NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

Davis Photo Journal

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There are several methods of public transportation here in Manila. Before we move out of the city, we thought we would show you some of the more commonly used public transport options here.

THE JEEPNEY

Commonly referred to as "jeeps", these are probably the most common and the cheapest method of public transport here. The fare costs 7 pesos (about 14 cents) per person. You can flag them down at any point on their route, and to stop you simply call out "para po", meaning "stop please!"

The trick is seeing the place you need to stop through the jeep's tiny side windows... it's amazing how we have learned to recognize certain places just by looking at the curb. Sometimes that's all you can see!

Sometimes jeeps can get extra full. If you want, you can still ride... it's just a bit more windy this way.

TAXIS

Taxis are very common here too. This was our main mode of transportation here before we had a car, even for things like grocery shopping! The initial fee is about 60 cents, and we have found that for most places we want to go, a taxi might cost about $1-2. Taxi drivers have been a great place to practice our Tagalog! Most drivers are happy to have a conversation.

FX

This is an FX. It is sort of like a taxi, but it runs on a regular route and picks up as many passengers as it can carry.

BUS

When people travel in and out of the city, they often take a bus. The bus runs a particular route and has stops along the way. It might cost about $2-3, depending on the distance. The bus might or might not be air conditioned!

PEDI-CAB

This is a pedi-cab. Passengers sit in the side car while the driver uses his own strength to pull them around! We felt terrible for one of our drivers who had to pull us around in the pouring rain! More often, these are powered by motorcycle, and they will pile as many people as they can inside the cab and on the motorcycle with the driver too! A common fare would be about 40 cents.

Here are some with motorcycles.

The MRT (elevated train) is also a pretty common way to get around. We don't use it much, but it is a great way to beat the traffic!

A bit less common are the banca (boat), which runs regular routes every day,

and the kalesa, which is only in certain parts of the city.

Praise & Prayer

- And now we will use another form of public transportation… airplane! EARLY on Wednesday morning (your Tuesday night) we take off to head back to the States for 4 months!  We leave on December 15, travel for 24 hours, and arrive in the afternoon of December 15. How’s that for time travel?!

- Please pray for our trip- as we mentioned before- that everything would go smoothly- that we might even get some sleep- and for me (Missy) because I already have a cold!!

- Thanks for praying for the helicopter paperwork. Joel turned in some more paperwork this week and now our friend Zach will be helping to get it through after we leave. Please pray for a quick process and that the helicopter will be flying soon!

Davis Photo Journal

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WE HAVE  MOVED!!

Last week was a bit crazy, filled with all the things of moving… cardboard boxes, tape, markers, and lots of STUFF.  It is all over now- we have officially moved out of our apartment and are now staying in the NTM guest house until we leave for the States on December 15th for a 4-month furlough.

Here is just a tiny taste of the chaos….

our dining room, before…

and during…

Things got WAY more crazy than this. Picture everything- even the furniture- wrapped in cardboard and boxes piled everywhere.  And then a completely empty apartment with white walls again.

I have pictures, but I can’t get to them right now, because we’re…. well, moving – and the camera is inaccessible at the moment.

You can just take our word for it.

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Praise & Prayer

- We are so grateful for how smoothly our move went. Thank you for praying for us. Please keep it up… we can definitely tell that the stress of moving is affecting our girls’ moods a bit.

- We leave December 15 for our 4-month furlough. We’d appreciate prayer for a safe and uneventful (and sleep-filled) trip! We can’t help but shudder when we remember the 45 minutes of sleep we got on our last 36-hour trip across the Pacific. We’re praying for a bit more sleep this time… and if not, then lots of energy. Â

- Aviation update:

The airplane on Mindanao is completely back up and running- paperwork and all!  Joel is on Mindanao this week to help unload our shipment of furniture and boxes. He got to fly with the current pilot there (our friend Brian) into two tribal locations- where Joel will be flying when we return to the Philippines!

The helicopter on Northern Luzon still has a bit more paperwork to go before it is flying- which means there are still missionaries waiting to get into their tribes. Please keep these paperwork processes in your prayers.

Davis Photo Journal

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Thank you for praying for the progress of our R-44 helicopter. It arrived in the Philippines a few weeks ago and got out of customs with almost no problems!  That was a huge answer to prayer!

Last week, Joel got to travel up to the city where it will be based. He and the other NTMA guys uncrated and assembled it.

The next hurdle is paperwork. Please pray for Joel as he is working on getting the helicopter registered with the local “FAA” so that it can fly here. There are missionaries waiting to get into their tribes, and they are waiting for the helicopter to get them there!

PULL!!!

Putting it together. That's Joel on the left.

Done! Here's Joel with our two helicopter pilots (Zach and Brian- far left) and our co-worker, Brett- who traveled from the States (blue shirt) to help assemble the helicopter.

