"You've got to quit smoking!"

Doctor: "You've got to quit smoking."
Peter: "I don't smoke."
Doctor: "Your lungs show you have been smoking for quite some time."
Peter: "I think I know what it is."
Doctor: "Yes?"
Peter: "I have been living in this country for a few years now."

Peter is a missionary in the Philippines. Above was a real conversation between Peter and his doctor. Everyday when we go on the road, we see cars pumping out black exhaust fumes, there of course are regluations regarding pollution, but they are not imposed very often. No wonder our floor is constantly black, it is like there is black soot covering it as soon as Maris clean it with bleach and water.

I think many of the missionaries around the world are entering into martydom slowly. They might not see the effects of pollution years after their missions terms are over, but it sure does take a toll.

Even so, Christ and His gospel are sure worth dying for.

Flying with a corpse

Sunday Times reports:

A British Airways passenger travelling first class has described how he woke up on a long-haul flight to find that cabin A BRITISH Airways passenger travelling first class has described how he woke up on a long-haul flight to find that cabin crew had placed a corpse in his row.

The body of a woman in her seventies, who died after the plane left Delhi for Heathrow, was carried by cabin staff from economy to first class, where there was more space. Her body was propped up in a seat, using pillows.

The woman’s daughter accompanied the corpse, and spent the rest of the journey wailing in grief.

Paul Trinder, who awoke to see the body at the end of his row, last week described the journey as “deeply disturbing”, and complained that the airline dismissed his concerns by telling him to “get over it”.

“It was a complete mess — they seemed to have no proper plans in place to deal with the situation,” said Trinder, 54, a businessman from Brackley, Northamptonshire.

The woman died during a nine-hour flight on a Boeing 747. Trinder was catching up on sleep when he was woken by a commotion and opened his eyes to see staff manoeuvring the body into a seat.

“I didn’t have a clue what was going on. The stewards just plonked the body down without saying a thing. I remember looking at this frail, sparrow-like woman and thinking she was very ill,” said Trinder.

“She kept slipping under the seatbelt and moving about with the motion of the plane. When I asked what was going on I was shocked to hear she was dead.”

The woman’s daughter and son-in-law arrived soon after and began grieving. Trinder said: “It was terrifying. I put my earplugs in but couldn’t get away from the fact that there was a woman wailing at the top of her voice just yards away. It was a really intense, primal sound.

“I felt helpless. Grief is a very personal thing; it’s not as if there was anything I could do or say.”

Trinder, chief executive of Capital Safety, which makes products for the building industry, holds a BA gold card and travels more than 200,000 miles a year with the airline.

He became particularly concerned about the state of the body. “When you have a decaying body on a plane at room temperature for more than five hours there are significant health and safety risks,” he said.

After the plane landed, those in first class remained on board for an hour before police and a coroner gave the all-clear.

“The police even started interviewing me as a potential witness, although I had no idea what had happened to the woman. I just kept thinking to myself: ‘I’ve paid more than £3,000 for this’,” Trinder said.

When contacted by BA about the complaint, Trinder says he was told he would not be compensated and should “get over” the incident.

BA said the dead woman was taken into first class because the rest of the plane was full.

A spokesman said: “When a customer passes away on board it is always difficult and we apologise for any distress caused.”

He said there were about 10 deaths each year out of 36m passengers.

Other carriers use different procedures. Singapore Airlines has introduced “corpse cupboards” on its Airbus 340-500 aircraft. Cabin crews use the locker if there is no empty row of seats to place a corpse.

We are blessed

Dan and I figured something out while we were in Hong Kong for Chinese New Year, visiting family. We realized that God might have called us to Cebu for our benefits, much more so than for the benefits of the people whom we minister to.

God is obviously teaching us BIG lessons on patience and endurance, and the biggest enlightenment is that we suddenly realize how our much we complained!

God is not done with us yet, it took us six months to see what we saw. We still have another year and a half here, we will see what God will show us and what He will do n our lives, and the lives that we touch here in Cebu.

What if it is me?

My friend Grace's father, a faithful minister of God, is in a coma. When I read her updates and her blog, I was reminded of two things:

1) God is good no matter what our circumstance is. When we thought we might just fall apart and not be able to stand up, God is there to sustain and lift us up.
2) With hope for eternal life, sickness and death are not as painful. Don't get me wrong, they are still extremely painful to go through, for those who are taking care of the sick and have to live on, but the pain is so much more bearable.

I wonder what I will do if I were in Grace's shoe. I probably won't be in Hong Kong if anything like that happen to my parents. I will probably be making trips back to Hong Kong to take care of them. It is so hard to imagine how would it be like, if I have to go through what Grace is going through. But one thing I know for sure: the God whom has sustained Grace, will lift me up also, if that was me.

"I have a guy...."

It is important to know 'guys' when living in Cebu, 'guys' are people who you know and trust who can get things done. You need a computer guy, a guy who can get you visas, a guy to repair your windows, a guy who can fix your car, fix your dripping toilet and your broken washing machine. We are starting to realize the importance of having 'guys'. What if you don't know a particular kind of guy? Always ask your helper, or people at church, they can always come up with someone. "I have a guy who can fix it." This is a very important thing.

Found!

I am so joyful because the green plastic tupperware cup is found! Dan had Maris, our housekeeper called the restaurant this morning, they said they would look for it. A few hours later, they called back and said yes, someone has set it aside and we can go pick it up! I am so happy, not just because of the cup being returned, but also the fact that I have faith in human nature again. God is good.

A lost plastic cup

An hour after we left the restaurant tonight, I discovered that we have left Kioni's Tupperware cup in the restaurant. I was very upset, in fact, I was almost in tears, because that is Kioni's favourite cup. You might say why are you so upset over losing a plastic cup? Well, not particulary about the cup, (though the cup is a very nice $5.00 Tupperware cup), rather, about the fact that even if we go back, we will not able to retrieve it. Dan plain refused to go back to the restaurant, didn't even want to try, because it is highly unlikely that we will get it back. I was upset about the fact that if that happens in where we have been in the U.S., even after a few days, we will be able to get it back, but not here.

If any of you see the kiwi colour tupperware cup, (Impressions 11-oz. tumbler with Drip-Less™ straw seals, any colour ffor that matter), in a garage sale or somewhere cheap, please get it for me! I went to the Tupperware website, it is too expensive ($23.50 for a set of 4!) I got the one that I lost in the Clothe Horse at Trinity for free.

Being upset over a lost plastic cup, haven't had that kind of feeling for a long time, that's why I am sure it is not about the lost cup, rather, the fact that once it is left, it is gone.

A 25-year shopping trip

It was just a normal shopping trip when Jaeyana Beuraheng bade farewell to her eight children as she left to cross the border into Malaysia, but it would be 25 years before she would find her way home.

Now, at the age of 76, she has been reunited with her family and has finally told how her misfortune began when she boarded the wrong bus.

Jaeyana would almost certainly have made it home without mishap had it not been that she speaks only Yawi, a dialect spoken by Muslims in southern Thailand. But unable to write, read, or speak Thai or English she boarded a bus for Bangkok, about 800 miles north, by mistake rather than travelling back to her home in Narathiwat.

Bewildered by the noise and traffic of the capital she boarded another bus hoping it would take her home. It did not.

This one took her to Chiang Mai, close to the border with Burma and another 400 miles away. There she became lost and unable to explain her predicament. In Chiang Mai she spent five years begging and with her dark skin was taken to be a member of a hill tribe.

