Bethy!

We had a wonderful visit from Bethy! So fun to see her. She arrived here on the heels of hosting the Jimmy Carter Work Project, with hundreds of volunteers helping at her Habitat for Humanity affiliate's LA work sites. She said the time was hectic, but all went really well. She was interviewed on the KTLA morning show one day. Any country music fans out there besides me? Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood worked at Bethy's site.

After all those long days and hard work, she was really ready for a
break. We planned to spend two nights at a rustic island resort in
the northern part of our island, but it stretched on to two more,
because a typhoon hit the area. We didn't have the typical "fun in
the sun" time we expected. Instead we sat under thatched roofs,
safely out of the rain, captivated by turbulent seas, while wind
howled all around us. It was a wild experience, being so close to the
storm. We spent the time reading, eating, relaxing and playing games.

The day we planned to leave, a mudslide blocked the only road south. And the next day when we actually did leave, the boat ride off the island was pretty scary for me. The ocean was still unruly. We finally returned to the city, damp and dirty. Hot showers and clean clothes fixed that.

Then over the next two days we celebrated Bill's birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Lots of food! Presents! We flew up and spent a couple of days in Manila. Took in a play, did a little shopping. Bethy went out to visit her old stomping grounds, Faith Academy. All too soon, it was time to send her back to LA on the��plane again. Our mission pilot has been sick for some time, and��couldn't fly us into the tribe as we had originally planned. But we��had a great time together, and are looking forward to Next Time.

On The Street Where I Live: Continued

This is Al-Al bringing me some kangkong��to buy. Kangkong is a green that grows in swampy places. Our rabbit��loves it. We love it too, saut��ed with a little garlic and onion. Once word got out I would buy this stuff that grows wild all over the��place, lots of people have been bringing it. Makes kids like Al-Al��happy to get a few pesos to spend. Makes the bunny happy. And when��I have too much, I pass bunches of it out to our neighbors and friends.

These little boys have some "mereitem" for us to try. Mereitem is a native��fruit with spiny maroon-colored skin, and sweet, translucent white��flesh. Delicious! Too bad it is only in season for a few short��weeks.

On the Street Where I Live: The Prequel

This is such a common sight on the street where I live that I almost
forgot about it. In fact, I couldn't find a good picture of the plane
in my files. This is a picture my sister Suzy took when they visited
us last Christmas. Our house is right on the airstrip, and the trail
runs alongside the strip. The plane lands in our front yard. We see
it at least once every two or three weeks. Sometimes we'll go a month
between flights. Other times, if a short-term team is visiting us,
the plane may land ten times in a week, shuttling team members and
supplies in and out. The Palawanos love to watch the plane land and
take off, especially the kids. If it lands when school isn't in
session, a crowd of kids will come tearing over to our house to hang
out and watch the action.

Got Guts?

Okay, I'll admit it. I made a funny language mistake yesterday. Even though it hurts my pride, I know people love to hear about these kinds of things. My life verse right now seems to be Ecclesiastes 7:8, "Finishing is better than starting. Patience is better than pride." God knows He is giving me lots of experience in building my patience, by losing my pride lately. Here's what happened. . .

Yesterday morning I went to see Rini. She hasn't come to help me with language this week. She's not been feeling well. Her stomach has been hurting, and she doesn't feel like eating, and wants to throw up all the time. She also missed a period. So it looks like she is pregnant. But in our conversation we talked about her stomach pain. That isn't a normal pregnancy symptom. Maybe it was because of some strong medicine she took for an infection she had, followed by medicine for malaria, we thought. Much of the conversation centered around talking about her "bituka," the Palawano word for small intestines, literally, but can be used for upper gastric area, where Rini was feeling pain. Loosely, bituka could be translated "guts."

So right after that, I went home and got started baking some bread. I had some extra

Arlyn at Home

yeast, which in Palawano is "pibuka." So I told Arlyn, who was helping me, that she could have it. She looked at me really funny, and said, "Guts?" Well, I MEANT to tell her she could have the yeast. But I guess what I really told her was, "There's some extra guts. You can have it if you would like." Pibuka, bituka, same difference, right? No. Close, but not the same. So, we got a good chuckle out of that. At my expense. Sigh.

