7/4: Travel to Butuan

Between packing, planning, tying loose ends up here, and catching up on blogging, by the time I needed to get ready at 2 am, I never got to sleep--just too many things to do!! 

last minute blogging/talking to family

What would I do without Jordan???? (I honestly don't know!!)

We left MMC at 2:30 am in the Ambulance, at arrived at the Bus Station in Record Time-9 minutes!! Thanks Felix!!!
The Bus left at 3 am, and guess what the Line of Buses was called????

2:30am-Ambulance: me, Lizzie, MaKayKay, and Jordan

um....that gets me every time...look close...what do YOU think??

The name just hit me so funny....oh well!!! I guess there were families on it too...

There were 5 of us going: Sylvette, Lizzy, Makayla (Kai), Jordan, and I.

Sylvette and I were seatmates, at the VERY front of the bus!!! (She's a hoot!)

What a doll!!

NOW, I REALLY have a glimpse of what my mom was talking about, when she traveled Europe and Philippines 25 years ago!! Kudos Mommy!!

The 2 guys in the row across from us for the entire trip...they were really nice, and begged for their picture to be taken. 

I slept pretty much the whole trip, having hardly slept for over 36 hours! 45 minutes out, our bus got stranded for 1 hour, because of major flooding--almost everyone got out to look, except me....at that point, I my brain really didn't care... :D I guess the flood was up to a regular sized persons thigh, and up to a Filipino and my waist. WOW!! (The pictures below are only what was in front of us--not the worst.)

We arrived in Butuan at 10:30am, and were met by our 2 supervisors: Jordan Ingram and Bong. They treated us to lunch at a scrumptious little cafe, where we were served Barbeque Chicken and Rice (sooo good!!---that's a very high complement coming from me!!!) LOL

Sylvette, Lizzy, Makayla, Jordan, Bong, and Jordan I.

Just like Tagum's Tricee color is Green, Butuan's color is Orange.

We then went to G-Mall, to pick up some mosquito nets and bread, before going on to the Jeepney Terminal. Kai, Jordan, and I guarded our bags while Lizzy and Sylvette went to Market to get veggies. I got a few winks of sleep, before we loaded ourselves and our bags on the top of the jeepney (what a view!!!)

Okay, I look terrible, but I REALLY didn't want my scalp to get sunburned. :)

The sun was pretty hot up there, and so we were told we could get down out of the sun, but just as we were about to, the driver started the engines...Lizzie and Sylvette were both back by the time we got loaded up, but then Sylvette went to get eggs with Bong, and all of a sudden, the jeepney started leaving!!!

We all started texting Sylvette frantically, and then the jeep paused to pick more passengers up, right outside the terminal. After a few minutes, the jeep really, actually left. We started sending her minute-by-minute updates like "We're actuallly leaving now!!!"  Just as it left, we saw them drive up on Bong's motorbike, and started yelling and pounding on the top of the jeepney for the driver to stop: "STOP!!!!! Our friend is over there!!!!" :) Quite funny. It was 2:30 PM when we actually left.

What a Name for a Furniture Store!! (Lucky Grace indeed!!)

Houses in Progress

Butuan has the nicest houses/developments I've seen here in the Philippines...definitely nicer than the average neighborhood in Davao, but then Davao's are all surrounded by high walls!!)

2 guys at top front of the jeepney (the one on right was the 'fee collector')

10 minutes into our drive, this cabinet was added to the top...it took a while to get there, but it stayed!!

Beautiful little forest of somthing.... :)

It's a little freaky when the logging trucks go by you when you're on the top, because they're usually no more than 6-10" from the side of the jeeep!!

Boys playing their favorite sport-Basketball (they play it for HOURS here!!)

We are over 10 feet from the ground, and this is how the wall was next to us....wow!!

1 hour out, we dropped Lizzy and Jordan off to Jordan I. (Jordan I., Bong, and Jarett-the media man took their 2 motorbikes and were waiting for us when we arrived.) They crossed the river to go to some other villages, while we continued on to Casiklan (our destination).

Bong loading their stuff on the m-bike, just as Jordan I. and Jarett drive up.

Bong took such good care of us...a very good role model for young men.

Leaving for their village

Way up there...so comfortable!! (Yes, I slept on our way up)

We stopped at this village, to drop some grain off.

At 3:30 PM, we reached a very muddy hill, and that to get up it, everyone had to evacuate the jeep. We had only gone a few hundred feet up the hill and turned a corner, when we came upon 2 more jeepneys ahead of us - the first of which was stuck!!!

Poor Makayla - first step she took was in what looked like DRY mud, but happened to be a deep puddle!! Pretty miserable for her, trying to get up this uneven, steep, muddy hill, when she had hardly any traction!!!