When police rounded up beggars in the northern capital in 1987 she was arrested on suspicion of being an illegal immigrant. Unable to determine where she came from, officials sent her to a social services hostel where she has been ever since.

Jintana Satjang, a director of the center where Jaeyana made her home, said: “We thought she was a mute.” Jaeyana was referred to as “Mrs Mon” because staff thought her mutterings sounded like Mon, a minority language in Burma.

Jaeyana would probably have spent the rest of her life at the hostel had not three students from her home province who spoke her language arrived at the centre for training last month. They struck up a friendship and she was able to tell them how she became separated from her family.

The students made inquiries and found her youngest son, Mamu, who is now 35. They sent him her picture by mobile phone.

“I was shocked and overjoyed when I saw the picture,” said Mamu. He said he and his brothers and sisters had searched for years in Thailand and Malaysia until they were told their mother had been run over by a train in Yala.

“I remembered her face even though I have not seen her for 25 years,” he said.

Story from Fox News.

The good and the bad

The Good
The missionary ladies in Cebu went to a nice little restaurant for lunch. It is in a upscale subdivision called Santa Nino, seems like it is converted from a garage, but it is so cute and well-kept that you will not suspect it at all upon stepping into the restaurant. My first impression of this restaurant is their table setting. While most restaurants in Cebu put a big spoon (serving spoon size) and a fork on the place mat, this restaurant has a salad fork, a dinner fork and a knife on the place mat, complete with a real cloth napkin! The bathroom smells good too, with no water running on the floor. Now, that's impressive!

The menu is interesting, you choose a sandwich out of about 20 different kinds of offers, then a soup from a soup list, a salad from a list of 15, and then a dessert from 4 different kinds of cakes. A four course meal and the cost is: $160 peso, that's $3.20 USD!

We had a wonderful time, and I sure will return to 10 Dove street with my family.

We like that subdivision also, we will do some research and see if we can afford to live there, since by June, when the renter of this house comes back, we will have to move.

The Bad
We again have no food in the house, so we head out to find a restaurant. While we were strolling along an eatery area, the power went out, so we headed back out, while driving, we kept seeing sections of the city losing power. So it forced us to the largest mall in Cebu, the Ayala Mall. We stepped into the Tequila Restaurant, music was not too loud, that's good. The waitress was quick to serve, the menu was shuffled into our hands before we were settled down with Kioni. We asked them to wait a little. Like most restaurants do in Cebu, they gave us two settings instead of three, often they don't see Kioni as a 'person' who needs her own place setting, which is very frustrating. When we were looking at the menu, we realize that there are lots of wrong spellings in the menu, 'Fich and Ships' (Fish and Chip?); Fynger (finger?); and Zappetitzer (Appetitzer?). I already have a bad feeling about this restaurant, if a restaurant cannot manage to put together a menu correctly, what are they going to do with the food. We ordered an appetizer platter for Kioni and I to share, and Dan ordered a burrito.

The drink came, the Diet Coke that Dan ordered was flat, Dan asked for another one, it was still flat. Then the platter came, my jaw dropped when I saw the platter. There was a small pile of broken corn chips, a bowl of not so warm chili, a tiny salad with two cubes of 1/4 inch of avocado and some tomatoes, 4 small pieces of quesadilla, and most shockingly, one single sad looking chicken wing. The chicken wing was so small it must come from a chicken that was about two weeks old. There was supposed to be some "bleucheese and celery" that came with the platter, but it was missing. Dan asked for it, three waiters and waitresses came and found was what was missing. OK, they brough it out for us right a way, the "bleucheese" was in a tiny little plastic cup, with ONE two inch long celery in it. The platter costs $345 peso, that is about $7 UDS! Dan's buritto came, the black beans were tough as little rocks, there was no sauce, so it was pretty dry, it came wrapped up in a piece of foil, looks like it was pre-made somewhere and just get warmed up a bit in the restaurant.

Dan's had enough of everything, when his bottomless coke sat there empty, he told the waiter that he should be watching and do some actual serving, instead having Dan to ask him to fill it up everytime.

In the mean time, Kioni was scratching her leg, she was bitten by a mosquito. Thankfully, I have learned to always carry a bottle of bug spray since I arrive in Cebu.

This was the worse restaurant experience we have ever in the 5 months period that we have been here.

Aberdeen, here we come...

Dan received an email this morning from the University of Aberdeen, he has been accepted into the PhD program in the School of Divinity!

This is much faster than we have expected, he sent in the application just over a month ago, and we already recieved the official acceptance email, an official acceptance letter will come later, to Dan's mother's home.

We are of course delighted, to say the least. Though there are still many details to take care of, like housing, scholarships, etc. We are looking forward to the 3-4 years in Scotland.

You may wonder if this will change our duration of stay in Cebu. Well, we know before we came that we are comitted to be in Cebu for two years and we will also apply for the PhD program in January 2007. Our plan is always to apply for the program, if accepted, we will ask for a one year extension before we actually go to Scotland.

So the answer is, we will stay in Cebu until summer of 2008 as planned, then we will pack up, go back to the U.S. for a few months to visit our supporters, and off we go to Scotland. Unless the extension request is denied, which we don't see that happening. If the request indeed gets rejected, I guess the Lord REALLY want us to go in 2007.

We have started praying about scholarships, yes, we need multiple scholarships in order to go to Scotland. It will be impossible for us to pay the tuition and living expenses if there were no scholarships granted. As a student's spouse, the law allows me to work full-time, but with Kioni's requiring more and more attention each day, it will not be the most ideal if I have to work to support the family again. A lot to pray about, don't know what God is going to say at this point about that.

Scott Gray

I went to Scooter Scoop today and read a number of postings in that blog, I do that once every few months, just to make sure I catch the newest posting. This blog is about the Grays: Scott, Michele, their daughter Josephine, and their son True. The blog has not have new posting since December 8, 2005, six months after Scott's death, he died of brain cancer, he had just graduated with a Master of Divinity at TEDS. Scott was a father of 2 year old Josephine, and their son, True, who was still in his mommy Michele's tummy when Scott went to heaven.

I still go read the post, because I want to celebrate his life. He is one of the few people I have met whom have truly shown the joy of being a Christian.

I was the Field Education Coordinator at TEDS. While grading papers, I realized that Scott Gray has not turned in his paper, and it has been one week after the deadline. I wrote him an email, gave him a call, no reply to either. A week had past, a student walked into my office with a great big smile and a piece of paper in his hand, it was Scott Gray. He said, 'I am so sorry that my paper is so late, I just became a father, but that is no excuse for being late. I am willing to take any penalty, even if I have to do the Field Ed course again, I will do so.'

I deducted points from him, but he passed. However, what I cannot forget was Scott beaming with joy, showing me the photos of his beautiful wife and their new born daughter, Josephine. I was pregnant with Kioni at that time, he shared with me a few books on parenting.

A while later, he came into my office again, just to see if I am doing OK with my pregnancy.

A few months later, I saw him in the hallway outside of my office. He was wearing a baseball cap that was a bit too big for his head. I jokingly said, "that's a cool hat". He said, "It is cool, but I would much rather not wear it. I have cancer, I just had an operation two weeks ago." He took off his hat and showed me his hairless head. He was undergoing chemotherapy and had lost his hair.

That was the last time I saw him. On June 12, 2005, he died.

