Zoobic Safari!

We returned home today after a very fun day at a zoo safari in a town just about 3 hours from Manila. We were celebrating Father's Day a week late and had a great time! Davis, Dan, Aunt Sarah and I headed out and had a great adventure! We were even able to take a picture with a young Bengal tiger. Davis and I wore our Auburn shirts in honor of our favorite mascot. Go Tigers!

In the park you are able to have a "close encounter" with the tigers. We fed them a chicken through a little window in our jeepney (well, a "chicken handler" did!) Davis did so great-- we thought he might be scared, but he loves animals and loved the tigers!

As well as tigers we saw many other animals. Here Davis is nose to nose with Mr. Camel!

Sarah is one of our best friends in the Philippines. She is Aunt Sarah to Davis and we were so glad that she was able to come on this trip!

Everywhere we go Davis meets so many friends. One of the ladies in our tour group asked if she could take a picture with Davis. He didn't mind! I think that one thing I am going to miss when we move back to the USA is that Davis won't quite be the center of attention that he is anywhere we go. :) Here in Manila everyone talks to him, smiles at him, and loves him. He is such a content, happy baby!

After a day at the zoo, our little guy was very tired! He was a trouper though!

4.5 months?

Two things really hit me hard this morning. As I was walking from our house to the office where I coordinate short-term teams, I thought, "Are we really going to be back in the United States in only five months?! Only five months?!" Although our official arrival date is November 12, we are actually departing the one week before that so that we can properly "unpack" this time in the Philippines before restarting our lives in the States. (That'll happen in Washington State.)Therefore, we'll actually be leaving here in a shade over 4.5 months!

The second relevation came as I opened up my email and saw a message from our Personnel department. It was sent to all 200+ of my fellow co-workers in the Philippines, and the subject read, "Critical Needs". Number 2 in the list:

"Short-term Team Coordinator—Dan leaves the position vacant in November, 2007"

Both revelations can really humble a guy. To realize that the last three years of training and service has now come down to 4.5 months makes you reconsider your effectiveness. Can we really "finish well" here in a way that glorifies Him? If no one is found to take the mantle of leading short-term teams to the Philippines, then what will happen?

It's not that we aren't excited about coming home. We are. Definitely. But there's a bunch of things that this family needs to do before before we can get to that stage! Time's a-wasting!

See you soon!

Which word would you use?

This just came across my desk the other day...always interesting to see what kind of obstacles Bible translators are up against:

In Matthew 15:28, Jesus says, 'Woman, you have great faith!' Which word would you choose for ‘woman’ in the Ziga language?

Ziga terms of address:
Dahnuengx: single girl younger than oneself
Mehbaj: married woman 30-50
Daxceh: single girl older than oneself
Mehlaux: married woman 50-70
Mehsim: married woman under 30
Mehgeq: very old woman



Hmm...



Pray for Bible translators to have wisdom when word equivalents don’t match up between languages.