Allison's visit to HCBN :)

Back in January, when David Gates came for a visit, he had talked to Allison about visiting the Filipino 'Hope' Channel down in Iloilo. He's Coming Broadcasting Network (HCBN) is a faith-based organization. The people who keep the station running are all extremely dedicated, unpaid volunteers who only receive on the job training. David contacted the head of the station, Boyz, and told him to set up a time when Allison could come and visit. Right away, Boyz emailed back and after hearing about Allison's education and previous work history asked if she would be interested in teaching video editing to the volunteers. Though Allison had never planned to be a teacher, she figured if she could use her talents and education to help further God's work in any way she should be open to whatever challenge came her way.

We were all wearing green, so it
was a photo op. lol.

So on March 21st, Allison said goodbye to Sam and the rest of the missionaries and caught a shuttle to Puerto. The next day she caught a flight to Iloilo City, Iloilo and from there the work began. Everyday she held a training seminar about video editing and observed the day to day activities of the volunteers. Never in her life had she seen such dedicated volunteers. They worked from sun up to sun down with a smile on their face. You can just see in every fiber of their being that they love their job, they love their fellow volunteers, and they love the Master that they serve. It was so inspiring to be amongst such amazing young people (and by young we mean older than us....lol...) Allison was also excited because they gave her editing projects that she could work on while she was there. She really enjoyed being able to feel like part of the team for a couple weeks.

The HCBN compound is quite small, but every area is used to its full extent. Cooking/Eating was always quite the adventure. They use coal burning stoves to cook, but the stoves were on the ground level of the compound and then you had to walk up these steps to get to the "kitchen" area where the food was prepared, served, and eaten. One of the volunteers, Weng, would say, "When its my day to cook, I don't have to worry about exercising that morning. Because I get enough exercise running back and forth from the kitchen to the stove." The volunteers ate every meal together, like any good family should.

The studio and editing room are located right next to the kitchen. Allison was very impressed when she saw the HCBN studio. It almost looked better than the News studio she worked in back in Green Bay. All the training seminars were done in the studio. So she spent a lot of time there. The editing room was complete with 2 iMacs and 3 PCs, all of which had been donated by generous viewers.

Another interesting part, was the Prayer room. This room was one of her favorites. It served as an office by day, where most of the programming and paper work is done. But as the sun went down and the day drew to a close, up went the mosquito tents and the mattresses and TADA! The office suddenly became the girls' sleeping quarters.

Welcome to my Humble Abode.

The Sunday before Allison left, the volunteers decided to do something fun for her last day. We all caught a boat to Guimaras island. Allison was very excited to do something out of the ordinary. Upon arriving, she learned that Guimaras island is well-known for its agricultural crops, particularly mangoes. The Guimaras Island is famous for producing the sweetest mangoes in the world; mangos that are reportedly served at the White House and Buckingham Palace. 

When we first arrived, Lyn-lyn asked Allison (in her Filipino accent) "Have you ever had Fish-pa?" Allison couldn't quite understand her, so she put the word fish and pa (which in Tagalog usually means More) together and thought she was asking if she wanted more fish. So Allison answered her saying, "No, but its ok. I'm a vegetarian." Lyn-lyn gave her a confusing look and replied, "That doesn't matter, you can still have Fish-pa" Allison was confused for awhile after that....how can I still eat fish if I'm a vegetarian?? We finally arrived at this house where there was a little pond of fish. "Here" said Lyn-lyn "you stick you feet in here and the fish will eat the dead skin off of your feet. Its a Fish-pa" "OH! You're saying Fish-SPA! I get it now" Allison replied in embarrassment. It was really cool though. The fish would come right up to you feet and eat all the dead skin. It tickled a little bit, but it was like a free pedicure (minus the painting of the nails, of course)

Then we hired a Jeepney, to take us to the "most expensive beach house", or so the volunteers called it. When we arrived it was merely a gorgeous, empty beach that no one else knew about. First we had a small picnic lunch on the beach (with some AMAZING Guimaras mangos! Yum!) Then we spent the rest of the day chilling. It was a beautiful day to just swim and lay out on the beach. 