He is one of those special people that I will not forget, not because he died young, not because he left behind a beautiful wife and a young daughter, not because he didn't get to meet his son before he was born. But because he is a true Christian. He had true joy in his heart, that I know comes from his radical obedience to God. Even when his life was fading away, he never once doubted God.

Scott Gray, if I were to die a death that would make me suffer the way you did, you will be my hero, you will be someone that I will remember and look up to.

Ta-ta for now, will see you in heaven, Scott.

Sharing the gospel in Kumon

Every Monday morning I took Kioni to the Kumon center for her Kumon class. We have been going there for three months. The receptionist lady Josephine is always welcoming and kind. I always wanted to talk to her more, but the center is always busy, it is hard to talk at a more personal level.

Today, since the center is not busy, I started a conversation with her. I asked about her family, one thing led to another, we were talking about her being a Catholic. She said she actually went to a Christian church for over a year when she was in college, but her parents scolded her, telling her she is born as Catholic and should stay that way.

She was very open to me, it is obvious that God has put this young lady in my path. We talked about the differences between the Catholic church and the Christian church. She was attentive and was interested.

Josephine said she loved the Christian church she attended, and has tried other churches since she came to Cebu to work, but 'it is easier to go to the Catholic church, less pressure.' 'I have little faith to stand up to my parents.'

I am trying to find a church for her here in Cebu, she said she will go. She said she is old enough and not be afraid of upsetting her parents.

We talked for over an hour, surprisingly, only one person came in who needed her attention, even the phone was quiet.

Smelly fingers and stainless steel

Wonderful news for home chefs who loves to use garlic but hate to have fingers that smell like garlic after you smesh 10 cloves of the super strong smelling bulbs, or for those who loves to clean their own fish.

Rub your hands with stainless steel. No kidding. I have been doing this for over a year now. There are cataglogs where they sell blocks of stainless steel for this purpose.

After you smesh garlic, clean fish, or anything that is smelly, just rub your hands on any stainless steel you can find in the kitchen. I have tried rubbing my hands on the sink, the handle of a knife, a spoon, faucets, etc. Anything that is stainless steel will work. Just make sure you rub all sides of your fingers and hands that are smelly.

Now if the only stainless steel thing you own is a knife, I will not recommend you rubbing your hand on the blade. it is much better to have smelly fingers than bleeding ones.

Making culture

Dan and I have quite a few conversations about "making culture" these days. By that, I don't mean changing a certain culture of a country or an ethnic group, it has nothing to do with that fact that we are living in a different culture right now.

A professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) once told us in person that he was invited to preach and teach in South Korea. In one of his sermons, he told the hundreds of Korean church leaders to "stop acting like Koreans, start acting like Christians." Surprisingly, his 'suggestion' was well received by the Korean church leaders. The professor saw that many cultures, especially the Asia culture, has a lot of negative effects on God's church.

A very common phenomenon is that certain person or certain group of people is 'in charge of the church', no matter they have a title at church or not. If you have been in the church for a long time and are influential, you will stay that way until you die. You don't need an official position to be influential, you just are. The 'I am the parent, you are my son, therefore, whatever I say, you listen' type of mentality is quite common. That's the culture in a lot of the Chinese or Asia churches.

It is important to instill in the congregation a cultural of being Christians, instead of a Christian of a certain ethnic group. That said, I didn't mean that ethnic churches should not exist. However, if an ethnic church governs the church using their own ethnic "rules and regulations" than what are taught in the Bible, the church will be more likely to be sickly than not.

In the past weeks, we experienced some sad incidents at the church we are attending. We now see how being more Chinese than Christian has affected negatively on the health of the church.

We don't know how the situation in the church in Cebu will fan out, we just pray that whatever happens, God will be glorified, not shamed. I also hope that as time goes on with the leadership of the church involve in leadership training and bible study, a Christian culture will replace the more dominant Chinese culture in the church.

We're back

Got an email from Grace, asking if we are OK, my blogs have not been updated for a while.
Yes, we are OK. Several factors, really, for not updating the blogs:
1) sickly internet connections, when I need to use it, it doesn't work, when it works, Kioni needs my attention. Often when I would get on and start blogging, by the time I finished writing and hit the 'publish' button, the internet connection would be dead, oh well, c'est la vie.
2) Christmas and all that, i.e., we just came back from a conference two days ago.
3) not feeling that great physically for the past few weeks.

I am going to catch up with some blogging in the next few days, so look backwards and read some of the events over Christmas and beyond.

It is good to be back home, however, the ReachGlobal (former EFCA-IM) Asia conference spoiled me. Buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner means I didn't need to bother with grocery shopping and cooking, there were more food that we ever would need. What a wonderful treat for moms! I was a bit depressed when I got home when I think about groceries and cooking again.

Another depressing thing was that it took us over 12 hours and three connections to fly from Chiang Mai, Thailand to Cebu, Philippines. When we arrive at the Cebu airport, we couldn't get a taxi to take us home because we insisted that they used the meters. No taxi driver would use the meter at the airport at the arrival area. We eventually had to walk up a flight of stairs with Kioni and all our bags in the rain to the departure area, flaged down a taxi and told the driver if he used the meter, we will give him a big tip. Thank God for sending this driver, we got home and the driver got a good tip.

One good thing is that the weather in Cebu is cloudy and rainy. Oh... How I love rainy weather! I have always loved the rain, it doesn't matter to me if I didn't see the sun for two weeks. Cloud and rain look especially nice in a hot place like Cebu. While I am rejoicing the cooler weather (about 80F), yesterday when Kioni and I took a taxi, the taxi driver was wearing a wool sweater! It must be 'winter' for Cebuanos.

Here are some photos from the ReachGlobal Asia conference. The brownish looking things are deep fried bugs: grasshoppers, silk worms and such. No, they didn't serve these in the buffet, they were sold in the night market.

Christmas

It is almost Christmas. It sounds hard to believe that Dan and I are never big on celebrating anything. Yes, we put up Christmas trees and put some lights out in the bushes in front of our house before, give each other a few gifts, that's about it. Having Kioni makes a bit of a difference. Since we didn't bring the 7-foot Christmas tree to Cebu, we spent $2.5 USD to buy a 3-foot Christmas tree, a single string of lights and some angel ornaments. Kioni drew a couple of paper angels. On top of that, we received wonderful gifts from Dan's family. I think Kioni got the idea, though there still is no snow, no matter how much she asks for it.

We are anticipating a loud Christmas night firework display, 'smoke from the firework will come into your house', the old-timers said to us. This will be a new experience for us. We thought we will try it once, if we can't take it, we will go hide somewhere on an island next Christmas.

This is the hottest Christmas I have ever had, even in Hong Kong, the weather is nice and cool. And in the past 10 years, living mostly in the North American mid-west, Christmases were always cold. It is a bit hard to believe that it is Christmas, but the Good News does not come with how low the temperature gets, it does not come with the inches of snow that falls, it does not come with the many Christmas gifts, it does not come with festive foods, cookies, pies, etc., it does not come with Christmas tree, it does not even come with families and friends being together sharing our love.

The Good News comes with the fact that Jesus indeed was born as a true human being while he is still true God, and He came for one purpose and one purpose only -- to bring salvation to a bunch of 'losers' who cannot possibly save themselves. That is something quite fascinating, quite spectacular, quite difficult to fathom. More fascinating and spectacular than all the firework displays and 30-foot Christmas tree, more difficult to fathom than the love of families and friends. Snow or no snow, cold or hot, Jesus' birth is the only truth that matters during Christmas.

