learned and saw in the Philippines while preparing to lead seven freshmen in the Boundary Waters. I am so thankful I went on the trip to the Philippines. I was able to learn many things--about nursing, life in a third world country, life away from the comforts of home, thing about myself.

Highlights from my trip!

• Two weeks in Manila with the Kleyns and Smits
• Delivering babies
• Getting an IV in on a 3 month old
• gaining confidence in my assessment skills (its a nursing thing but you want your nurse to have good assessment skills
• Snorkeling in Boracay
• Learning about new foods
• Mangos
• Working in the Public Health (I saw another part of nursing)

Update from my trip

Its been awhile since I have posted and my father kindly reminded me that not everyone has facebook. Sorry to those of you looking for an update. I will give it backwards starting with today August 1

August 1 Today I attended the First Reformed Church in Bulacan. Rev. Kleyn preaches here the first Sunday of every month. He preached two services back to back and then we had lunch. After lunch Sharon and I visited with the ladies but this was difficult because the people only speak English when talking directly to us. After a while we had a class on the Church Order. This was led by Rev. Kleyn. It was the first lesson on the subject. The saints at First Reformed wish to learn and study the Church Order so that some day they can have stronger ties with the BPRCP.
July 31-- Saturday was a lazy day. I spent a lot of time on the computer working on homework for school. I know crazy its not even started and I have homework. In the afternoon Tricia, Irene, Carl, Sharon and I went shopping in Antipolo. Shopping is always an experience because things are some what different than in the States. Items that I would think go together are not. Also everything is in smaller packages.
July 30-- The Smit children came over to the Kleyns for awhile to entertain me. That evening we had the Smit family over for supper and then I showed my pictures of my trip to them.
July 29--The Kleyns, Smits, and I went to the Ocean Manila for an outing. this is an aquarium which is right next to Manila Bay. There was a tunnel that we could walk through and the fish swam right over us. We spend a lot of time just sitting there looking at the fish. This was very nice for the kids and all of us had a good time. We also had breakfast/lunch at the pancake out. At night Rev. Smit, John, Rebekah, Rev. Kleyn, Sharon and I went to SM Tay Tay for some Dairy Queen ice cream.

July 28--I spent most of the day at the Smit's home today. Tricia, the kids, and I went to Faith Academy to look at the children's new classrooms and to swim. Back that their house I played chess with John, read books, and played on the computer

Week in Manila

Last week Saturday I made the trip from San Agustin to Manila. This trip involves a 2 hour jeepney ride, 7 hour boat ride, 2 hour bus ride and then 20 minute taxi ride. I arrived in Manila at 4am Sunday morning.I will spend the rest of my time here in Manila. Around 11:30 the Kleyns picked me up from the CERV office and we went to church. It was such a blessing to worship with the saints here. The church here has two worship services. Between the worship services the members of the congregation visit while the children attend catechism. After church we (the Kleyns and I) brought some members of the congregation home and then returned home. On Monday Sharon and I went swimming with the Smit children and Tricia at Faith Academy. Well I did not go swimming but everyone else did. I have some infected bites on my legs so I was not allowed to go in the water. Oh well I got some sun and reading done. At night we went to the Smit home for Carl's 4th birthday party. Today Sharon and I went shopping for groceries and tonight is Bible study night. Well that is all for now.

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Ed!!!

I had a quiet Sunday yesterday. I went to a Four Square Baptist church. It reminded me of Praise and Worship at school. It really made me miss them and the girls at school. Sundays are one of the hardest days of the week. I really miss going to my church at Doon.

Greetings from Boracay!

Hello Everyone that reads this. This is a post by me Beth and its probably going to be a long one. But Ill break it down into sections.
1. Boracay--Right now I am in Boracay. This is a resort town south of San Agustin. I arrived here on Saturday July 17. We (the other volunteers and I) are here for my birthday, renew visas, and to see the sights. My day started early at 4 in the morning. I have had to take several modes of transportation in order to get here. First a 30 minute trike ride from Carmen (a barangay of San Agustin) to San Agustin. Then a 2 hour jeepney ride to Looc. On the jeepney ride we fit 30+ people and 20 sacks of broken coconuts. They use the coconuts to make soap and oils. From Looc we got on a small boat and traveled for 4 hours to Boracay. I then spent the rest of the day swimming and lying around on the beach.