In Danger From Rivers

River in Flood Stage

It was one of the dumbest things she had ever done. It certainly was one of the scariest things that ever happened to her.��"Is my life going to end like this, tossing and turning down a murky, swollen river, caught in vines, and dragged underwater until I drown? I can't believe this is happening to me." Thoughts churned in her head as the river churned around her.��"Why didn't I go back and get someone to watch out for me while I crossed the river? Lord, I never imagined my life ending so soon. I'm not ready." She grabbed for a bunch of branches overhead, but they alluded her grasp. She was swept further downstream.��She gripped a vine, but couldn't hold it. Her body hurled��down-river��as the vine slipped between her hands, scraping her arms.��Much of the undergrowth along the river bank was rotten, partly decomposed already.��She clutched at another branch, and it broke in her hands��as the current pushed her along.��Oh no! Here was a whole clump of bamboo branches bent over the river. She would get caught in them. So she ducked underwater and swept under them. Thoughts continued to assail her, "Why was I so stupid? This isn't a good time for me to be seriously injured, and to be flown out to the hospital. Our translation check starts in a few days, and my husband needs me to be well." Finally she cried, out loud, "Lord, help me!" And right then she saw a sturdy branch of bamboo jutting out from the bank. She seized it, and it held her weight. She pulled herself along it, hand over hand, until her feet reached the bank. She was touching land at last!

��

* * * * * * * * *

I had an adventure last week. I washed��down-river and was afraid I would drown. The story is, last Wednesday was our partner's birthday. I had a present for her, and even though the river had risen and it was raining a lot, I wanted to get the gift over to her while it was still her birthday. Bill caught some kind of horrible flu while we were out and that day he was really one sick puppy -- in bed all day, fever alternating with sweating, cough, sore throat, sore chest, achy body. The worst he's felt in a long time. So I went across by myself to our partner's house. The river already was up to my hips, and when I stepped in a hole, it was up to my waist. I visited with them for awhile, drinking coffee and talking. Then I stopped by Nili's house to talk to her about something. Maddie, our dog, went with me, waiting for me on the bench of our partner's porch while I was inside. When I talked to Nili, she visited Brownie, Nili's dog. Then I was ready cross the river again to return home, but the river had risen a LOT. I could cross the smaller stream, but when I headed across the big river, it was up to my chest at the edge. It would be deeper in the middle. The water kept pushing me back, and my feet couldn't dig in on the pebbly bottom. I would step forward, but I wasn't getting anywhere. The current was stronger than I was. Maddie followed me, and must have continued on across once we hit the water. When she gets in the river, and it is high, she's committed. She has to keep going. I'm sure she washed downstream quite a way, but she's used to swimming across the river, and scrambling up the bank downstream.��

So, I decided to try swimming across. I've seen the Palawanos do it lots of times. I went back to our partner's house and dropped off the stuff I was carrying -- my umbrella��and a plastic bag of stuff. They offered for me to use the new dugout canoe they had made, but I said I'd try it alone first. The canoe didn't have paddles yet, or a rope to pull it across, and I guess I didn't want to hassle with trying to get together the guys that would be needed to help get the canoe across the river and back. Plus, I don't have a lot of confidence in tippy little Palawano-size canoes being able to float my American-size body. I thought I could handle it by myself. Mistake Number One: I should have, at the very LEAST, had someone with me watching me go across.

So I got across the smaller stream again okay. I climbed the short bank and walked upstream along the edge of the rice paddies there for a little way. It is good to get well upstream of where you want to end up before you swim across, since the current is going to be pulling you downstream. As I walked, one of my feet slipped deep into the mud at the edge of the rice paddy, and I couldn't get it out. I pulled and pulled, and finally pulled it out, but in the process the straps at the heel of my sandal broke loose from the sole. I was wearing heavy, strap-on Teva-type sandals, not just flip-flops. Mistake Number Two: I should have taken the broken sandal off. Mistake Number Three: I didn't go upriver as far as I should have before I launched out.

