"Maayong Pasko"- Christmas in the Philippines 2013!

Christmas in the Philippines is a huge family and church celebration! You would hear Christmas songs when months ending in "ber" begin. So that would be in September onward. 

 



 

Family living abroad would save their salary to get plane tickets and bring gifts to their families and relatives.  Churches would celebrate it with special Cantatas and programs.   Children would participate in singing Christmas songs, songs about the birth of Jesus and Christmas carols.

Big companies and workplace bosses will give 13th month pays and bonuses to their staff and workers.  Usually, they end the work time with parties and giving of surprises or gifts which is really exciting!  Christmas time is seeing lots of sparkling lights on the streets, making lanterns and wrapping or giving gifts to others.

 

For the first time, we are grateful to be with my (Glenda) family spending Pasko or Christmas with them. Since we have the most allowance received in compare to my Filipino sisters and brothers, we treated them with lots of food, gifts and fun!  It is wonderful to see people happy! It is satisfying to my soul.

 

The biggest thing I am thankful for is to see my two orphan nephews. These little ones have been longing to have real parents. So we tried our best to give that to them in this limited time we have here in the Philippines.

 

The picture below shows Glenda's mother grandchildren. Four of the grandkids were not present yet.  Johan and Marielle had a blast being here. It was the most celebrated Christmas ever!  

 

Thank you Lord Jesus!

Early thanksgiving!

Glenda has the privilege to teach English to Papua Hope School in Sentani.

She enjoyed it a lot! End of October, her students and Mrs. Brown, her partner in teaching English had an early thanksgiving party.

 

 

Mrs. Brown baked cinnamon rolls while Glenda baked a rocky road Dutch cake.

They also have popcorn which the students greatly enjoyed! The students are very bright.

We, the teachers are very glad to be part of their studies.



Ladies Evening in Papua!

Some group of ladies from different mission organizations in Sentani organized a ladies night to enjoy! These ladies baked different kinds of cheesecake as dessert to share in the evening.

 

Each lady in the mission has to bring whether a pan of soup, bread or salads.  So Glenda brought an Indian curried sweet potatoes soup with coconut milk on it. This soup became the most requested recipe in the evening!

Parties!

We are thanking the Lord for the special blessings He gives to the birthday boys.

 

Yes, lots of parties in the month of September. The two boys' birthday!

This time, Johan invited his whole 5th grade classmates to celebrate with him.

Gertjan organized a big game for everybody. We had 16 people joining in! It was a big crowd.



 

When Gertjan's birthday, I baked a super yummy chocolate cheesecake for him!

He invited his colleagues without knowing that these folks had to bring their wives and kids with them. Ooops! But they all got some cheesecake they enjoyed!

 

 

FunBike 2013 in Sentani, Papua!

MAF Karyawan ( national workers) were happily posing for a picture after their fun bike ride in Sentani.  This fun bike is sponsored by Sentani Airport.   It is a yearly program.

Not just them, but MAF expats as well.  Gertjan and Johan joined the ride bicycling for about 12-15 km in distance.  After the long ride, the airport committee prepared drinks and an early yellow rice with chicken or fish to eat.

 



 

You have to realize that it is 30 degress Celcius here in Papua, ya! So sweat is dripping  like bucket fulls! :-)

 

MAF connecting, caring and cultivating!

 

Since the new leadership in MAF-Papua,  the leaders are encouraging the organization to be more active in the community and show that MAF cares, connects and cultivates.  As a Mission Aviation, our pilots help flying Papuan kids from the interior part of Papua to get education in the nearby town. 

 

We would not know who these kids are until Glenda got an opportunity to share her gifts to teach. This year, she is helping the students to learn English at Papua Hope School.



 

God has given our regional director this vision to get Papuan kids and be educated. With lots of prayers and support from friends and churches, he got to have a school for the said vision.

What blesses us so much is that, not only the Papuan kids get to this school but also other tribes.

Jakarta at the Gho's family!

 

For some westerners, I have heard that 3 is a crowd in a realm of friendship.  Not when I grew up though.  Even a certain song says, " for your friends are my friends, and my friends are your friends.  The more we get together, the happier will be." 

 

We have a friend that introduces his friends to us. We never met his friends before, but when we did, we were blessed to know them.  Let me introduce to you: the Goh's.

 

 

Gertjan did a presentation of MAF work in Papua, Indonesia at the Goh's house!

 





Mr. Hendri and Mrs. Kartika Goh is our host for a week of stay in Jakarta.

Kartika had flown MAF in Pojong, Palangkaraya for her ministry there.  So it was easy for her to understand what MAF is doing in Papua too.



 

This is their comfy house and swimming pool.  They had blessed us so much!



WE DID IT!

Certificates to give to my growing daughter.  She excels in her Mathematics, quite interested in Science and well-improved in her reading and writing.

