Jan 2007 Back in Canada

Hi everyone,
To let you all know, we have arrived safely back in Canada on Tuesday morning Jan 16th.
We almost did not make it back when the Filipinos in Manila discovered that we had a few Big shells packed. Truly we did not know that this was not allowed. So, with an honest face they let us go. Then arrived in Canada they made us hand over the blowgun that Richard received from a tribal pastor in Palawan. He could get it back within 40 days in 2 ways; either to drill holes into the bamboo pipe or to fully glue it in.

We were greeted by several friends at the airport, some who had taken the day off from work. It was so nice to see them all, we felt so welcomed and loved by everyone. Coming home we landed in cold Surrey, freezing and snow on the ground, what a temperature difference! Straight from the airport went directly to our church to be welcomed home by another probably 20 people.
Soon after were brought to our new place in Fleetwood area in Surrey. We now live in a basement of Korean friends. It is an amazing place, way larger then we thought. The kid’s bedroom is probably 4 times bigger as their place in Manila. Really we are a little overwhelmed on how we are being blessed here. Even our friends had filled our cupboards with food and stuff. Also they had setup our place already with things that we had put into storage. We are so thankful to all of you who played a part in that including our church.

Before we left the Philippines we had to say many goodbyes. It started at the kid’s school. We did a lunch thing for their class the Friday before. The kids had a great time; this was a good way to finish up their time in the Philippines.

On the last Sunday said goodbyes at church and in the afternoon had people come over to our place for food. Many neighbors and friends came. Throughout the afternoon we probably had 40-50 people. It was such a nice time together.


So, now back in Canada! We are slowly adjusting to the time difference, but overall are doing well. We can’t believe we are actually here now.
A lot of our stuff is unpacked already but still a bunch to go. Jocelyn’s parents will be coming here the end of the month for 4 days. Shortly after on February 5th Jocelyn will be flying to Ohio to study and take the NARM [North American Registered Midwifery] exam, which is a requirement for her to finish the program. She will be there from the 5th till the 25th studying together and taking the exam with another midwife and friend Bobbie. This will be very important for her to pass as this will be an international recognized certification in midwifery and needed for overseas work.

For those of you who are supporting us financially; we ask of you to continue your support for another month as Richard will not be able to work as he will stay with the kids until Jocelyn’s return.

Thank you all so much for all your support in the last year and a half. We are amazed how you have rallied around us and supported and encouraged us in our calling!

Oct/November 2006 Lots of adventures!

Here we are again, with half a book of adventures and stories from the last two months!
On October 4th we left to Tabuk, Kalinga Apayao for a friend’s wedding. We pulled our kids out of school for a few days as Richard was a groomsman and we wanted them to experience life in the northern tribal areas. We had a wonderful time together visiting old friends and making new ones.
The 10 hour bus trip was eventful as it often can be in the Philippines. On the way to Tabuk, in the evening, all of the sudden we heard a bang on the bus window toward the back and the sound of shattering glass. We looked back to see that one of the side windows was completely gone. Someone had sling shot rocks at the bus! You have to understand the buses race through tiny towns and don’t stop for much except for food and washroom break [CR (comfort room)as they call it here]. Even so, the bus driver glanced back and continued driving! Half an hour later, the driver stopped, filled the hole in the window with a big piece of cardboard, and swept up the glass. We were thankful to not be sitting in that area! Later, we encountered an accident where a whole truckful of fish had toppled over and there were live fish all over the road! Residents from the area were running down the highway with armfuls of flopping fish!

We arrived early Thursday morning in Tabuk at our friend’s house. They dropped us off at the motel that we had booked for three nights. The place was comfortable, basic, and run by a Christian cooperative! To stay there and eat was around $20 a day! The wedding was on the Saturday, so we had a great time reconnecting with friends and with preparations.

It was a great wedding and an honor to be part of! The youth that Chris and Cathee disciple did tribal dancing right after the ceremony. After the wedding we had a feast at the church with lots of food and fellowship. Three pigs had been slaughtered as people had come from all the surrounding But But villages. Later, the party continued with tribal dancing at Chris and Cathee’s house.
The following day we left for Pakak, a But But resettlement village. Both Jocelyn and Richard had been here once before, Richard with the medic team and Jocelyn doing dental work. It was great to be there together again and see our friends! We stayed in the mission house the community has built. Our kids were the first caucasian kids that stayed in the village and drew lots of attention… We loved seeing our kids just running and playing around with these kids, seemingly oblivious to the language barrier!

We stayed three days! During which we did not go hungry… Everyday we were invited into houses to eat and drink Kalinga coffee. On Canadian thanksgiving we happened to be invited to three houses for supper. At the first house we had peanut coffee, rice with ground peanuts and some beans. The second house provided massive bowls of sticky rice, which we thought was supper but was apparently just a “snack”. After that, out came the fish and frogs..yes frogs! At first we were a little concerned…Having never before consumed amphibians. As we dove in, so did our kids… Both Danieke and Marijke ate frog, Matthijs on the other hand did not…but chowed down on 2 huge bowls of sticky rice. Marijke grabbed the whole frog head and took it down, impressive! Danieke ate the frog’s body and after she also showed us a fisheye and ate it. Truly mk’s or what! (We were chickens and took only the frog legs!) Actually frog tastes much like chicken. After frogs for our entrée, we had one more stop, the pastor’s house again! Here we ate more rice, chicken, green beans and of course more coffee. Felt like a progressive dinner But But style! We rolled back to our Nipa hut that night, crawled under our mosquito nets and felt blessed to experience tribal family life and But But hospitality! Upon our return to Manila, Richard had 3 days to prepare to leave for a medic team outreach on Palawan.

