Well, after seven months we’re almost ready to meet our baby boy! This pregnancy has gone by so quickly and we’re thankful that it has been an uneventful one. Now that we’re almost at the end of this pregnancy reality is setting in that we will be delivering this baby in a foreign country! Thankfully, Cebu is up to date in its medical field and is home to many local nurses and doctors. What we weren’t expecting was the different way a culture deals with medical issues. Not long after we started seeing our doctor we realized that fathers in the Philippines are not allowed to be with their wives during the birthing process. The only way around this is to write a letter of permission to the three doctors who will be delivering our baby. Even then permission is granted only for the father to be with the mother during the actual delivery, not the labor. This was a shock for my wife and I and it seemed like a great sacrifice until we met another missionary couple who has been living here for years. They went where few will go and the only hospital they had was nicknamed the “pre-morgue”. After hearing some of their stories, Elizabeth and I became very thankful for the hospital here in Cebu City! It’s still going to be a completely different experience but at the same time we realize that we are blessed to have a good hospital nearby. I will be asking for permission to be with Elizabeth this coming Monday. Please pray that their answer would be favorable. It’s amazing how different things are from one culture to the next.
Tag Archives: Adventure
Family Park
The Kids from Our Route
After a little competition, the church took the children who had been faithful during the month of September to Family Park. The park was a special treat for the kids where they could see monkeys, rabbits, birds, and goats. It was also an experience for us Americans who are used to seeing these animals separated and in their own exhibits. At one point a monkey was given a banana and immediately a group of ducks swarmed under his cage, trying to snatch a bite. Frustrated, the monkey started smacking the ducks in the head! I had never seen anything like that in a petting zoo before! Just another moment that said, “Welcome to the Philippines.” It was a great day where we got to show the kids that Christians can have good wholesome fun in this increasingly sinful world.
Learning the Language
Since we arrived in Cebu I have relied heavily on my Tagalog to communicate with the people. Tagalog is the main dialect of the Philippines so just about every person can understand and talk with me. However, there are some who know very little Tagalog and others who have a prejudice against my language. The church people have been teaching me some of their Cebuano and I’ve also learned a little from day to day living at the market, through soul winning, and other personal contacts. Thankfully, Pastor Travis, who is fluent in Cebuano, gave us our first language lesson this past week! Even though Cebuano and Tagalog have a lot of similarities they are still very different and I have a lot to learn. Please pray that the Lord would bless, Elizabeth, and I as we study the language! While it will take my wife longer to learn Cebuano (because she doesn’t know Tagalog) in the long run, she will most likely speak it more clearly than I will. We’re excited to learn the language and hope to get a better understanding of the culture through our journey!
A Tarp, A Pulpit, and…A Chicken???
One of the ministries I’m involved with at North Cebu Baptist Church is the College and Career Sunday School Class. It reminds me of former days when I taught the adult class back at our home church in New York. There are some things that are uniquely different about this particular class though. Space at the church is limited and because of this our class has been meeting outside under a tarp. There are three seasons in the Philippines-hot, hotter, and really hot-so that tarp has been a blessing! Then one morning I showed up at church and was surprised to discover a chicken in the back of our class! (Apparently supper for the Bible college students later that week.) I could only smile to myself and think only in the Philippines! During these past few months we’ve had a faithful group attend the class with several new Christians who are eager to grow. It has been a blessing for me to teach this group and take part in their lives!