2. Typhoon--Andrew thanks for your concern about the storm and I. It missed were I was staying. We just had two days of a steady rain. The storm did pass through Manila. Kleyns and Smits were with out power for 48 hours but other wise all right. It was the lowest catorgory storm.

3. Transportation--In the Philippines I have experienced many modes of transportation. They are all over crowded and would be deemed unsafe in the States. Did you know that motorcycles can fit 5 adults? or a trike can hold 15 people? Jeepneys also are interesting to ride in. Basically there is no limit to the amount of people that they can hold. People just hang on to the sides. I wish i could post pictures of them but I guess you will have to wait until I return.

4. Church--I have been unable to attend church as of yet. In San Agustin there is only the Roman Catholic church. Last weekend I tried to attend a Protestant church but no one showed up at the time on the sign. Tomorrow I have found a Bapist church in Boracay to attend and the service is in English which will be nice. I hope that everything works out. I am really looking forward to the last weekend in July when I get to attend our church there.

5. Carmen Feista--Thursday and Friday (July 15 and 16) I attended a feista in Carmen. This was in honor of their patron saint Mary. Thursday night was a cultural show. The native dress is so wonderfully designed. We also got to see traditional dances. Friday morning started early with Mass. It was all in Visayan so I did not understand what was going on. It also did not help that I do not know much about Mass to begin with. After Mass we met the Bishop (I think). He took us to the area where the contest was to be held. My friends Kristi, Nicole, and I were asked to judge. This contest was a dance contest after the Sabwagan tradition. This is a ritual where the people throw flowers to a statue of the Virgin Mary in an act of gratiude for her goodness. (Yes I know there is a lot of false theology in this but I am a guest of honor and sometimes you just have to go with the flow). After the contest we got to have roast pig. It was so good. I ate way to much. Later that night we went to the beauty pageant. Once again we where guest of honor. It ran pretty much like ones in the states.

6. Cleaning the river-- Part of my job is working in the public health office. One of the projects that we started on is cleaning out the river that runs next to town. It is so full of trash and weeds and dead animals that it is not running anymore. This was not something I was looking forward to. There is glass everywhere and no one has proper shoes. Most workers were wearing flip-flops. We took down a tree with machetes that should have used a chain saw. This is going to be an on going project with a cleaning of the river every Thursday. I wish there was a way for me to get out of working it but there is not.

7. Public Health--Other things that I do in the public health office is clinic visits in the morning and immunizations. During the clinic visits I take vitals and try to get the chief complaint. This interview process takes place right in the waiting room. There is no privacy here at all. Immunizations is a process that takes place during the first week of every month. It was a week of crying children. I am glad it is done.

8. Hospital--I am learning so much in the hospital. Hands on experience is the best way to learn. This is also a really tough place to be. They have so little. No xray, no blood transfusions, no surgery. We only use gloves to deliver babies. Delivering babies is something I really enjoy. Which is a good thing because there is another baby born pretty much everyday. Even though I am done with my OB rotation at school I had not seen a delivery yet. Well very quickly into my time here I got the chance to see one. Well I also delivered (caught) the baby. Talk about learning on your feet. Here it is normal for the nurses to deliver. The doctors only deliver if it is the mother's first child or there are complications. I also have had the opportunity to practice my IV skills. Here it is very important to get the IV in on the first try because if you do not you have to use the same needle--not sanitary at all. I my first chance to practice my skills was on a dehydrated 3 month old. I was so glad to get it in.

9. Food-- The food here is amazing. We have fish and rice for almost every meal but it is so good. I am trying to learn how to cook so I can bring back the taste to the States

Well Im all typed out and its nearly time for supper. Thank you all for your prayers and concerns.

We received an e-mail from Sharon today. The typhoon missed the area where Beth is located. She had told Sharon she wanted to experience one, but she missed out on this one. Today (which could be yesterday) she is judging a contest of sorts at the fiesta. Sharon says the Filipinos do not like to lose face in these contests. On Sunday she attended a RC mass. She wished that she knew more about what was happening. I don’t know if that was a language problem or a religious one. That’s all for now.

