Q: Is there anyone you know who was hurt in the recent typhoon?
A: We don't know anyone who lives in the Visayas where the storm hit hardest, but it was truly devastating for the people that live there so any time you think of them pray for their recovery. Our New Tribes Mission Pilots have been flying around to as many of the little islands as they can to help the more remote people. Pray that this will be a platform for future missionaries to be able to reach these remote people with the gospel.
Q: What kind of animals will you encounter?
A: "In the waters of the Philippines there are more than 2000 different kinds of fish. Added to that figure, the country counts about 200 different kinds of reptiles and 25000 different insects. The smallest monkey and the biggest fish in the world, they both live in the Philippines!" In truth, I'm not looking forward to the bug portion of this quote... they have tarantulas, giant centipedes, and 14 different poisonous snakes. On a more positive/fun note they have the Philippine Mouse Deer. This is the world’s smallest hoofed mammal and they have the Philippine Flying Lemur. It is one of two species of lemurs that can fly, and this one is found exclusively in the Philippines.
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| Don't these guys look cute! They're geckos that the people of the Visayas call Mga Tokó. They'll most likely be living on our walls.... I'm not sure how cute they'll be then. Of course, if they eat bugs I think I could warm up to them. |
Q: What is Filipino food like?
A: The Philippines is considered a tropical climate so there is a wide variety of fresh fruit. Also, the Philippines are an archipelago so with all the coast line there is a lot of sea food. They are also famous for their rice terraces so there is plenty of rice and rice products like rice flour, noodles, spring rolls, sticky rice balls and many other varieties.
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| The Banaue rice terraces |
Brace yourself for this next food. You may have heard of it before, it's called Balut. It is a developing duck embryo that is boiled alive and eaten in the shell. It is commonly sold as street food in the Philippines. People generally season it with salt or a chili, garlic and vinegar sauce. Needless to say, I will be avoiding that one as long as possible. :)
Q: Will you have to build your own house?
A: The first 2-3 years we will be living close to the city so we will rent a house during that time, but when we move out into the jungle to live with a tribal group there is a chance that we will have to build our own home. It will likely be more similar to an American house than a tribal house. Obviously we want to blend in with the community, but we also want to be able to rest and recharge so we can work with the people. That means we get to find the balance of what is familiar/comforting to us and where we need to change the way live.
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| Missionary house in The Philippines. |
Hopefully this was interesting and enlightening for you! If you have more questions you'd like answered You can e-mail us at alex_williams@ntm.org or you can leave a comment at the bottom of this post. If we get enough questions I'll put them into a blogpost for everyone to see.
