It's really interesting...

... I have days here when I can't possibly imagine being here another 8 months. On those particular days (by the way, yesterday was really the first I've had so far), I long for the slow pace of my life back home, a life that I once thought was completely hectic and crazy. And in it's own way, it was completely hectic and crazy, but predictable. I think more than anything I long for...familiarity....in the face of a loved one, in a place I've been to hundred's of times. I now realize I took for granted being smack dab in the middle of the city and then only having to drive 10 minutes to escape to the slow, steady pace of the country-side.

That was yesterday though. Today, I love being here because I think for the first time I realized in my heart something so completely right in front of my face, I can't believe I missed it. My Creator, the One most familiar to me and with me, didn't stay behind in my life back home. He really does exist here in the Philippines, and I can see him everywhere I go... in the hungry eyes of the little girl begging for money on the sidewalk of Agdao Market, in the beacon of light shining from Mercy Maternity Center. I hear Him too... in the song of the Filipina midwives, passionately worshipping God at the top of their lungs, in the quiet murmur of "Yes, Lord" from a malnourished buntis (pregnant woman) as I pray for her husband to get work everyday, so she can eat enough to nourish the baby growing inside of her. He is here, in this overcrowded, polluted city. He brings comfort, peace and joy, in the midst of sorrow, pain, and suffering. And through these people, He reminds me of why I'm really here. Not for my own comfort and security, but so that He might use this broken vessel to pour out His mercy, love and grace on those who haven't experienced Him. That's why what we do here counts, as Matt said at care group tonight.

I had great prenatals today. I was pretty much on my own, and I'm starting to feel more competent in my skills and abilities. I'm really trying to learn Visayan, as the language barrier frustrates me more than anything in the whole world. I even used some of the new Visayan phrases I taught myself during my prenatals. Oh, and Jenn told me I'll be doing one of the health teachings next month. I'm not sure if it will be fetal development, nutrition, labor/birth, postpartum, or breastfeeding, but I'm pretty much really nervous about it. There will be a Visayan translator working along-side me to translate what I'm saying from English to Visayan. I'll keep you posted on how that turns out...

Tomorrow I work day shift at the birth center, so I should be getting to bed soon. So far, I've observed 4 births, and I'm hoping to see more tomorrow. Okay, I'm off to bed. Love you all!!!

Love,

Briana

Another lengthy post... So sorry!!!

Okay, I need to bring you up to date. I can't believe I've been here for more than a week. I've seen and done so much, so I have a lot to tell you! I'm feeling a lot more comfortable getting around the city now, via taxi, tricie or motorbike. I'm always with someone who knows where we're going, so that helps for sure.

I didn't actually go anywhere today because I have a pretty bad sunburn. Shame on me for waiting too long to put sunscreen on when Heather and I went swimming at the Marco Polo Hotel. The entire experience was so worth the pain of a sunburn though. Marco Polo is a five star hotel, and we only had to pay 150 pesos (equal to $3 US) to swim. The water was cool, but so comfortable on a hot day! I think we're going to go once a week!!!

I worked Prenatal Clinic on Tuesday, and loved every minute of it. The language barrier is a challenge, but you work around it the best you can. We (the midwives) arrive at the clinic around 7:45am for devotions and prayer. Then we sing worship songs with the mamas and pray with them for about 15-20 minutes. While the midwives go set up the prenatal room, one team of midwives (we rotate) gives a health teaching to the women. Then we get started on a stack of charts (anywhere from 40-70 women), calling the mamas back one by one. I'm looking forward to starting continuities (clients I will do every prenatal with, and be at their birth), so I can establish a relationship with the mamas I see. For right now, we just see whoever comes through our door. I have to admit my favorite part of prenatals isn't checking fetal heart tones or palpating a pregnant belly to see what position the baby is in. It's when we pray over the mama and her baby, for protection, health, safety, their future, and that they would draw close to their creator. I can't even describe to you how powerful and moving it is to be apart of this ministry.