Allison really enjoyed her stay in Iloilo. She really hoped that the volunteers were able to learn as much from her as she had learned from them. Upon leaving, there was the ever-budding question, "Will you come back someday?" Hmm...only time will tell...:)

~Me OR Her

March MADNESS!

The weeks have just begun and baby Haddie is already exhausted.

After traveling around for most of our February, we were really looking forward to relaxing when we returned to Brookes. Well, that didn't happen. While everyone on the other side of the world was glued to their television watching March Madness we were experiencing a pretty "Mad" March ourselves.

Sam found a new friend at the meeting site. Her name was Princess. She was a cute, fat puppy.

The first week of March was preparation week, because we were preparing to start an evangelistic/health lecture series in the Barangay of Barong-Barong during this series Tanya and Rovelyn would also hold a children's program. This series would last two weeks and the second week we would be holding Medical/Dental missions, with some medical volunteer from the states, in 3 different Barangays. So we spent the first week getting the meeting location set up and the places where the medical volunteers would be staying. Unfortunately in the midst of all this planning we got really sick. We were in bed for 3 days straight, and Wendy had to be our nurse.

We hired 2 amazing cooks, to prepare meals for all the medical volunteers.
They were very talented and their food was SOOO delicious!

Andrey was very excited when he came to our house and found "Chupa-chups" (aka lollipops)

By the time we got better the crazyness had already begun. Our guest speaker, Ronnie De Vera, had arrived and started his meetings. We immediately jumped in and helped with whatever we could. By the time the 2nd week arrived we were already tired, but with no break in sight we continued to press on.

The medical and dental missions were a complete success. During the first 2 days, we did our dental mission and we pulled over 65 teeth. The next 3 days were strictly medical mission.

Roy after Day 1 of Medical Missions.
lol.

The first medical mission was at the meeting hall in Barong-Barong.  It was a busy time, as everyone tried to find their place in the scheme of things. But in the end, everyone found where they should be. We saw about 100 patients and 14 circumcision patients.

Allison helping an old, blind man to the Medical Mission registration table.

The second medical mission was in the village of Oring-Oring. The location where we held the medical mission was right next to the elementary school. So there were SOO many kids! We made an instant connection with them by taking pictures. The whole first hour we were there we spent taking pictures of the children and with the children, they never tired.

But we had to start seeing patients, so we had to stop taking pictures. Then the kids proceeded to sit outside the building and watch us through the window slots until we were finished, so that they could pose for more pictures. Now THATS dedication, lol jk.

In the midst of our busy day, a patient came into our room. She was very pale and very pregnant and upon entering the room she fainted. Wendy rushed to her side, fearing she was going into labor, but she checked her pulse and commented that it was extremely 'thready'. She quickly realized that the care this patient needed was beyond our medical parameters. So we called for Jam to drive her to the hospital. We were very worried for her, so we prayed and put her in Jam's care. We then felt better.

This little girl looked like a 'Who'
from Whoville. So cute!

By the end of the day we saw 350 patients and 15 circumcision patients. That night, at the meetings, we were all pretty beat. But with the thought of 1 more medical mission, we continued to fight through our exhaustion.

The last medical mission was in Malis. We were SOO excited that this would be the last CRAZY day and it was NON-STOP. By 12:30 p.m. we saw 450 patients and 35 circumcision patients. But when the day was over, we were so relieved.

The children putting on the skit of
Moses.

The next day, Sabbath, was a graduation service for the children that had attended to 2 week long children's program. Tanya and Rovelyn worked so hard. They made little masks for the kids and prepared some musical numbers for them. They even had the kids prepare some skits. Overall it was a GREAT program and we were SOO proud of Tanya and Rovelyn and ALL the kids!

Allison and Jam had to accompany
some kids to school. They showed the
kids pictures on Allison's computer.
They loved it!

Baby Haddie LOVES to drink charcoal.