As I prepared to jump into the rising river, I thought, "This is probably really foolish. Someone should be out here watching me, at least." But I launched in anyway. I started swimming like mad, but the current was so swift, and with the heavy, broken sandal working against my kicking, I wasn't making good progress. I swam hard toward the steps on the bank going up to our house, but before I made it all the way across the river the current carried me past, missing them. I could see poor Maddie on the bank, watching me wash by. She had made it home and was sitting on the steps coming up from the river, waiting for me to get across.

As I washed farther��down-river from our house, I was swimming like crazy, trying to get a little closer to the bank. I finally could start grabbing at branches and vines that were overhanging the river, but the current was so strong, and I was heavy, so I couldn't keep my hold. They would either slip out of my hands or break. I was trying desperately to reach the bank, but couldn't. At one point I had to duck under a whole bunch of low-hanging bamboo, and got a mouthful of water. I kept trying to grab onto something that would hold and couldn't. Nothing would hold me. One after another, all the branches I grabbed at kept slipping out of my hands or breaking off. I was starting to get really scared. I was so afraid that I would get tangled up in some vines and not be able to get out, or be pulled underwater. I had no idea how far I was washing downstream, but the river was getting to a narrower and swifter part, and I was starting to be afraid I might drown. I was thinking, "I can't do it. I can't get to the bank. I could die like this. I could drown, or could really get hurt. I can't believe this is happening to me. This isn't a good time for this. Bill needs me well right now because he has this translation check coming up. He doesn't need a dead or seriously injured wife right now. What a hassle that would be! And besides that, I don't want to die!" I finally cried, out loud, "Lord, help me!" And as soon as I prayed that, I saw that bamboo branch projecting over the river that I was able to grab. It was sturdy enough to hold me, and I pulled myself along it to where it came out of the bank.��

At this point, the bank is really steep, straight up and down vertically, and covered with undergrowth. I just clung to the bamboo and bushes there for quite a little while, trying to catch my breath, half in and half out of the water. I had used up all my strength getting across the river, and I didn't have any strength left to climb up the bank.��My chest was heaving from the exertion of swimming against the current.�� But I was safely attached to land at last! I thought about screaming to Bill to come help me, but I didn't know if he would hear me. Also,��he was so very sick that he might not be able to do anything, anyway. Pretty soon, here came Maddie! She found me at the edge of the bank, and she waited up there on the flat ground for me to climb up. Good ol' Maddie-Pup.

Slowly, as I was able to breathe a little better, I could move one foot at a time up the bank from one clump of roots to the next. I had to climb straight up. My sandals were all entangled with the vines, and I had to work them loose for each step. I was so afraid I would slip back into the water. I finally got all the way out of the water, and up on the bank. But the bank was covered with thick bushes there. I had to fight my way through the tangle of vines and branches step by step. Finally I got to a place were it was a little clearer, and I started walking along what looked like a trail. I knew I was behind our house somewhere, but wasn't sure how far. Maddie went ahead of me on the trail, and then took another trail going up the bank a little higher, to show me the way home. If she hadn't been there, it probably would have taken me a lot longer to find my own way home.

So I survived. I walked into the house and straight into the shower to get all the river water and bits of leaves and broken bits of branches off of me and out of my hair. It took a really long time for my breathing to return to normal from the exertion. After I had a chance to sit down and think about it, I realized that apart from some scratches on my arms and my leg from the vines I was trying to grab, I had NO injuries. Not a broken bone, no bad gashes. Just one BIG cardiovascular workout. I was fine. And so very, very thankful! As the Palawanos say, "Nerga ko," I learned my lesson. I'll never do that again. But I also have to say that God was there for me when I cried out to Him. That really means a lot to me. I've thought about it over and over these last days.