More from Beth's Mom

This is Monday morning, July 12, in the U.S.A. with additions by Beth’s mom. Beth called us Sunday morning to chat a bit. It was good to hear her voice. She had gone with other volunteers (I think) to the island of Romblon, which is the main island of the Province of Romblon as far as I can figure out. Romblon is known for marble. Here in Minnesota we have the red quartz rocks in the fields and mine for it. There it is marble lying around. Many foundations of buildings are made of marble. They stayed at San Pedro Resort. It was a lovely place and not crowded with tourists. She went snorkeling. Sunday she found a Protestant church to attend but upon arriving at the posted time and waiting a bit no one showed up. So she had a tough Sunday.
She is actually working on the island called Tablas, which is just left of the island of Romblon when you look at a map. Sharon reports that on Monday morning she was going with other volunteers to inspect the river in advance of a meeting with the mayor and captain of the barangay(neighborhood) to discuss cleaning up the river.
Last week she cared for a three-month-old with pneumonia who was dehydrated. She had to put in the IV and got it on first try, which I gather is not easy to do on a dehydrated person. Sharon reported this morning that the baby is doing better.
Beth was sounding excited and like she was really enjoying her work there. From Sharon’s comments Beth is struck by the state of poverty the people are in just mostly because of where they are living. She is finding out what being poor really means. When we think we are poor here in the states we are really rich in contrast.

July 1-7

This is Beth's mother speaking. I think Beth has very little internet conections. By tract phone she has contacted Sharon Klyn in Manila and she has e mailed me information. As of this Sunday morning, July 4, we know that she has arrived safely on the island of Romblon. It is a very small mountain island and one of the poorest places. The map shows a road around the edge of the island and a few more in one place. The ride from Manila to Romblon took 20 hours by bus and ferry. The bedroom on the ferry was crowded and hot. That is all I know. I am thanking the Lord for her safe travels and praying that He will keep her safe and well there. I am sure she is having quite an experience and learning a lot about life. If I hear more via Sharon I will add on to comments. Barb Hunter
July 4, 2010 11:23 AM

(This is Beth's Mom again with more information via Sharon) Monday morning for me but now it is Monday night for Beth. The only church on the island was RC so she spent her day reading and sleeping. She has her Bible and some devotional books along. Beth had her first day at the clinic on her Monday. The language barrier made it very hard. On her Tuesday morning she worked in the clinic, then in the hospital and is on call for deliveries at night. She said they had brown outs all day(no electricity. It must not effect the hospital much as they have no machines (can't afford any)and do not do surgeries or blood transfusions. She says she is in what they call a town but they serve the surrounding villages also--about 2300 people.
July 5, 2010 2:21 PM


Wed. Beth's mother speaking. In the middle of the night we woke up to the phone ringing. It was Beth. She is enjoying herself. She has been involved in a delivery of a baby. (I don't know how much). She has done a vaccination clinic (made 35 babies cry) and blood pressure clinic. It seems like she works clinics or in a clinic in the mornings, in the hospital in the afternoon and is on call at night. In the last comment I said the wrong number of people it is 23,000 not 23oo. She is in a town the size of Doon but much more compacted. The name of the town is San Augustine. It is in the province of Romblon but not the island called Romblon itself. She did remember the name of it. The ocean is beautiful. She is intrigued by the fishing boats. she loves the food (told me where to find a recipe for something in one of her textbooks upstairs). The only food she hasn't enjoyed is a dessert dish. She and another volunteer live in a home of a host family. She has her own room. The island has dogs and roosters running around all over the place (we could hear one crowing). She said the health organization has worked hard there on rabies so that there hasn't been a known case in four years. It seems like everyone knows (except the old) some English but only uses it when they need to. When there is a brown out (no electricity) there is no running water. They wash their hands with alcohol. They use a stethescope for hearing baby's heart beat. The way she has to do things there would never pass in the states. She would never be able to get all the experience she is gaining there in the states either. Her voice was full of excitement. She see seems to be enoying it emmensely. (I knew she would).
July 7, 2010 6:47 AM

June 30

Yesterday I went to a mall in Fairview. It was air conditioned which was very nice because I am not use to the heat at all. It was very large 4 floors I think. While at the mall I bought a cell phone so I could contact the Kleyns and the Smits. Ahh! a cockroach just ran across my foot! Since I got a phone i texted right away and today I am going to visit the missionaries :) They are on their way to pick me up.

It is inauguration day in the Philippines He will be inaugarated in 8 minutes. This also makes for increased traffic in Manila. The coverage has been on tv since 5:15 this morning.

