September 28th, 2006
Hello Everyone!
We are still 100% here in the Philippines and committed to caring for the poor in Jesus’ name. It felt awfully strange to book our flights this week, but so wonderful to know we will be seeing most of you in January when we return. Our flight is booked to arrive in Vancouver on January 16th!
As of last Monday, the clinic in Mandaluyong is now officially closed and all our birth equipment and supplies have been moved out. All the Mercy in Action homes surrounding the clinic are moved out, as many midwives have moved to other areas. They are either in Antipolo [1-1.5 hours away from here] working with another clinic or in Puerto Galera, where they are setting up a clinic for a Filipino doctor we partner with.
This past week, Richard has been involved with two medical outreaches. One was almost two hours North of Manila, where they treated 130 people in one day, and the other was in Quezon City a few days ago, where they helped an equal number! God has been so good to provide the people and medications to do this! On Saturday we will do another medic outreach in partnership with a feeding program. During the last medical outreach, Richard and another medic were operating the pharmacy and dispensing medications. A woman came for meds and he asked her how she was doing. Upon delving a little deeper, he discovered that she has been struggling with blurry vision. Richard and an interpreter sat down to pray together with her, and Richard prayed that her sight would become clear again. After they prayed, she had a huge smile on her face. When Richard asked her, through the interpreter, why she was smiling, she told him that she could see clearly again. What an amazing God we serve!
The kids are still enjoying school, where they have met new friends and are learning some more Tagalog. They both did very well on their first report cards. Danieke’s marks were above 80% in all of her subjects, including Filipino and Filipino history (both taught in Tagalog!). This is our chance to just say how proud we are of her hard work! Marijke is reading short selections in Kindergarten here. It’s quite something to see her reading group walk back to class from the reading room. All the kids are in single file, silent as mice and walk with their hands behind their backs…A little different from Canadian school! The expectations of children’s behaviour in school are pretty high, but the kids let loose right after school!
Jocelyn and a group of midwives from Mercy finished teaching prenatal classes this week to the group of women who live behind our church in the squatter area. Three of them have given birth at home to healthy babies. Unfortunately, they missed each birth by minutes! One of the women had her first contraction and fifteen minutes later had her baby! Since Eva and Mike lived closest, Jocelyn called them to go be with her, until midwives could arrive. We are grateful for the “Fast” emergency response EMS! So, our group of midwives has been called on three times to come assess baby and mom and cut the umbilical cord! In total, we had seven classes, and though those classes are finished, we continue to offer these women prenatal care on Wednesdays. She is excited to partner with two of our Filipina midwives and Eva Fast to offer this care to women!
Jocelyn is also beginning to train Eva as a midwife. They are meeting once or twice a week to talk over assignments and practical skills. Eva is collaborating with us in the care of our women at church as well as possibly attending home births with us. She brings her added expertise in Tagalog as well as lots of experience as a public health nurse! Jocelyn is excited about passing on what she has learned to someone else. This really is one of our values, to pass on what we know to others, who can, in turn, teach someone else. Each one, reach one, teach one…This is an opportunity to begin to gather teaching materials, so that when we are in another country, Jocelyn can be prepared to train midwives to reach women and their families for Christ! Prenatal care offers such an amazing opportunity to build relationships with women, pray with them, and share the hope we have in a relationship with Christ. As trust is built, and God provides us with insight into each woman’s life, we can pray together to invite Christ in to heal brokenness.
On Sunday night, Jocelyn and Gerlene, one of our Filipina midwives, spoke at our church’s “women’s net”, women’s event, about Women’s Wellness. They focused especially on Breast Cancer, Breast Self Exam, Cervical Cancer and the importance of Pap testing. Many women here do not have the information they need regarding these subjects. We will be following up with a free clinic, at a later date, for women who wish Pap testing, but who are unable to access it due to finances. Jocelyn and Eva, along with a group of volunteer midwives, hope to offer free tests to the first 50 women who come, and hope to hold this event at MMBC, our church! An interesting “women’s” outreach…
Most women we know who live in the squatter areas have never had money for this type of testing. Every day, ten Filipino women die of cervical cancer and the country has the highest incidence of breast cancer in Asia. It is estimated that 14,000 new cases are diagnosed and 6,000 women die of breast cancer every year in the Philippines. This information and testing can be lifesaving for these women.
We are continuing ministry in Welfareville, caring for the people who live there and working alongside our Filipino friends. There are new opportunities to become involved in ministry there and we are looking forward to our next four months here! God is good, even though we had to move in a different direction than we had anticipated, we are still moving forward with him!
Thank you for all your prayers for Matthijs and Jocelyn while they were sick. They are much better now and have recovered from their high fevers, rashes and exhaustion. You are a great team. Please pray with us for the next four months, that God will work everything He desires in us and through us to impact people here for Christ. We want to be right by His side.
Our Global Ministries director, Diane, has let us know that we have been about $300.00 short in our support account each month for the past three months. Would you pray with us that God will supply what we require to live here and minister? We have not felt stressed about this, but are sharing this with you so you can pray with us to have these needs covered. Our God is the source of all resources and we are trusting Him! We have felt provided for here and are blessed with the many who have partnered with us financially, spiritually and emotionally as we have served here. We could not have been here without you!
Looking forward to the next four months is bittersweet. We will continue reaching out to the poor, sharing the hope we have in Jesus Christ. In early January we will be beginning to say goodbyes to good friends, and getting ready to say hellos to our friends in Canada. It is a strange feeling.
As we write this, we are in the middle of Typhoon “Xangsane”. It is a signal three warning in Manila, with winds approaching 185 km to 210 km an hour and torrential rain. As we sit in our weather proof house, we are praying for the many here living in areas that will flood, who have no shelter and who may be homeless at the end of this storm. Especially, for those living in Welfareville. Jocelyn was there on Sunday, and even without rain, there were already many alleys flooded with water and sewage, impassable unless one was to wade through, which many do, or had stepping stones to navigate through. Please pray with us, that God will provide for these families. It is 8 am, and the worst of the storm will not hit until 12 pm.
We love you and want to thank you for your continued partnership in ministry with us!
The Jelsma Family
Richard, Jocelyn, Danieke, Marijke and Matthijs
Please pray with us:
That God will continue to show us how to reach the poor here for the Kingdom
For Richard, who will be traveling to Palawan for a 2-4 week medical outreach (with Jocelyn joining half way through with the kids on school break!)
For our family as we travel to Tabuk, Kalinga for Oct 4-10, to attend the wedding of a friend and to experience “But But” tribal life in Pakak. Please pray for our protection against malaria. We will be sleeping under mosquito nets in a Nipa hut!
For future direction as we look beyond this year to where God is leading us and for a smooth transition in January to life in Surrey!
Thank God with us for Jocelyn and Matthijs’ returned health! Please pray for Marijke, who has a skin problem right now.
For a livelihood project we are considering pioneering in partnership with the Fasts to raise money for girls who live in the squatter area behind our church, to enable them to attend college (a microenterprise project)
Links to photos of the last few months…Have a look see!
http://jelsmafamilypics.shutterfly.com/