A sad day

We were awaken by a text message on Dan's cell phone this morning:
"Eric resigned. We are leaving Sunday. Please stop by."

Eric and Susan Rosenberg are the American friends we met in Bo's Coffee two months ago, they had just arrived in Cebu for two weeks at the time we met. The two families just spend a weekend vacationing in Bantayan island. Eric resigned from the organization he was working with last night because of complicated personnel issues.
We were surprised by the news, to say the least. I was unable to fall back asleep. We always knew the situation at Eric's work was bad, but didn't know it was so bad. He wrote a three-page memo and send it to the "top" before we went on vacation, someone in the leadership did not like what he wrote, Eric felt that he had to resign, and they accepted his resignation.

We dropped by their house this morning. It was a saddness filled the air. While we were there, their helper Dolor whom they love dearly arrived. Susan broke the news to her, both Susan and Dolor were in tears.

They gave us some wonderful books from their twin girls' collection, and some clothes. We left after an hour or so because Kioni had to eat lunch and take a nap.

When we arrived home, I checked my email. My sister Annie couldn't find plane tickets to come. So the anticipated family visit is not going to happen.

We will surely miss the Rosenbergs. It will be hard to help Kioni understand that the Rosenberg girls, Alex and Isabelle are not going to be around anymore.

What a sad day.

The beach

We finally get to touch the ocean and white sandy beachs. Our trip to Bantayan island was wonderful. The beach is almost magical. The sea breeze, the white sand, the salty sea water, all contributed to a great vacation.

We stayed at Santa Fe Beach Club and visited Ogtong Cave Resort (as seen in photos), and since the people whom run these places go to our church, we received a 50% discount! Plus a VIP treatment by not having to pay transportation to go use the factilities in Ogtong Cave Resort, and we got to use the "registered guest only" pool in the resort. We were also provided with a room where we can all change and took showers. Kioni even took a two hour nap in that room. Then we were invited to dinner back in Santa Fe Beach Club, it was the best Chinese food that I have had so far in Cebu, and the quantity was huge.

We don't expect to have the same kind of treatment next time around, but it was good to be treated in such a special way. Dan thought it was because one of the owners Peter invited him to talk, and eventually telling Dan quite a bit about his dreams about the end times. Daniel and Dreams, eh?

Anyway, we had a great time. The beach and the water is so theraputic.

What happens when your last name is Bush?

Having the last name Bush is quite an interesting thing, especially in the past 8 years or so. In the 3 years or so when we lived in Washington, D.C., George W. Bush has just won his first term as the president. Dan and I were asked many times when we were meeting people for the first time if we were related to the president, it is a normal question provided we were living in D.C. and have this last name. However, I find it strange when it was just me and people still ask me if I am related to President Bush, I always said to them, "Do I LOOK like I am related to him?" Maybe next time I should say, "I am his adopted sister from China whom nobody knows of."

Let me tell you a few incidents that we encounter having the last name Bush:

A few months after I became a U.S. citizen, I went to the voting booth to vote for the president of the United States, that was voting for either George Bush or Al Gore . When I presented my driver's license, the lady at the voting center looked at me with disbelief, " Your last name is Bush?" "Yes," I replied. I was grumbbling inside, thinking, "I know I don't look like George Bush, but what's wrong with that?" "You won't believe this," the lady continued while pointing towards a voting booth on the side, "the gentleman in front of you who just went into the voting booth, his last name is Gore."

Two days ago we went to the dentist here in Cebu. When she heard us walked in, she came out to the reception counter and held her hand out to shake our hands. "Mr. Bush, Mrs. Bush, nice to meet you." "That's quite a reception," I thought. Dan said to her, "You came highly recommended." The dentist was beaming, smiling from ear to ear. She then asked, "Are you two related to eh... President Bush." "No, we just have the same last name." She said, "When the receptionist told me you are coming, I thought she was joking. I said to myself could she be someone related to President Bush, you know, it would not be too far-fetched, with the Asian Summits being held here in Cebu and all."

The third incident is the FedEx/Customs asking for sky high tax and tariff incident. I am pretty sure the last name Bush has something to do with it.

We always know this last name will generate curiosity, but never thought it would also make people greedy. What a name!

To lie or not to lie

I have been wanting to write this down, but found myself too emotional to do so. We encounter bribery first hand this past week. Dan's mother sent us a Christmas gift package through US postal priority mail, and the carrier is FedEx. It was supposed to arrive in just a few days. However, the package got sent back to Dan's mother by the U.S. post office, stating she must complete a form for "commercial" goods. Dan's mother explained the things inside are just Christmas gifts, they were not for sale.

About a week later, we got a call from FedEx in Lapu-Lapu city (a city next to us) stating that our package has arrived. When Dan asked why it was not delivered, they said we needed to pay tariff and tax on it, and the amount is 6500 peso ($130 USD!) Dan didn't understand what that was at first, then FedEx people explained that a large chunk of it was "freight charges". Freight charges? Why do we have to pay that? Didn't my mother-in-law pay for that already back in the US postal office? And it was not cheap either, it was $200 USD.

Dan told them this was ridiculous, they explained that the tax and tariff were calculated using a certain formula. Dan refused to pay and the FedEx people said Dan could sign an affidavit stating that the true value of the gifts were actually much lesser, the amount that Dan's mother put down ($150 US) was for insurance purpose only. Then hopefully, the Customs Office would recalculate the tax and tariff. The affidavit cost 50 peso ($1 USD). The FedEx guy said, "We'll see if the Customs Office will give you a discount." A discount?!!! from tax and tariff, which they calculated out with a formula?

After Dan signed the affidavit, we waited for a couple more days so that the FedEx people could talk with the Customs Office. A few days later, FedEx showed up with a piece of paper itemizing each charge, claiming that was from the Customs Office. However, next to the charges, were just an alphabet, like F, P, L, things like that, without clearly showing what those charges were. Dan looked at the paper and was perplexed by what they shadiness of it. The FedEx people said it is the Customs Office that was charging us, not FedEx, they in fact had went to them and ask them to recalculate, the Custom Office gave them a negative answer. No recalculating. The FedEx people called again, "Mr. Bush, if you would sign another affidavit, stating that ...." (I forgot what it was for, Dan's not around as I write this, I will ask him and complete this.) Dan signed another affidavit, another 50 peso. Still no package.

Our helper Maris was very helpful to us the whole time, she would talk in Cebuano with the FedEx people, she actually said to them, "That is corruption, isn't it. You see that my boss is an American and he lives in a nice area, and he also happened to have the last name Bush, you are taking advantage of him, aren't you?" Maris was clearly upset about the whole situation. She couldn't believe her friend, Dolor, whom has a sister living in Florida, received packages delivered by FedEx to her home without paying anything at all.

Upon knowing we didn't have any choice, we were going to pay the sky high $130 USD tax and tariff, get the package and considered a lesson learned.

Then Maris happened to be at a 'fiesta' (party) in the Guadalupe barangay (district) she lives in. There in the fiesta, she saw a long time family friend, they haven't seen each other for a long time. When that friend asked about how Maris was lately, she mentioned the fact that she was working for us. She then proceeded to tell this family friend our encounter with the Customs Office and FedEx. Her friend said, "I'll call the manager of FedEx tomorrow, and see what I can do."

The next morning, our home phone rang, it was FedEx, "Mr. Bush, we are ready to deliever your package, the tax and tariff will be $3000 peso."

I couldn't believe my ears when I heard Dan telling me about the "discount" price. We got the package, finally!

