Matt and Kristin in the Philippines

My sister-in-law (Hi Kelly!) just asked us what we were looking forward to upon returning. That question deserves a long answer, and I thought others might like to hear about it, too.

We've just returned from what I've been calling my "Farewell Tour" to Mangagoy and the surrounding areas. We visited the church where I've lived in the community in a rather different way than we live here in Davao, and I preached in Visaya. That's a story in itself, especially since my Visaya is in no way good enough to give a public speech. We said goodbye to one of my host pastors there in Mangagoy and the congregation. We also visited my other host pastor (that's his daughter Tamica in the picture. She was born two days before I arrived to in Mangagoy to live with their family in October) in his new assignment several hours away, as he transferred last May from Mangagoy.

There's a lot to say about how it feels to be coming home soon. But I'm not going to talk about that right now. This is just to let people know, since some have been asking, when we're coming back and where we're coming back to.

Our itinerary leaves Manila on August 16 and arrives in Chicago on August 16, even though we will be travelling for 24 hours. The metaphysics of time zones still confuses me.

We'll stay with friends for a couple days to decompress a little, and then we'll begin moving into our new apartment at McCormick housing. Our new address is

5539 S Kimbark Avenue, Apt. 3E

Yup. Blessing vehicles is a common practice here. While fraught with theological pitfalls, I've seen pastors use it as an opportunity to affirm a rejection of materialism and not putting too much emphasis on our posessions, which seems kind of ironic, but works.

These cars were going to be used for community based health services, so that redeemed the event for me. And I let the nun handle the part with the holy water, in a Virgin Mary plastic bottle with the cap screwed on her head. Hail Mary, full of water...

Perhaps being in a more global context has raised my awareness of the injustices around the world, but I've been swept up and emotionally drained by the nightmare already well unfolded between Lebanon and Israel.

There is another American woman here whose friend was serving as a volunteer in Beirut. He recently emailed saying he had escaped to Syria, also a volatile country, with his Muslim companion. They intend to flee to Turkey and hopefully make it to the American Embassy. The one in Lebanon has not been in existence for quite some time.

Yesterday, Israel bombed the last major highway of Beirut. Airports blaze in the night, bombs shatter the stars and the sun, leaving bridges, roads, homes, and people blasted and destroyed in their wake. The footage is ugly; Israel has claimed anything as a fair target, including civilian homes where a woman drinking her morning coffee was killed.

There's a good reason why Hershey's chocolate chips cannot be found in the ordinary Filipino cupboard, besides the fact that a lot of people don't have cupboards. Or that it would be vulnerable to any combination of varmints, rats, cockroaches, ants. Or that they're ridiculously expensive even by American standards (imagine that, imported US goods expensive, who would have thought?).

Hershey's can't handle the heat. Matt and I received a surprise package a few weeks ago, laden with Hershey's Kisses, Trident, and other goodies that disappeared rather quickly. But we all got a good laugh at the mangled Kisses, swallowing that little paper strip into its center and wrinkling itself up like an 87 year old man's cheek.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about living in a different culture is that learning occurs on all levels. Our understanding has been challenged and broadened by the realities of poverty, political repression, global economics, imperialism, and other really "big" issues. Yet at the same time, there's all sorts of little things that are just a little different, or little things that are a lot different, or just little things that are kind of somewhat similar but a little bit less similar than one might expect and...well, you get the point.

So here's some of the little stuff I've been thinking of recently. Simple living is an emphasis of our program, but we're also in a country where people often live simply by necessity rather than choice. The distinction between forced poverty and elected simplicity is extremely important, but that's getting to one of the big issues again.

Lessons in Potty Training (Specific to the Philippines, but relevant throughout the global communities of toilets or lack thereof)

1. Approach with caution. Cockroaches, spiders the size of my fist, mosquitoes, an occasional rat have been known to frequent centers of personal hygiene.

2. Cuff your pants. Wet CR is a clean CR ("CR" stands for "Comfort Room"). Your pants do not look clean wet.

3.. You might not have a toilet seat. Or toilet bowl. Or much more than a dirt floor to squat on.

4. In the event of outdoor bladder relief, be sure you have a sarong, if you are a woman. When squatting, avoid tall prickly plants and car headlights. Try not to splash on your feet.

It's been hard to read the news the past few days.

On June 17 the headline was "GMA orders Reds crushed in two years."

Let's first translate the acronyms:

"GMA" stands for Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the current president of the Philippines, under whose administration human rights violations have risen every year, now often compared to the severity known during the regime of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

"Reds" refers to communists, specifically the NPA, or New People's Army, the revolutionary militia of the Communist Party of the Philippines, a recognized legal organization.

Right now, I'm watching the election of the Moderator of the PC(USA) General Assembly live via the Internet.

This technology stuff really is amazing. GA has switched from paper documents (a LOT of paper) to an online system that gives everyone access to the documents electronically. The first thing I watched live on the webcast was a discussion of the GA saying lots of people were having trouble accessing the electronic document system, but I said back to the screen, "I'm in the Philippines and I can access it!"
I don't think anyone at GA heard me.

I was up late last night reading the profiles of the candidates for Moderator, and I got up early to not miss the election stuff. I needn't have bothered, as it appears the PC(USA) GA is on "Filipino time" already.

No, he didn't die, he was shot. Just as the other 70+ activists killed throughout the country since January.

I saw the lifeless arm of Marcus Bangit sprawled from beneath the white sheet, his black Velcro shoes, on this evening's news. He was an activist with the Cordillera People's Alliance, an organization "committed to the promotion and defense of indigenous peoples’ rights, human rights, social justice, and national freedom and democracy."(www.cpaphils.org) The same Cordillera People's Alliance who just hosted Cordi Day.

Since peoples' rights, human rights, social justice, and national freedom and democracy are obviously threats to Gloria Macapagal-Arroy's administration, he was silenced. Along with hundreds of comrades in this endless struggle for justice.