"How Beautiful are the Feet of Them...."

Crossing the "Chocolate" Filipino Style

Here are some very short video clips, showing a glimpse of what it was like...not very good, but kind of funny. Enjoy!! (More coming)

Bong was waiting near the top of the hill for us, laughing....he thought it was pretty funny. He quoted Romans 10:15:

..."How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!"

That was a major eye-opener for me....yeah, we have talked about the verse in church before, and even put it in that context, and it was an eye-opener then, but now???? Wow!!! It's  a TOTALLY different concept actually living it!!! I guess I'd never really viewed it quite in that light...that I am actually a missionary....


Out here, we ARE midwives and missionaries. That IS  how we are introduced. Period. End of story. You're not asked for degrees, papers, certificates, or anything else. ANYTHING you have to offer is accepted, people are dying daily!! They need help!!!


That totally confirmed what I feel God has been directing me about midwifery for the last few years, in terms of the way I am doing it.

Don't Trip!!!

It's been really interesting, because since I have been here in the Philippines, I haven't had the 'wired or high (pardon my usage)' feeling that I expected, and have had before...and I wondered why. Almost like I wasn't satisfied, or maybe this wasn't for me, like maybe midwifery wasn't what God called me to do!! But in all actuality, when looking deeper, I knew and know for a fact, that this IS what God is calling me to do for right now, until HE changes that calling, and I was and have been deep down, completely content, satisfied, and peaceful, KNOWING that I AM in the center of God's Will!!!


I realized and learned so many other amazing truths on this trip too, which I will share further on.

Back to my story (sorry for the interlude!! :D) Another Jeepney pulled in behind ours, making 4 jeepneys trying to get up the hill!!! (Only the first one had major difficulties.)  It was terrible!!! :)

At 5:45 PM (2 hrs/15 min!!!), they finally got the first jeep unstuck, just ast it started to rain, Praise the Lord!!! During this whole time, all the passengers from the 4 jeepneys were at the top of the hill, just waiting. The villages we were going to, were still over an hour away ON A GOOD DAY!!! (and this was NOT, if you hadn't noticed) ;)
So, there was no point in walking...waiting was the best answer.

Here, I learned a good lesson too: The Filipinos were just standing, sitting, talking, and playing, as if they had not a care in the world!! (Did I mention that it gets dark around 6:30pm??) Time is not the important thing here...everything is relaxed, so different from the culture we Americanas are so immersed in!!

Do you want to learn how to be a team?? Come learn from the Filipinos!!! Most of the men from all the different jeepneys were out there helping the ONE jeepney from the mud!! Working for hours without giving up!! There were even a couple passing moterbikers who stopped and helped!!!
Then, instead of just leaving, as soon as it was unstuck, all the jeepneys tag-teamed!!! Meaning, they would attach cables to the jeepneys, and help each other down the line get up the hills until we were up past all the muddy parts!! What dedication!! What love!!  All the time, it was raining koalas and carabao too!!

Probably the most memorable part though, was the dedication Bong had for us. He was outside on his motorbike, helping as much as possible. He had given his poncho to us, when we were originally going to be on the top in the rain, and then it was used for other things, so all he had on was his thin t-shirt--freezing for hours!!! On top of that, we inside were starving, and he sacrificed some energy bars to us!!! His own personal stash for the next weeks!!

We kept telling him to go on ahead of us to the village, but he refused to leave us. The scariest part by far though, was when it was almost totally dark, and Bong was out there on his motorbike helping out. We were cabled to the jeepney behind us, pulling it thru the mud around a corner. The cable came sweeping towards him, getting closer and closer, (it could snap at any time, killing anything in it's path), and we were all scared for him. Then all of a sudden, the jeepneys jolted to a stop, and guys started getting out...our hearts came near stopping, though we knew he was probably okay (which of course he was).

This was one of the many wake-up calls I got on our trip - life is so fragile and we take it for granted so often. James 4:14 says:

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

We arrived in Casiklan at 8:30 PM, and were warmly welcomed by our team - Etienne - our team leader,  Balong - our translator, Katie, Hannah, and Jilian. They had waited dinner on us (so sweet!), and so we quickly got dinner on. We had expected to get to Casiklan in good time, and so had bought chicken in Butuan, keeping it wrapped in ice. Fortunately, it was still good, and so we had Chicken Adobo and Rice.

Afterwards, we had what was called 'Team Time' - something I learned to very much look forward to. They were going through 2 books - devotionals really. Tonights was about the Great Commission and Church. Two major points made were how crucial it is to have a strong Christian family back home supporting you in back home, and how the Great Commission is not just for foreign missions but also on the homefront.

We then went to bed: I made it 48 hours without hardly any sleep!!! Yikes!!