I had my first 12-hour day shift on Wednesday. I honestly didn't know what to expect, so I went with an open mind and heart, ready to learn!!! I guess the clinic has been pretty slow lately, only averaging around 1 birth per shift, which is highly unusual. So, you can imagine my excitement at getting to see three births on my very first shift!!! They were all beautiful births, beautiful mamas, and beautiful babies. I was so honored to have been there for these momentous occasions. I'm not doing a whole lot yet, but I did check fetal heart tones, take a blood pressure, take a temperature, and rode along in our clinic ambulance to transport and client with lack of progress and border-line hypertension. My first trip to Davao Medical Center was the most eye-opening experience of my life. I can't even describe it to you because it defies words. The conditions are pretty bad and there are people everywhere. I'm still in shock...

I had my first 12-hour night shift on Friday night starting at 7:45pm. We got there and things were completely crazy. The day shift had to call in extra help because three mama's decided they needed to push at the same time. By the time we started, things were pretty under control, but it was super intense! Our only baby of the night was born at 8:25pm, again another beautiful birth. I got to check fetal heart tones again, and realized that I am starting to feel more comfortable with the flow of how the midwives do things here. We actually ended up sleeping until 6:30am, when our next laboring mama came in. She didn't have her baby by the time we left at 7:45am, but that's okay.

I'm working a lot this week! Monday and Tuesday I have prenatal clinic, Wednesday day shift, Thursday night shift, Friday off, Saturday day shift, and Sunday night shift. There's a good possibility that I'll start assisting in the next couple of weeks, so I'm pretty excited about that.

I still really can't believe I'm here in Davao doing what I've been dreaming of doing for so long. I really love it, and am enjoying getting to know my housemates!!! They've made me feel so welcome, and so we I've decided they will be my Davao family away from home. I miss you all terribly and love you more than I can express. Thank you for your continued prayer support. I promise to keep this blog fairly up-to-date, and would love to hear from you. I also promise to return your emails, although you may not hear from me right away. I only get to be on the internet at home, since we don't have wireless at work! Much love to ya from the other side of the world!

Love,

Briana

Pics of the house

The door leading into our room. Carmen & Amy are my roommates :)

A view into our bedroom from the door. Carmen
is in the left corner of this pic.

Guess I never thought I would ever again in my life have
the opportunity to sleep on a bunk bed. Apparently
I was wrong. I'm on the top bunk, and Amy is on
the bottom bunk.

The view to the right out of our bedroom windows.
The lights from the apartments across the way
are very bright at night, but they don't really
bother me any more.

A view somewhat to the right out of our bedroom windows.
The trees kinda block the view!!!

Our lovely, miniscule bathroom sink. Notice there is only
a knob for the COLD WATER!!! Yeah, it's the same for
the shower. Cold showers are the norm, but
WHOA that took some getting used to.

Welcome to our kitchen! All I have to say is:
The ants go marching two,
by two, hurrah, hurrah...

This is our living room! I don't have anything
to add :)

Welcome to our patio! This is a great place for
just hanging out or doing laundry!!

And this is our lovely washing machine. I don't even
know how to describe it! Wow! The spinner is my
favorite part because I would only have to dry my
clothes for 10 minutes if I only had a dryer.

This is our lovely shoe garage!!! When you have
13 girls living under one roof, you get one
enormous pile of shoes.

Pics of my travels Eastward...

I think I took this picture around 4:30am over the East China Sea.
I've never seen a more beautiful sunrise. It was like the sun
was hitching a ride with us.

Getting ready to shoot the sun ahead of us.
(By the way, we were 38,000 miles up in the air,
so that is not the sea that you see:)

Another view of the Philippine Islands. My
excitement was really building at this point.
Or maybe it was just the adrenaline helping me
along after a restless night.

Kinda hard to see, I know, but if you squint your left
eye and turn your head 5 degrees to the right,
you make out the land masses.

Please read me...

Thought I would write a little more about my experience in a new country. I found out today that Davao has a population of 1.4 million people, the largest city in the world. To say that there are people everywhere would be an understatement. Public transportation in the form of jeepnies, motorbikes, and tricies (sp?) is the way you get around. It costs about 5 pesos one way to get around from place to place, unless you decide to walk. I've gotten to walk to a few differnt places, but mostly have gotten around on the tricies. My life here is so completely different than anything I've ever experienced before, and I actually kind of like not having a car to just jump in whenever I want to go somewhere.