 

Both girls are homeschooled children.  They do crafts together and sometimes the schooling. The two pose with their Certificates of Completion.  One goes to 1st grade and the other to 2nd grade.

 

Well done kiddos and congratulations!!!

Kindergarten Graduation

Oftentimes, Moms who homeschooled their kids just gave directly the certificate to the child.  For me, I want to make it special and memorable to my little girl Marielle.

So I decided to have an official graduation ceremony.

We invited other mothers that homeschooled their kids and gave certificates to them.

The picture below are friends from NTM.  Our family overlapped our time in language school and become friends.

 



 

Raquel has been Marielle's classmate since 2010 in Central Java.  Raquel is happy to see Marielle once again here in Papua.

home-made coconut oil

 

I bought fresh grated coconut from the (pasar) market and had tried to remember how to make coconut oil when I was a young child.  I am glad that I could still remember it.  Coconut oil is known to be healthier oil to use in salads, granola and others in the tropics. 

 



 

The process is too expensive ( since gas bottle in Papua is so expensive) and quite long.  It took 2 hours to finally get the oil. You need to occasionally stir it to avoid burning.  I must try soon to make granola our from own home-made coconut oil. Yum!!

"feeling so far yet so close"

One of the sensitive points of 4 Spiritual Laws is... do not depend on feelings!

Ya right! It's kind of hard though to not depend on that.. we are mere humans.. okay!

However, when faith strikes... it works! I would say.

Why in the world I say these things.  Aahh.. because there is something.

 

I know I am an Asian, lived in a third world country. You bet I can endure hardship quite well because of my background.  Living in as remote as Papua, far from civilization and so forth makes you miss the world out there.  I sound like materialistic but honestly, it is true!

 

We have been reading the book of Job as our daily devotion.  Everything Job spoke was all true.  It is all true about God, about man and about the world we live in. We are vulnerable, sensitive and feeling-people!  When our health is being bombed and no care nearby that would help you, maybe there is but not is what you are expected to or you are scared to have a try. You would feel miserable.

And if you are given the opportunity to go somewhere to find help... before that, you need to ask for approval from this folk or that.. or call or write to this certain person or that... quite frustrating!

Don't get me wrong.. this is just feelings.. sometimes endless feeling...!

 

The frightening one is when you have a feeling of GOD being so far...  does He care.. does He know what we feel... is HE still around... why does He hide His face?

 

I love Oslo Gospel Choir.  They have a song that says, "there is no way I can hide from Your love, I can only survive through Your love, I could go anywhere but you're always be there to cover my soul."

 

Some crazy questions arise because of our feeling of vulnerability. Don't you think?

Glad that are our Father doesn't depend on feelings but of His character, His deity and of who He is!

 

 

 

it's Science today!

 

Today, Marielle and Zoe did homeschool together in Science.   "Tricks with Air"!

 

 

They did the magic straw first then the waterproof tissue.  They kept the tissue dry underwater.  They were quite amazed about the result.  First, they stuff the tissue tightly into a glass so it cannot fall out.  Turn the glass over and push it into a bowl of water.  Hint:  Just keep the glass straight when you take the glass out.



A wedding in Papua!

 

There we are! Our church mates got married last March. It was nice and sweet. Glad to get invited by them to witness their wedding!

 

Nanay's hug!

I think this is a good picture to

 share where grandma is hugging her granddaughter!

The "Pasar" means market.

 

 

I drove to the pasar one day, took Nanay Angie and my Swiss friend Anja to buy fresh produce. Here in Sentani market you can buy variety of fruits and vegetables.  There are some green leafy veggies that as an Asian don't dare to eat! :-) We also bought fresh fish and chickens.  Behind Nanay are Durians, the king fruit!



Nanay and Meshel's visit in Papua!

It was a blessing to have Glenda's mom and sister visiting us in Papua.  They have been there for a month to enjoy family and see the kind of work Gertjan is doing.

 

They had a chance to fly with MAF to Kiwirok and witness the work our pilots and mechanics are doing daily. It was a beautiful day for them to experience it.

 



 

To them, being there and meeting the people in the village opens their eyes to awareness.  Awareness that the gospel was reached because of Mission Aviation.

Selamat hari Natal.. Merry Christmas... Gezegende kerstdagen ... Maayong Pasko!

 

This was our celebration on Christmas days!  We gave a basket of basic goods to our help girl and few gifts for her and family!  We hope we were able to bless her in a small way.

 

 

 

On Christmas day, we invited Indonesian teachers to come and celebrate with us. We introduce to them the "gourmet" or grill your own food.  It is a Dutch tradition to do such special occassion!

 

 

We also invited the new Mechanic family that just came out from language school... the Chin family!

 

 

In the morning of Christmas day, we picked one gift coming out from MAF- NL!  Eventhough we were just healed from being having a virus and fever in the holidays.  We were glad to celebrate our Saviour LORD JEsus when He came to earth as a baby just to forgive and save us!