Miriam's Update

I'll try not to repeat what Liz has already told everyone. :) We made it here after a long time of traveling.I am so thankful I have a straight flight home! Everyone was super tired and jet lagged. Our bamboo huts never looked so good! :)

Yesterday we finished Liz and my bunk beds and those are nice to have :). We put bamboo across to put the mattress on. I wanted one of the Filipino guys to show me how to strip the bamboo, but from what I got out of his gesturing, he wouldn’t let me because he thought I'd cut a finger off:)

The Filipino guys working on the guy’s hut (the guys are in a tent right now) are really nice! Two days ago, after we got a bad storm and everything was slippery, Liz slipped getting up onto our porch. Well, just like that they all stopped what they were doing and built a step up to our porch! (Nicer than some American guys :))

So far, I haven't seen a birth, although there have been a couple at the clinic since we've been here (the clinic is about a 5 min drive from where were staying). I did get to do several prenatal checkups. We went to the city dump yesterday and checked on a newborn and did several prenatals (checks on pregnant women). The newborn and mom were fine.(2 days old). They lived in a small house made out of cardboard and wood.

Then we went to a lady's house and used it to so prenatals. We had to ask the ladies several questions, take their blood pressure, hemoglobin, pulse, listen to the baby's heart beat, and feel the position of the baby. It was so weird doing prenatals across from a huge garbage dump. You kinda forget where you are while you're doing them.

We live on the side of a big hill with Jason and Theresa and their 4 girls and Jen and Jokes and their 2 boys. Jen and Jokes are Filipino. Oh, and Jen and Theresa are midwives. They are very nice families!

Jason and Theresa live above us in a concrete and bamboo house and Jen and Jokes below us.

The bathroom is at the bottom on the hill and quite a walk! But at least we have running water,sort of! The toilet you just have to pour water down for it to flush. It is not like in the states where you'd pour it in the back thingy. You have to pour it in the actual bowl. It works. :) Baths are in the community water hole in the river :)

I have to sign out now!
Miriam

Updates from Elizabeth

Day 1 --- So we just left Houston and praise God I am not sick and I pray it stays that way!! But even though it is hard God showed me how much I just gotta trust Him and nothing else because He's all I need. Completely all I need. I was nervous and anxious but just prayed and prayed and He gave me peace that passes any understanding I'll ever have :)
Really excited about what God can do on this trip and how He can use, even me, if He wants to. Well, got on the plane and wanted to go to the bathroom. I got back to it and was looking around cuz I had no clue how to get in!! A man was standing there so I was like "uh, Liz, don't look like a hick!" I figured it out:) Liz

Day 2---- ( on flight to China) So I'm not even sure what day it is.. I sat and thought for a while but in-between almost throwing up I can't think of it. Surrounded by Chinese people who can't understand me when I say, "I need stomach sick pill"  is not so fun... But they've faithfully delivered Sprite to me so I won't complain. :) but I think I'll kiss the ground when I get off!!:) I have been having to pray a BUNCH to stay with it and  not throw up or fear this whole newness  --So that part is good! I've done a ton a bunch of things in last 24 I've never done... Flying, new states.. And seeing more Chinese people then ever :)

 June 8th

Hey everyone! 

 Mim and I have arrived in the Philippines and are finally where we will be staying! :) PTL!! I have never been on such a long trip!!! Was NEVER so happy to arrive and sleep sleep sleep..

The weather here is crazy hot, just like we knew it'd be. I never knew how amazing a fan was until we got one... after the first couple nights, it was a dream. :)

   We're living on the side of a hill in a bamboo hut.  The bathroom has no roof, and the shower is aka the river. It's a bit different than home. :)

The first day here we walked to a tribe up the river from us and they did a small medical clinic for them. Then yesterday I helped put my first nipa (sorta like a palm/pineapple tree leaf) roof on! :) We sewed it on with something like fishing line. They were "shingles" about a foot wide and two foot long. It was pretty hot work and we didn't last quite as long as the Filipino's did. :) But the boys will be thankful for a nice roof that doesn't leak as soon as it's done! :)  So I can add that to my resume.. :)

Today it has been raining some and the boys are making bunk beds for Mim’s and my hut. Jake and I dug out some steps from the hill we have to climb. I'll be in shape just from walking up and down the hill to the bathroom and river!

Please be praying for Mim and John Langham. Mim is sick with a sore throat and headache and John has been sleeping most of day with a bad headache and feeling bad (maybe from too much sun).