This FedEx guy whom delivered the package gave us a few tips:

1) Make sure you write down the value of the things inside the box is lower than $100 USD, regardless what the true value is.
2) Make sure you write old, used items on the box. Christmas gifts mean new things, and they are subject to high taxes.

I added afterwards to this list:
3) Make sure you don't send it to our address, rather, our helper Maris' address. Since they know those who live in this address can't pay them the sky high tax and tariff, there will not be one imposed.
4) Make sure the name on the address is not Bush. Well, that's another story for another entry.

OK, what that say is that whoever send us packages will have to hmmmm...... LIE! If not, we will have to pay whatever amount of money the Customs Office and the FedEx people want.

Or simply don't send us any packages.

So what do you think? To lie or not to lie?

Usual hangouts of the Bushes

Leona is our lifeline, a Chinese Christian owned bakery, it sells authentic banana nut bread, blueberry crumples, a varieties of cakes (not that authentic), and pastries.
Banilad Town Center is my favourite little escape from the crowd and dirt of Cebu. We go to the Bo's Coffee Club every Friday morning to have pancake breakfast.
Robinsons Supermarket is where we go and get imported groceries, it is also in Banilad Town Center, we usually get our supplies after our Bo's Coffee stop.

Upcoming trips

We will have a busy few months ahead of us:

January 3-9 Chiang Mai - EFCA-IM conference
Feburary 15-? Hong Kong - Chinese New Year, i.e., good food
April 16-27 Xiamen, China - Dan teaching (still pending, hope it will work since April is the hottest month of the year in Cebu.)

We hope to make it through all these travelling without too much trouble, mainly, having Kioni losing pounds on us. Each time she travels to a new place, she simply won't eat. This is quite difficult for me to handle, since I feel responsible for her physical well-being. She will always sleep well though.

Terrorists? Typhoon?

The Filipino government yesterday (December 8th) decided single-handedly to postpone the Asean Summits due to the threat of a tropical typhoon. As a resident in Cebu, I found it ridiculous. It did start to get cloudy last night, and it did start raining in the middle of the night. The rain continued on all day today. But it has no wind, yep, no wind at all, other than a much needed breeze that is, in fact, quite refreshing after weeks of brutal heat.

Our helper Maris said Cebu rarely is affected by strong typhoons. As someone whom has lived in a typhoon affected area for 33 years, I know what it is like when an area is hit by a strong typhoon, but what we have experienced here in the past 24 hours has none of those characteristics, i.e., pouring rain, strong, gusty wind, and black clouds. If you know anything about typhoon at all, you will know that typhoon cannot survive without feeding on water. Cebu is in the middle of a bunch of islands, there is practically nothing for the typhoon to feed on. I can see how northern Cebu island could be affected, but the Asean Summits are going to be held in Cebu city, which is located in the middle lower part of Cebu island, well shelter by neighbouring islands, how is it possible that the weather will be so bad that they have to postponed the summits?

So the only other reason will be terrorists threats, which is a lot more probable than the typhoon threat. Anytime when there are heads of states gathering, there always will be terrorists threatening to do something, thankfully, those threats rarely come into fruitation. Maybe it is due to the terrorists not carrying it through, or the prevention measures are carried out so good that they were able to stop it from happening. Either way, it is good that terrorists threats rarely affect any major meetings.

I suspect that the Filipino government, i.e., the president, Arroyo, made this decision because she knows full well that her military is unable to provide this kind of protection to the heads of states who are coming to the summits. Even after only live here for about three months, I can already tell corruption in this country has penetrated to the smallest sect of the society. I will not be surprised if I see a coup during the time of the Asean Summit, this is how unstable the government is.

Strangely, the citizens seem not to be affected by any of the above. Coup or a change of government does not seem to affect their daily life. Politicians who are not corrupt seldom get elected, because those who are corrupt will pay the poor to vote for them, and the poor is happy to receive the money and vote for these guys. It is a vicious cycle, yet, it continues on.

Anyway, those who don't live here might see that we are in in big trouble, terrorist threats, typhoon so severe that make the government has to postpone the summits. In fact, we feel quite calm and normal here, typhoon, terrorists, don't feel a thing at all.

Another cultural learning trip

We are planning another cultural learning trip with another missionary family, the Rosenbergs. They are Americans and came only a few weeks after our arrival. We call it a cultural learning trip because though we are going to a beach resort (Santa Fe Beach Club), things we will experience during our travel and our stay in the resort will be a lot for us to learn.

Both families are bringing our helpers, since we are relatively new to the area, with someone who is native will help us out a lot if we need anything on the road. Especially if there is any unforseen things that need to be dealt with. Our helper, Mariss and their helper are childhood friends, so it will be a nice get away for the two ladies also, though they will be 'working', so to speak.

Our trip will be from December 16th to December 18 (Saturday to Monday), but we have not planned anything concrete yet. The Rosenbergs have two 6 year old girls, so hopefully, we will all have some fun even though the driving could be stressful.

A call to suffer

Just received the December 2006 Asia Harvest newsletter, it titles "A Biblical View of Persecution', there are a few things in there written by Glenn Penner that I would like to share.

1) Many believers have been falsely taught that following Jesus only brings blessings and happiness.

2) To be called to follow Christ was to receive a call to suffer.
"I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." (Acts 9:16)
"strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said. (Acts 14:22)
"so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we were destined for them." (1Thessalonians 3:3)
"To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps." (1Peter 2:21)

3) It was this understanding that sacrifice, suffering, and even death were the normal cost of discipleship that fueled the evangelistic efforsts of the first century church.

4) They knew that in order to bring life to others, they must die; to see others experience peace with God, they would have to suffer the violence of the world; to bring the love of God to a dying world, they would have to face the hatred of those whom they were seeking to reach. It is in this context that they described spiritual warfare; not freedom over bad habits or psychological problems, but the brutal reality of witnessing.

5) Yes, there may be fear, but by God's grace it need not control us. Yes, there may be terrible suffering, but suffering is not the worst thing that can happen to the child of God; disobedience to the Father is.

6) We might be justified in saying that from the world's perspective, those who endure persecution are heroic, but from God's perspective they are recipients of grace. Peter stresses that enduring suffering is evidence that God is at work in one's life.

7) There is no glory for the sufferer. No hero worship. No merit for those who are able to endure hardship, no boasting of one's achievements. It is evidence of God's grace. It is all a work of God, from beginning to end.

It makes me feels as small as a pea after I read this. What are all those talks about the heat and filth in Cebu? We might have sacrificed some, but we are far from suffering. We have so much here, though much less in comparison to what most Americans have, we are blessed beyond compare. Or you can say, we are not blessed, because we are not in fact suffering, if you look at it from God's perspective.

However, I also recognize that God does not send every single one of his followers to be a martyr, there are some who, like us, would be training church leaders through teaching. We do have to be ready to say
YES', if God puts us in places that are uncomfortable, where sacrifices are needed, we have to be obedient and pick up our tents and go.

Where are the beaches?

I thought we will be surrounding by beaches, I thought when Dan is busy with his work, Kioni and I will go and play on the beach for a while, then go home for dinner, I thought it will take us 15 minutes to go to a beach. All the above assumptions were wrong. We found out the nice beaches are owned by the various hotels and resorts on Mactan Island, about an 45 minute drive from where we live, and you will have to, of course, pay for the using their nice white sandy beaches. There are other beaches all over the islands, however, it takes much longer than 15 minutes to go to, like the Santa Fe Beach Club, which owner goes to the same church as we go to. While Dan gets talking to the owner, he offered us 50% off for staying at the place. However, it will take a 2 to 3 hour drive to get to a ferry pier and another hour of boat ride before we will get there.

