No matter where I am I have friends who are half a world away. I want to stay connected and keep my supporters informed. Some times I will be very busy and only update once in a while. Other times I might bore you with how much I have to say :) Just check back once in a while when you are thinking of me and see what I'm up to!

Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Just a tidbit...

Please take a few minutes to take this survey for us.  It is mostly about how we are doing with communication to our support system, but some other information as well!

 https://forms.gle/vPZXNKeWuteHJAu59


Also, we have updated our Amazon wish list if you desire to help out with physical items.  Some are just samples of items we use often and you could find something less expensive if you like (example pens, pencils, medical supplies, ect.) The address connected will send things to my family and they will add to the next Balikbayan Boxes they send.

Use this email: davenport.christine@gmail.com


Thank you for your prayers and concerns!

Be blessed so you may continue to bless those near and farπŸ’–πŸ˜ƒ






Thursday, February 3, 2022

Surviving, Odette Damage, and Early Clean-Up

Hanging out in our room with Jebol and Ollie.  We were on the foam, but our butts started to get wet.  We let the dogs stay but moved to plastic chairs until the flooding went away about 2am.
This is the kitchen with the roof still inside.  Unfortunately, many of my classroom supplies were there as it doubled as my office.

Our main room had a river running through it.  We couldn't keep the door closed anyway so a few lighter things (like floor mats and shoes) washed away and I found them around the neighbor's house in the following days.
This is the church.  Most of the roof and ceiling collapsed.  For now it has been tarped so services can resume.
Our bedroom in the morning light.  We had tried to stop the waterfall as the cabinet with clothes and pots.  Eventually we just sat and turned the pots to rest our feet and stay dry.  I think it was almost ankle deep at it's worst.  The dark of our bed foam is definitely wet. It took a week to dry that out!
This is the playground and pastor's home in the background.  They lost about half to two-thirds of their roof, but only about 1/3 of the ceiling.
Basketball court in the compound.  Not so messy, but all those trees down...
The day after we walked the 3 km to our land to check out the house.  I started the walk first to stop and see family along the way and made the dogs stay.  Half a km from home I heard noise behind me and turned to see Jebol running after me.  So he walked all the way there and back with us.  I think he was more exhausted than us!
This is a view from inside pastor's house looking at the open roof.
This is normally open grounds and the playground.  So many trees don it wasn't passable.  Off to the right you can see the church windows, but no roof.
Straight out our front door.  Normally a beautiful "I❤️Jesus" sign and pathway.
This is the mess of things we were sorting through from the kitchen after Jun got the roofing stuff out.
Restored Heritage: Our partner ministry in Mabini.  The third floor lost most of the roof.
Parts of their main kitchen roof were ripped up as well (the back side of the 3 story building)
The day extension of the kitchen, laundry area, and Cars entirely lost it's roof.  The main house their had lots of leaks.  So much water came through that the vinyl tiles were all loosened from their glued in spots.
It took about two weeks, but I finally made the mess workable.  I think it was 7 tables covered with things to be dried out and cleaned (not counting the book shelves that I waited to do later)
These two pictures are out of order...but you can see the coconut on the far wall.  Somehow it didn't hit the roof, but ended up under the cement eaves.  Based on direction of other trees near by that should have come down directly in the middle and into our room!
This is the debris brought in from the storm and some of our damaged things.  In the above picture we had finally cleared most of it out and I started resetting the kitchen with things that would not get ruined with rain.
I could only handle taking one picture of our house.  At least the septic looks like it held up.  We allowed the near neighbors to use the lumber and walking to rebuild their shelters.
From the front, the Mission House doesn't look so bad!  Even though it sounded like the whole roof came off, it was really our neighbor's house that lost their roof.  Jun just had to reseal the roof/firewall joint and re-flatten one piece of tin sheeting.

I hope to add pictures soon of the cleaned up areas now.  Grass is already starting to regrow and the playground is usable again!