First….you need an update on how things are going, then on to more drama in our lives.
Last week on Wed, we got clearance to move into an apartment on the APNTS campus! We will be there through the end of our term! It is a furnished apartment so we are able to pack up our things at our other house to prepare for home assignment. There was a time last week when we were actually “living” in three houses at the same time. Hmmm…I find that a bit awkward considering there are many people who have no home at all right now. Actually, we were (and still are) trying to get our belongings out of our flooded home, getting our clothes, etc., from our directors home, and moving into our temporary apartment…talk about confusing J
The clean-up is still on-going at the house, but making great progress. Yesterday, the contractor came in to begin with the necessary repairs. The neighborhood is coming along well…the garbage has finally been picked up and/or burned and things are beginning to take on the look that we grew accustomed to. The wall that fell into our driveway is cleaned up and being re-built. Some of our neighbors are still working to clean things up, and some of our neighbors are gone, either for good, or for the duration of the rainy season. On one hand there is a strong overtone of new beginnings and conquering the devastation of the flood. People are just moving on and getting on with life. However, there is still a stench that remains. It is the stench of the mud, but it represents so much loss and fear.
As we watched the pictures of the repeated events up in the Northern Part of the Philippines, we watched with a much greater understanding. When we first arrived here, we spent our first week up in Baguio at the Luzon Nazarene Bible College, and we were oriented by Pastor Galino and his wife Melinda. We attended their church and shared meals with many of their church members. Their church suffered great loss from the landslides last weekend. They lost 16 church members to the landslides. On Wednesday Morning they held a funeral service for all 16 members. Five of those members were one entire family. This is such a difficult time for our friends all over the Philippines. These last two storms have stolen almost 1000 lives due to the actual storm, or the diseases that are pursuing them.
Thursday as we were trying to move into the apartment, Andy began feeling very sick. He was suspicious of what he ate for lunch. As the evening progressed, it looked as though maybe it was something that he ate. However, the next day he did not improve and started having localized pain in his right lower quadrant of his abdomen. At about 5 in the afternoon, I ran him down to the Hospital close by and requested some blood work (you can do that here), and discovered that his white blood cell count was very high. I called Eric and told him that we needed to get Andy to the emergency room (not the one we drew blood at). The long and short of it is that by 1130 that night, Andy was having surgery to remove his appendix. We are giving praise to the Lord for pushing me to get him in because it wasn’t too bad. If I had waited another day, it would have been much worse. Praise the Lord! He came home on Sunday and is doing remarkably well. He is a bit discouraged about the fact that there will be no rugby for him this season.
Last bit of drama….we have been working on getting our Visa’s renewed. They are to expire October 22. Two weeks ago, we got word that there would be an extension of time given to renew our visas because they don’t have them finished yet. However, yesterday we just got word that we might not get the extension. What does that mean? I do not know! Please pray that we don’t have to deal with visa drama on top of everything. I believe we might have to take a trip out of country and come back in as visitors, but having a child who just had abdominal surgery, I don’t really see that as a good option.
Yesterday as I was reading the Word, I came upon this verse….Psalm 89:8 “O Lord God Almighty! Where is there anyone as mighty as you, LORD? Faithfulness is your very character.” We have truly felt Gods faithfulness throughout these crazy, chaotic days, and trust him entirely. Later on verses 10-13 say “You are the one who crushed the great sea monster (in Hebrew this represents chaos). You scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours: everything in the world is yours—you created it all. You created north and south. Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon praise your name. Powerful is your arm! Strong is your hand! Your right hand is lifted high in glorious strength!”
We praise the Lord for the way he is daily sustaining us and holding us in His powerful arms and strong hands J
We pray that you are feeling His powerful arms and strong hands today! They are always there!!!
I added more pictures to the flood album. If you want to see them, go to this address...
http://picasaweb.google.com/zaneyconnections/2009CamdenFloodAlbum
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