Helplessness

We have been here for over two months, though we are still struggling with the heat and other issues, we are better than when we first arrived in many ways, for one thing, I have ventured into the local vegetables, which are quite tasty, and much cheaper than broccoli and romaine lettuce.
The helplessness starts to sink in, there are so much poverty and deadends in this country, that it seems like only God can change anything at all, if there is any change at all, in this country.
People who have dark skin have a hard time finding a job (believe it or not, this country is obessed with having white skin, that will be another entry at a later time), people from the province with no education are doomed to have a hard life, people can get away from traffice violation, drug trafficking, anything, even murder (literally) by paying off the judges.
It seems like there are so little we can do, yet, God sent us here for a purpose, to train the local leaders so that the gospel can reach the multitude in this country, so that their basic outlook for life will change, so that they won't feel helpless, hopeless and pointless living.
While we were driving home after Sunday service yesterday, we saw a guy totally drunk, walking by the side of the street, but was swaying in and out of traffic. That is the kind of hopelessness I am talking about. In a supposedly Catholic country, where most people still are 'religious', this guy got drunk in the middle of the day on a Sunday.
What can we do? How can we help? I don't know, but God knows, it is a matter of finding out what small part we have in the next two years.

More than a hotel

Today we went to the 'first world' in Cebu, that is the Shangri-La Hotel, that's where the 12th Asean Summit is going to be held in a month. We went for a Christmas Bazaar, they have export items in which they sold for a bit over wholesale price. Both Kioni and I couldn't deal with the heat much, after just checking out a few stalls, we were soaked. And just like I said before, when Kioni feels bad, she hung on to me even tighter, and it doesn't matter how I explain to her that it will only make both of us hotter, she just wouldn't walk by herself. After a half hour out in the heat, we were about to pass out.

So we went into a buffet restaurant for some A/C and food. I was concerned about how much we were going to pay, but Dan said, 'Do you care at this point?' I guess I I didn't care how much we were paying, because I was about to pass out from the heat. It turns out, we have a 25% off of the $30US dollar/person lunch buffet, because we purchased a few US dollar worth of things at the bazaar. I was almost moved to tears when I saw raw fish and shushi! And of course, there are other 'first world' foods, including a chocolate fountain and strawberries! I didn't go for the chocolate, but Dan went nuts over it. Kioni ate a great deal of strawberries. It feels good to see landscaping around buildings again, and it is particulary good to sit down at a table without feeling the stickiness of the table and the chairs. Some missionaries here told us it is just fine to use money this way, because this is one of the ways to make sure you can stay and keep your sanity. I do feel a bit guilty over this, but I am starting to realize what they said is absolute truth.

Since we are not house guests, we cannot check out the pool or the beach, we just ate and left. It was a nice outing, and it does help us to know that if we need some break from the chaos around us, we have a nice place to go.

Lost cell phone

Just when I get settled down after lunch to do some work on the computer, the phone rang, it was Dan in a bit of a frantic voice, “I left my cell phone in the taxi, please ask Mariss to call my cell phone to see if anyone answers. They said it is rare that lost cell phones would be returned to the owner, but at least we can try.” I hung up the phone in disbelief! It was the first time Dan took a taxi to school to teach, in fact, this is his first day of teaching! Absent-minded professor?

Every Wednesday this semester, Dan teaches both at Cebu Graduate School of Theology CGST (from 8:00am to 11:00am), and at Evangelical Theological College of the Philippines ETCP (from 2:00pm to 5:00pm) which is across town from us. He was off to school this morning before Kioni and I woke up at 6:30am driving his own car, he came home for a short lunch, and then took a taxi to ETCP because it will be rush hour when he comes home, and the traffic is horrendous driving across town.

Mariss uses her own cell phone to call Dan’s cell phone, she attempted several times, and no one answered. On the fourth attempt, a lady answered the phone, Mariss asked if she is the driver of the taxi, no, she said, she is a passenger. Then She turned the phone over to the driver, Mariss asked if he would please return the cell phone to Dan, the driver said he would have to take the passengers to their destination first before returning to ETCP. Mariss also told her that Dan would give him a nice tip.

Five minutes later, Mariss’ cell phone rang, this time a man spoke. He told Mariss not to worry; the taxi driver will return the phone to Dan. He identifies himself to be the chief of security of a Filipino military colonel; he said the taxi driver does not know how to operate the cell phone, so he was calling for him. He reassured Mariss several times that the cell phone will be returned, emphasizing that he is the chief of security of a military colonel, a man of authority. He also asked Mariss to tell Dan to give the driver a nice tip for gas and for the time it will take him to return the phone.

Mariss and I put all these together, it seems like there are two passengers in the car, a lady and a man. Nobody knows a cell phone was left in the seat until it rang. That’s why when it rang for the first couple of times, no one answered. In fact, if the taxi driver did not have these passengers, he would not have answered the phone even if he heard it rang, because he didn’t know how to. Having the chief of security of a colonel as a passenger helped tremendously in the return of the cell phone also. A man in such position has too much honour and authority to take Dan’s cell phone and resell it.

A series of events and people put together at the right time and right place, and Dan is getting his cell phone back. Who puts all these together, well, I believe God is watching over Dan and his cell phone, what do you think?

Security Guards

Many stores hire security guards; some will carry guns, if the stores sell jewelry or more expensive items. Other than guarding the store, they also open the door for customers, greet them, help them park their cars, or help them get out of the parking lot (the parking spaces are quite tight sometimes). If you don’t have an umbrella during a downpour, they will even take you to your car with a big umbrella.

Why hurry?

We already know before we came that the clock runs differently here, so to speak. Event is what is important. Groceries usually have long lines, because if there is nobody to bag your goods, you are not supposed to do it yourself, wait till the cashier scans everything, and she will bag your goods. Buying an electronic item takes about 15 minutes just for getting the multiple receipts. No one is in a hurry, because there is no reason to do so, it is 90 degrees all the time anyway, rushing will only ‘heat things up’, both physically and emotionally, so why hurry?

When we took a trip to Dumaguete, we went to a restaurant along the way, it took about 45 minutes for the food to come, but we were enjoying beautiful scenery,it made the 45 minutes go by much faster.

Coping better

The rain is pouring with loud thunderclaps. The streets get flooded in this kind of downpours. And I am sure if we go out to the street right now, we will see little kids running naked to take their showers.
Kioni is down in her bed trying to take a nap, but I don’t know how long will it take her with the thunders so loud. We were out in Bo’s Coffee again this morning; Susan Rosenberg was there also. We have a relaxing morning, thanks to Kioni, content to colour and read by herself the whole time. We shared some frustrations and new experience after living here for a couple of months. It was good to have someone ‘new’ to talk to. We also saw Melody Nordine, wife of the Dean of CGST, walked by. She came in to say hi and chatted for a bit. She did mention that after being here for 25 years, sometimes she would forget how is it like to be new in a country.

I have learned how to deal with the heat a little bit better now, maybe because it is the cool season here, or I just cope with it better now. Bare in mind, cool season means it is still 90 degrees during the day. At night, with the fan on, Dan and I are able to sit in the living room to read a book or watch some TV without sweating, which is great news.

