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.