Not only have I learned more about my Lord, and myself (proud? self-sufficient? stupid?), but this has turned out to be a great language and culture learning experience, as well.��Lots of my Palawano friends want to hear me tell the story of what happened. The first question they all ask is, "Who was watching you cross?" I knew I was being foolish, crossing a flooded river with no one there. Apparently I was being culturally clueless, as well. And the Palawanos have been quick to point out several OTHER bad things that COULD have happened to me. . . I could have been stabbed by a sharp piece of bamboo hiding under the water. I could have been bit by a snake or scorpion or centipede in the underbrush.��The next day I told Rini my story in my rough Palawano, and taped her repeating it in her good Palawano. Guess what? Palawano has a word for 'making your way upriver a little bit.' It is pegpekedaya-kedaya.��I've learned words for grabbing with one hand as well as grabbing with two hands. Also a word that seems to mean 'unfortunately.' Used when, unfortunately my sandal straps broke, or, unfortunately I couldn't climb up the bank well. One of our missionary friends quipped in an email when she learned what was going on, "This just goes to show that all things work together for good culture and language experiences."��

It is now one week later. The translation check is underway. Bill is recovering from his flu. My scrapes are healing up, and a shoulder that I must have wrenched in the process is getting less sore. It didn't start hurting until two days after my ordeal. I look back and say God is good. When I was in distress, He showed me His faithful love.��Thank you, Lord.��

Son of More of On The Street Where I Live

Here are two more interesting sights on view from our house. We call
these animals 'carabao' in the Philippines. Others know them as water
buffalo. When we moved into this location in the early '80's, none of
the Palawanos owned carabao. In the intervening years, many people
have acquired one or more of these beasts of burden. They are
extremely strong, patient, and mostly placid animals. The Palawanos
use them for plowing their rice paddies, and carrying heavy loads.

Arnel has the coveted job of mowing the airstrip. It takes him about a day and a half to mow the whole strip. He likes the income from the job, and we like saving the time, and the wear and tear on our bodies. Mowing a 500-yard-long airstrip in the tropical sun every week is no joke!

More Of On The Street Where I Live

Like I mentioned before, our house and the airstrip is on a major trail passing north-south through Palawano-land. We never know what we will see going by. Here is Teyek with a small shark some neighbors gave to him. They had been out fishing on the coast, which is about a two or three hour hike from our place, and brought back a lot of fish, so they had some to share. This will make a great meal for Teyek and Iping, to go with their daily rice.

And here is Tirino with some bananas he brought to sell to us. He is our regular banana supplier. He takes the money he gets from the bananas, then goes on to a little store in someone's house to buy some salt or sugar or kerosene.

Excuses, Excuses!

Kindergarten here was called off this morning. Do you want to know
the reason why?

Apparently a neighbor's water buffalo got inside the building and
left a large "calling card" in the middle of the floor. The
kindergarten teachers decided the classroom was not usable in that
condition, so they sent the kids home, then went to find the water
buffalo's owner to make him clean up the mess.

I've heard of Snow Days. At Faith Academy in Manila, our kids
sometimes had Typhoon Days. But this was a new one for us!

Sometimes I Have to Look Like I'm Working

The reading glasses are on the nose. The computer is up and running. The clipboard beside it is stuffed with papers. The coffee cup is emptying fast. It may look like I'm working. But really, I'm having FUN. This part of the translation process is called Exegetical Checking. What I'm doing is going over the chapters of the book of Acts that have been through multiple previous stages of work, to see if any exegetical problems cropped up while the Palawano wording was being smoothed out. 

This isn't the initial exegesis. Bill does that before he starts on a new book, and continues while he is making an initial draft. But at the end of the taping, after Bill and the translation committee work the material over, some changes are introduced. The guys focus their attention on so many things, such as which word to use, which affixation to use, which discourse features to use. Now it is time for an objective observer to re-check each chapter to make sure some part of the intended meaning hasn't been lost or changed anywhere. 