Praise & Prayer

- Please pray THIS WEEK as Joel is working on getting the helicopter registered. It can’t fly until it is registered here in country.

- Please pray for the registration of a new engine and propeller for our airplane on the island of Mindanao.

- We will begin packing this week!! We have to be out of our apartment by December 7th so it’s crunch time. We leave for the States on December 15th. Please pray for a great last few weeks here in Manila – and that our pack and move would go smoothly.

Davis Photo Journal

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We have posted pictures of our trips to the open market before, but we do most of our grocery shopping at big grocery stores here in the city. I thought you’d like to see what a typical supermarket looks like here.

At first glance, it looks pretty familiar. This one in particular is HUGE and was a bit overwhelming to me at first.  Let’s look a little closer…

Here in Manila, it’s common to see some familiar items…

… and then there’s the not-so-familiar items. Here is a row filled with sweet breads, which Filipinos love to eat as snacks between meals, or for “miryenda”.

…and of course, boxed milk. This stuff can last for months.

Powdered milk is very common here too.

You can definitely tell what items are commonly used for cooking here… this is an entire row of vinegar (or “suka” in Tagalog. Make sure you pronounce that right… if you say it wrong, you might end up saying the Tagalog word for vomit!)

In the same row… an entire selection of soy sauce.

Of course, there is a large shelf of different kinds of rice too. I didn’t get a picture of that. But you can take my word for it!  Here is something else that is common here- dried fish. Filipinos love to eat this for breakfast!

And not-dried fish too. You buy the whole thing here- head and all!  Usually fish is not cut up at all during cooking. It is served whole, head and all!

The produce section is really great. There is a large selection of fruits and vegetables. The only fruit we’ve found that we miss here at all is berries! Strawberries are hard to find at times, and are expensive, usually $8-10 per carton! And it’s almost impossible to find any other kinds of berries.

But we LOVE mangoes and pineapple in the Philippines! They are the best we’ve ever had! A new favorite treat in our family is mango shakes.

We have also learned to love some new fruits- mangosteen, rhambutan, and lansones to name a few.  They are very interesting looking and worthy of their own blog post. Â

We have enjoyed the conveniences of Manila this year. It has been surprising how much they import here. Next year, we will be in a much more rural area. I’m sure it will make for some interesting posts!  Stay tuned!

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Praise & Prayer

- Praise- the NTMA helicopter is in the country!  Prayer- it’s still in customs. Please pray for Joel and the other NTMA guys who are involved with the paperwork and everything involved with getting this much-needed tool to its new home. Joel will have a very busy few weeks helping this happen.

- We are getting ready to start packing. Our home will soon become a tangle of boxes, labeling markers, and packing tape. This is not an unfamiliar sight for the Davis family! But it doesn’t mean we’re necessarily looking forward to it.  Please pray for us as we enter this busy season of moving, furlough, and moving again.

Davis Photo Journal

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Several of our missionaries have been waiting for this helicopter to arrive here in the Philippines… they can’t get back into the tribes where they minister until it gets here.

We were so excited to get these pictures of it getting loaded into a shipping container in Arizona – it’s finally on its way here! It will take about a month to make its way across the ocean.

Joel has been involved in the paperwork aspects of getting the helicopter imported into the country. We are all excited to see this tool be used in the tribal ministries here.

Praise & Prayer

- Please pray for Joel and the other NTMA guys who are involved in the importation process for the helicopter.

- We are officially in our 5th week of homeschooling – it is going great! Ryley wants to have school on Saturdays too, so I think that’s a good sign. Thanks for your continued prayers!

- In 3 months, we will be moving out of our apartment and moving on to our next assignment. Please pray for our family as we start heading into more transitions.

Davis Photo Journal

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Several weeks ago, we got our Philippines drivers licenses! It ended up being quite a process. We documented our experience… come see!

The first step is to go to a specific clinic for a medical. Here I am waiting for my turn…

The first step was a drug test. Then on to the next window… fingerprinting! And then a few signatures.

The next step… a photo. (This isn’t the one that ended up on my license.) Smile!

Next was a series of physical examinations, including an eye test…

blood pressure…

height and weight…

checking my foot flexibility? I think? Maybe for pushing on the gas pedal?

Next… a few more signatures, paying all of the fees, and giving them copies of my passport, the date we entered the Philippines, and a copy of my stateside driver’s license. And maybe a few more things.

…and that was all just for the medical exam!

Next, with medical paperwork in hand, we walked down the street to the office where they issue the driver’s licenses (it’s called the LTO). That day, the LTO had a “brown out” (power outage), so we couldn’t get our license that day. Nuts.

