NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

Today started like most mornings.  I finally dragged myself out of bed 20 minutes after my alarm went off at 5am.  I started the coffee and went into my office to start language study.  About 10 minutes into working on my computer I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye, right next to my hand which was on my mouse.  As it caught my eye I looked down to find a 2 inch cockroach staring up at me with its beady little eyes and its long antennas making circular motions at me like he was taunting me.  I am not going to lie, it make my heart skip a beat and at that moment I am pretty sure I was more scared of it than it was of me.  I pulled my hand back away from it like a seven year old girl afraid of cooties.  I quickly ran to get a sandal – my trusty cockroach slayer.  But when I got back the little guy was on the floor behind my desk.  I couldn’t get a good swing at him there, so I went to get the Baygon, which is an amazing bug killing spray.  By the time I got back he had vanished so I moved my desk.  Next I gently pulled out my desk drawers to see if he had crawled in there.  Then I proceeded to look through the things in my desk drawers with my heart pounding as I moved each item.

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In case you don’t know this about me (or haven’t realize yet…) I am not much of a bug guy and cockroaches, or in Tagalog they are called “ipis”, are the worst of the worst for me.  There is just something about them.  They are dirty, nasty, disgusting looking, and here they are big and can fly.  Yeah. They fly.  So when I say “cockroach” it isn’t this little light brown, cute insect that we have in America.  Cockroaches here are a predator that at any moment can take flight and come right at you.  And when it does, I don’t care who you are you are going to be scared and run like you were being attacked by killer bees.

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So the little guy got away and I had to get back to studying but I knew he was still somewhere in my small office.  It was very hard to concentrate on studying Tagalog when at any moment I knew he could come out.  I sat with my feet up on the legs of my office chair because I didn’t want that little critter running over one of my bare feet as I was studying.  Then I started to see things moving out of the corner of my eye that weren’t really there.  Needless to say I didn’t get much quality studying done that morning.  I forgot about the coffee that I had made, because of everything that was going on but I was already awake.  I didn’t need the caffeine.  As I told Erin later that morning what had happened I finished with the moral of the story, “Who needs coffee when you have cockroaches?”

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-Matt

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*You’ll be happy to know that later that afternoon I heard banging and crashing sounds coming from the back room and it was Matt finally killing that cockroach He’s got a little shelf above his desk and while he was studying he looked up and there it was sitting on the shelf…just watching him. Weng, our house helper and I couldn’t stop laughing about it all day because of how worked up Matt was about it. She said she told her family about it too and they thought it was hilarious that big Matt is so terrified of cockroaches! Her 4 yr. old son told her that he should come to our house so he can catch them for us

Today started out so great. I mean, SO GREAT. Our first box that we have had in the works since July arrived!!! You may remember we used these balikbayan boxes to ship all of our belongings here to the Philippines when we first moved here. They really are great and the most affordable way (per pound) to ship anything here! They are HUGE though so it takes a while to fill one up!

It was wonderful. So many special treats…even the simplest things, like a box of crackers or soap and shampoo that are so familiar in the states, but hard to find/riduclously expensive or not here at all, are somehow so uplifting and encouraging! Really I sometimes get annoyed at myself for being so pleased by these “things” but regardless that’s the way it is. Right or not, using my Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin soap from Bath & Body Works today made me so happy! Can’t help but smile

Fastforward to 4 pm. Alaena got up from an unusually long nap and came and cuddled with me for a bit on the couch while she woke up. We were sitting there all comfortable when she went and scratched her head. Now, this never bothered me before, but ever since our lice incident last July ever time she scratches her head my stomach sinks and I check her out. So far we haven’t had a recurrence. That was not the case today. To my great annoyance when I checked her I saw tons and tons of little nits. Devastated seems a little extreme when talking about lice but really that’s how I felt. It was so hard to get rid of them the first time and more than that I had really horrible experience when I was a kid with lice. They were so hard to get rid of.