In years past, I did this step with books spread out all over the table. Now most of what I need is right here on my computer, thanks to a program from Wycliffe/SIL and UBS called Translator's Workplace. It contains multiple versions of the Bible, several commentaries, Greek helps, and other resources. Bill loads my laptop with the latest work via his thumb drive. He gives me both the version in the Palawano language, and a back translation of that chapter. The back translation puts the Palawano version back into literal English, to make it possible for someone like a Translation Consultant, who doesn't know Palawano at all, or me, who doesn't know Palawano super well, to check the translation. I print out the back translated chapter I want to work on, and load it on my clipboard. Then I start opening up all the resources I want to use. The program even allows me to magnify the size of the type, which helps these middle-aged eyes!

I look at all those resources to double check that each aspect of the meaning is accounted for. Word order is different in Palawano, so sometimes it isn't easy to sort it out. Some information that is implicit in the text has to be made explicit. For example, Acts is full of place names, but Palawano demands that you say whether the place is a town or country or lake or sea the first time the place is mentioned. You can't just say, "Antioch in Pisidia," but have to say "town of Antioch, in the country of Pisidia." And when the apostles meet up with Simon the Tanner, or teach at Solomon's Colonnade, well, the Palawanos don't have tanners, or colonnades. So a bit of explanation is sometimes necessary. 

Here are some examples of things I've noted: In Acts 1:10 and 7:55 it says, "gazing intently into heaven," but needs two verbs in Palawano -- one that means "looking up," and one that means "staring, or looking intently." Acts 2:9, in a long list of nationalities, "Medes," and "Elamites" were inadvertently left out or got accidentally deleted during editing. In 6:11, the back translation said only "incited" but NIV says "secretly persuaded." It turns out that the Palawano word used, sutsot does inherently contain the element of "secretly." Some of my comments to Bill are simple, and he can fix them right away, for instance a typo, or a phrase actually in the Palawano version, but accidently left out of the back translation. But other times a question will arise that he needs to go back to the committee to check on.

To me the whole process is like doing a puzzle. I enjoy seeing how all the pieces fit together. It also reminds me of a treasure hunt. I have fun unearthing clues from my different resources, and following the trail through to the end. The end, of course, is a clear, accurate Palawano New Testament. 

As of today, I have exegetically checked chapters 1-18. But my part here is just one small step in the process. More steps follow exegetical checking. The next one is the "naive" Comprehension Check. In the comprehension check, we bring in a "naive" Palawano, that is, one who has not been involved at all in the translation process so far, and see how well he or she understands Acts. Then, after any problems discovered are corrected, it is time for the Consultant Check. That is the big deadline we are working toward right now. Our translation consultant is scheduled to come in and do her check in mid-September, but she needs the completed Back Translation sent to her several weeks ahead of time, so she can go over it before she comes in. That means it needs to be all finished and sent a couple of weeks from today! We are down to the wire.

So, even though we are having fun, we realize the seriousness of what we are doing. We would appreciate prayer for wisdom and strength for us and for all the Palawano people who work alongside us in this project.

Dogs Allowed, Shoes Optional

Those are the rules. Be aware of them if you come to visit us over a weekend. Also, chickens are allowed, crying babies are allowed, and the neighbor's cat can visit. Almost any kind of clothes are allowed, but you won't see a suit, or heels and hose anywhere. Wheelchairs are welcome. Well, we only have one wheelchair in the valley, but Norayma is very welcome when she is pushed in on it!

What am I talking about? Palawano Church on Sunday, of course. Anticipate singing until your voice feels hoarse. Scripture recitation is expected. Iping shares a new Psalm she's memorized every week. Don't be surprised if the little girls get up to sing a special number they have selected, and you can't hear them. The littlest ones get nervous and forget to sing when they face all the people. But they make up for it in looking cute.

The door is open to anyone. Some people hike for two hours over muddy trails to join in the fellowship. We slog across the river every week. Because the people here marry and start their families so very young, it is not unusual to see a mother and daughter nursing their babies, sitting side by side. And the open-topped bamboo walls can't keep out the critters. So you can assume that there will be a carpenter bee or two buzzing overhead. The benches may be hard, but the fellowship is sweet. That's Palawano Church.