Palawan Medical Outreach ‘Mission Possible’
October 13th-24th

Finally, after a few months of organizing this outreach we were finally off! I had connected with a YWAM base in early August on Palawan and they welcomed us back with amazing hospitality! We had heard of great health needs in the tribal areas. The people in the lowlands consider the mountain people outcasts… truly the ‘least of these’.
Thank you to all who prayed for our team as we reached out to tribal people in Palawan.

On October 13th at 7.00 pm we left by ferry from Manila Bay with our team of 6 people to the island of Palawan. After the first12 hours we entered the Port of Coron on the Northern tip of Palawan. This was just a short stop and we continued to the Port of Puerto Princessa for another 12 hours, so our total time at sea was 24 hours!
We arrived on October 14th at about 7.00 pm and were picked up by Kuya Mar and Kuya Art from the YWAM base. We settled in for the night after reconnecting and hearing the exciting things God is doing there! We went to church in town the next morning. On Monday morning we left to Quezon province, Rizal, Randsang on an 8 hour bus ride. We arrived in the dark, but the base had a few solar panels to light our path! We made introductions, set up sleeping arrangements including mosquito nets, and had supper. Later at night we went down the path to bathe in the creek and wash some clothes. Girls first guys later. Later in the week, met up with a scorpion on the path to the creek!
The plan for the next day was health and evangelical outreach at the local high school. In the morning we registered our names at the local government [Baranguay], so they knew who we were and what we were doing. After we went for a nice swim in the ocean, back to the base for lunch and finished getting ready for the outreach. We began the outreach with a couple of fun games to break the ice and continued with health teachings covering basic things like, sanitation, nutrition, malaria, diarrhea and basic support for the sick. We made it really fun, did some skits and included the audience by making 2 teams to come up with answers for our health questions. After this a young guy stood up and asked, why would we come all the way there and do the work we do? The simple answer is, because God cares for them, we do too and we demonstrate that by what we do. After this we sang a few worship songs, danced and had a great time. After Bradley and Joshua shared their testimonies it was my turn. One of the songs we sing is, ‘The Lord Is Gracious and Compassionate’ taken straight from Psalm 103. So I shared my testimony and incorporate Psalm 103. How wonderful to share of the grace of God, the forgiveness of sins and how God redeemed me from the pit. After this time I invited people to come forward for whatever reason, needing prayer for anything in their lives or wanting to know Jesus! Many responded! What an amazing God who calls us all in different ways.

The next day we took inventory of our medical supplies, spent time with the YWAM staff sharing, worshipping and praying together. We also did medical checkups for the tribal DTS students and staff at the base. They had been praying for a team to come, and God answered with us. Humbling. I took care of Pastor Lumihay from a tribe named Taout Batu a cave dwelling people group. He has had eye problems for more then 2 years. I put some eye drops in which was very painful for him and then we prayed for God to heal him.

The next morning when I saw him, he had a big smile on his face and his eye problem almost completely gone, Praise God! We had some free time in afternoon so walked back to the beach. On our return home, huge bats fly over us. What a sight! In the evening we made our last preparations to get ready for next outreach in a tribe called ‘Summoro’. In the am we hiked for one hour to a village where we meet a pastor who is also a painter. He uses this gift to teach youth how to paint. A few days later he brought our team 3 paintings as gift.

In Summoro we see about 65 people. Wherever we go there are always a few very ill people but for the most part we see just basic problems, most of which can be prevented by drinking more water and eating healthier food. However, when there is not always clean water to drink and at times only rice and cassava to eat, it’s hard to know how to help! In most places we do health teachings, and include in checkups whatever we can recommend to our patients. One thing that is very different and common in several of the tribes is that girls marry at the very young of 12 or 13. Obviously this results in pregnancy in a body that itself is not fully developed, increasing many risks for mother and child during pregnancy and at delivery. Education is key in preventing this.

The following day we left for the tribal area ‘Balin Balin’ It was a great hike through tropical forests and streams. We have a guide to take us up there and to help us with translating. We often needed 2 translators, one from English to Tagalog and then another from Tagalog to Palawano! Even though YWAM had announced our coming and the outreach for the next day, people were gathering around already! So we decided that we would start doing check ups right after lunch. We saw 60 people! That night we slept under a roof that was being fixed when we arrived, with no walls, in the middle of the village. Well observed! (We did not sleep too much with the hens right next to us and interesting noises in the village) Early in the morning people were lining up to see us. We got up, had breakfast and started our outreach at 7.00 AM. This day we treated 200 people, prayed with them and several accepted Jesus as personal savior, mainly through Ate Ria from YWAM! God is amazing… Also pastor Lumihay from Taout Batu gave his personal testimony… he comes from the cave dwellers where the people are extremely shy, and there he was down from his village 2 hours hike away speaking in front of all these people. Some of the tribal people don’t want to come down the mountain but rather die up there. They are not immunized, don’t know how old they are, and have no birth record and registration of them at all! Some parents have still not named their children because of the high mortality rate.