Kioni is still quite irritated by the heat, like just now when we first arrived home from Bo’s, she felt so hot and sticky that she threw a tantrum. But as soon as I put her in her room and turn the A/C on, she immediately has a ‘personality change’; it was quite amazing to see.

Bleach your eggs

Yep, that's what Mariss, our helper told me. I bought eggs from the supermarket and started using them. Mariss said, no, you need to wash them with bleach water before storing them in the fridge. Which makes perfect sense when I think about it. I have seen chicken poop still attached to the eggs before, I washed that one, but why didn't I think I should be washing all of them?
By the way, none of the eggs sold in the supermarkets are refrigerated, and we have not had any poisioning from the eggs yet.

Can't even fight

Our helper, Mariss and I were talking about the 'real' rich people in the Philippines. She then told me what happened to her 50 some year old aunt (her father's sister) about 8 years ago (1998). Her aunt, a single woman, was told by one of their distant relatives that a prominent rich Spanish family was hiring a helper, she got the job. She had to from Cebu to Manila for this job though, that was fine with her, since she needed a job.

Two weeks after she started working there, Mariss' family received a phone call telling them that her aunt had died of a high fever. They were shocked, they shipped the body back to Cebu for burial, but upon looking at the body, they all realized that she did not die of a high fever, because there were bruises all over her body and there were rings of purple and blue lines across her neck. They knew she was beaten, and probably strangled to death.

Since that happened, this rich Spanish family has moved to Cebu and live in North Townhomes, a subdivision just across the street from where we live, we are down the hill, they are up the hill. We were told when you enter the subdivision, there is not one hint of the Philippines that you can see in this subdivision, you can't even see any houses from the bottom of the hill.

Mariss' father and brother went to North Townhomes to try to talk to this family, hoping to find out what really happened to her aunt. You have to understand that for them to have the gut to go was difficult, because the rich and poor just don't 'talk'. In fact, the poor people in the remote provinces won't even look at you when you talk to them. You probably figure out what happened to Mariss' father and brother, they couldn't even get past the front gate, the guards stopped them, they were not allowed to step foot on the ground of North Townhomes.

They talked to a lawyer of some sort (at least that's what I understood), but was told that a poor family like them cannot possibily fight the rich, and they better be prepared for the financial and emotional strain that a lawsuit would bring to the family if they indeed proceed to sue. Mariss' father thought about it and decided not to sue, because they don't have any money, and they didn't think they would win the lawsuit anyway, the rich always wins. They are leaving it to God to do the justice, whenever it will happen and whatever form it might take.

I ask Mariss if this Spanish family still lives in North Townhomes, she said as far as she knows, they still live there, in fact, that distant relative who told her aunt about this job probably still works for them. It changes my heart everytime we go home, because we always drive pass North Townhomes, because I now know someone who have committed gross injustice lives there.

Mariss said her father, and the whole family, is very hurt by the loss of her aunt, but also felt helpess, because they are poor and powerless.

I am very disturbed by what happened to Mariss' aunt. I guess I am too naive to think that things like this does not happen in the 21st in the Philippines.

Dumagete

We were invited by John and Jannet Baxter, fellow missionaries, to go to visit Dumagete, the major city on the island of Negros Oriental, right across the Tanon Strait from the southern tip of Cebu island. They have never been there, but heard that there was a nice hotel, clean and tidy, so they wanted to go take a look. Since we are so new here, they invited us to go outside of Cebu city to travel a bit.
We were glad to get away for a while, so we jumped on the opportunity, not knowing what to expect.
I have to say I was a bit rush to make this decision, I was hoping for a beach, if not, maybe a pool in the hotel. But when we arrive, I realized that the city is not quite what we thought it was.
However, this trip has offered us some amazing things to see and experience. The following photos show what we saw in our three day trip.


After a about a two hour drive from Cebu city, we arrive at the pier, where we took a boat over to Dumaguete. The car rode on the deck and people up on top.


Kioni was exhausted after the car ride, hot and sweaty also, hanging onto daddy while mommy took some photos.


Dumaguete from the ferry


What a creative way for seating customers, four pots and a table, though I suspect the temperature of the 'seats' would be quite high after a few hours of baking under the hot sun.


Our first tricycle ride, Kioni was hot, she was not in the mood of anything while we were out and about, neither was mommy Amy. The lady on the right is Jannet Baxter.


We were surprised by a parade celebrating the Buglasan (bamboo) festival. We were able to watch the whole parade on the fifth floor balcony of the hotel we were staying in. There was sea breeze blowing and it was cool the whole time. The following few photos are some highlights of the parade.










Pay attention to what they wore, yep, flip-flops! All of the dancers in the parade wear flip-flops, brand new ones, all matching their costumes. They danced for hours making unbelievable movements, quite a interesting sight.




Acacia trees lined the seaside boardwalk.


Our hotel is on the boardwalk, therefore, we had perfect view of the parade. However, since there was a conference being held in the hotel, we could only rent the remaining two rooms, which has no view of anything but the windows of the room opposite to us.


A street in Dumagete with festival flags.




A fishing boat off the shore of Dumaguete ferry pier, the island in the background is the southern tip of Cebu island.


The beautiful blue water of Tanon Strait.


Eating at a restaurant by the sea on our way back to Cebu.


The restaurant server asked us if we would like to eat in the gazebo, why not? Well, for me it is a bit tough, the sun is setting, and it is shinning right on the gazebo, there was no wind, that means bugs were present. It looks pretty though, isn't it?


Watching Kioni like a hawk so she won't fall from the gazebo into the sea, though no harm will be done because it was mostly wet sand down there with just a tiny bit of water.

Handymen with no tools

It is quite interesting to see all the workers who come to our house to fix things carry very little tools. They do carry a back-pack, maybe with a newspaper and some basic tools, but every job seem to be able to be done by hand. Sanding the whole second floor using sandpapers only, no power sander. Putting putties on with their fingers, painting polyurphene with a paint brush. Everything does take longer, but they get things done eventually. With Dan being the civil engineer, it was hard for him to just stand back and let them do their work the Filipino way, but I could see him interferring as little as possible, other than a few times when the guys was creating more problems than we originally have, or not doing the job right at all.

It also seems like only the foreman has some knowledge of handy work, the other guys 4-5 of them, are much younger and are learning things on the job, which we don't mind, since we know next time they do the same job, they will be much better at it.

I don't know how much they are paid each day for their work, (they get paid by the day), but we are sure not very much. One time the painter guy came a few hours earlier because of miscommunication between his boss and the painter, Dan gave him 50 pesos ($1 U.S.) and told him to go get some lunch and come back. He had the biggest smile on his face, and ever since then, he always come on time and always smile at us and is doing a wonderful job.

We need wisdom to know what to do with the extreme poverty in this country.

Being Rich

It has been four full weeks since we arrived in Cebu, we are still adjusting to the sound and smell, the poverty and crowd, the heat and humidity. Today I wanted to save some electricity, so I sat in our room with our door to the balcony wide open and work on the computer a bit, but after about 15 minutes, I was soaked in sweat, it was running down my neck. Eventually, Kioni woke up and I went into her air-conditioned room to cool down. I felt so blessed to be able to have A/C while we sleep, or else, I cannot imagine what kind of impact it might have on our family life and ministry if everyone in the family cannot sleep due to the heat.

We are learning about the Philippines everyday, what to do, what to say, what is culturally appropriate, what are we 'rich' people supposed to do and not do. It feels awkward to be in the 'rich' category, it doesn't feel that great because we know we are not rich. However, when you can afford to spend $20US dollar on a meal, you are 'rich'.