Good To Be Home

After several false starts due to the typhoon up north stirring up wind and rain down here, we finally we able to fly home two days ago. (Bill's blog goes into detail about that.) And the trip was extra long, as we were fighting a strong headwind due to the stormy conditions. Also had an E-Coupon moment going through one mountain pass, where the wind tossed and then abruptly dropped the plane. Then right when we were approaching the airstrip and about to land, the pilot sensed an updraft, and aborted the landing. So we buzzed the strip at low altitude and circled around for another approach. This time we made a smooth landing. I was NEVER so happy to be on the ground at home! Wonderful to see our Palawano neighbors waiting for us. Maddie was THRILLED to get out of the belly of the plane, too.

I am very thankful for our experienced and well-trained pilot! I know we were never in danger. Just some excitement to spice up our lives. When the plane flew out again, it was full of passengers too. A young man from Germany who had been visiting the Sharp family, and Rinard, and Roki all flew out. Rinard was going out to the doctor in a nearby small town to get a follow-up x-ray on his chest. He has had a cough and chest pain for months. His sickness has not responded to numerous treatment attempts. A few weeks ago when some visitors flew in, he flew out on the backflight to see the doctor. His chest x-ray came back with what looked like pneumonia and a chest tumor. The doctor wanted to see Rinard again and do another x-ray. Roki went to be his traveling companion.

Today is Sunday. We had a good time at church. Giyang followed us home after church to pick up some medicines for the clinic. A big medical order came in with us, and the clinic was running low on a number of items. Indak came by to pick up the bottles of weed killer and insecticide he had asked us to buy for him while we were out in town. Then we ate lunch and were just finishing up when Karing came running over to tell us that her husband Rinard had arrived back home. He hiked back in from his time out at the doctor. Karing shared the good news with us that his chest x-ray came back clear the second time! Karing was so happy and excited with the news, she couldn't stop hugging us and laughing and crying. Then she told us that she had prayed and asked everybody here to pray that God would cause the tumor to just go away. She said that Linda, the Filipino helper in town who drove Rinard to the hospital also said, "Let's pray that the tumor will just be gone." And not only was the tumor gone, but the doctor lowered his fee for his services. Karing was just praising God over and over. That is happy news! God is good.

Later in the afternoon, Karding stopped by with his mother-in-law. She has been having chest problems for a long time. Karding wanted Bill to listen to her chest with a stethoscope to see if we could tell if she had tuberculosis. TB makes a crinkly, cellophane-like sound in the lungs. No, it didn't sound like TB, but Bill could hear a wheeze that sounded like asthma. Bill recommended she try taking some asthma medicine. A little later Iyok came by to ask if her son needed to change his medicine. He has been on meds for amoeba for two-and-a-half days and isn't better yet. I assured her that he should finish out the treatment first, then re-evaluate.

So that is a picture of our life here. I'm thankful for the time we had out to rest and re-group. And now I'm happy to be back in the thick of it.

Rini's House

Thought you might enjoy seeing a picture of Rini and her two
daughters in her kitchen. She has been such a blessing to me!

On the Street Where I Live

Our house is on a major north-south trail going through Palawano-land. Which is a good thing. It is always interesting to see who and what passes by our house. Embunga, our old friend, came by carrying strings of fish her husband caught in the river. He got so many, they had extra to sell to anyone who wanted some. So Embunga was on her way to the village, hoping to unload her fish. Apparently she was successful. Later she passed by again, empty-handed.
This is Ispilin, with a string-full of biskor. These funny little birds can be caught by hand. The Palawanos go out at night with a flashlight, following the call of the birds. The birds are just walking around on the ground. If you shine a flashlight at them, they freeze and let you catch them. Or if you put a net on the ground, they run around and get stuck in it. They are tiny things, only a bite of meat on each bird. But the time of year for catching biskor happens to be June and July, when the Palawanos are waiting for their rice harvest, and very low on food. So a biskor in the pot is a welcome sight.