The frustrating part of this place is that most of the people are malnourished. Three months of the year they eat rice and the rest of the time eat root crops like cassava and some sweet potato. There is little access to protein of any kind. Fish are too far away and with little money, can buy only a few eggs, and not much for green leafy vegetables. What really needs to happen is a long term community development plan by the village incorporating agriculture to make positive changes for these people. One baby I see is 15 months old and only 6 kilos, (13 pounds)… way below a healthy weight. She has the typical big head and small bony body. There are also many signs of malaria, which is rampant in the area. We took precautions with anti malarial meds.
We treat villagers from 7 am till 7 pm, have supper and then hike out through the jungle in the dark back to our base.

Anyhow I could continue writing one story after another but will stop for you now! During our time on Palawan we saw around 1500 people. On October 25th I flew back to Manila to be with the family and spend the school break with them. I went back to Palawan on Nov 1st and returned to Manila on Nov 14th.

While Richard was gone, Jocelyn was manning the fort in Manila with a few births thrown in! The births were in a squat area in Quezon City and we now have three healthy boys, and great moms! I had a lot of help from two great Filipina women who came to help at home so Jocelyn could attend births.

Jocelyn also had the amazing opportunity to work at a medical dental outreach in partnership with a church in Cavite with Eva Fast. They saw 264 patients in one day! Wow…God provided them with help, medicines and amazing volunteers. Jocelyn loved the assessments and history taking and diagnosing…She learned a lot from Eva!

Last weekend, a women’s outreach Jocelyn had organized finally took place! Eight midwives provided a weekend of “Women’s Wellness” and taught nutrition, breast cancer and cervical cancer prevention, breast self exam, stress relief and spiritual care in the same church in Cavite. It was a great weekend and on Saturday were able to provide all 34 women with free Pap smear tests including the lab processing fee. This is an amazing way to reach women here as the testing is very expensive for most of the women who came. About 95% had never had a Pap test before. With one of the women Jocelyn checked, she was unable to perform the test. When she couldn’t do it, she disclosed that she had had abdominal pain and was bleeding, Jocelyn palpated a HUGE uterine mass the size of a volleyball. She looked 5 months pregnant but wasn’t. She had been living under such fear that it paralyzed her from going to get it checked with an MD. Eva, Gerlene and Jocelyn prayed with her and encouraged her to go the following day. She has 7 children and the oldest is 12. Please pray for her…We believe she will go to have it checked but will need God’s provision financially to have surgery.

Eva and Jocelyn continue with Gerlene and Cecille, our Filipina midwife friends, to offer free prenatal classes and care for women in the squatter area behind our church. We have four women who have delivered already and 4 who have yet to deliver. It seems as though the word is out and more women may come. We are also providing prenatal care in Pinky Ann, another squat area in Quezon City, where there are many pregnant women without care. We are providing midwifery services to women and they birth in their own homes. God is using this ministry to draw women and their families to Him!

The kids are well and enjoying school, friends and the count down til Christmas…a LONG countdown, considering the season began in September and all has been decorated since then! Recently, Danieke and Marijke celebrated United Nations Day and we enjoyed taking part in Danieke’s swearing in as a Filipina Girl Scout!

We love you all, thanks for praying that God will continue what He wants to do in us and through us…for His glory. Love, Richard, Jocelyn, Danieke, Marijke and Matthijs

Sept 2006 Official clinic closure but we are continuing

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/

August 2006

Thank you so much for all your prayers and encouragement during the past few months. It has been a difficult time, as we have faced numerous challenges with the closure of the Mercy In Action Maternity Center here in Mandaluyong.
Originally, almost three months ago, our sanitation license was pulled and we were issued a “cease and desist” order by the city of Mandaluyong. This meant we could no longer provide any care for the women we had been serving through the center, until we could get the “cease and desist” lifted. This development was devastating to us and the women we cared for.
In the last two and a half months, we have had a lawyer working on our behalf to open the center. As we had feared, it has come out that the closure had nothing to do with sanitation, and everything to do with politics.
The two inspectors that inspected our facility were not able to provide proof of any shortcomings in our sanitation, or how we had failed in our inspection, apart to say that our “operating room” was not adequate to provide C-sections. (We don’t have an operating room, because midwives don’t operate, so we don’t do C-sections!) However, those same two inspectors own birthing centers in Mandaluyong and were very concerned that we offer our services to the poor for free.
At the meeting that our supervisors had with the DOH (Department of Health), it finally came out that a formal complaint had been lodged against our center by another birth center, stating that because we were offering our services to the poor for free, we were cutting into their territory and basically stealing their patients away from them. This meant they felt they were losing money.
The nuts and bolts of it are that the Department of Health has stated that they do not want us to reopen in Mandaluyong because: “You are not needed there” (despite Welfareville and the people who live in poverty there) and are wanting us to relocate the clinic to another area of Metro Manila at a location of their choosing. This development is an interesting one, and we are in the process of getting information on where that may be.
We would so appreciate your prayers regarding the future of Mercy In Action here in the Philippines and for the staff and students here who have had to face a lot of changes in these past few months!

