Yesterday I got a nice break from the birth center. When I first got here, there was a record low in births so I was starting to get antsy. Now there's almost always at least one mom in labor. Sometimes there's as many as four or five. Many of the births happen at night so I've been really tired.
Anyway, yesterday was Sunday so I texted Deborah to see if I could go to church with them. She said I could so I arrived at their house at 7am.
The Gundersons and Gustafsons have a tradition where every Sunday they go to McDonalds and eat pancakes. So I joined them. It was fun. After not having pancakes in a while (normally we do it Saturday or Sunday for dinner in my family), even McDonalds pancakes tasted good (I know, I'm pathetic...) :-D
After McDonalds, we walked to church. Union Church of Manila is a combination of Filipino and international congregants. The services are in English. The first service, which we attend, is a more modern service with regard to the music.
Since I've only been able to attend church three times since arriving in the Philippines, it was really nice singing some of my favorite songs - especially
In Christ Alone - to a lively beat. Before I knew what I was doing, my hands were signing. I've signed the songs I've sung every Sunday since I was ten-years-old, or so. Since my voice isn't strong, I feel like I worship God best during the singing when my hands are signing. If I'm not signing the songs, then I either don't know the song, don't know any of the signs for the song, or am not paying good attention (not that I've ever done that before...*innocent glance*)
The message was decent. Not anywhere near as good as Pastor Davey's, but I can't complain. The pastors are preaching from the book of Acts and the message yesterday was about how we can share the Good News of the Gospel through both our words and our actions.
After the service, I went with the Gustafsons to the library and enjoyed myself browsing the wide range of titles. While I was looking at books, a middle aged man came up to me and asked if I was the girl who was signing.
"Yes, I was,"
He smiled and said, "I work with a group out here that advocates for the deaf community in Manila. We've been trying to get the news networks to also have someone sign during the news." Then he started telling me about his work and the deaf community out here. He said he'd send Deborah some information to pass along to me about it. I'm looking forward to seeing it! :-D
Next, we headed to the pastor's home for the afternoon. Two years ago, Pastor Steve was in a horrific accident out here and broke his spine, severely damaging his spinal cord. He was told he'd never walk again and was a paraplegic (I think that's the word - whatever Joni Erickson Tada has). However, God miraculously healed him so that, while he doesn't have complete control over everything and can't feel everything, he can walk and is no longer paralyzed. It was amazing talking with him and hearing his story. What a testimony!
We ended up staying at Pastor Steve's home for all the afternoon. We even stayed for dinner. It was such a relaxing afternoon getting to just sit and fellowship with everyone, even though they were (almost) complete strangers. However, I'm sure by the time I leave they won't be strangers. :-D
Anyway, that brief day away was what I "needed" and now I'm happy to be back into the swing-of-things out here, ready to learn more midwifery skills and work alongside the midwives in serving the moms out here.
Ok, sorry if this post seemed a bit drawn-out and rambly. I was just writing my thoughts down as they came to me. :-D
