One Month in.

This week I “celebrated” my one month anniversary in the Philippines, but really it’s my second full month since I was here for a month last year right after Yolanda struck.  This month has gone by really fast. I’ve been stretched and learned so much.  I’m frequently uncomfortable in my work assignments and constantly find myself pushing myself to do something I have never done before.  Give me a truck full of relief supplies and a few thousand people and I am golden.  Give me a vague assignment to design a recovery program and tell me to budget half a million dollars, not so golden.  But, God is gracious, I am a quick leaner and my brain is slowly remembering grad school material from 5 years ago.  In the spirit of appreciative inquiry, here are some positive reflections from the past month.

1. Being the only American.  Up until this week, I was the only American on our team.  That has never, ever happened. I found myself seriously outnumbered by Austrialian and their funny words, Indians and their affection for spicy foods and Canadians and their dang politeness.  However, last night as I sat at dinner with a Swede, Chinese, Canadian, Australian and Korean I realized this is exactly what the kingdom of God will look like.  All tribes, all colors, all nations, worshiping the Lord and living in harmony.  It’s beautiful and I get to practice the Kingdom here on earth every day.
2. I have spend dozens of hours staring my a computer screen.  That’s not really a highlight but I am writing constantly and learning to be a better communicator, that’s the highlight.  It feels  good to turn thoughts to words and a blank white .doc file to something unique and purposeful.    I suppose that writing has somehow replaced my photography but I hope to get pictures going soon.  I haven’t really taken any in the past month but that will change. 
3. Navigation.  I tend to have a pretty good sense of direction.  I can look at a map once and generally remember it and I usually remember how to get back from where I came from- unless I am in New Jersey but even GPS’s don’t want to navigate in the Garden State.  Anyways, I am slowly learning a new city, where my coffee shop “Brew Tea Full” is, where church is, where that place with the awesome cinnamon rolls is, where the UNICEF office is, where the best French fries can be found, etc.  Notice the food locations are retained quite easily.  Don’t ask me where my project activities are- just ask for the Dunkin Donuts that just re-opened.  3 blocks down, 2 over. Not far from the blown out McDonalds.
4. I’ve settled into a bit of a routine, as I should since it’s been a month already.  I run 3-4 times a week and I may not be fast, or light on my feet, but I sweat and my legs move and I like the time to pray through the day or jam out to some tunes.  My times running the golf cart paths bring me back to Karamoja with Sully keeping up and chasing after goats on the marrum roads of moroto.  I may do a 5K on the 9^th to benefit the fire department.

I break my deployments into chunks.  I’m one month into 6.  I’ll take a week break in 2 months, then push through the last 3 but hopefully I will have many more months in the Philippines.