/Bryan and Jacinda Martin are on a church planting team serving in the
Philippines since 2002 with World Team (
www.worldteam.org)/
Greetings from the rainy and windy island of Catanduanes!
WHO WON THE ELECTION?
As we hiked through the jungle on a small island, we came upon a house
made of bamboo and thatch. There lived a family, as isolated from the
world as one can get. No electricity, no running water, no contact with
the outside world other than the occasional person walking on the path
by their house. We asked him if he goes into town very often, and he
replied, "No. I am too busy out here to go into town.". I guess we all
think we are busy, perhaps it is human nature or a result of the fall.
The difference I saw in this family, though, was a sense of contentment
and happiness that I don't often see in the US with people who say they
are "busy". My teammate asked him if he knew the results of the
presidential election in the US. He said "No. Who's Obama?".
BATS IN THE... LIVING ROOM?
Ah, yes. This was a fun one. Arwen wanted to catch it, Jacinda and
Imogen and Elias wanted to stay under the table, and I wanted to get the
thing out of my house! He flew a few laps around the living room, flew
around our bedroom, then went back to the living room and disappeared.
At this point I had opened the front door so he would get the hint and
maybe search for a better place to live. As I did not see him again, I
assumed he had left. But he didn't. The next night as we were eating
dinner, he decided to do a few laps around the living room again,
sending everyone but me back under the table. Then he disappeared
again. Bats are good at hiding, as a thorough search turned up
nothing. On the third day, he must have been getting weary from not
eating, I found him lying in some linens, so I wrapped him up and took
him outside, where he went back to wherever bats like him are supposed
to live.
BIRD PROBLEMS
Elias had a doctors appointment scheduled for his shots. Jacinda and I
were going to leave the girls here with our teammates so we could get a
few things done in Manila. We made all of our appointments, scheduled
our meetings, everything was well planned and set. We rode the bus down
to the capitol (Virac) with our 9 month old squirming boy who just
wanted to get down and put that black piece of gunk in his mouth, and
made it to the airport. Our flight was canceled. The flight the next
day was full. Supposedly, the plane hit some birds on the way in and
was not cleared to fly back to Manila. We canceled everything, took the
bus back home the next day, and we will try again next week. The
animals around here are out to get us!
GETTING TO MANILA
The time came for our rescheduled trip to Manila. This time, it had
been raining all week, and the day we were to leave we heard that the
road was blocked by a landslide. Our neighbor is the owner of one of
the buses, and he offered to take us to the landslide, where his friend
would pick us up on the other side. We set out on what sounded like a
good plan, only before we got to the big landslide, we were blocked by
another, smaller landslide. As we were trying to decide what to do,
another van drove up on the other side, so the 2 vans just switched
passengers, and we continued on. When we arrived at the big landslide,
there were no vehicles on the other side like we had planned. Now we
were in a tough situation - we could not get home, since there was a
landslide and no vehicles there, and we were blocked from getting to the
airport as well. We needed to leave within 15 minutes or we would miss
our plane, which I had all but given up on getting to in time at this
point. Right then a jeep pulled up on the other side of the landslide,
and I thought there was hope of making it again, so we trudged through
the knee deep mud along the side of a cliff. When we got to the other
side, the jeep had left! It was raining with 30mph gusts of wind, and
there we were standing next to a big pile of mud, which we were covered
with, with our suitcase, backpack, stroller, and Elias (now 9 months).
I didn't think all of that could fit on a motorcycle, but there was a
guy with a motorcycle who did, so after 5 men carried the motorcycle
across the landslide, we tried tying everything on and we fit! Thats
how we made it to the airport, just in time to catch our flight, despite
everyone staring at our mud-covered clothes as we boarded the plane.
CHRISTMAS PARTY
It is time once again for our annual Christmas party. This is one of
the few times that we bring everyone who is involved in the ministry
here together for an event. We expect up to 60 families will attend.
Please pray that his will be an encouraging time for all. Pray also for
Eddie, as this will be his first time to preach in front of a large
group. We will send an update with pictures after the party.
For more information:
Our Blog: http://simbaray.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.worldteamphilippines.org
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/tagapanganiban
Bryan
