What Life is Like in Kemantian, Palawan

I live in a very nice bamboo house or maybe you would call it a hut (used to be Wendy's and before that Spoons house).

My bed is the top bunk bed with the blue mosquito net.


The bathroom.

I am enjoying eating rice, roots, and the various in-season fruits and vegetables like labanos, syiote, bamboo shoots, palm hearts, kumbahang, pulug (like potatoes), kalamansi (like lemon), green string beans, 4 different types of bananas and coconut and of course more rice and beans. I can now dehusk, crack open and grate coconut to make coconut milk!

I work in the clinic with Joha in the mornings or afternoons alternating (Danelle works opposite of me) and then the other part of the day go to the various homes and villages to language learn.

I am making friends, esp with Mindan, Pliding and Mumul, and learning the various ways to doing things around here like basket weaving, cooking and even hunting with a blowgun.




By the way, they are really loving seeing pics of themselves from the Jochs trip here back in 1996 and its fun for me to meet all the people in the pics.

It is rainy season and mostly rains everyday, which keeps the weather from being too hot! It makes the trails slippery however and I am thankful for a good pair of Islander sandels I got in Puerto and my cleats.
I am slowing adjusting to sharing a house with rats and little cockroaches, ants and whatever wants to crawl in through the bamboo floor or walls. I don't have malaria yet but the mosquitos are definitely around and biting. I have killed two rats already with sugar cane no less! I think they had gotten into the rat poison because they were moving slower and I was able to hit them with the sugar cane (its like a stick)! I felt bad for killing them afterwards but its necessary! They are pests and keep us awake at night chewing on stuff and getting into who knows what.

I am enjoying church, prayer meeting and vespers, I am slowing learning to sing in Palwano. I am also learning the language slowly but gradually more each day. I am really enjoying the work in the clinic and have all they key phrases and questions memorized to be able to assess, diagnose, treat, prep meds and give instructions on how to take them at home! It is fun working in the clinic and they Village Medical Manual is a very big help, and of course Joha (the nurse currently here but going home in less than a month).

God has been very good. He's been there for me through discouragement and all kind of situations. One night we had to hike up to a village just after midnight to assess someone who was sick and was sounding pretty serious. Thankfully everything turned out okay, praise God! I really appreciate all your prayers and best wishes. Please pass my thanks on to all praying for me and especially the Palawano people. Pray for the people, that God can work in their lives, that His light can shine in the darkness, for women's and children's rights and that hearts can be softened to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Their is a flourishing church here but it is also facing some hardships and prayer for them is appreciated. Pray for the youth that they will give their lives to Christ and remain open to Him. Please pray for the other missionaries here, they will be encouraged, have energy and strength, that they can share your love and that we can continue to work well together.