I don't even know how to describe my surroundings. The Filipinos are very friendly here, always referring to us as "Ma'am", which sounds more like Mum. Many earn their income through offering one form of transportation or another, or they have a stand in the market, or they may work in a store or the mall. I'm not sure what the average income is here, but you can be sure it doesn't even compare to the income we are used to in the US.

I went to All Nations Christian Fellowship yesterday with four other girls for Sunday morning worship. The entire service was so good, and I truly felt the Lord's presence there. The worship is very contemporary, and we sang very current songs. The pastor Jan Drayer was also very good, and I really enjoyed his sermon. I can't tell you how blessed I was when they had the children 12 and under stand up and prayed over them before they were dismissed for their various classes. It really made me miss my kids!!!

After church, a group of us went to the mall for lunch. I had a bowl of Teriyaki chicken and iced tea for about 70 pesos, I think. That's less than $2 US, if you can believe it. I couldn't! Continued under April 7 post!!!

The Looowww Down

Well, by now you probably know I made it safely to my destination, Davao City, Mindanao, Philippines on Friday afternoon. I thought I would summarize my trip, so you know how it went! (NOTE: Summarize is a figurative term, so you might have to break for an intermission every so often! I also apologize for the grammatical errors contained in this here post!) So, here goes:

I spent most of Wednesday, packing and getting ready to go. Beth and Blake made me breakfast in the morning, and the three of us enjoyed spending one of our last meals together. Beth was a huge help with packing, as there were times when I felt at a loss of where to start. It's overwhelming to try to pack when you're going to be gone for nearly 9 months, and you have a weight limit of 50lbs eaceh on the two pieces of luggage you can check.

We got to spend time as a family in the afternoon, in sort of a disjointed way. Packing was the priority, since we had to leave the house no later than 5pm. I said my final goodbye to Chloe, and we were off. Had to make a stop at Costco on the way to the airport, but we made it to the airport with just enough time to get checked in, grab a bite to eat at Wendy's, take a few pictures, and say goodbye. As excited as I was about this opportunity, walking away from my beloved family was one of the most emotional things I've ever had to do. I'm not ashamed to say I'm 25 and I miss my mommy! :) I miss the rest of my fam too!!! Anyway, I'm hoping the security guards didn't think I was blowing kisses at them!!!

Waited about 15-20 minutes at the gate before I boarded the plane bound for LAX. Very uneventful flight, and I think we may have even landed a little ahead of schedule. Anyway, got off the plane, and I decided probably the smartest thing was to follow everyone else. Looking, looking, looking, but not seeing any sign of where you have to go to check in for an international flight. So, I asked, and was directed to the Tom Bradley International Terminal. This was the biggest, most confusing airport terminal I've ever seen. I finally found where I had to get in line to check in for my China Airlines flight, along with about 100 other passengers. Unfortunately, I was at the back of the line, so had a long wait ahead of me. Good thing I had 2hrs before my flight was scheduled to leave.

Well, while I was standing in line, an airport employee was walking along the line asking if any of us were bound for Manila. Well, I was, so he pulled me out of the line (figuratively, not literally), and took me up to the counter. The customer service lady told me the flight was overbooked, so they were looking for passengers who would be willing to fly on a Malaysia Airlines flight that would get into Taipei only 10 minutes later than the China Airlines flight. Initially I said no, but then she told me I would end up in the middle of the middle section for the 14hr flight. That got my attention, so I said yes.

An agent took me to the Malaysia Airlines counter, so they could get me checked in. This is where I would encounter my first two potential travel hiccups. The agent asked to see my return tickets. When you travel to the Philippines, you are only allowed to stay 21 days, but my return ticket is for October (even though I'm not coming home until December). The airlines can get fined if they don't enforce this, so there was a chance I would have to book a flight home within those 21 days and then cancel it once I was through checking in. So, I was praying my little heart out that somehow the Lord would intervene, and He did. The agent looked at it, said okay, and handed it back to me. Relief! Then, they weren't sure if China Airlines would be able to get my bags transferred to the Malaysia plane in time. Fast forward>>> as we were getting ready to board, I went up to the counter and was told they'd gotten my bags. Relief again!!! Went through security, found my gate, and had about 30 minutes before we boarded.

