joanna in the philippines

Well, the days are coming and going here in Aritao. It's been a good past few days. Nothing out of the ordinary, really. Just watching the kids... playing with them. Good times. We had a big hot dog roast on Saturday night and all of the families came. It was fun, and I got to meet a lot of the new people I hadn't met yet. The hot dogs here are... weird. The ones the filipinos like are red hot dogs, they dye them red, and they are a bit sweet (everything here is sweet). So, I had a bite of that and now I can say I tried one, but they're not my favorites. I had a chicken hotdog too, but I wasn't too keen on that. I guess hotdogs are weird no matter what country you're in, if you really think about it... :) Ha, well, that was fun. Yesterday, Sunday, we had a church service in the old dorm. It was cool. Sarah played some songs for the worship, and then she and I took all the kids upstairs to give the parents a quiet service for once! :) Ha, usually the kids just are in the next room, and they are loud and they are KIDS! So, it was fun for them. We sang all the kid songs we could remember (thanks mom! :)) and we told a Bible story that went with a coloring sheet. Then I played Simon Says to keep them busy until the adults were done. It was fun!

I've been with Thea and Koi a lot the past 2 days... their parents are meeting with their coworker, John, and an older missionary couple, the Bagleys. They will meet tomorrow too, discussing lots of things so they can be ready to continue the work in the tribe. So, I have had a fun time trying to entertain them. They both miss their parents SO much when they're gone even for a few hours, but we had fun. We do lots of jumping on the trampoline here... Levi and Koi especially like to do this! It is so funny! I jumped with them today and they love going high! But then one of them got hurt when they got double-bounced, so I had to bring it down a level! :) But we did get to see the world's largest flag (so they say...). It was on TV and I guess on Saturday morning they had people all over help make this HUGE Philippines flag. It is on a mountainside, and from the property here you can see it far far away. It is really, really, really, not as exciting as they make it sound, but I think it is a big deal to break a world record here... there are tons of TV shows about it on all the time... oh well. So I tried to show the boys the flag, and then this huge toad came out of nowhere. So for 20 minutes we had a fun time following the toad. Levi, who is not afraid of ANYTHING... was just giggling and poking it with leaves and sticks (he would have grabbed it with his hands if I hadnt told him not to). He's so funny. But yeah, we had a good time. Luckily the toad went into a cave thing so we could finally get out of there. Im not a big fan of huge toads, and the other night Sarah and I just about stepped on one! Gross! I guess I should just not bring a flash light outside with me anymore... to NOT know is better! :)

Tonight I went to the Bagley's house and talked with them for a couple hours. They are a really neat couple. They are from Australia (well, she is American) and they have served in the Philippines since 1968, so they have LOTS of knowledge and wisdom. I loved sitting with them and talking about what to expect when I go into the tribe. Lots of practical advice. They got me thinking about some things I would never think about, and its true, pretty soon I will be going to an extremely remote area where the only way out is by plane, boat, or a LONG hike (which i prefer... not). There will only be 5 others that speak English, everyone else will only know a foreign tongue to me... I might be bored sometimes, out of my mind bored. I need to be careful in the way I interact with the other missionaries, just for my testimony's sake, and theirs. Oh, theres a lot to think and pray about, and its time for me to start praying for these things. I have to buy some things this week too, enough things for about 6-7 weeks out there. But I am looking forward to it SO much! I really am. I know it will be a stretching time for me with my walk with the Lord. I KNOW that it will be hard sometimes and that I might have a culture shock moment or too and just sit down and cry. I know that there will be times when I will just want to pick up and leave and come back to civilization. But I also KNOW that God is faithful and that He is with me and I will not be doing this alone. He is my strength and I will probably rely on Him more than ever these next couple weeks. I am looking forward to what He will teach me during this time. Man, to think of all the missionaries that have and are right now leaving their comfortable homes and giving up all their possessions and going into remote, tribal places and staying there for the rest of their lives! All to bring the message and the Word of God to people who have never heard of what Christ has already accomplished on the Cross for them... it amazes me. And I only get a taste of what their lives are like out there... I am blessed. Well, keep praying. There are more meetings tomorrow, so I will be with the kids, and I think we might try to fly in sometime this weekend or next week. Hopefully we can do something special for my birthday Friday... Sarah and I were talking about making an ice-cream cake (a Meisel specialty :)). It should be fun! Thanks everyone for your prayers! I feel them! Especially today when I had some type of food poisening or something, very mild though, but Sarah and Char had it too. We all went to a restaurant last night, and today, oh I had the WORST stomach cramps... it was bad. But I am feeling better this evening, it really wasn't too bad overall, just a little bit there it hurt. But I cannot imagine getting fullblown sick! How nasty! Alright, Ill end this novel! Love you all! Thanks too for the comments! I appreciate each one!