Other volunteers have begun to arrive. We went for a walk. It is amazing to see such poverty. The children just flock to us. They love to have their picture taken. They also point out all the animals for us to take pictures of.

Well thats all for now. The internet has been really bad this morning so I hope this saves.

Go Tigers

Nothing new here. I have spent the day sitting around but I thought I should remind the Twins fans who is number 1 in the League!!!! Go Tigers

I have arrived

I arrived in the Philippines Monday around noon. Let's see where did I leave off last night? Oh after I left reLAX, I went and got my tickets for the next part of my trip. This was pretty uneventful. Once I got past security I had about a 3 hour wait until my plane left. I tried to find a quiet corner to sleep...not very easy to do. I fell asleep along a wall but that ended up to be were the line to get on the plane was suppose to be. Then I lay long the middle of the terminal. That worked for a little while. Finally I was able to get on the plane. For most of the trip I slept; except when it was time to eat. I got two meals on the plane--chicken and potatoes and eggs and tri-taters. On the flights they have cameras at the front and the bottom of the planes that we can watch. It reminded me of the flight simulator program that I play on in the upper room. The only difference was that the plane landed with out crashing this time :) Then we landed in Taipei. It was crazy quiet in that airport. Each gate is separated from the rest which helps cut down on noise. On the plane to the Philippines they served us another meal--rice, vegetables, and fish. The flight was only two hours long and I slept for most of it. I did have another chance to "play" flight simulator.
I went through customs and immigration with out trouble. Next I had to get on a taxi to get to CERV-Philippines. This was an interesting experience in a way. My driver was very friendly. He wanted to know everything about the states. He also wanted to know if I was single. After I said yes I wondering if I should have lied. He asked for my email, facebook, cell phone number and if I would be ok with a Filipino boyfriend. He said that I look like Drew Barrymore. On the way I got to experience traffic here. It is crazy!!! There seems to be no order but yet we never really had to stop. My driver bought me Japanese sweet corn. It is very similar to what we eat in the states.
The next part of my trip is the CERV dorm. It is very interesting. The people here mainly only speak Tagalog so I am not understanding much. But they are friendly. There is not alot of furniture in any of the rooms. My bed is a mattress on the floor. It is only 6 inches thick. It is so warm here. Eden, one of the ladies, makes sure I have a fan on me at all time. I feel bad because the other people do not but thats because they are use to the heat and I am not. For lunch we had rice, a sweet sausage and boiled fish. The fish dish had a vegetable that was similar to our greens in the states. I was a little worried about how it would taste because I dont like greens (well at least the way my mom cooks them) but these were very good not bitter at all. Then I slept for a while and now we are waiting for supper. It is 6:48 and it is dark already. It rained for a while--but did not help with the heat at all.
Well thats all for now. I am not sure how often I will be able to post but I will try as often as I can.

LAX

Well folks I have made it to the international terminal at the Los Angles Airport. It has been a pretty crazy day so far. My flights got changed today so I would have enough time to make my connection to Taipei. My parents and I quickly drove to Sioux Falls to get to the airport on time. Then I had to change tickets because I have paper tickets. There was a mix-up of some sort but I got on the right flight to Denver. The flight to Denver is not my favorite by any means. Any sort of weather and its very bumping. There was weather today which ruined my view of the mountains. I was slightly bummed about that. After Denver I flew to LA. This flight was amazing. The Grand Canyon and the Mojave Desert are so beautiful. I have decided that some day, I will take a camping trip in the Grand Canyon. The next amazing sight was the Colorado river. It was so large even from the plane. Our God is such an awesome God. How he created everything for a certain purpose. When I landed in LA, I had to figure out how to find the correct terminal. This was a pretty crazy adventure but I will share later. I am out of Internet minutes.


About an hour later.

OK so I found where the free Internet is. Well not exactly free but cheaper than what I was paying before. After I ran out of Internet minutes before I walked around the airport for awhile to find a place comfortable to sleep. On the non secure side of security there isn't much. I sat, read and wrote in my journal for awhile. Then I decided to wander some more. I found this place called reLAX. You do have to pay to get in but I decided it was worth it so I can get a 3 hour nap it. They even will wake me up when I need to go check in and get my ticket. And in reLAX you get free Internet :) OK back to my story about finding the correct terminal.