Since the clinic has been closed, God has opened other opportunities for ministry here in the Philippines for both Richard and Jocelyn.
Jocelyn:

In July, I was able to go to the But But tribe in Kalinga for a dental outreach and pulled over one hundred teeth! I traveled with a youth group who was building outhouses for the people who live there. We partnered with the local church, and experienced But But culture, including the “lifesong”- each believer sings their testimony in a song they have written themselves. It was an amazingly beautiful experience. The pastor began a 24 hour community party, to celebrate the partnership with the local church with the following words: “We will fellowship!” They killed two pigs in our honour!
Also in July, I completed all of the academic requirements for Mercy, and all that remains in order to graduate is “well woman” exams. This means I am more freed up for ministry to women and have more time for family!
In late July, I began teaching prenatal classes as an outreach from Metro Manila Bible Community, our church here in Manila. Every weekly class includes prayer with the women, prenatal education and free prenatal care. There have been 5 classes to date and some of the women are planning to have home births with us at no charge. We will attend their births with our Filipina licensed midwives. I have also been visiting a squatter area in Quezon City to offer free prenatal care and well woman care to women who otherwise are too poor to access health care. More recently, Richard and I helped organize a medical outreach to the same area, in partnership with one of our Filipina midwives. On September 2nd, the team provided care for many children under the age of five, pregnant women and referred others for medical treatment. This outreach was a tangible expression of God’s love and was received well by the community. We hope to continue this outreach and partnership with the community, to show God’s love and share His message of hope. Some of you donated money for medical outreach, and we have used this to buy medications for these outreaches as well as to fund laboratory testing, such as urinalysis, CBC’s (complete blood counts) and pap smears.

On Friday nights, I travel an hour away to a Christian birth center in Antipolo to work a twelve hour shift. It has been a great experience to be back in the birth room and caring for women in the name of Christ.
It has been an interesting journey this past few months…The unexpected happened, and yet God has been so faithful in showing us where he is at work among the poor and joining Him there.

Richard:

In July, I was able to go to Palawan and partner with the YWAM base to provide medical care to squatters living in a local garbage dump. While I was there, our team led a Bible study, a youth group meeting and had other opportunities to share the hope we have in Christ. One interesting connection I made was with a man who is reaching out to Muslims in the area. I am organizing a two week outreach on Palawan for the new medic team that will arrive in the next week. We will partner with other national Christians to offer free medical care in areas that have few resources on Palawan. One of the tribes we will visit is in a remote part of the island, where they have been cave dwellers for centuries. There is no medical care there. I am excited about other opportunities that have developed there, specifically in outreach to the Muslim community. There will be some great opportunities to share Christ there and bless the people with much needed medical help. Malaria, TB and pneumonia are the biggest killers in this area.
In August, I have been to the Island of Pollilio, where I traveled with Mike Fast as he presented a pastoral training seminar for pastors on the island. To get to the island, we had to drive for four hours to the coastline and then take another 4 hour boat ride. We spent a few days there and I was able to meet with the one nurse on the island who handles all the medical care. One nurse for 13,000 residents and no doctors! She was stretched to the limit, but had trained 3 midwives to handle the island’s deliveries, over 300 every year! I treated some patients for skin infections and was able to pray with them. It looks as though we will travel there monthly, to provide pastoral training and some medical help. We flew home with Pacific Missionary Aviation, with a Filipino missionary pilot in the cockpit. What an experience to fly in a missionary plane and look out through the front window…the view was incredible! It looks as though God is opening new doors for ministry on Pollilio!
I helped to plan and organize a medical outreach in Quezon City, where we saw and treated many children for respiratory and skin diseases. Eva Fast had donated some antibiotics, paracetamol and vitamins that she had left over from a previous outreach our church had done. It was fantastic to pray with the patients and offer this service in the name of Christ. We worked with special permission from the barangay, and were able to offer care out of the local chapel!

As of this moment, we are still unsure as to where our clinic may reopen, but it appears as though it may never reopen in Mandaluyong. Please be praying that God will make clear the decisions that need to be made, especially for wisdom for our leadership team. There is a possibility that the clinic may be moved a couple of hours away from where we live presently. Should that be the case, we will be looking at a reduced schedule for Jocelyn, as she continues with the prenatal classes ministry with women locally. There are opportunities for her to begin this ministry in two other churches, who have squatter areas nearby, which would bring her to three days a week teaching prenatal classes in churches and one night shift in Antipolo. Please pray with her for Filipina women to come alongside her to train so that this ministry to women could continue once we return home.

We apologize for our lack of communication over these past two months. We have been in transition after moving house, and have had difficulty with internet access. We are so thankful for those of you who have been praying us through this situation, despite the lack of information on our part. Please forgive us.

Danieke and Marijke continue to enjoy Filipino school, and just celebrated Filipino culture week by performing traditional dances in traditional costumes and memorizing a Tagalog poem. We watched their performances on Friday! God has been so faithful to us with providing this school experience for our girls, and we are so thankful that they have had the normalcy of attending school through all of this upheaval…there has been school as a constant. They seem to be adjusting well and look forward to seeing their friends there.We also celebrated Danieke’s eighth birthday on Thursday…We can hardly believe she is already that old! Matthijs is enjoying playing with Playdoh, Lego, and cars. He really enjoys playing on our roof. (It is flat and fully fenced, so there is room to run around in a safe place!) Our place just got fixed, so we are no longer leaking water into the bedrooms when it rains and the walls are repaired…It’s beginning to feel like home. Just this week, we moved in the table and couches from our old house, so now we are finally out of transition and settled into one place.