 I was able to come to one of the family’s houses today to get on the internet. So far it's been a good trip... if you skip the 3 days of travel I wanted to die on. :) I'm looking forward to what God can do with me the rest of the time I'm here! :)

 I pray you all are doing GREAT and loving Jesus more every day. :)  The Philippines is a great trip to come help, and it makes America look like heaven. :)

   Love you all!!! Liz

Take off in 3 1/2 days!!!!!!!!!!

WOW, it's already here!!! Seems like a couple weeks ago we decided we were going! =)
   Liz and I have yet to pack anything, but that's what 5am mornings are for the day you leave, right?  Haha, Mom would so kill us!!  We're planning on getting everything done tomorrow and Tuesday. Wednesday we drive up to IN because we're going to spend the night with John and Kelsey before we fly out Thursday.
     I'm pretty sure our whole group has their 2nd suitcase full of donations and that will such a blessing to the Filipinos! I'm super excited we are able to bring so much stuff to help with the ministry! Thank you everyone who contributed!
      This will be my last posting before we leave!!!  I'm hoping to be able to post every couple weeks over there and upload pictures, but we'll see what happens!  Everyone please feel free to email me and let me know what's going on state side!! (mimjtrue@yahoo.com)  I might not reply , but I'd love to hear from everyone!!!
      I thought I'd put our flight info on here, for anyone that's interested =) (probably no one, but =)  Okay, our flight leaves IN at 3:30 with a 2 1/2 hour flight to Houston.  From Houston we have a 3 1/2 hour flight to LA. Then our longest leg of the journey is from LA to Guangzhou Baiyun China -13 or 14 hours. From China we have a 2 hours flight to Manila.   Total, with flights and layovers, we'll be traveling for about 36 hours!!  We leave Thursday, June 2nd at 3:30 and get there Saturday June 4th at 6pm.!!  We lose a day going and gain a day coming home! Weird huh?
     Bye USA!!!  Hope to hear from all you guys while we're gone!! 


     We would really appreciate you praying for us each day while we are gone. Pray especially for Elizabeth while we are flying. This is her first time flying and it's a long one!! Pray for jet lag issues too. Pray we might have chances to share the Lord with people on our flights.

Thanks for Your Help!!

These are the items we have received so far along with financial contributions

We really appreciate friends and family who have sent contributions for our Philippines trip!!

Some people have asked us if we are going to send out a letter asking for contributions. No, we won't be sending one out. Some of our friends may be doing fund raisers before we go to help raise some money, but we aren't personally. We want to leave it up to those who feel led to give ...  to give. There is a need for money for materials for the clinic being built and the every day operation of the already existing clinics.


We are getting excited about the trip. Time is flying as we prepare for it. Please continue to pray for us to be prepared physically and spiritually. 

WE HAVE TICKETS!!!

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 !

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

Green light!

Okay, Hey Everyone!

  I've never had a blog so this is all new to me. I wanted some where to share some exciting things that are happening in the True household!  

    This summer Liz and I are going to be going to Olongapo, Philippines! We heard that John and Kelsey Moore, a young married couple,were planning on taking a trip to the Philippines to work with a mission group called Mercy in Action. http://www.mercyinaction.com/ The goal of Mercy in Action is to set up midwifery clinics(for women and children's health care) in different towns and villages. They usually rent a building to set up their clinics, but have felt a calling to reach the Aeta tribe. They will be building a clinic in the mountains, since there are no buildings to rent. 

    John and Kelsey are going down to stay indefinitely and encouraged others to come down to help with the process of getting this clinic started.  Mercy in Action also has asked them to have a garden and for the girls that will be going to work with the children of this tribe in some way.  I'm super excited because I will get to be involved in the midwifery/medical side of things. I will be doing a midwife internship for several months (still deciding on how long)

     Plans are not set for when we will leave, but it will be sometime mid June. I may be gone for up to 3 months. Liz will be gone for a month. 

     Some of you reading this will already know the people going on this trip, but most of you won't so I want to give you the names-- John and Kelsey Moore, Levi Langham, Orissa and Miji Mora-Kent, Jared Lindsey, Elizabeth and Miriam True. There are a few others still praying about going too.

   If you want to help you can pray for us as we prepare. Pray for us to have the funds we need to travel there, to live there, and to build the clinic. Pray for us to be ready spiritually and physically. Pray especially for John as he heads things up. Pray we will learn the lessons the Lord wants to teach us while we are there. Pray that we will be able to reach this tribe for the Lord.