We were looking forward to a break after our C R A Z Y March, however there was no break in sight. Allison spent Sunday getting interviews from almost all of the missionaries because Monday she would be flying to Iloilo and by the time she returned almost all the missionaries would be gone of furlough. So it was a day full of videos, interviews, and goodbyes. We hate goodbyes. :(
We were nervous having to be separated for 2 1/2 weeks. But we knew the weeks would be crazy busy for us and they would fly by. I guess we'll see...till then...

~Me and Her

A little bit of our Filipino life: The "Project"

U.S. Countdown

15 days

The Project is a place we've mentioned numerous times throughout our blog. But some of you may be confused at where this is and what it is exactly.
When we mention the Project we're talking about the Helicopter Hangar.

Back when Wendy and Dwayne started PAMAS, they lived in a hut in the mountains and they had a little helicopter. They decided it would be best and cheaper to keep the helicopter in the lowlands. But they had no where that they could house a helicopter. So they prayed and planned and eventually decided to build a hanger. It was a big "project", but they had faith that God would provide. And sure enough, a church member donated land and God provided the funds and now we have hanger. There are also 2 missionary houses located on either side of the hanger; The Ukrainians live in one and Wendy and Dwayne lived in the other, until they started their new project up in Northern Luzon, so now Danny, Rovelyn, and Baby Haddie live there.

Since we've arrived, a lot has changed around the Project. When we first got here, it was tall, ugly weeds as far as the eyes could see. Now we have cleaned up and turned alot of the landscape into gardens, so the missionaries can have fresh vegetables. We've also cleaned up the area that will someday serve as a runway (that is, when God provides the air craft for us).

First, we manually chopped down the weeds. Then we put them all in a pile and burnt them. Then came
the plowing. Then we built a fence around the garden and planted stuff. Ta Da!

We spend alot of our time at the Project; whether we're helping out in the rice fields, or attending missionary birthday parties, or helping to build/fix things, or taking care of patients, or helping out with the weekly bible study, or just to spending time with our missionary family. There's ALWAYS a reason to be at the Project. Not to mention, the scenery there is more breath-taking than in the city. Overall its a great place for fellowship, peace, and worship; we always enjoy our time out there.

Hmm...what do they mean when they say out there? Isn't the Project like right next to where they live? False, it is not. The Project is actually located in the village of Malulunan and is a 20 minute drive away from where we live in the city. Ten minutes on the National Highway and then 10 minutes on the rugged, bumpy, dirt roads through the jungle. Though the ride is less than desirable, we really love the 10 minutes through the jungle. Because whenever we drive through, the children who hear our vehicles, will run to the road and greet us with big smiles and waving. Its always so uplifting, "Whenever I'm having a bad day, I always feel like driving back and forth on this road." Allison once said.

So there you have it, the difference between where we live and where we work.

~Me and Her

A little bit of our Filipino life: Brookes Point.

U.S. Countdown

16 days

In honor of our SOON arrival back to the States, we've decided to start a new blog series. We were looking through all our pictures from this amazing adventure and we realized that there is SOOO much we have seen and done (and sometimes on a regular basis) that we haven't really shown to all of you. So we're going to post a blog EVERYDAY from now till we leave about some unmentioned miracles, stories, and significant points of our Filipino life. Todays subject: Our little town of Brooke's Point.

A lot of people get confused when we're discussing where we live/ where the project is located/ and the different villages that we mention in our blogs. So we've decided the first couple blogs would be describing all the places we go (lol, isn't that a Dr. Suess book??)

We will start with the wonderful city of Brooke's Point. Brooke's Point is the 4th largest city on the island of Palawan. It has a population of about 50,000 people and is divided in 18 barangays (which is Tagalog for Villages) Technically we live in the village of District II but it is located right in the heart of Brooke's Point. The commercial area is very small and consists of one major road (which is actually the national highway of Palawan that extends from sea to sea). However, as we have learned the city has everything it needs to be like every other city in the world. For example it has:

lol,  The best part is the whole town is so small that we can walk everywhere. Though it is quite a drive to the Project and sometimes its pretty loud, we do really enjoy living in Brookes Point. So when we talk about Brookes or where we live, this is what we mean. The little city of Brookes Point, our home away from home.

~Me and Her