Items for Prayer:
Please pray for the future of our birth center, that God will pave the way for a good working relationship with the Department of Health and that we will impact the community for the kingdom of God…wherever they place us. Pray for the logistics of setting up a new clinic, and for a smooth transition
Please pray for us as we work in partnership with Filipino believers. We are excited by the new opportunities that God has provided. His kingdom is coming to this place! Pray that we will encourage and empower the Filipinos who work with us to reach their people with the gospel.
Please pray for the health of our children. Both girls have had high fevers this weekend, Marijke has been vomiting. Please pray that God will protect their health, specifically that they will not get Dengue fever. We have had many mosquitoes lately. Please also pray for wisdom as we parent all three!
Pray for what God is doing in us, that His plans and purposes for us would continue despite these bumps in the road. Pray for His character and love to grow in us. We are struggling with feeling frustrated and disappointed with the news of our clinic. Please pray that we will not allow Satan a foothold by becoming bitter.
Please pray that we will have courage and boldness to share the message of Christ. That we will always be ready to give the reason for why we have hope.
Please pray for our future, that God will guide our decisions as we look beyond this year to where He would have us serve in the future. We are specifically praying about possibilities in Rwanda, and are waiting on Him.

We hope you are all well and that your summer was enjoyable! We pray that God blesses each one of you for the investment you have made in prayer and support of us here. We are looking forward to the future and are trusting Him with today.
Please feel free to email us with any questions, thoughts, or notes! We would love to hear from you.

Trusting Him,

Richard and Jocelyn Jelsma

July 2006

Tuesday, 18 July 2006
Hi Team! Here a quick update. I am sitting at the internet cafe, girls in school and Matthijs at home with the yaya. First of all Jocelyn has left for the tribes Sunday night, for one week. She is there with a team of young adults from Boise. Jocelyn will be helping with dentistry going into the local tribes outside of Tabuk. Please pray for her that God will use this time to refresh her and that she might have a great time. This is a good opportunity for her at this time when things are not settled yet in Manila. I am at home with the kids this week, keeping it all together...please pray for me aswell at this time. Update on the clinic is that there will be a meeting at city hall with the health department on Wednesday and also likely on Friday. This will be in regards to getting the clinic reopened with the Philipino midwives only. That is the first step. As to the future and timeframe, we don't know yet. I helped on Saturday with a medic dental outreach at the church, with Eva Fast. It was a great time! We saw God do a mirracle, bringing down the BP of an older lady after she went for prayer from 147/110 to 110/80 in halve an hour It was checked by myself and a nurse double checked just to make sure. We were all so greatful for this. Jocelyn's parents were here for one week and left on Sunday morning. We had a good time with them bringing them to some places and having them experience daily life here in Mandaluyong. Rainy season is upon us, the kids missed two days of school because of heavy rain, flooded streets and wind. This came at a good time so the kids could spent time with the grandparents. Bye for now, thanks for your prayers and support, Richard and the Fam.

April/May 2006 Lots of happenings!

Hello to all of you from the Jelsmas in Manila. First of all for those that did not see the thank you note from us on the Cedar Grove website; thank you so much for the packages that were send our way. Often we think of you especially when we drink a good old Tim Hortons [I forgot how many pounds] that was send by you. We felled so blessed and encouraged by you all. Besides that we are amazed at your personal support and of course the direct support from Cedar Grove. You our support team, make it possible for us to serve the poor, and to learn so many things, we are very grateful to you all!

On April 21st Marijke’s fifth birthday, at 6.00am in the morning I got a call from Jocelyn saying that the bags are packed and that we are going on a little outing for three nights with our family. Jocelyn was on night shift that night. We had talked about getting out of the city with our family at some point but were not able to make plans. But, Jocelyn did and really surprised me with going to Puerto Galera on Mindoro Island. Our driver picked us up at 7.30am as Jocelyn came of shift and of we went. It was a good 2 1/2 hours drive to Batangas where we got a boat to Puerto Galera. It was a mad house arriving in Batangas. So many people try to grab your bags so they earn a few pesos. Also they try to sell you tickets for the ferry. To us was recommended to buy the tickets inside the main building, so that is what we did. We just wanted to gather our thoughts as to where and what we needed to do but it was so noisy and people kept bothering us. I stayed with the kids and Jocelyn went to get tickets. About 30 minutes later we took of in this boat to a different world. About 1 hour and 15 minutes later arrived in the village of Muelle. From there we took a tricycab with the whole family. Matthijs sat right in front of the driver, he loves that!! Halve an hour later we were dropped of at supposedly our little resort at the beach. There was no record of us coming but apparently we were booked into a residential place. The person in charge that had expected us brought us to this house. My first impression was, oh my goodness what is this?? Is this going to be our relaxing family weekend away? The sewage canal was running outside the kitchen, holes in the sheets, then there was the cat inside, ants everywhere, mosquito’s already got me [ok, maybe not]. The man of the house came by a few minutes later to bring us a plug in insect repellent thing. Anyways my head was a little downcast thinking at the start of this romantic get-away. A little later we did get it all packed up again and went back to the place we were first dropped of. They did have a room for one night, so we stayed there for the night. What relieve that we got his place. The rest of the day stayed at the resort and had fun playing in the water. Jocelyn and the kids had never been at a tropical beach, this was the first time for them. We also had to figure out where to stay the next two nights. The next day we went to a place where the snorkeling is really good. This was definitely the highlight for all of us. All of us had a change to have tropical fish eat out of our hands. Nemo was around to the excitement of the kids, also other characters from that movie. Also during this time we visited the Mangyan tribes. Jocelyn went into the Three Sisters clinic and had opportunity to see the clinic and meet the nuns. One of the nuns took us to the tribe to see how they live, what the needs are and what the nuns have done. This tribe is very primitive and is lacking some basic necessities. The Mangyan people account for about 10% or 100.000 of the population of Mindoro Island.
They were driven into the jungle when the Spanish came.

