Yesterday was a hectic day of finding flights and working with everyone to get passport info all together, but we got it done and we are set to go! The dates are- June 2nd to July 3rd for Elizabeth and June 2nd to Aug. 17th for me! The other travelers did not get a return ticket as of yet.
Just wanted to type out a quick post to let everyone know !
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
More Info
Hey everyone !
So, last weekend our group got together (some in person and some over Skype) in IN for a meeting. John Moore (the leader) had gotten together some things to talk about, but also we had been writing down questions to ask as we thought of them over the past month or so.
John started out by telling us a little about the culture and warning us of some things NOT to do! For instance when you are motioning to someone to come to you it is considered very rude and crude to motion with your palm up. You have to have your palm down or sideways. Don't ever ask for a napkin at a restaurant! Public restrooms are called CR's (Comfort Rooms) and cost 1 or 2 cents to use. They don't have toilet paper or toilet seats! Pick pockets there are really bad. We're going to have to use a money belt or just be really careful. John said it's always a good idea to carry money in two places and it's considered vain for women to wear long pants.
It's not really dangerous where we are going, but John said we will have the "buddy system" in place. No one goes anywhere by themselves, which I'm sure eases my Mom's mind. =) John also wants everyone to have a cell phone to keep up with all the team members by texting.
As far as housing goes, John would really like to build some bunk houses on the property where the clinic is going to be. That way we'd save the money for rent and also leave an asset for the ministry to be used for other groups who come to help or whatever they need them for. We will most likely rent something cheap when we first get there while they build the bunk houses, then move into them.
We're looking into hiring a Christian Filipino women to buy and prepare our food. The main reason for this, is when a white person goes to the market or stores the Filipino will charge you a lot more than they will a native. So, we could pay a native women to buy and prepare our food for less or the same as us going out, buying it and preparing it ourselves.
We talked about how to bring money over there (travelers checks come with a pretty high fee), how much we can pack =), what the cost of food and living will be(food will probably be $50 a month and not sure about living). We discussed where we're going to fly out of ( looking like our two best choices are Chicago or Los Angeles). Also, John warned us that the plugs over there are all 220 voltage, so you have to make sure whatever you plug in will handle that much power or you can fry things. We talked about getting visas and how to go about that. Visas will cost us around $30-$50 each month.
We are going to buy our tickets in about a week and the date is most likely going to going to be June 1st, though it won't be set until we get the tickets.
After going over several practical things of the trip John just challenged us to be totally focused on our mission. To be praying about every decision we have to make as a group and praying that God will teach us through all this and grow us closer to Him!
We are all going to have an extra suitcase to bring supplies over with us to help the Mercy in Action Ministry. My little sister Anna has already been knitting little baby hats(they give every new born a hat and baby blanket) and Mom has already found little blankets and some hats from Goodwill. I'm going to write out a list of things we can take with us and if anyone can donate items or funds to buy some of these things that would be awesome! I'm going to be writing pharmacies in our town to see if they might donate some medical supplies.
-Gloves (sterile and non-sterile)
-Gauze pads
-Chux underpads
-K-Y jelly
-Prenatal or multi- vitamins
-Iron pills
-Sutures
-1cc and 3cc syringes
-IV needles
-IV tubing
-Alfalfa tablets
-Goldenseal capsules
-Red raspberry leaf tea
-Shepard's purse
-Chord clamps
-Hats
-Baby blankets
Signing out, Miriam
So, last weekend our group got together (some in person and some over Skype) in IN for a meeting. John Moore (the leader) had gotten together some things to talk about, but also we had been writing down questions to ask as we thought of them over the past month or so.
John started out by telling us a little about the culture and warning us of some things NOT to do! For instance when you are motioning to someone to come to you it is considered very rude and crude to motion with your palm up. You have to have your palm down or sideways. Don't ever ask for a napkin at a restaurant! Public restrooms are called CR's (Comfort Rooms) and cost 1 or 2 cents to use. They don't have toilet paper or toilet seats! Pick pockets there are really bad. We're going to have to use a money belt or just be really careful. John said it's always a good idea to carry money in two places and it's considered vain for women to wear long pants.
It's not really dangerous where we are going, but John said we will have the "buddy system" in place. No one goes anywhere by themselves, which I'm sure eases my Mom's mind. =) John also wants everyone to have a cell phone to keep up with all the team members by texting.
As far as housing goes, John would really like to build some bunk houses on the property where the clinic is going to be. That way we'd save the money for rent and also leave an asset for the ministry to be used for other groups who come to help or whatever they need them for. We will most likely rent something cheap when we first get there while they build the bunk houses, then move into them.
We're looking into hiring a Christian Filipino women to buy and prepare our food. The main reason for this, is when a white person goes to the market or stores the Filipino will charge you a lot more than they will a native. So, we could pay a native women to buy and prepare our food for less or the same as us going out, buying it and preparing it ourselves.
We talked about how to bring money over there (travelers checks come with a pretty high fee), how much we can pack =), what the cost of food and living will be(food will probably be $50 a month and not sure about living). We discussed where we're going to fly out of ( looking like our two best choices are Chicago or Los Angeles). Also, John warned us that the plugs over there are all 220 voltage, so you have to make sure whatever you plug in will handle that much power or you can fry things. We talked about getting visas and how to go about that. Visas will cost us around $30-$50 each month.
We are going to buy our tickets in about a week and the date is most likely going to going to be June 1st, though it won't be set until we get the tickets.
After going over several practical things of the trip John just challenged us to be totally focused on our mission. To be praying about every decision we have to make as a group and praying that God will teach us through all this and grow us closer to Him!
We are all going to have an extra suitcase to bring supplies over with us to help the Mercy in Action Ministry. My little sister Anna has already been knitting little baby hats(they give every new born a hat and baby blanket) and Mom has already found little blankets and some hats from Goodwill. I'm going to write out a list of things we can take with us and if anyone can donate items or funds to buy some of these things that would be awesome! I'm going to be writing pharmacies in our town to see if they might donate some medical supplies.
-Gloves (sterile and non-sterile)
-Gauze pads
-Chux underpads
-K-Y jelly
-Prenatal or multi- vitamins
-Iron pills
-Sutures
-1cc and 3cc syringes
-IV needles
-IV tubing
-Alfalfa tablets
-Goldenseal capsules
-Red raspberry leaf tea
-Shepard's purse
-Chord clamps
-Hats
-Baby blankets
Signing out, Miriam
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