What Stephen Saw

During the past couple of months, we have been "taping" the book of Acts. Well, who uses tapes anymore? No one. So I should say we have been "digitally recording" the book of Acts on my iPod. This is a step in the translation process that I get to do. We start with a rough draft of a chapter of Acts. Then my language helper, Rini, listens as I read a section of the chapter a number of times through, until she gets the meaning of the passage down in her mind. Then I make a recording of Rini saying that passage back in her own words.

Rini has been great at this process. She is very patient, and doesn't get tired of repeating the same portion of Scripture over and over. I record each section at least twice, and then work up to having larger and larger sections linked together. It gets pretty repetitious. To me it can sometimes seem tedious. Acts has some loooong chapters, some are 60 or 70 verses long. But Rini doesn't seem to mind. She says it is easy. She is really good at re-wording the passages in a natural style of Palawano, just like someone was talking, telling the Bible story in Palawano.

Then while we are working, all of a sudden, out of the blue, a truth from the passage we are reading and recording will zero right into my heart, and touch me to the core. I'll find my eyes filling with tears. Like the end of Acts Chapter 7, where Stephen is giving his sermon, and the religious leaders are getting furious at him. It says they were gnashing their teeth. And Stephen gazes up to heaven and says, "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."

Wait a minute, wait a minute! I thought Jesus was seated at the right hand of God. We just read that back in Chapter 2. Why is Jesus standing here? And I see a picture of Jesus, closely watching the scene below, following what is happening to Stephen. I think He is standing out of respect for his beloved child and follower, who He knows is taking abuse for His sake. And not only that, but when I see Jesus standing, right there at the right hand of God, I know He is perfectly able to stop the horrible stoning death of Stephen that follows. But He chooses not to. He withholds His power in this situation. He watched what happened, but He didn't stop it. He could have. In other passages in Acts, Jesus' followers disappear in the midst of angry crowds, are freed from prison in the middle of the night, or are spirited away during broad daylight.

But Stephen wasn't kept from dying for Christ's sake. Jesus could have intervened. He didn't. I thought of Martin Burnham, who didn't survive his horrible ordeal at the hands of terrorists. God could have allowed him to live. He has all power. But He didn't. But I imagine Jesus was standing that day when the bullets took Martin's life, watching with respect and love what was happening to His beloved child and follower.

Puerto Perambulations

This week we've been in civilization. We flew up to Puerto, our provincial capital, with Maddie, our year-old dog. Here is Maddie in the jungle. Purpose -- to take Maddie to the vet to get her "fixed," to take a short break, and to buy some needed supplies. I've been in the tribe for three months, and was beginning to feel like maybe I was losing my personality. What little bit of personality I have, anyway. Today I made a list of all the things I haven't done for three months:

• Used a telephone
• Stood in line at a grocery store
• Ridden in a car
• Enjoyed air-conditioning
• Surfed the net
• Eaten at a restaurant
• Used an ATM machine
• Worn jeans (they aren't practical for crossing the river)
• Worn jewelry (I dress down in the tribe)
• Blow-dried my hair
• Had a hot-water shower
• Listened to Bill play the piano
• Watched TV

Since we've been here I've done all those things except watch TV, though we could if we wanted to. We've had great conversations with our daughters, Elisa and Bethy, on the phone. We've had some fun meals fellowshipping with missionary co-workers who either live in the city, or are passing through town like we are. The photo is me holding the newest member of the Palawan field, two-month-old baby Jonathan.

We've been able to take care of needed on-line business. And today I got to listen as Bill played an impromptu lunch concert at a favorite local restaurant with the permission/invitation of the owner, who is an acquaintance of ours. Lest you get the wrong idea, this isn't an elegant piano lounge. It is more like somebody's house, with tables in the yard and living room, and the neighbor's cats wandering in and out begging for food. And the best part -- not only is the food delicious, but very inexpensive. Our two meals cost less than $6.00. But then, that meal was a splurge compared to our favorite Vietnamese Noodle Shop. A big flavorful bowl of beef stew noodles there costs about 80 cents. We love Puerto!