So we’re at it again, going the natural route since I’m pregnant…I know I could have Matt wash her hair with the shampoo stuff but we didn’t need it last time so we’ll see. Virgin Coconut oil and tea tree oil seemed to do the trick and lots and lots of picking. Of course it happens during the week I had decided to have the kids to take a break from tv! Guess we’ll have to push that back a bit, poor thing has to sit still for hours I’m almost 100% sure I have it this time too. I dodged the bullet last time but I don’t think I could be that fortunate two times in a row. I have NO idea what I would do if I had them. I can’t even imagine. I’m praying nonstop that I don’t! Anyways, so the kids are in bed and I’m pretending the whole lice thing never happened and just enjoy my cup of apple cider from the States and relax. The problem will be there in the morning to deal with!

…here’s to not having my emotions controlled by circumstances (both great and horrible today!) and fixing my mind on things above and what really matters! Have a great day

What I’m Thankful For (in no particular order…)

1.  A 2 year old boy who loves to cuddle – one of my favorite times is movie time because he just snuggles in for the WHOLE movie!

2.  A husband who loves to show love by helping. He helps with dishes, giving the kids baths and cleaning up the house and more…always with a smile. Thank you sweetie!

3.  Weng! Our amazing househelper. She loves the kids and is SO good with them and keeps the house so clean. Cleaning has never been something I particular enjoy doing…BUT I do love a clean house…in this phase I’m so grateful for her help. She keeps me sane

4.  Good friends. I’m so grateful for each person God’s put in my life during different seasons of life. I can look bad on each time and see 1 or 2 (or 4 special people in my life who are always there for me. Sharing life, laughter, tears, joys and struggles through the everyday.

5.  A break from winter. As much as I love Fargo and winter and will MISS snow at Christmas time it has been nice to not have to deal with -20 temps and crazy wind!

6. Technology! I’m so grateful for Skype & Vonage and the fact we can be so easily in touch with family and friends back home. It does the soul good to not only hear but also see the faces of our loved ones from all the way across the world!

7.  Alaena Joy. We could not have chosen a better middle name. She is SO joyful. I am so thankful for her and the joy she brings into my life. Everything she does, she does at 110%. She loves so big and with every part of her being. Every hug is HUGE and every smile just beaming. She doesn’t know how to do anything half way…so grateful for that beam of light in my life!

8. Family close by – Matt’s parents live right next door. Not something every missionary is blessed with! Usually one of the biggest struggles is dealing with the kids growing up so far from their grandparents and we are blessed with one set nearby. We don’t take it for granted and are very grateful for that opportunity while we have it!

9.  Our supporters. Oh man. So grateful. We wouldn’t be here without each and every one of those who sacrifice every month to support us. Along with that we’re so grateful for the people who pray for us and encourage us by sending letters or dropping an e-mail. Basically I’m grateful for the body and think I’ve learned so much more about the major blessing the body of believers is since we’ve moved here!

10. I guess I’ll close with the thing I’m most thankful for…for Christ. For His love for us and for Word of God that is “the light unto my path.” I’m so grateful that He is our strength and that it’s not up to me! It’s all Him working through us and He is able!

What are you thankful for this year? I think I need to print this off so I can see it every day and remember. Too often I forget and get all grumbly and complaining but God HAS blessed us so much. There is much to be thankful for!

Yeah! We were able to visit that new church this morning and it went great! We all can’t hear quite as well…the music was BLASTING!!! But it really was a encouraging time. I’m pretty sure we’ll start going there regularly. Logan fell asleep and slept the entire service and Alaena really liked the Sunday School class. Which meant Matt & I both got to sit through the entire service! Now I’m not expecting that every week of course but it was a great way to start.

The service was all in Tagalog and even though we couldn’t understand completely everything the speaker said we did understand a lot. It’s always encouraging whenever that happens! Beyond that the pastor was sharing about a ministry he’s a part of in an area of the country we as ex-pats don’t have access to because of how dangerous it is. It was so encouraging to hear his heart and about some of the difficulties he faced.  He challenged us to persevere in ministry and sharing the Gospel. Even if you don’t see instantaneous results God is working and He is faithful to grow the seeds that are planted! At least I’m pretty sure that was part of His message!

We’re excited to get back and was informed several times by two little girls there that I NEED to remember to bring them presents next time we come! Hopefully I won’t forget!

Today was a great day. It was the kind of day I always hope my Saturday will be, but invariably it seems like life happens and we don’t get the family time on Saturday I want. Today was not the case! It started off with an early doctor’s appointment for the kids which couldn’t have gone smoother. They both got a shot and not one tear was shed! It was all smiles and stickers

After we wrapped up there we headed about 10 minutes away to a mall that has an awesome playground.  It’s one of my favorite places to take the kids but is kind of far, depending on traffic, if we’re just coming from our apartment. The kids had a blast! Thankfully they have tarps over the playground because it was HOT.

