Halftime and Hospitals

The last two days have been transition days; transition of locations and leadership.

We attempted to leave Cagayan de Oro early on Wednesday morning on Air Philippines; honestly we could have swam there faster. Our airplane, the one supposedly taking us to Manila was already there and couldn't seem to be bothered to come get us. The flight that was supposed to leave CDO at 10:40 am didn't arrive until 3:30 pm. The planned half day off in Manila was instead spent sweating inside a terminal about half the size of heritage hall.

We finally landed in Manila around 5:30 and got to the hotel around 7pm. We were thankful that Pastor Bok from Tabuk collected us at the airport as we were too tired to figure out directions ourselves. Since I wasn't getting to go up to Tabuk to see him, he took a 12 hour bus ride to Manila to hang out with me for the evening and then oversee the travel of our students back to Tabuk.

Today I took the students to Greenhills mall. It is a huge collection of local vendors who want to sell you their goods. It is a labyrinth of stalls and shops where you can easily got lost along with all your pesos. There are knock-off DVD's, Levi's, watches, perfume, clothes as well as genuine Philippine wares. There was something for everyone. Matt and Allysa got to see Spiderman 3 as it came out here today. I had coffee in three different Starbucks. Kona and Elyce bartered with the locals like the professional shoppers they are. Andrew hovered over them like a bodyguard, making sure no one bothered these important American girls. Stacyann was a little overwhelmed with the press of people and noise, and she battled the ATM demons apparently in every machine she tried here in Manila.

Then there is Isaiah, or I should say there wasn't Isaiah. We left him asleep in bed of the hotel room. He's been sick for the past couple of days. It started early Sunday morning when I met Isaiah in the kitchen at 5:30 am. He said he had a headache and a fever and that he didn't want to go to the beach with us. I gave him some fever reducer and he went back to bed. We alerted some of the YWAM staff that Isaiah was still at the base and they told us they would look in on him and fix him some lunch. When we got back to the base in the evening we found Isaiah, moaning and hot in an air conditioned room with his lunch everywhere...

Rudy helped me get Isaiah to the local emergency room. He got really good care. Seriously, the lady doctor let us in the ER although there were signs saying we couldn't go in. She answered all of our questions, asked us good ones, and let us give input to the situation. We took some fluid out of the boy (for blood and urine testing) and put some others back in (to hydrate him and replace his lunch). His fever came down and the results came back- a urinary track infection. Jamie tells me that these come with a high fever, so it all made sense. Other items on the possible checklist like malaria and dysentery didn't fit the symptoms or pass the tests, thankfully. (I had dysentery here once for sixteen days, or maybe it was I had dysentery sixteen times here once, I don't know.) We got his meds and instructions and permission to take him to Manila the next morning. He is improving, his strength is returning, but slowly. I am glad he had today to rest so he can complete the rest of his journey.

Pastor Bok picked up Larry from the airport this morning, dropped off his stuff at the hotel and then deposited him to us at the mall. It is good to see him. He appears rested and ready to go inspite of his long flight. At this point I have handed the baton to him (which is in the shape of a small Nokia phone with all the Vineyard contacts in it), the team finances, the passports and the airline tickets back to Boise. Kona and I put them on a bus a couple of hours ago with hugs, tears and prayers. We both wish we were continuing on with them.

Kona's done amazing on her first missions trip. I am proud of her. I'd bring her again, or then again maybe in a few short years it will be her leading teams and me coming along for the ride. I'd like that too.