September

I can't believe that October arrived so quickly. I kind of wish that I was back in the States prepping for Halloween by carving pumpkins and eating candy, but Filipinos have been celebrating Christmas since the start of September so it's been kind of nice to be in the holiday mood extra early. Malls and stores have their Christmas decorations set up and are playing Christmas songs (Filipinos love Christmas as you can tell). The first month of the semester flew by as I got thrown back in the swing of things with the fast pace of school and its deadlines. The semester break was really helpful in terms of rest, but at times I feel just as tired as I was before the break since everything is so chaotic.

Walking back home with Erika on a typhoon-y day. 

This past month, there have been a few typhoon-y days, which are slightly awful if Erika and I still need to trek to a coffee shop for internet for our online classes. The rain combined the wind drench your clothes and unfortunately umbrellas don't do too much :( But I am grateful for my current homestay location, as my previous community was badly flooded during one of the typhoons since it's next to a river. I saw on the news that people in the area were getting around via boat and a lot of people had to be evacuated from their homes due to how high the waters rose. 

For our Primary Healthcare course this semester, Erika and I are interning at Gentle Hands, which is a Christian-based orphanage in the city. There are about 100 kids at Gentle Hands, ranging from babies a few months old to teenagers. All of the kids are really adorable and the beautiful smiling babies in particular make me really happy. I kind of want to adopt them all… But it's been challenging in terms of receiving supervision and direction in the internship. At times, it just feels like Erika and I are playing with kids instead of learning about health concerns among the urban poor (not that we don't enjoy playing with the kids). We're considering looking into stress disorders and development issues among the kids due to the difficult environments they come from. On a different note, it's kind of funny how Erika and I will speak Tagalog to the kids, but they keep telling us to speak English to them so they can practice since most of the adopted kids will end up with families in the United States or Australia; in most situations, we're used to automatically speaking Tagalog unless we have to revert to using English to communicate what we're trying to say.

On an unrelated note, Erika's homestay got bunnies! 

At the end of September, Erika and I went on a 2-day silent retreat with our host ministry organization. The retreat was in Baguio (about 6 hours away from Manila by bus) at a Catholic retreat house. It was really lovely being away from the chaos of the city and being able to spend time with the Lord. I must admit that two days of complete silence was really difficult. There was even no talking during meal times! It made me realize how I seem to have an opinion about a lot of things (more negative than I'd like) and how silence really allows us to focus on God alone instead of always engaging in conversation. I was able to spend a few minutes speaking with a spiritual director about my prayer time and I asked her about the times when I'm waiting upon the Lord and I feel like the Lord isn't giving me a concrete answer about a particular situation or question. I loved what she said. She told me that it's like yeasting (I didn't know that was a word before); when there is yeast in the dough, it seems like nothing is happening for the longest time, but there is. She said that it's similar to the process of waiting. The waiting is not in vain, and something happens to us during this process of waiting. And when we find our solace in Jesus during these times, the answer to the question will often become secondary.

My room during the silent retreat. It smelled a little musty...

With Erika in the garden at the end of the retreat

During one of my classes last week, our professor discussed with us about our calling and vocation. Since the beginning of the MATUL program, some students voiced that they were already pretty sure that God was calling them to live long term among the urban poor. Others, such as myself, are still really unsure of what we are called to. My professor, Dr. Viv Grigg stated, "Vocation is an expression of the voice of God through us. But sometimes the Lord withholds a vision because He is allowing you some freedom in terms of your future." I don't quite know what direction I'm going in right now, but hopefully I'll have a slightly better idea at the end of the program next year. When deciding upon which country to go to for MATUL, someone told me: "Don't you think that God is big enough that He can work in whatever decision you make? I don't think you can go wrong as long as you've been putting God at the center of your decision-making and seeking him in the process."

Thank you, thank you for your love & prayers. Go carve a pumpkin for me please?

This is what one of my online classes looks like. This class has students from Nagpur, Kolkata, Delhi, Bangkok, and Nairobi, while the professor is teaching from the U.S. Pretty neat, huh? Technology is amazing.