coffee, coconuts, and coughing

(arturo and his wife marina)


(i started writing this about 7 months ago...i know i once had a different point, but it was lost in time...so i'll post it anyway, just for a glimpse at daily life and thoughts)....today started with the regular order of waking up and scampering to get formula made for samuel before he fully wakes up and lets us know about it. even though he's only 7 months, he already has his routines: wake up; have his bottle; play with "da-da"; eat his breakfast; soil his diaper; get washed off; go to "ma-ma"; take a nap...and all before 9am.

this morning i have to prepare for my "village run". this is where i (and sometimes another) go to the village to give a fresh stock of Tuberculosis medicines, vitamins and whatever else is needed. there are 8 children we are sponsoring (plus one adult) in the village of Ipil.

this morning, i am taking Arturo with me. Arturo has been my right hand man in the implementation of the TB sponsorship program. He's in his 50's, and has helped cure numerous people infected with TB in the preceding decades. Arturo has volunteered his time, effort, and resources to help anyone who asks. i have a lot to learn from him as far as having a generous heart.

Arturo and his wife are in the private clinic right across the street where two of his grandchildren are confined for typhoid fever and malaria. he has been there for 3 days and had little sleep or comfort. he's concerned at how he will pay for the bill of the two patients. his harvest was a failure and he spent about twice as much on fertilizers, gasoline, labor and seeds for his rice, than he was able to sell after harvesting. he borrowed money for that and now he must borrow money again...he wonders if God is testing him somehow...

I get the medicines ready, put names on the bottles, put them in plastic bags and in one large heavy box. the box is tied on my motorcycle as i go to pick up Arturo. it's a really tight fit as the box is taking up a third of the motorcycle seat and suddenly my seat becomes the steep-angled gas tank...at least Ipil's not too far away.

upon arriving in the village. we pass through golden fields that were a brilliant green only a week ago. it is harvesting time throughout tabuk. this village is small. there are only about 35 houses (small nipa huts) here. in the recent times, more people have taken to building cement and hollow block houses. these concrete houses hold up to the weather but are seldom completely finished. the majority lack paint or any finishing on the exterior or interior walls.

one of the families we are working with has 12 children. both of the parents died of TB and the older ones (in their early 20's) are watching after the younger ones. we are sponsoring 2 of the younger children and helping the older one with vitamins (since he gets his meds free from the government).

another young man in this village had 2 places on his face that. for the past few years have been draining pus. he's ashamed to be around people much because they openly ridicule him about the smell. he's tried antibiotics many times, but the problem keeps returning. after talking with some doctors in the area, we decided to treat him with 6 months of TB meds. after a couple of months, the ulcers were shrinking in size and the drainage was decreasing.

the reason we first came to the village of Ipil was because some of the the relatives of the little girl that almost died of TB meningitis, lived here. (see later post of Marilee Abaggoy)...

we love to see God at work and how he brings certain children, families, or villages into our scopes. we are just a few people working through the resources sent by family, friends, and church family to help people here and show them they are worth being helped and loved. i've heard comments before that people with certain diseases "deserve what they got" or "should die" because the treatment for their illness is too much or they are "old, and just eating up too much rice".

my prayer is that God helps us see each other as He sees them, but more than that, that God helps us see our selves as He see us. As His worshipers, his children, and his bride. once we (just) begin to grasp how God sees us and loves us, we can then...and only then, love others that way.