As you can tell by my delinquency in posting, I’ve had a busy time here in the Philippines. Once the training started last week on Tuesday, it got really busy. But before I share any more about the Philippines, I want to share some thoughts about Singapore.
My first time to Singapore was in 2008 when I had a day-long layover on the way to PNG. I had a good, but short, tour of a few different places. On both occasions, I was struck by the cleanliness of the city. I was also impressed by the large amount of vegetation along the busy city streets. Someone said that one issue behind planting trees was to appease the spirits below. Not sure how accurate that is!
This time I gained a much better grasp of where everything is. The city has an excellent public transportation system of buses and trains. You can get basically anywhere fairly quickly. I passed through many, many malls. Malls coming out the Singaporean ears! I also went through numerous parking garages. Parking is surely a difficulty there! In order to keep the number of cars from getting too high, the gov’t has the potential owner purchase a Certificate of Entitlement for $68,000 SGD! Then, you have to shell out the cash for the car. That keeps most from getting cars. But those who do sure do have a good bit of money, and many have lots. I don’t think I’ve seen so many nice luxury and sports cars in a short period of time in my life! Mercedes, BMWs, Jaguars, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Porches, etc. Incredible! And most have a house helper that cleans them every day.
Another expensive ordeal is buying a place to live, especially a house. Around 70-80% live in flats (gov’t subsidized apts), apartments, or condos. Only millionaires live in houses, and very few live in stand-alone units. I saw some on the golf course for at least $12 million SGD. Apparently, the Chinese are buying many of these, and many pay cash for the entire purchase! One Chinese man complained that a house cost only $38 million SGD.
I thoroughly enjoyed the food over there. Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Peranakan, Indian, local, Western, etc. What a wonderful eating experience! I can’t wait to get back to have some more. I especially enjoyed the Chinese food! And iced milk tea Hong Kong style is incredible!
What was the greatest blessing was the people! How gracious the believers were toward me! I also praise God for His grace shown to me through the believers. My lodging was incredible for all three weeks, allowing me to get good sleep and get lots of work done. I had air conditioning all day and all night–which was quite important since the sun was scorching hot and the humidity was almost overwhelming. I did jog periodically, but I desperately needed a place to cool down afterwards!
The Lord really extended His goodness to me through the churches I visited. The churches gave very generous love offerings and then took care of me in every other way as well. One couple took me to Indonesia for two days and a night. Many other couples took me out for meals. Many bought me gifts–so many I had to have them shipped back seperately!
And most of all, the Lord enabled me to share the burden of my heart for Bible translation, and many caught the burden. I gained many prayer supporters, and at least two of the churches are seriously considering me for support. Both also want to help in some personaly way. Please pray for God to lead. I haven’t seen a support increase in over a month!
Now to the Philippines… Someone asked me yesterday what my experience in the Philippines has been like. My answer: WET! It has rained every single day here, and some days it seems that an hour hasn’t gone by without at least some rain. I got caught in monsoon-like showers on Tues as I traveled downtown to the US Embassy. Manila looked more like Venice!
But though the weather has been rainy (and extremely humid), the hospitality has been very warm. The people at the church and BJMBC have been so gracious! I’ve been able to reconnect with Dale Trinidad as he and his family have hosted me in the home on the BJMBC’s new property. I’ve also reconnected with many Mt. Calvary and BJU friends–Phil Kamibayashima and family, Rachel Dalhausen, Jolea Jensen, Ruth Potter, Catherine McQuaid, and Rachel Uhler. Am I forgetting anyone? There are so many friends here! And I’ve made new ones as well.
The training started, as I said, last week on Tuesday. Excluding my co-worker, Dr. Sana Singh, and me, there were 7 people in attendance for the training. One stayed for only an hour, so effectively we had only 6. The main translator for the first edition of the Tagalog NT, Ate Malacao, surprised us by her presence. She hadn’t signed up, as far as my records go. She has been such a blessing to have with us, because she has such a passion for getting the NT finished. Her son is with us and shares the same passion. Actually all attendees do! Fe shared how people back at her church are having to share their NTs, because there are no more (we published the first edition in 1998). Her husband’s church has many outreaches, and longs for the completed NTs. In fact, they are expecting her to return with the revised edition! Too bad it will take 3-5 years to complete the revision.
Sana and I were wondering how we would get everything done in two weeks. Normally, we take 3 weeks to cover all the material. But this time, we have only 9.5 days (we did cut out the linguistics training). Well, we began the manual and saw that we would be moving faster than normal. We actually finished the manual yesterday and began doing some application today! Praise the Lord! All the participants have a real desire to learn and have good basic skills. Almost all were somehow involved in the first edition, so they already have some exposure to translation work. We are doing so well that we plan to end at lunchtime on Friday.
Last Saturday I got to visit the largest US cemetery outside the US. It was a good and sobering trip. My grandfather fought in WW2, so it was neat to see the memorials. My gpa didn’t die in the Philippines, but he did pass away before I got to meet him. I happened across a pic of him in the Philippines, just before I left on this trip. On Saturday we hope to go to Corregidor Island. That’s where McArthur said, “I’ll be back.”
I head back to the US on Monday. I can’t wait to get back! Lord willing, I’ll be moving into my new home next week. Pray for the closing to be finalized tomorrow. I did my part yesterday in the Philippines (an exciting story in itself!), and now I’m trusting Fed Ex to deliver by Thurs, US time. Then, hopefully the documents will be finalized.
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