Let me give you an example: We were at the mall buying some dishes that were on sale, I was picking out several plates that's worth about 50 US cents each. I was maneuvering the stroller through the narrow isles, (our US size stroller is way too big for most places), in the mean time, Kioni was trying to touch everything that she could reach. I also had a shopping basket with me with several plates in it, and I was trying very hard not to break them, and trying not the run into other dishes that were on the shelf with the stroller. A sales person appeared from nowhere and started speaking in Cebuano. By the way, he spoke Cebuano to me because he might think I was a rich Filipino-Chinese. I replied in English and told him I didn't understand Cebuano, he then repeated what he said in English, "Ma'am, I will be at your service to carry your shopping basket for you while you shop." What!? Carrying my shopping basket for me while I shop? He is going to follow me around while I am shopping?

This incident immediately reminded me of what happened one time when I was flying United Airlines back to Hong Kong. I only had a small carry-on suitcase with me. It was heavy because I packed it good. I was having a hard time putting it in the overhead bin because of the weight and because of my height (I should say, lack of). The bag was mostly shuffled inside the bin, but I did need another push for it to go all the way in. A flight attendant stood three feet away from me watching me the whole time while I was 'weight-lifting' the bag into the bin. After a while, she said this to me while looking at her beautifully manicured fingernails, "If you can't put the bag in there, don't pack it so heavy." She did not attempt to help me at all. By the way, she was taller than me at least by a head, it would not be hard for her to give my bag a little push.

OK, you can say it is only the difference between being in the Philippines, a service-oriented country, and being in the U.S., not a service-oriented country. But in my gut, I know there are more that. You don't suppose Bill Gates would get the same treatment, do you?

It feels strange to be 'rich' when you are not, in fact, before we came here, Dan and I were in the 'on a budget' category. We have exhausted our savings on Dan's education, and we have to watch every penny we spent. So it is a big change now that we are here.

People do treat you differently when you are 'rich', don't know why, but they do give us instant respect. What does money do to people's head, mind and heart? It is so sad to see this happen. I am not saying this only happens in the Philippines, it is a problem since mankind was created.

Living like a supposedly rich person will definitely help me put things in perspective in the future, now that I am on the other side of the world , i.e., the rich people's world, I know how better to think of the rich. It is a very interesting place to be, I mean to be 'rich'.

God sends little friends

This morning, Dan got up early to pick up Earnie, a fellow missionary, at the airport. After he came home at around 7:30am, he asked if I would like to go to Bo's Coffee for breakfast, they have big (American size) pancakes, eggs, ham and coffee for about $2.00U.S. As soon as we walked into the coffee shop, we saw an American looking couple with two little girls. We said hi to each other, and sure enough, Susan, Eric, Alexandra and Isabelle are from Ohio, they are here for work purpose for about 3-4 years. We found some commonalities during the course of our conversation, and surprisingly, they are the 'newbies' comparing to us, they have been here for only about two weeks, half of the time we've been here.

Then came Sally with her two year old girl Lily. Sally and her husband are Anglican missionaries from London. All of a sudden, we are surrounding with little friends for Kioni.

Kioni was not ready to say hi to anyone yet at the beginning, because she just woke up and has not eaten. But after breakfast, she was playing with Lily just fine.

Isn't God amazing? Sometimes when we asked, He answers amazingly quickly.

Party Crashing and the traffic police...

Incident 1: No food in the fridge
Incident 2: Dan met with the Dean of the seminary and he happened to tell Dan a good place to eat, a chain chicken restaurant called Sunburst. The one that is close to the seminary just had a renovation, added some American style food to the menu.
Incident 3: We wanted to treat our helper, Mariss, for dinner

So we went to Sunburst. There were ballons and flowers everywhere outside of the restaurant, the place looks new, nice and bright. Two ladies opened the door for us and welcomed us, so did a guy in a light green shirt. We walked in and found the restaurant packed! Strangely, they were mostly Filipino-Chinese, and they looked well-to-do. A guitarist dressed like a cowboy was strumming on the guitar and singing songs from the Beatles and American folk songs from Jim Taylor and such, he was, in fact, fairly good. Mariss asked a waiter if we just found a place to sit down, we got no reply, since the music was loud and everyone was busy serving. Dan was waiting to be seated. However, no one came to seat us.

After a few moments, the guy in the green shirt came over to Mariss and tell her to sit anywhere and go ahead to the buffet table, today, the food is free! What!? Mariss told that guy that she is with us, the guy in green shirt walked over to Dan and told him today is the grand opening of the restaurant, we are welcome to seat ourselves and have all the food we wanted.

So we cramped into a long table with people already seated on both sides. We couldn't hear each other very well even when we yelled at the top of our lungs, because the music was going, the people were talking and the glasses are clinking.

We went out to get their signature dish, fried chicken, and some other yummy dishes. When we started to eat, Mariss got talking to a gentleman sitting next to her. That gentleman said to Mariss, "Today is the grand opening of the restaurant, the owner (the guy in the light green shirt) is having a private party for his friends and family to come and celebrate."

A private party!? How in the world did we get in? We were puzzled. Mariss said probably it was because Dan is an American and I am a Chinese. The owner is a Filipino-Chinese, that's why there were so many Chinese in there. And by me being Chinese, I was welcomed, and Dan, an American of course, was welcomed.

We had some very good chicken, some traditional Filipino dishes, and drinks, all for free! Mariss had half a glass of red wine for the first time in her life! We enjoyed the time, and the unique experience. Kioni danced to the music, ate a couple bites of some bright red hot dog, fresh pineapples, watermelons, a lemon square, a bite of a very moist chocolate brownie and a purple sticky rice dessert.

Since it was getting late, we took Mariss to Ayala Mall so she can catch a jeepney to go home, right after a turn by the mall, we got pulled over by a traffic police! Yep, our first experience in getting pulled over in Cebu. He asked for Dan's driver's license and papers, after he took a look, he came back and told Dan what the violation was: He turned left without a green arrow, although he did have a green light to go straight and there was no traffice coming in the opposite direction.

The police officer then told Dan he was going to impound his license, he had to go somewhere else to pay a ticket, take a class, and after all that, he would be able to retrieve his license.

Dan pleaded with the officer and told him it was our first violation. Well, nothing mattered, he was determined to carry out what he told Dan to do, until . . . we rolled down the window and Mariss began to talk in Cebuano and some English to the officer. We caught a few English words here and there, and it seemed like she was pleading to him also that we were new here and this was our first violation, however, we also heard her mentioning some other people's names and telling the officer her last name. After a while, the officer walked back and forth and then walked up to Dan and gave the license back to him, all he gave was a verbal warning, no tickets!

We both looked at Mariss wondering what could she has said that made such a difference. Mariss replied with an smile:

"I had to use my connection. My cousin is in the Filipino Army, and is the head of the Criminal Investigation Department in the Cebu Police Force and he is named one of the top 10 policeman in the Philippines. The traffic police was stunned to hear that, but he did not believe me, he asked for my ID, but I didn't carry one. I told him if he didn't believe me, we can all drive to Guadalupe and have him talk to Pablo Labra. I also told him that this was only your first offense and you let Filipino's get away with a first offense. Moreover, you have only been in the Philippines for three weeks. I also said to him, 'Do I need to go and report this to Pablo Larbra, come on.'"

What a night!