April 29th 2006 Already, at 8.00am it was so hot in our house that sweat drops were on our foreheads, especially on Matthijs.
April 30th Saying goodbye’s again really sucks. The other Canadian Family that was here the Woods, left today back to Winnipeg. We got to know them really well. Our kids played lots with theirs and we went out with them as well. People come and go; new people arrive in May and June, and still others are leaving. Also the medic team will be in town for two weeks doing outreaches.

May 5th Marijke was sad thinking about the Woods and saying that she is missing Asher. Matthijs was sitting there too and said, I am not sad I said goodbye!! That sounded so funny.

Life here continues to be a life of extremes. There is so much wealth and so much poverty. Two days ago we saw a little boy trying to sell his little flower strings. He was maybe three, and already learned how to beg to put up the saddest face trying to convince people. Wherever we go we are faced with poverty. At our home often beggars, either children or adults come to our door. We sometimes give them, clean water, crackers, fruit, and vitamins whatever we have. Not all the time though as this can get out of control very quickly as we have experienced before. They also take our recycling so they can earn a few pesos.

May 6thWe went to Laguna with the medic team. In Jan the team here went too a program called IFL. This is an orphanage, school and self sustainable agriculture program. We just went to reconnect with the people and the week after they did a health teaching. I might go here in the fall if schedule permits with the new team to go through the program.

May 7th I started to use this different deodorant but my skin is getting irritated from it. Very soon after, weird looking puss filled blister are appearing. We are looking in our books and internet to try to diagnose what this is. Others are concerned it may be shingles so our whole family is not allowed to the clinic or church. Shingles can cause great complications for pregnant woman and baby. A doctor that is just here for a few weeks from the States has a look and can not rule out shingles. We continue looking and diagnose it as impetigo, as this comes closest to all the symptoms. So, I took antibiotics orally and also antibiotic cream. It took a few days before it all cleared up. Thankfully it was not shingles, it would have been much more painful, and isolation long….possible long vacation!!

May 9th Medic outreach in Welfareville. We treated about 90 people this day. I was able to go as our home help is working out very good so. We have someone now to stay with the kids. This week I also took two teams of medics through Welfareville to show them around and connect with people. They had not been there yet as most of their time was spent in the mountains.

May 12th we had five Filipino kids over at our house for the afternoon. It was nice to have these kids over. We played go fish and they ran around. I also wanted to share some scripture with them about who Jesus is, what He has done for them, and how much He loves them. I had asked Jhun [a Filipino watchman at the clinic] to translate to make sure they understood. After sharing I asked if anyone had a question. One of the girls asked why Jesus had to die on the cross.

May 15th Jocelyn and I went out on a date. One of the things we did is getting a haircut. Normally I pay 50 pesos, but this place was 250 pesos, so five times the amount but still only 5 bucks. For us this is very little but for people here it is a lot. When I walked the babysitter back that evening we came across several people sleeping in alleys. This is a very common sight. We never seem to be able to escape the touch of poverty.

May 17th This morning we said goodbye to the medic team. They are finished now with their commitment and go onto other things. Some have plans to return to the Philippines long term, others don’t yet know or go elsewhere.

Somewhere in here we were surprised by an unexpected visit from Connie Mumford from our home church in Surrey. She showed up at the door while I was in Quizon at a feeding program. It was wonderful to see her. I took Connie through Welfareville and visited the family that I have reached out to for the last 2 months. God really used this time. I always pray with the family after doing checkup. This time I did as well. We thanked God that the kids are completely healed from the scabies. They had received a bible in Tagalog three weeks prior to this and found out that the mom had been reading it every day. Connie asked a few questions in Tagalog and soon the mom indicated that she wanted to give her life to Christ. It was a beautiful time. I shared some words as well, while Connie interpreted. We led her to Jesus that day. What a great time and privilege it was to be part of that and that God used Connie to reach out to her own people while being here.

June 10th It has been three weeks now since I wrote last in this journal. Things have been very busy here. Jocelyn became an intern a few weeks ago so has added some more responsibilities. Besides that there have been a lot of births in a short time so not much sleep for Jocelyn’s team and other teams also. During this time we also moved to a different house down the street. A little bigger but the same price, can’t beat that! Then there were other added things in our schedule, like the Fiesta that the girls participated in and having to get organized to get the girls registered for Montosori School. Neat less to say we were really burned out. The schedule continues to be very hectic but we seem to be dealing with it a bit better. This far Jocelyn has attended 48 births and out of that has caught 22 babies.

I just finished reading ‘Wild at Heart’ This came at a time I really needed to read a book like that to focus on myself as I felled like I was losing myself in the midst of it all. God is good and He is shaping us through all this.
Now I am reading ‘The Heavenly Man’. This is the remarkable true story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun. So far it is shocking, challenging, encouraging and amazing.

Love to hear from you, drop us a line!!
Greetings from Richard and the Family.