Tomorrow morning we are scheduled to fly back home to the tribe again. Maddie survived her operation just fine. We are ready to get home and back to work. We won't miss fighting the traffic, or the crowds of people here in town. We will miss the telephone and internet! But a typhoon in the northern Philippines is bringing lots and lots of rain here today. So if the weather is still bad tomorrow, we may have to delay going home for a day or two. And maybe we'll get another phone call in to Lis and Bethy, while we are at it.

Weaving Walls and Sewing Roofs

Down here in the jungles of Palawan the people's homes are simple, made mostly of forest products, and last only a few years before the elements and termites take their toll. Then a new house has to be built. The Palawanos are the ultimate Do-It-Yourselfers. No Home Depot here. When Aming wanted to enclose the porch of her new house, she asked her husband to gather and split some bamboo for her. Seven varieties of bamboo grow in our area, but nap-nap is the best type for walls. While her baby, Mek-Mek, takes his nap in his little cloth swing, Aming is out in her front yard weaving bamboo slats into a wall section. Each long section of split bamboo is woven over two and under two, then pounded with a wooden bat to make it tight. Aming has a little puppy who "helps" her by chewing on the ends of the slats.

Nili and her husband are building a new house. While Udi does the carpentry work on the house frame, Nili sews leaves over a bamboo slat for roofing shingles. Udi gathered the leaves for her from the forest. They are from the gumbia palm and are a bit thorny on the edges, so they cut up Nili's hands if she isn't careful. What she is sewing with is a thin strand of rattan, also gathered from the forest. Her little girl, Dilwini, sits nearby, overseeing the process. Nili has several stacks of already-made roofing shingles drying in her yard, ready to go on the house.

And me? Well, I'm not building a home right now, but I'm building my Palawano language repertoire. As I go around visiting my neighbors, I take pictures of all the interesting things they do, and asks lots of questions about what I see. Then I ask my friends to describe what they are doing while I record what they say. Later, I will show the pictures I've taken to other friends I visit, and ask them to talk about what they see in the pictures. And I'll record that too. Then, back at home, I'll sit down and listen to the recordings over and over, to get the pronunciation and intonation of the native speech in my head. Most of the recordings I also transcribe, so I can study them to learn new vocabulary and verb forms and sentence patterns. Then out I go again, without the camera or recorder, to just visit, and practice the new vocabulary and sentence patterns I'm learning. As my language ability improves little by little, I can say more, and understand more of what others are saying to me. And as a happy consequence I've found while I'm building language ability, I'm also building relationships with the people here. I'm becoming more and more a part of the community.

Christmas Fun

We had a special Christmas, and we hope you did too. Donna’s sister and family came for a long-awaited visit. Carl and Suzy Haines, and daughter, Kimmy spent Christmas with us in the tribe. They had a great time, and the Palawanos really enjoyed them too. I want to share some of the pictures from their visit with you.

Several times during their stay, God winged a bright little gift our way. One of the Palawano’s pet parrots flew across the river and alighted on our windowsill. Kimmy is feeding it a cracker.

Christmas Eve was a big day. Palawano church, followed by a church potluck. How many kinds of sticky-rice treats do you know how to make? We were able to sample three or four different ones. Then a time of games, both inside the church building, and outside on the airstrip. The kids got a kick out of learning to play croquet.

Carl, Bill, Suzy and Kimmy gather around the table for Christmas dinner. We were missing Tyler, our nephew, and Elisa and Chris and Bethy, who didn’t get to come this year. And of course, we thought and talked about our Mom and Dad. This is our first Christmas with both of them gone.

And here I am in my kitchen, in a photo Suzy took.

As we walked around visiting with different people, the Haines got to experience different slices of Palawano life. Here three women work together pounding rice. They really get a rhythm going when three pound together. Suzy tried her hand at pounding, and found out how heavy those big wooden pestles really are.

Kimmy was a favorite with the kids. She taught art classes to a bunch of them while she was here.

After a great week, we flew out of the tribe together, and traveled to another of God’s beautiful spots of Creation, the Underground River in the northern part of Palawan. We are so thankful for the Haines, and their visit. We hope they will come back soon!