The Major Tribe

Hi everyone!

So we are coming up on two weeks since we arrived. Here is a quick rundown of where we are at and what we are doing.

We are still at the NTM Guest House here in Manila. We will hopefully be signing the contract for an apartment today. Please pray everything goes well with that.

The rest of the week will likely be filled with purchasing appliances and furniture, sorting through the items we shipped, and moving in. We have really enjoyed our time at the guest house, meeting lots of new people, but we are also excited about getting settled into a place of our own.

In the coming weeks we will be going on a few “cultural excursions”. Basically these are opportunities for us to venture out and start getting more familiar with the sights and sounds of Manila and Filipino culture. We look forward to sending ya’ll back some pictures!

After that we will be ramping up into Tagalog language study and buckle down for the next year and half as we work towards proficiency in Filipino language and culture.

Below are a few photos from this last week.

I (Jared) had the opportunity to go with another couple here who are planning on using their 4×4 truck to help bring in supplies to some of the tribal works that have access by road. Those “roads” are not always passable and so we went out for a test of their vehicle’s off-road abilities. This isn’t their truck but every vehicle in the group ended up taking a run at this particular mud hole. Lots of fun!

This is a jeepney. They are one of the most common forms of public transportation here. You pay around 25cents to ride the route. They all seem to be very personalized with different decorations, paint jobs, horns, and lights.

Taking a jeepney ride to go look at a few apartments. The lady sitting beside Bana is Sesil Morris. Sesil was a huge help to us in finding apartments to look at.

This is a picture of us headed to church on Sunday. It looks like we are walking through a shopping mall… because we are. There are some churches here that meet inside shopping malls.

Here at the guest house Ed and Debbie Jerimas take care of the day to day operation of things. On Sunday’s after church they usually stop off to pick up some fresh fruit at a local fruit stand. That’s Ed in the background. We certainly can’t complain about fresh pineapples, mangos, bananas (real bananas that is), etc. for breakfast every morning.

Thank you all for your prayers! We will try to keep you updated as we get the opportunity.

Just wanted to let you know we did get in safe and had a busy day today, our first full day here. Lots of introductions, looked at a place to live, bought two cell phones, rode a Jeepney, ate pansit, and (drum roll please) CROSSED THE STREET! That part is more exciting than you might think. Anyhow we hope to send out some pictures soon.

Thank you for your prayers!

The Major Family

So the big flight is over, we are sitting at the gate in Hong Kong getting ready to board our last flight into Manila.  I had a minute so I thought I’d write and say thanks for the prayers!  The girls did really good and each one slept a good amount… mom and dad didn’t get so much but we are glad to be here and the excitement definitely is carrying us through.

We’ll let ya’ll know when we get settled in!  Thanks again for your love and lifting us up in prayer!

The Major Family

In the tropics it’s important to have a way to seal out bugs and moisture.  Having sealed plastic containers for everything allows us to make sure our food stays fresh and bug free. Our wonderful church family at Jerome Prairie Bible Church came together to help us outfit our kitchen by throwing us a Tupperware party. This party was such a blessing I can’t even tell you! Through the party gifts and sales they purchased over $1,000 in Tupperware for us!  Yes… that’s a lot of Tupperware.  I will be able to seal everything in my kitchen.

Thank you to all the Ladies that came to the party or purchased gifts we really are blessed by you!   And a big thank you to Denise Williams who hosted the party for us and offered free shipping on all the stuff!

For the most part Southern Oregon enjoys pretty mild and regular weather.  It’s been a little weird lately but the girls are enjoying the contrasts.

Last week...

...this week.

We got a “special” gift this Christmas from Jared’s brother Justin and his wife Ryan.  It’s a very sofisticaded bug catching machine. It looks just like a bug so they never see it coming or so they say. All in all the bugs in the Philippines have no chance… that is IF we can fit them through the little trap door.

We don’t get much snow on the valley floor so when we do it’s a big surprise!   This was the view from our back porch.

We are thanking God for our new baby girl, Evangeline Grace.  She was born March 12th at 7:30pm our time.  The labor and delivery both went fantastic!  She is 5lbs 15oz, 19 1/2 in. long and has lots of dark brown hair.  Her face was a little bruised from coming so quickly but she is a healthy little girl with a lot of spunk for being so small.

As missionaries traveling is a constant.  Don’t get me wrong we enjoy traveling, the girls are always excited about going new places and seeing people but there are a few unpleasant things about it.  For us the worst thing about travel is fast food.

It seems like its usually fast but rarely food and convience comes at a price.  I’m sure y’all can relate.  So we decided to be flexible and resourceful missionaries and deal with the traveling/fast food dilemma a different way.  We would bring it all with us.  Unfortunately sandwiches and string cheese only cut it so far.  You really start to crave a hot plate of chicken or a nice warm fish fillet.  Without bringing a microwave and an inverter your pretty well stuck with cold food unless… you care to throw your food on the half ton roaring grill nestled under your hood.

Welcome to world of “Manifold Destiny” and car engine cooking!

On our trip to Texas for Justin’s wedding we decided to attempt to cook some chicken in the car. Or more accurately ON the engine of the car. Amazingly it worked really well and was actually very tasty.

See Jared’s recipe below:

1) Preheat your car, in this case our Chrysler minivan.

2) Wrap one well seasoned chicken breast in 3 layers of tin foil and seal it up tight.  Its a good idea to oil the chicken to keep it from sticking.  Any oil will do but I’m sorry you can’t substitute it with 10-W30.

3) Pop the hood.

4) Place the chicken directly onto the exhaust manifold. Don’t sear your hand on the manifold (oven mitts would be good, I found that out the hard way) and don’t get your shirt caught in the belt.  It needs to be wedged in good otherwise a good bumb is going to dislodge your meal.

5) Drive for 40 miles and check the meat. (For me its also a good time to check the transmission fluid as well

6) If the juices are running clear (the juices from the chicken that is, not the transmission) then your done. If not then give it another 20 miles or so.

Thats about it.  It’s hot, its tastey, its cheap, and its real food!  I’ve heard of guys cooking whole turkeys (thats gotta be a big car or a small bird) either way it also must be a long trip. Maybe we will give that a try around the holidays.