The planes weren't that nice, plus it was pretty cramped, but I had the window seat and there was an open seat between me and the other lady. I didn't sleep that well, only dozing between meals than seemed to be brought out as soon as they'd picked up the trays from the previous meal. I watched the sun chase us over the East China Sea, and praised in my heart our Creator who clearly has a knack for creating beautiful things. As we landed in Taipei at about 6am local time, I realized this was the first time my feet had ever touched foreign soil!!! Exciting to say the least.

One of the advantages to being willing to switch flights (besides the fact I didn't have to wait in line after-all) was that the China airlines agent checked me in for my Taipei to Manila flight. So, when I landed in Taipei I only had to find a restroom and gate A9. Boarded the plane, took off for a short hop south (1hr and 45 minutes) to Manila!

As most of you know, I was really nervous about my transition in Manila. So, I'd been praying that the Lord would guide my steps and show me where to go. I got off the plane, and saw a lady holding a sign. Now, I usually don't pay much attention to those signs because it's usually a company rep. picking up a business client. However, seeing my name at the bottom of her poster kind of caught my attention. I walked up to her and told her my name is Briana, and she proceeded to tell me I needed to go to the Transfer desk. So, I followed the signs that said Transfer Desk, until I came to the, yep, you guessed it, Transfer Desk. She told me I need to go through Immigration and then pick up my luggage at the baggage claim area. I asked her where to pick up a taxi to the domestic airport, and she pointed it out to me. Talk about having your steps directed. God had given me exactly what I had asked for. Again, relief and a greatful heart.

My next hiccup came when I overheard the Customs Agent ask the girl two people ahead of me how long she would be staying. Panic!!! Again, praying my little heart out for the Lord to intervene. He did!!! She never asked me! God is so good to me.

Found a free cart for my enormous duffel bag and suitcase, and walked up to the carousel. As I walked up, my red duffel bag is winding it's way right to me, with my suitcase not far behind. Loaded up the cart and wrestled it out to where you get a taxi coupon. Got a taxi, and off we went to the domestic airport. It only cost 150 pesos, which is equal to $3 U.S. Dropped off at the curb, and a nice airport employee loaded up my bags, and pushed my cart up to the door. Went into the terminal, checked in... again, a hiccup. My bags are 20 kilos over the weight limit, so I had to go pay (can't recall how much, I was delirious at this point) before I could get my boarding pass.

Found my gate and we are supposed to board at 12:30pm, but at 12:50pm a lady announced that our plane is late and won't get into Manila until 1pm and we won't be departing until 2pm. I went into the restroom to wash my face, so you can imagine my surprise to have a male attendant hand me paper towels. Things are VERY different over here!!!

So, I'm waiting for the plane to get to the gate, and you can imagine my surprise when the lady announces boarding for my flight to Davao. Where are all the people and the plane??? Final hiccup! I found an agent and asked her about the boarding call. She made a call and wouldn't you know, we are supposed to be boarding at S2 now instead of S8. Somehow I missed that tidbit o' information. By now they're making the final boarding call, so I'm rushing down the concourse thinking wouldn't that just be the cats pajamas if I miss my final flight. I didn't miss it though, much to my relief. I had a window seat, so was able to take some really cool pics from the plane.

Landed in Davao, found a cart and my luggage, made my way outside, spotted Jenn (one of my preceptors) and Krysten (a new student I've been corresponding with for awhile.) Sigh, I MADE IT!!! Get in the clinic's ambulance (not like the kind we have at home), and off we head for my new home for the next 9 months. GOOD GRIEF!!! I just got here, and already my life is flashing before my eyes! There are no rules of the road here. You pass when you want, honk when someone's in your way, and keep going when you come to an intersection. It was a shock for sure, but now I'm kinda used to it.

Okay, that's enough for now. I fairly wrote a novel, and for that I apologize! Being brief has never been one of my strengths. I will write more later about what life's been like since I moved here. I love and miss you all!!!