April 2006 Kalinga tribes

Well I went with 6 days notice to the tribes!!
April 1st – 16th 2006.
First of all, thank you to everyone that prayed and thought of me and my family back in Manila.
I left on April 1st at 10pm with a night bus from Manila to Tabuk(in the province of Kalinga). During the night we stopped occasionally for a break. At one point we stopped for an hour because we had come across another bus that had broken down. Our driver decided to help the other bus. He even took parts from our bus to fix the other without success. We ended up taking most of the stranded passengers onto our already overloaded bus. I didn’t sleep much that night mainly because I could not put my seat back into sleeping position because someone was right behind my seat. After 11 hours, 9 am, we arrived on Jan 2nd in Tabuk. It was great seeing all the people again from the medical team that I had trained with in Boise.
Three people had planned to stay overnight in one of the resettlement villages, so I decided to join them. Later in the afternoon we left by jeepney to the village of Pakak. It was just a 15 minute hike from the main road. This town just had electricity installed last month. Before electricity, the village would be at rest by 9pm but now there is even tv! In the evening we saw a large group kids and adults watching a cheesy movie. On the way to Pakak we had picked up “fresh” chicken to give to the pastor there. So, when we walked into Pakak we went straight to his house. We were greeted by him, his wife and the elders from the village. I experienced my first Kalinga coffee with an abundance of sugar that was already added. In the evening we ate at the pastor’s house and heard many stories about life in the past and present. Many years ago he, his family and the Bugnay village they lived in often sacrificed animals to evil spirits, and they were under spiritual oppression. This was done when someone was sick, as they believed that the spirits were upset with them and this was to satisfy the spirits. They lived in constant fear. His wife was demon possessed and often unconscious. In 1987 there was a big earthquake in the Bugnay, so at that time they birthed the new village of Pakak, a But But resettlement village down in the valley. Many also left Bugnay because of persecution and hunger.
Two of the medics had planned to do a dental outreach the next day. One pulled teeth and the other cleaned. I assisted a little just handing them whatever they needed. I observed a dental outreach for the first time.
Later in the day another medic and I left for the But But village named Ileb. We met the rest of the team in Ileb. [Around 20, this included our Filipino director and 5 other interpreters]. The purpose here was a medic outreach focused on ages 5 and under. The WHO (World Health Organization) came up with an international program called IMCI, this is a way to medically classify the child and provide appropriate teaching for the mother or caretaker of the child. This system is very helpful and makes sure that you don’t miss the most obvious and gives guidelines for use of medicines and that we refer the patient to other health authorities where possible and necessary. All the kids were weighed, checked, treated and prayed for and hopefully set on the road to good health!

On April 5th we left for the 9 days of hiking to tribes and for some time of relaxation.
The plan had changed a little as it was not safe going into one of the villages. Apparently someone had killed a pig that was not theirs; they had been seriously fighting over this including some stabbing with a knife.
The first village was Sumadel, area Tinglayan, province of Kalinga. We drove on top of a jeepney for a few hours and then another one for a while to the start of the trail. Just the drive was quite an experience with the fresh Kalinga air [contrary to Manila] and really steep scary drops on this narrow road. We were greeted by a large group of locals to help us carry all the medical supplies and food items. The hike on these trails between magnificent rice fields, steep cliffs, mountains and scorching sun, was about 2 hours into the village. We were welcomed with open arms as special guests. In this town there is a small nursery started by the Anglican Church where they grow small pine trees and coffee to plant into the hillsides. Wherever we went, people wanted to feed us and drink coffee together. Needless to say, we often ate several meals in a row. It would have been an offense to these wonderful people had we said no.
Early the next morning we set up our clinic to start at 8am. We had several stations; check-in where BP and pulse is taken and their chief complaints recorded, weighing station, 2 ICMI, wound treatment, and 2 stations for older people [including one with a Filipino doctor named Francis, who recently became a believer. He came along with us to the first village] and dental station. We treated about 200 people and prayed with each one. There were many with TB and pneumonia, ear problems, arthritis, ulcers, UTI etc…It was such a joy to be able to help these people and pray with them and to learn more about how to treat and diagnose. During the day we were continually fed with rice in many forms: regular rice, red rice, sticky rice, and rice soup. I couldn’t stuff it all and got a little sick of rice!! At the end of the day enjoyed another meal, this time with cabbage, green beans, a little pork and ooh, of course rice.
Later in the evening, the community came all out as they had organized a big, long cultural fest for us. There were speeches and songs of thankfulness, dances with playing gongs and flute and other songs. We were also pulled in to dance and play the gongs, it was so much fun. They also did a special dance with a warrior and a man of peace with a bible. At the end the bible was put down in the middle and the spear put on top, there was peace now. God’s word and a relationship with Christ brought peace to their village. It was very encouraging to see and hear this. Two years ago they were fighting the village next to them over land use and borders. It was really funny that the captain kept telling us: “Our village is safe. There are no terrorists here” Of course their village was the safest.
We also sang a worship song and one person gave a testimony, played violin and guitar. Toward the end of the evening a person stood up and told us that we could not go yet because not everyone was helped. ( We still had several villages to visit and needed medicine for them as well) A good thing was that the captain was on our side. It made us all feel a little uncomfortable and we all looked down to the ground. Before we started clinic we were clear about the maximum amount of people we could help due to our med supplies and also our schedule as we had to continue hiking to the next village. In Sumadel I also had opportunity to share my testimony and faith with 4 people from a cult (Iglesia di Cristo). They don’t believe Jesus is God and need to do all these deeds in their life to have some kind of assurance of salvation. We were able to talk for 3 hours.
I also had the opportunity to pray for a miracle in Jesus name for the couple who have been unable to bear children for 6 years.