Happy Boy!

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After they played for about an hour at the playground we hit up the cars, another favorite. They zipped around and mostly dodged all the people walking by! Doesn’t seem like the best placement for kids driving cars around but oh well! After all this outside we were all a sweaty mess so we headed into the mall to cool down and hit up McDonalds. When we got home I was able to take a 2 HOUR NAP! It was amazing The day ended with a great meal and 2 exhausted kids who didn’t put up much of a fight at bedtime. Now I’m off to relax and watch a few shows and definitely enjoy a bowl of ice cream with chocolate chip cookies Doesn’t get much better than that!

Tomorrow we’re checking out a new church. It’s a smaller church nearby and we’re really excited about it. I’m hoping and praying we’re able to get involved there, more than we’ve been able to at the mega church we’ve been attending. It’s also in Tagalog from what I hear! So that should be good for us Hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy YOUR Saturday!

It’s been Christmas season in the Philippines for several months now. I actually heard on the news that the Philippines is the first country to start celebrating Christmas and goes on the longest after Christmas! So if you love Christmas you should consider moving here Christmas songs have been playing in malls since September and decorations are in full force now. Most people put trees up in their houses sometime in October! So for here we’re behind the ball!

I’m trying to find a happy medium. I want my kids to know about Thanksgiving of course and learn about fall and changing seasons BUT last year I waited till after Thanksgiving to decorate and it just felt so short! So we made a bit of a compromise and put our decorations up the first weekend of November. Still got my pumpkins and Thanksgiving decorations out for about a month but now it just feels right to have Christmas stuff up since we see it whenever we go out!

Grandpa & Grandma Castagna came over for the evening and we enjoyed yummy appetizers, desserts and sparkling grape juice. All week I’ve been paranoid about the gas in our stove going out…it’s been about 2 months now and that’s usually when we run out. So I made our traditional caramel corn early so it’d for sure get done – ended up burning some of it and had to hand pick through all if it to get out the burnt parts! Then I totally forgot to put it out the night we were decorating! Arg. ANYWAYS, the gas made it through all that and then it came time for the big night where we were cooking wings and baking pizza. Of course half way through all that my flames went out. Thankfully Grandpa came to the rescue and lent us their gasul tank because it takes like an hour for them to deliver a new one. So the meal wasn’t ruined

There’s got to be a way to avoid this but apparently you just have to run out to find out you need a replacement. I would think they could make a gauge or SOMETHING! oh well. Enjoy looking at pics of our fun evening What are your favorite Christmas decorating traditions?

Food! (after we'd eaten)

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We usually have appetizers when we decorate. This year the main thing was wings and Matt did most of them!

I’ve come to realize something since I started this blog. I am not a blogger! And that’s OK! One thing that keeps me from writing is feeling totally incapable of putting together a sentence most of the time! I feel like my brain is not running at full capacity these days! Then I read other people’s blogs who are funny and have all these interesting things to write about and are so creative….oh well. Time to stop that nonsense. I really WANT to keep people updated with what’s going on and share about what we’re learning/experiencing…so here goes blogging again…Hopefully you simply enjoy keeping up with our family while I get over myself

Tuesday was November 1. A HUGE holiday here in the Philippines. Most kids have at least a week off of school. On the actual holiday most people are at the cemetery, visiting the grave of different loved ones. They go there to remember and to pray for the soul of their departed loved one. Sometimes people stay at the grave all day and all night! They bring flowers, eat food and a lot of times set up a tent type thing over the gravesite…it gets hot and sunny out there! Last year we went to a cemetery but this year stayed home. Here’s pics and what we did last year…

Instead of going to the cemetery I went to the mall! I had some last minute shopping to get done before class started. I was surprised to find one of the main malls here was closed! The others opened late…it was almost like Christmas! And that just shows how important of a holiday it is for most Filipinos. They have been celebrating this holiday for a LONG time. It’s only been in the last 10 years or so they’ve tagged on trick or treating and halloween parties. This year our complex had a big trick or treating party for all the kids.

