Newsletter October 2007

Dear Prayer Warriors! 
These last few weeks have been a roll coaster ride of adjustments and new learning experiences! 

Our clinic was up for recertification by the Department of Health. After much scrutiny and a lot of compliance, we passed our review and are better than ever!

But there is another obstacle that needs to be considered. The reviewer wants us to try and become a school certified by the Board of Education in the Philippines. But we don't fit that mold. Please pray that we are able to explain this to the local officials and that we wouldn't be delayed by this.

Feed the Poor

Recently we decided to love on the locals more! And serve the poor by giving them food as well as free health care! We pooled our resources and raised over $800 dollars. We bought food, bagged it and handed it out to every woman who came in for a prenatal check up! We have money left over, so we’ll be doing it again in a few weeks!

Boating…. Burning…. and Bobbing…

The other day… a group of us rented a boat and spent the day relaxing on the beach, snorkeling and just getting to know one another better! It was a blast! I was the only one not to get sunburned! Thanks to all that Mexican blood running through my veins! Thanks Mom! :- ) Okay… the four layers of sun block must have helped too!!!

But while I was there I learned some interesting things about the locals! Filipinos hide from the sun. While on the beach, I noticed NO ONE was laying out. I was the only ‘crazy coconut’ soaking up the sun!

One of my directors turned to me and said, “You know, Steph, it’s actually ‘cool’ to be white here!” And of course, she’s right!

Tanning salons don’t exist here! The whiter you are the better! At the store there are huge sections of the beauty isle dedicated to whitening soap, whitening lotion, whitening creams and whitening powders. It’s like bleach for your skin. I watch women walking down the street on a bright sunny day carrying an umbrella. If not, they have a bag on top of their head or are hiding in some way, shape or form. I personally love their brownness... but maybe i'll be hiding from the sun in a little while too!