I got off the plane and knew that I needed to check in and get a ticket for the next leg of my journey. I looked for a sign that said tickets and Check in. I found some and followed them to baggage claim. I was not in the correct spot. Next I asked at the airport security desk where I should go. He told me to walk down the stairs and outside. Then I was to get on the Airport shuttle blue line A and that would take me to the right place. Well I walked outside and waited for the shuttle. It didn't come. I probably wasn't patient enough. Then I asked an another airport cop where to go. He told me it would be fastest to walk to terminal 2 and that's where I would find China Airlines. So I walked the three blocks to terminal 2. Well there were no signs for China Airlines. I was a little worried but glad I had a lot of time. I went inside to ask for help. I found some guys who's job is to move luggage. So I asked them where to find China Airlines. Well they spoke mainly Spanish. I wanted to leave I find someone else but didn't what to be rude. But to my surprise they gave the best information. One of the guys asked me what city I was going to. I told him Taipei. Then with a realization he says international terminal. I was excited I had a place that I could look for. Then he pointed me in the right direction saying that its was cerca de tres (not correct spelling I'm sure but it means near three) Then I was able to walk to the correct terminal. It made so much more sense when I knew I needed to find the international terminal.

Leaving

I am suppose to leave today at 6:50pm. My flight itinerary as of right now is Sioux Falls at 1 something. Flight changes. I have been on the phone for 24 minutes right now. One of my flights landing at 1:01am and the next one flight at 1:15 am. This is not enough time to figure out the LA airport make all my flights.

I am so excited to leave. I am completely packed. I just need to get cleaned up. And thats about all I have time for if this flight change happens. Well I need to teach my father how to use skype quick before I leave.

Seriously can it be Saturday Already?

I want to leave. I have packed my bags. Then I went shopping. I packed my bags again. And then I went shopping again. So I packed my bags again. I will not be opening up my bags until I leave.

(Sorry these posts are quite boring but I'm not really doing anything post worthy in my life right now. I pack, sleep, go on Facebook, watch baseball or softball in town and repeat.)

Getting ready to go

Today I started packing for my trip. Not a fun experience. Pretty much everything I own is in a box or basket or in some other form of storage. As of right now there are four very large piles in my parents upstairs: stuff for the Philippines, stuff for Boundary Waters, stuff for college, and things that need to be sorted through. I wish someone else could do all the packing for me. On top of the piles i have lists of things that I need to remember. A list for what I have packed, a list for what I need to pack, a list for what I have packed for the Philippines but I also need for Boundary Waters, a list of things I need to buy, a list of things my parents need to do for me once I return. I really hope I am not forgetting anything.

I will end this post with a poem that my dear friend Kadie shared with my latest Boundary Waters group before she left for Romania. I know it does not have much to do with the Philippines but I like it.

Wendel Berry's "The Peace of Wild Things"

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things,
who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.
I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light.
For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free

Thoughts from class

These are assignments that I wrote for my cross-cultural nursing class.

Given the amount of human suffering in the world how do you hold to the Idea of a loving and personal God?

I believe that God is a loving and personal God only to his own people. I also think that God gives his people struggles and trials to strengthen our faith in him. And that he will never give us more than what we can handle. When I think of all the troubles in this life, I think of Hebrews 11. Looking at verses 33-38 one can see all the terrible things that have happen to followers of God. The people of God in the past have hid in desserts, mountains, dens, and caves. But in Hebrews 12:1-2 a reader can see that the people of God are never alone "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith." Jesus is always right beside his people. Is that not a personal God? Once again in Romans 8 we are given a list of things that could separate us from our God. The list includes many things that we see today: tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or sword. the end of the Romans 8 passage say that nothing "shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." The Bible never promises us an easy life as a Christian. In the book of Revelation we are given this promise that at the end of the world he will completely take away all the pain and suffering in our life. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, no crying, neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away." Revelation 21:4

Mother Teresa Reflections

Of the selected reading from Mother Teresa the one that affected me the most was the story about the little girl who ate her bread so slowly because she was afraid she would still be hungry when it was gone. I have no clue what it means to be that hungry. I have access to food all the time even when I am not hungry. I have no clue how to live that way. A few months ago I volunteered at the Banquet, the people that I served there came to receive at least one healthy meal that day. I got the opportunity to eat with them. I did not really like the food so it was hard to eat. Afterwards I thought how wrong of me to judge my food that way. I was provided with a healthy meal; I should eat it and not complain. This is an important lesson for me to remember, to be content with what I can get.