I was actually kind of nervous about it. All our friends kept asking us if we were going and I could tell everyone was excited about it. No surprise there because Filipinos love dressing kids up and a good party and who doesn’t like candy! The thing is gore and violence are also something people don’t exactly shy away from here. We pretty much avoid the toy store this time of year because it’s just too scary and gruesome for the kids. Eventually I decided to go, mostly because everyone was so persistent in asking if we’d be there! Turns out it was a really fun time. The decorations were fine and they even had a bubble machine. There were a few scary costumes but nothing that the kids noticed. There was probably too much going on for them to hardly notice what people were wearing! There were SO many kids! At first I couldn’t believe there were so many kids who lived in our complex! Then I realized the administration had invited all the kids of the staff and guards who work here! I thought that was just so great

There was a ton of food, games, and “trick or treating”. They set up different stands around the complex and the kids ran to each stand. It was like a stampede! Thankfully there were no injuries We really had a good time. It was fun being at a party where we knew pretty much everyone! A lot of the time we’re invited to a birthday party and the only people we really know are the ones throwing the party! And of course they’re busy running everything…so the whole time is awkward ‘get to know you’ stuff. But this time we could just relax and have fun with our friends. It was a good feeling

Bubbles!

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They had a bubble machine!

Last week we ended our 2 week “break”. Every so often we like (NEED) to take some time off of Tagalog study. To get away from classes and get refreshed. It had been about 4 months since our last time off so we felt like we were due. What started out as a 1 week break to relax and refresh turned into 2 weeks which included a move, a lice incident, a trip of hard work to Palawan (a nearby island) and a little fun .

So…The move…We are still in the same complex now, just a different building and now have 3 bedrooms instead of 2. For what you might ask??? Well, now our office/homeschooling room/bedroom can be split into two. So now I have my own office and homeschooling space for AJ. It’s so great! The kids still share a room which is working out great.

Another large reason we moved was that Matt’s parents had recently come back from furlough and had spent a few months looking for a place here in Manila. They weren’t able to find a whole lot and really liked our place. There were so many complicated things we weren’t sure how it would all work out but God clearly was in the whole thing and amazingly here we all are now! Us in this new place that’s working pretty great and Tim and Peggy so close by.

About one week before we went on break we started putting all this in motion so the first 3 days of break Matt and his dad headed down to Palawan where all their belongings were in storage (they used to live there).  They spent 3 solid LONG days sorting through all their stuff and packing it into a 10 foot shipping crate. Here more miracles happened. They were able to get the crate they wanted (and fit everything in it!) and it was shipped just a few days later. It arrived in perfect timing and Tim and Peggy were able to move in shortly after we moved out. As soon as Matt got home from Palawan we started moving all our stuff over to the new place.

Seriously, I can’t tell you how crazy it was that everything worked out with all the variables. Working with our landlord, the landlord of the new place, needing to ship stuff from another island. Really it could have gone so wrong. We’re so grateful to the Lord for how well it went!

In the middle of all of this Alaena had lice! My worst nightmare. I had lice when I was a kid and it was a horrible traumatic experience. Thankfully we did not have a repeat! I came home from class one day and Ate Wheng tells me, “Erin! Alaena has lice!” I about fainted. Not really, but I was super unpleased! Somehow we were able to just pick them all out! I didn’t even have to use the nasty lice shampoo. For about 1 week we picked twice a day so Laena got lots and lots of tv Ate Wheng is amazing and I learned and we got them all out. I did use this coconut oil stuff and tea tree oil in her hair and I think that actually killed some of them!

Towards the end of our break we finally got some fun in. We had heard about a little petting zoo nearby so we took a day away from unpacking and checked it out. It was SO MUCH FUN. We were literally the only ones there for the first 2 hours! I guess they need to do some more advertising! They had tigers and bears and a few lions but the exciting things were just walking around…like the Orangutan. Actually that kind of made me nervous. Highlights were the little fish who nibbled on our feet and feeding the guinea pigs, bunnies, sheep and goats. Upstairs were tons of picnic tables with a little canteen and we enjoyed meriyenda (snack time) next to a playground. It was fantastic.

