joanna in the philippines

hey there... well, I have been having some major technical difficulties, so this blog is over a week old... so sorry everyone! It has been a LONG time...

Hello Everyone! Well, the time in the tribe is coming to an end… I know, SAD! We have been here for about 6-7 weeks or so, and in this time Don and Char have been able to spend many hours in language study and relationship building. The kids and I have collected many shells and read many books. We have gone on a bunch of hikes and seen just a glimpse of God’s awesome creation that sometimes takes my breath away. It has been such a special time here in Valley Cove, and I will be quite sad as that little plane takes off and this little world in the middle of nowhere begins to get smaller and smaller until I won’t see it again. Hmm… okay, this is really sad. Well, lets see… it has been a long time since I have written! Sorry! Last week was a good week of language and all… we played a bunch of volleyball with the Agta, and as usual, had a blast doing it! The ladies here are so much fun! J Thursday I began feeling a little sick, and I haven’t really felt good since then. I have a bad head cold and a sore throat. It hurts pretty bad, but I am just hoping and praying that it will soon pass… But Don has the same thing, and Char has been up and down with feeling well, so we are all kinda trying to get better. Friday was a fun day though. Some of the Agta invited us to go hiking with them to a place where they like to go to catch and eat hermit crabs. They also go bahot fishing, which is like fishing for fish in the coral using a long rod with a sharp end on one end and a big rubber band/shooter thing on the other end. It seems pretty hard. Well, it was cool to be invited to go, and so we all got ready early in the morning and waited until they came to get us. So off we went… 5 of us and a bunch of them. We were trying to make sure we could keep up with them, with pregnant Char and 4 yr old Thea and Don carrying Koi on his back… we were doing good! They just stopped and waited a few times for us all to get back together… but it was a long hike… we hiked north this time, every other hike I have been on has been to the south, and it was so pretty walking by the coast… they said it was about an hours hike away. Well, two and a half hours later, we arrived at the spot! It was beautiful! There was a waterfall right on the ocean, not a huge one though, and then it was all smooth rock/coral to where the ocean crashed on the rocks. No sandy beach this time, but so pretty! The water was so blue in the ocean, and I LOVE all the huge rocks where the waves hit, so I was loving it! So, we got there, and first thing the Agta ladies did was begin to make their fires. Well, that day we were going to try to be as much like the Agta as possible. I mean, it wouldn’t be right if we pulled out our big sandwiches, chips, and bag of cookies while they ate their rice (not like we have that anyways J So we brought a pot and some rice and two cans of tuna. J So, Char and I began to look around at the ladies who already had their fires going, and neither of us had a clue how to make a fire! Ha… well, at least I didn’t! So, I tried to look busy looking for firewood, and I guess one of the ladies felt sorry for me as I attempted the “Tee-Pee” form of a fire, because she came over and put 3 rocks in place, put the firewood down where it needed to be, and then started the fire… in like 2 minutes! HA… Char said something like “We are really white” and they laughed and we laughed and the moment was over… Thank God! Ha… it was funny though… So Char got the rice cooking and then my friend Aming asked me to go swimming in the waterfall with her… I wasn’t sure if it was a joke or not, but I went, and it was so fun… it was pretty small, and freezing cold, but it felt like a cold-hot tub with jets… it was fun! Then the men came back, with all their fish they caught! Wow, these people are amazing! I guess the Agta are known as the Ocean People… and it was neat to watch them just go out and catch a bunch of fish and then cook them up for lunch! Well…. While we were waiting for the guys, the ladies started eating the hermit crabs… thank God they didn’t offer Char or I one… I don’t know if I could have done it, but Koi-Koi, our little tribal boy, happened to love them, so he ate them all up! Ha… it was quite interesting. Well, then the guys came back, all with their colorful ocean fish, and began cooking. It was so funny… its so hard to catch fish, and Don didn’t catch any that day, and so as they all began cooking their fish, Don pulled out the can of tuna and was like “Here is MY catch of the day…” We were laughing so hard… Oped, one of the guys, gave us 5 little fish (we think that’s what he did, we weren’t too sure) but we had no clue how to cook them, so we left them where he put them and eventually they shared some cooked fish with us! J Ha… it was funny… but the fish was so yummy! It was whole fish, with everything left on it, and we had two kinds: one was just cooked over the fire, and the other was boiled with onions. Those Agta sure know how to cook fish! So, after lunch the men went fishing more, and the kids went swimming, and I took pictures! Lots of them! We eventually started to head home in the late afternoon. We were going to hike back with one of the families (Oped and his wife, who is one of Char’s language helpers). Everyone else was going to stay there overnight. So, we began the long hike home, but this time we were going to take a different trail up and over the mountain instead of along the coast. Well, it was probably the hardest hike I have gone on yet… mainly because I kept getting stuck in the mud… and the first time I did I almost pulled Don in the mud AND I lost a sandal! Ha… so I had to walk barefoot until we remembered Don had an extra pair of sandals in the backpack… well, I have big feet, but those shoes were like HUGE and since I had mud up past my ankles, I could hardly keep from sliding everywhere… well, I thought that wearing my good shoe along with one of Don’s shoes would be better, so I tried that, and it worked alright until I got stuck in the mud again and my OTHER good shoe broke! Oh man… we were laughing so hard, and I think the Oped probably thought I was a big loser! Ha… well, I ended up walking barefoot a lot of the rest of the way home… so my feet were sore the next day. We also had to ride a small banka, which is kinda like a canoe with bamboo on the sides to stable it (they use these for transport in the ocean). The tide had come in and we had to cross a river that was quite deep, so the guys swam over and borrowed the banka and picked us up and rowed us across… It was fun! I was glad that I got the chance to ride a banka while I was here! Well, we had a fun time on that day… it was tough, but it was so cool to be able to go with the Agta and see how they do things! I know the Epps were excited about going along with them! Well, ever since that day I have been sick… so nothing extremely exciting has happened! But… WE ARE PLANNING ON FLYING TOMORROW… so be praying for good weather. It is a day earlier than we were planning, but the weather hasn’t been very good… actually we were going to try to fly out today, but it didn’t work with the pilots, and also it has rained all yesterday and today, so the weather wouldn’t have allowed the planes to land. So, be praying that the storm will pass and the weather will clear and the plane can land tomorrow morning around 8:30… I cannot believe that it is time to go already! I have had such a great time here… but we have much to look forward to with Char having her baby and my family in Aritao. Should be fun! Thanks for praying, and I will write when I am in Aritao, unless we get stuck here for a few more days! Joanna <><