February 18th, 2011
Today is our unscheduled/unagendized day; we can do what we please, a day “off”. I woke up this morning with hurting bumps all over my hands and the bottom of my feet. I still have no idea what it is, but I ran it by JoJo, the pastor’s daughter, who is a nurse, and she went out and did and little research and comes back and tells me its dermatitis herpetiformis or something, and that I should avoid gluten until we go back to manila where I can see a doctor about it. So I spent the rest of the day in either an hours-long nap or writing/drawing/ doing math in my journal, pondering about the consequences of my supposedly newly developed gluten-sensitive disease. Somehow I really don’t think that’s what’s going on and that I won’t have have to worry about avoiding gluten for the rest of my life. We just found out there’s a clinic that only charges 250 pesos (about $5) for consult so we’ll go there tomorrow morning.
On the business side of things… I’m technically not fully funded, I’m remaining on the race by promise to pay any remaining balance by the end of the final month. Right now that balance is about $4,000. Please help me pay it down by donating! Also, for security reasons I’ll be out of contact for the month of March. No news is good news.
February 19th, 2011
I went to the clinic with JoJo this morning to see what they said about my ailment. He said it’s a strand of herpes simplex that’s in the air? I’ve heard of that occuring on the mouth but there’s nothing going on in my mouth, I only have the bumps on my hands and under my feet. Everyone is exposed but only some people contract it, depending on immunity. Anyways, I was prescribed an anti-viral and we’ll see how fast the bumps go away.
We make it back in time for lunch and afterward I decide to stick around and hang out nearby with some of the neighborhood kids for a few hours; it hurts to walk so I don’t want to go too far.
Nonetheless, earlier in the month I had promised to the girls that whenever they wanted to do anything at night I would be glad to escort them since a male presence would be required. So tonight the girls had made plans to have dinner and visit with Jona and Jonah, two girls who work down at the beach that they’ve built relationships with.
Jona is a server at a bar called BadBoys, and Jonah is the bar’s 22 year-old Filipino half-owner. The other half-owner is an athiest Briton in his 50’s whose name is John. Jonah and John have been dating for 3 years and the initial arrangement was that John finances the business and Jonah owns the property. (There’s some benefit to the business if it’s Filipino-owned.) In return Jonah would be financially well-off. After a few months, though, she started to actually love the guy somehow, but in the past year or so he’s been unfaithful, abusive, controlling…
So the girls been building a relationship with her and tonight we’re encouraging her once more in the Lord to seek out what God is advising her to do. Only nine days ago there was an incident where the police had to be involved. Jonah broke up with John on that day, and she will be going to her home island Mindinao to visit her family that she hasn’t seen in a long time. But as this marks a significant turning point in her life, the Lord is using us to encourage her to draw near to the Lord. Having experienced the love of the Father that we have for her she is definitely touched by the time it comes to leave.
On the business side of things… I’m technically not fully funded, I’m remaining on the race by promise to pay any remaining balance by the end of the final month. Right now that balance is about $4,000. Please help me pay it down by donating! Also, for security reasons I’ll be out of contact for the month of March. No news is good news.