So now we’re back in classes again and in spite of not having a super relaxing time we were ready to get back. Even though we were busy our brains got a rest and we do feel refreshed in that way. So here we go again, hitting it hard and hoping to make some good progress in language. At the end of the month we reach our 1 year mark! Hopefully that means we’re at least half way with Tagalog study! (pray pray pray)

Dress Up

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Laena is loving to dress up in mommy's clothes right now...

I have recently started volunteering at a safe house for women coming out of the sex-industry. Safe Refuge is home to about 9 women and several children. There’s a midwife there who helps them with their pregnancies and several other staff there who help with tutoring for school, help getting jobs and mentoring and discipling the girls. At first I really didn’t know what to do! I would just go, sometimes bringing my kids along and we’d play with the other kids. One time I brought this kit for making bracelets and that was a big hit! Other times I just brought cookies or something and would hang out.

Lately I’ve been trying to go to one of their Bible Studies. They have one every day with all the girls. It’s finally within the last few weeks where I’ve felt like I’m actually getting to know some of the girls. In the beginning I got pretty discouraged…it’s a bit of an ordeal to get there. I have to take a jeep down about 15 minutes (which involves me having to cross one of the busiest streets here in Manila…by myself!) Then I cross the street again and take a trike about another 10 minutes. Then I get to do that all over again on the way home, all this from 3-5 ish…super bad traffic time! I’m not much for big city, I’m finding! So that in itself can be a little daunting.

My schedule is fairly full. I spend about 2 1/2 hours a day going to class. The kids are fine with that, they love being with ‘ate’ (‘ate’ (ah-tay) means older sister, that’s what they call wheng, our house helper.) Twice a week I have language helping, another 2 hours in addition to class I spend doing different language learning activities. In addition to that I’ve got to get in another 1-2 hours just studying on my own or getting out and getting exposure.  Then once a week I try and get to this safe house. For me giving 2 hours of my day is a big chunk!  I was trying to get there that often and one day a leader there at the safe house made a comment that just dragged me down. I had stopped in one day to drop something off and only stayed about an hour. As I was leaving she said, “you have to leave already!? Too bad, you’re always in such a hurry and have to leave!” She wasn’t meaning to be rude or upset me, for her it was just expressing the fact that she wished I could be around more. It should be a compliment, that they like having me around! But for me I felt like I just had nothing left to give and what I could give just wasn’t enough.

I got to talk to some of my teachers about it to try and understand where she was coming from and really I know for them time is not the same, it’s not a big deal to spend half a day somewhere! They drop in spontaneously to visit friends and their visits are several hours! Not just one. They are just not time-orientated here! It’s all about the event. I am so time-orientated! Everything is about the time, down to the minute! I keep a record of the minutes I get in studying! Even if it’s only 5 minutes it’s important! I laugh because almost every place I go here the clock is different! The exact time is just not important. So it has been challenging for me, I try and give as much time as I can and not worry about the minutes and going to safe is helping me let go of those minutes…slowly

It’s also helping me in other areas…here in the Philippines serving snacks is very important. There are always snacks. Always. At first you refuse, if you accept right away that shows you are STARVING and it’s kind of rude. But if it’s a genuine offer they’ll offer again. You should accept on the 2nd or 3rd offer. If you don’t accept then, that’s kind of rude! Unless you can offer the excuse that you just ate, but even then. You should accept! So I was at Safe and they had snack. A kind of cooking banana wrapped in a egg roll wrapper and fried in brown sugar. Yummy right? If you like bananas. I HATE bananas. Yes. Hate. It’s my worst fruit, and there’s a lot of fruits I don’t like! This ranks right up there as almost #1 least liked fruit. But there I was, everyone looking at me, wanting to share what they had. So I ate it. The whole thing.

Then..the next week Bible Study was cancelled but I was hanging out there. A favorite Filipino pastime is karaoke, or videoke as they call it here usually. We weren’t doing anything so they wanted to sing. Oh my heavens. I was panicked. I knew they would ask me to sing, they LOVE it. I am a horrible singer, seriously!  I don’t like standing too close to people at church just in case they could hear me! It’s just embarrassing. I politely declined when they asked but they were having a grand time…thankfully I had to go before they asked again! I would have just died.

So I am being very stretched, in every area, but know it is so good for me to have that time. To be a part of Filipino culture and also minister to these girls however I can, even with my limited Tagalog. I would appreciate prayers for me as I keep on going!