hOw many days 'til Christmas?!

nOt enOugh.

I can be sure of that fact, alone! Things are nUts here in the Philippines at the moment...and not jUSt for me. Somehow, all on Monday afternoon, I got super sick (again) which is so weird because i don't gEt sick often. but, I'm almost better now (thank the Lord) because OUTREACH is quickly approaching.

I am sUPerrr excited for outreach and no Mom, i do not yet have the names of the places we will be travelling (mostly because I cannot pronounce, let alone spell them correctly!). But, from the meeting today, i DO know that we will be leaving Sunday afternoon to be well rested and ready to meet the Mayor of the city early Monday morning. We were advised to 'dress well' for this meetting, hahah, which includes a nice blouse and actual shoes, instead of flip-flops!

From there we will be travelling around for a period of 5 days, by motorbike, to 3 different tribes in the mountains, accompanied by the local "community health worker', Mary Jane. Mary Jane is actually a trained midwife, but does not have this status because that would mean a bigger salary and full-time work, which the government is not willing to sacrifice. Mary Jane is, therefore, not only a midwife but the general healthcare worker for many not-very-accessible miles.
I am looking forward to meeting her!

I've realized how dependant I've become - they told us today at the meeting that we'd need to supply our own food. A year ago I would've jumped at the chance to plan a camping menu for a week, but nOw it seems like a daunting task! I'm sure everything'll work out, as it always does. Prayer is essential, and would be appreciated, not only to stay safe (as beds are rare, malaria-carrying mosquitoes are rampant, and water must be boiled before drinking), but in order to really connect to these women! We have been given the task of preparing certain health teachings, will be doing prenatals, and assisting Mary Jane with whatever other first aid cases she may encounter.

WE're expecting something bIG to happen! Even if not ever seen or known, that hopefully our presence in some way will make a difference...
I'll be sure to update you all after returning home - the outreach runs from Dec.09-14th and I will most likely not have any time to write on this before then as I have dayshift tomorrow, and church Sunday morning before boarding the bus to the mountainsssss :D And after that, it's just a short week of work, parties, holidays, and gift exchange before the 25th arrives. Life is rough (as dearly quoted by my mom!) YEE.

ADVANCE MERRY CHRISTMAS! (the common greeting around Davao for the past few months :)