Language & Culture
It’s been 6 months since we arrived in the Philippines. We have been working to learn the language, culture and to try and integrate into our community. Filipinos have taken us under their wings and are helping us learn the world of the Philippines. We are so thankful for them and their willingness to help us adapt to a new way of life.
Friends from Training
We flew to the southern region of the Philippines to meet up with friends we’ve made during our years of training. It was encouraging to see the rest of our team that we are serving with here in the Philippines. Our kids played hard! It was a great and encouraging time for all.
7.0 Magnitude Earthquake
July 27th there was a large earthquake in the northern region of the Philippines.
Ethnos360 Aviation immediately began preparations to assess the damage done and provide aid to those in need. While Ryan is technically still in language training, he was able to step out and help with the relief efforts.
Thankfully there wasn’t a ton of damage done. There were a lot of roads blocked by landslides which had prevented movement in and out of some towns in the area. We landed in multiple areas to check in on the wellbeing of people and connect with our missionaries and established church ministries. We were able to bring in relief food to a small town that had been cutoff by landslides.
While it’s exciting to meet this short term need for the people, we look forward to seeing how God can use this opportunity to grow the local church.
Living Overseas
It has been fun and challenging to be living in another culture. It’s exciting to see our progress in being able to function here as we accumulate more knowledge of language and culture. Every day has highs and lows, it’s encouraging to feel more comfortable going about life here but there are always frequent clashes with our own culture which can make even simple things become super frustrating. Our kids are learning to cope with the realities of being a foreigner which gets a lot of unwanted attention.
Sydney & Lydia
In all the buildings here there are small geckos that live in the nooks and crannies. Lydia thoroughly enjoys trying to catch them and “snuggle”them. We have had new neighbors move in across the street from us with girls similar ages to our girls. Sydney is hopeful to make some new friends here.
Running Errands Looks a Little Different
Ryan was able to purchase a scooter here. This will be great to get back and forth from home to the helicopter hangar quickly as traffic here is very slow and congested in the city. Both girls love getting to ride around our neighborhood to buy our bread and run other errands.
Looking Forward 3 Months
The plan is to spend the next couple months continuing language and culture study. In October Ryan will begin his pilot checkout process here in the Philippines.
Before Ryan can be fully operational flying as a helicopter pilot here in the Philippines he needs to be safety checked into each of the locations we fly to as an organization.
Prayer Requests
Sickness
We have been really struggling with sickness for a long time now. It’s been off and on illness for over a month now, the last couple weeks being the worst with all of us being sick. Seems like there is a lot going around our area right now but also our bodies are still adapting to the differences here and the heat.
Health
Prayer for healthy bodies for all of us. It's hard to have consistent language study when one or all of us is sick. Us parents are on the upswing but our girls are still quite sick.
Relationships
That we would develop relationships with people in our neighborhood and the people God has placed in our lives here.
Parenting
That we would lead our children as the Lord leads. Lots of challenges with just general kid stuff but also the extra emotions of missing friends and grandparents back in the USA/Canada.
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