Trying again… a week later we went back to the LTO, hoping they had electricity this time!  They did. We arrived early, so I was #1 in line! Yahoo!

What followed was a series of several events… if I remember correctly, it went something like this… Give them my paperwork (from the medical the week before), take a photo, sign some papers. Go sit down and wait for my number to be called. Take another picture. Sign something else. Go sit down again. Pay some money at another window. Sign something else. Go sit down again. Wait for a while.

And finally….. my driver’s license! Wait, is my name spelled wrong?

Just kidding!

Praise & Prayer

- The needed funds have come in to import the much needed helicopter here to the island of Luzon. Thank you for praying about this need with us!

- Joel has started his temporary job as liaison between NTMA and the Filipino version of the FAA here (called CAAP). He has already been able to help expedite some airworthiness certificates for our aircraft here, and he has started helping some of the pilots renew and get new in-country pilots licenses. He will also be helping with the paperwork side of importing the helicopter I mentioned above. We are excited to be helping with this much-needed ministry right now, and we look forward to our transition to Mindanao in a few months!

- Ryley will be starting kindergarten next week- here at home with me (Missy)! Please pray for us as we transition into homeschool mode. Neither one of us has ever done this before.

- We have about 4 months left here in Manila. Please pray for continued relationships with those around us. My friend Nora went with us to church this week, and I’m not sure if she knows the Lord. Please pray that she would keep coming with us, and that she would see her need for Him!

Davis Photo Journal

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Two weeks ago, I was excited to go with some people from a local church to help pass out food to the children in a “squatter” neighborhood. It was humbling when one of the ladies, a fellow believer, called me “sister” as I walked by her house.

Here I am helping to pass out food to the children. The ladies in this ministry made a HUGE pot of spaghetti for them!

Here are some of the kids eating. Notice the plate the little girl in the front is using... it's a red frisbee!

A view of the street

A cultural experience for me... I tried unripe mango and shrimp paste for the first time.

Look out! It's pretty normal for these guys to come through this narrow street. This is a tricycle, one of the modes of public transportation here.

A typical squatter house.

Quick Davis Update:

1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

- Last week marked our 1-year anniversary of arriving here in the Philippines!  We can’t believe how fast it went. And now we can converse in Tagalog, when all we could do when we arrived was count to 10 (well, sort of). We are praising God for His faithfulness to us as we have gone through the ups and downs of the first year in a new country and culture. HE is the one who gives us the strength we need day to day.

DONE WITH LANGUAGE SCHOOL!

- We are officially finishing language school on July 16th. This is a bit early by normal language school standards, but NTM Aviation has asked us to take on a new (temporary) position before we go to fly on Mindanao. For the next 5 months, Joel will be serving as a liaison between NTM Aviation and the local “FAA” office here in Manila. We have agreed to stay a few extra months in the city to fill this need.

HELICOPTER… AN OPPORTUNITY TO GIVE

- NTM Aviation is currently raising funds to ship our Robinson-44 helicopter here to the Philippines. They are about $50,000 short of the necessary balance for shipping costs. There are pilots in place, and there are several missionaries in Northern Luzon waiting for the helicopter’s arrival so that they can re-enter their tribal works. If you would like to be a part of funding the shipping of the R-44, just send gifts to NTM, 1000 E. 1st St., Sanford, FL 32771 and include a note designating your gift for the R-44 shipping to Luzon, Philippines.

Davis Photo Journal

Take a trip to the Philippines with us through our Photo Journal emails.

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It’s hard to believe that our Ryley girl is 5. Happy birthday, Ryley!  We love you!

Praise & Prayer

- We are finally feeling better after a LONG “family cold” as Ryley calls it. We are grateful to be on the mend!

- Please pray for endurance and quick minds as we try to soak up as much Tagalog as we can during our last few weeks of language school. We will be done sometime in July.

- We have about 6 months left in Manila. Please pray with us that God will continue to grow meaningful relationships here, and that we can be His light to those around us.

Davis Photo Journal

Take a trip to the Philippines with us through our Photo Journal emails.

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Camryn turned 2 this month! Happy birthday, big girl! We love you!

(Notice her homemade party hat, made by Ryley)

Praise & Prayer

- OUR LICE IS GONE!  We think.  It was VERY exciting to get our blankets, rugs, and the girls’ stuffed animals out again, all smelling fresh and clean. Almost like Christmas!

- WE HAVE OUR ASSIGNMENT! Here it is…

We will be finishing language school in July.

Our aviation assignment is on the island of Mindanao! Mindanao is the biggest island on the bottom right of this map.

For now NTMA has asked us to fill a need here in Manila for a few months before we head down there. More about that soon…  we’ll keep you posted on all the moves!

THANK YOU for praying with us about this decision. We are very excited and so grateful to the Lord for making his will clear to all involved!