"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!