Joel and Missy Davis Expanding the Reach of the Gospel in the Philippines Davis Photo Journal – Ryley’s Class
Davis Photo Journal
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We enrolled Ryley in a few weeks of a preschool class here. She is the only blonde which makes it easy to find her in class or anywhere else in the Philippines for that matter. 
She has loved interacting in a classroom setting with other children. She will start homeschool kindergarten this fall!
Praise & Prayer
- WE BOUGHT A CAR! It is a 1990 Land Cruiser. Because of your gifts and an unexpected tax return, we were able to purchase it this past week. It was so exciting to watch God provide in ways we did not expect. He provided a vehicle that is in great shape and has been such a huge blessing already!
- The lice saga continues. It turns out that Missy’s psychosomatic itching was NOT psychosomatic- it was real. So we continue the crazy vacuuming and cleaning and washing everything in hot water.
- Decisions are being made this week about our future aviation assignment. We’d appreciate your prayers for God’s will to be evident to all involved.
Davis Photo Journal – Want a job?
Davis Photo Journal
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We thought that just crossing the street was dangerous in Manila… but imagine having this job! This repairman leaned his ladder against the phone lines while working on them in the middle of traffic!
Praise & Prayer
- After our language evaluations, we found out that we are at the level where they would expect us to be by now. (It’s called “Basic – Mid”, which basically means that most toddlers here speak better Tagalog than we do! ) We were very happy to get this level!
- We think our case of lice is almost gone. But we are still being careful and washing everything in hot water! Hopefully this week will bring the “all clear” from our illustrious nit-picker (Missy).
Davis Photo Journal – Being Creative!
Davis Photo Journal
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Our girls love doing art projects. We got some fun art & craft supplies in our Christmas boxes, and here we are putting them to good use!
Camryn wears her heart on her slee—, uh…. nose.
Ryley painting some sun catchers! (see how they turned out- below!)
Camryn having a blast with finger paints.
Ryley and I hung her sun catchers in her window. Here is a little bit of our view of the city too!
Praise & Prayer
- Thank you for praying for our Tagalog language evaluations! We will find out what proficiency level we achieved sometime next week (we do think it’s more than we knew when we got here ) We both feel like it went well. Thanks for praying!
- We are busy cleaning our house of our first encounter with LICE! Please pray with us that we can get rid of them. (and that Missy’s psychosomatic head-itching will stop!)
Davis Photo Journal – Let’s go fly a kite!
Davis Photo Journal
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Joel and Ryley recently got to attend a local airshow.
It was a fun day – they got to watch airplanes do aerobatic stunts and they also got to meet some other missionary pilots who serve here too.
To top it off, this nice lady let Ryley fly her kite!
(Is everyone singing the song from Mary Poppins now?)
Please Pray…
- For Joel on March 15, and Missy on March 17 – we have our first language evaluations! Pray that we won’t blank out completely.
- Decisions are being made right now about our future assignment after language school. Please pray with us that God will accomplish His will in these decisions.
Need or Want?
This is our dilemma!
Sometimes these are hard ones to figure out, aren’t they? This is where we find ourselves with this vehicle fund. We are gonna shoot straight with you… we don’t actually need a vehicle to live here and continue our ministry here in Manila. (ONCE we leave Manila to go to start our aviation ministry however, we will have to get a vehicle for daily life there.) There are lots of other options for public transportation here like jeepneys, taxis, and trains. We don’t often “need” to get out of the city of Manila and if we do we could hire a van and driver, or perhaps rent a mission vehicle if we aren’t gone very long. If it were just that simple, it would be an easy decision, but it is not exactly that simple though.
Although there are lots of forms of public transportation here in Manila, crossing the streets everyday here to ride the jeeps can be quite a bit like the video game “Frogger”…. except this is for real, and the exhaust that we breath on those trips can’t exactly be considered “organic”. So taxis seem like a good option compared to that right? Well not exactly. Missy and Ryley’s stomachs turn at the thought of taking a taxi here because the unpredictable driving of the taxi drivers back and forth and on and of the gas and brake make them literally sick to their stomachs on almost every trip. The trains are nice sometimes, but often the perfect locations for pick-pockets with how crowded they are (picture sardines), and they don’t go the direction we need to go, so we rarely go on these as well.
