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.