Later the following day, we left to the village of Danaoa. We were met in Sumadel by people from Danaoa to help us carry the supplies.
This was by far the most strenuous hike, about 6 hours through rice terraces and mountains. Welcomed again with open arms, were well fed, food and coffee non-stop. The next day at our outreach saw 128 people and we were done at 5.30pm. That evening we had supper at the Baptist pastor’s house. It was nice because they served us sweet potato as appetizer, I took it as the meal. For supper was rice and beans. Before the meal we had some mountain tea…very tasty. After supper we were really tired and ready to go to bed. It was around 9pm by now when we found out that they had slaughtered 2 pigs for us. Well not only for us, actually the whole community came out and put on a party!
It started with the pastor reading some scripture and then several people from our team including myself shared our testimony. At around 10pm the music started, with gongs and dance. Also here just like in Sumadel they made us play the gongs and dance, more for their amusing entertainment seeing these North Americans make fun of themselves. It was great!! By the way the gongs are held by a string and attached to it is either some kind of stick or in some cases a human jaw bone. (See the picture on shutterfly.) We were reassured that this one was not of a victim from the past but that of a family member. Later in the evening they randomly picked out a girl and a boy to come up and sing together to try to match make. So, almost all our team had a turn. Some a little embarrassing, especially when they got sung to like it was the love of their life. I’m glad I got out of it; actually I was in hiding during that! One thing that was really good for me is that I had a picture of my family. Wherever we went almost the first question would be, are you available? Then I would pull out my card and play it.
We didn’t eat until 1.30am on Sunday morning. The whole town was still active, including kids. They had brought out planks to put all the food onto, served in rows of bowls. It was impressive. On Sunday went to the Baptist church at 8.oo am with our whole team… eyes half open. The pastor was wide awake, the few hours of sleep did not seem to bother him. We sang a song with the team as we were asked to. After lunch continued medic work and saw another 50 people. That evening we had family night and had opportunity to pray for each other. The next morning woke up at around 5.30am as the roosters is the village did their job. Had a good breakfast and took of at around 9.30am of to the next village Tulgaoa.
Here also we were met with helpers to carry the supplies. We hiked for about one hour to these beautiful waterfalls and hot springs on the way to Tulgaoa. We spent some time there, but the helpers continued on to the village. As we found out around lunch time, they had also taken our lunch food! We stayed at the house of the police. It also happened to be on the evening of a peace pact meeting. There was a lot of drinking going on. We did some intercessory prayer for this just to make sure peace would remain and that the meeting would be productive. They also slaughtered a pig for us and for those involved with the meeting.
We did not do medic outreach because they had never received any of the communication. This was disappointing but hey next time. It seems like plans here in the Philippines usually change a few times. The next day we hiked for 20 minutes to get to the road up the hill where we took a jeepney ride.
From Tulgaoa, Tinglayan, Bontoc we traveled for about 6 hours to destination Sagada.
This drive was probably the most dangerous with the rough road and steep cliffs. When we first got on we soon had to get off again because the jeepney could not get up the hill. Later it started to rain very heavily so as we sat on top of the jeepney the driver gave us a tarp to hold overtop of the packs and ourselves. When we went through Bontoc it was a really strange feeling to enter a bigger city with food in abundance. We ate lunch there and ate at a table (had not eaten at one) for a while. Also we used cutlery instead of eating with our hands.
We arrived in Sagada at around 5pm. This was the place to recharge and get ready for more tribal work. Not so for me because my time was up and had to get back to Manila. The time here was very relaxing. We saw two waterfalls, caves going down 100 meters, and hanging coffins ( on the side of a cliff). According to a local person 2% of the people here still hang the coffins. To them it has some spiritual significance. Also still 10 years ago dead people would be tied onto a chair in upright position and talked to like they were still alive. They would also hold a cup to put money into. We saw some pictures of this, a little too freaky for my liking. Other pictures we saw in the museum in Bontoc were of the former headhunters, the head or rest of the body of their captives. This was done when they were fighting but also for fun as a game.
On Maundy Thursday, three of us went to the local Episcopal church for the evening service. Before we left I had to go to the bathroom. When I was going, a cockroach showed up and ran his circles on the toilet seat. Before I knew it he actually flew right on me, yes on me!. I had to keep my business short and get rid of this creature. I shook out my pants to make sure it would not stay behind. I did not see it again…..until??? …about ½ an hour later I sit there, straight and quiet in this church. All of the sudden I feel this crawling in my pants, oh boy did I start sweating. I am trying to hit this thing to kill it and keep quiet at the same time. I keep trying and then I see this wet spot showing right through my pants. So, I thought I had it but a few minutes later there he goes again. My friend Joshua sitting beside me is just beside himself trying not to laugh out loud in this sacred place. The girl from our team sitting on my other side was probably wondering what is going on with me hitting myself on my upper leg. I quickly explained to her what I was in battle with. I am ready to walk out but this is not really feeling ok to do so in this place. If this was “The Grove” our home church I would have been running out of there! Anyways I stood up and shook out my pants and there it fell out. I squished it quickly to its final resting place. This is one of those things I will never ever forget!
I took a jeepney back to Bontoc to catch the night bus back to Manila. Here the rest of the team continued for two more weeks of outreaches in the Bugnay.
I arrived at 2am on Easter Sunday, back with my family. What an adventure!
Thanks again for praying me through this adventure.
God was faithful!