While true that we don’t “need” to leave the city very often, for our own sanity it is nice to be able to leave the dirt and smog behind and actually see a blue sky and green grass and trees every once in a while. Renting a van or renting the mission vehicle is honestly pretty expensive and often not convenient at all for us or other families that may need it. The few times we have left the city behind for a couple hours or days, it has felt like a vacation and has served to renew us and our vision for why we are here.
If we did have a vehicle here in Manila we would be able to bless those around us that don’t have a vehicle by picking them up from the airport and providing rides for them while they are in town. Many of our missionaries that live in the tribe don’t own a vehicle for obvious reasons, but often need rides when they come to the cities to shop and get a break.
So now you’ve heard both sides of the discussion going on in our heads about having a vehicle here in Manila. I’m still confused not knowing “need” or “want” but I’m more convinced everyday that it certainly would be nice. Either way, we know that you have asked to hear about our needs and our wants and so instead of just beating around the bush with you, we just wanted you, our team, to know what we are thinking.
If you want to see our progress with the vehicle fund you can check it out here <<Vehicle Fund>>.
Thanks so much and PLEASE DON’T feel obligated to give. That is not our intention. We just wanted to be open and transparent with you about what we’ve been thinking.
Under His Wings,
Joel, Missy, Ryley, and Camryn Davis
Davis Photo Journal – Happy 2010!
Davis Photo Journal
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Manila sure knows how to ring in the new year! The whole sky exploded with fireworks everywhere we looked. Amazing! Somehow Camryn slept right through it all, but Ryley got up and LOVED watching our own personal fireworks display out our living room window!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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Praise & Prayer
-Thanks for praying for our first Christmas here. We really enjoyed it! We had a great time visiting our friends on the island of Mindanao, and then had a great family celebration when we came back to Manila. We definitely missed our families… but we were able to skype them all and that helped a lot.
-Please pray for our upcoming staff conference here. Please pray for great sleep, good health, and a refreshing time for everyone!
Davis Photo Journal – Yum!
Davis Photo Journal
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We are experiencing our first holiday season overseas!
We got together this week with our friends to make Christmas cookies. Yum!
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PLEASE PRAY…
- our first holiday season here comes with mixed emotions! We are happy to be here, but missing family at this time of year. We appreciate your prayers for our first Christmas overseas!
- we have a few weeks off from language school for Christmas! Please pray for a refreshing break, and that we won’t forget all that we’ve learned so far!
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To check on the progress of the Davis Vehicle Fund, CLICK HERE
Davis Vehicle Project
We have been here in the Philippines for almost 6 months already! Can you believe it?
NTM asks that we use public transportation for our first 6 months here.
But now we are nearing the time that we can purchase our own vehicle for our family! We are excited to have our “own wheels” again not only to get us around in Manila, but also out of the city every once in a while! We are excited to bless others with the use of it as well.
We are interested in purchasing a vehicle similar to this one. This one belongs to our friends here, and we have seen it be such a help and blessing to many missionaries here!
To see how you can be a part of our family vehicle project, or to see our monthly support progress,
Davis Photo Journal – Lost & Found
Davis Photo Journal
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This week we left our backpack in a taxi. It contained a portable DVD player, our camera,and ALL of our Tagalog notes!
A total miracle in Manila… the taxi driver gave the bag to his friend, who found us on the NTM website. He emailed us, and brought the bag to our house the next day, with everything still in it! We are praising the Lord for an honest taxi driver and friend and the way the Lord allowed them to find us.
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PLEASE PRAY…
- for continuing progress in Tagalog. This week went a little better, thanks for praying!
- we have been working on building relationships with our neighbors here. Please pray for openings and chances to talk with them.
Davis Photo Journal – First Haircut
Davis Photo Journal
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Camryn had her first haircut this week!
She watched a Baby Einstein movie to keep her from moving her head too much.
All done!
Am I so cute or what?
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PLEASE PRAY…
- for our family to get healthy! We have all been fighting another “family cold” this week.
- This week was a more difficult week in Tagalog language school. Keep praying with us that our brains will soak up as much language as possible!