For George and Ginny Olson and the rest of their family, adjusting to daily life in the Palawano tribe has been rewarding and challenging.
Now that the Olsons have finished orientation, they are finally able to begin the long process of reaching out to the tribe in the Philippines. But before that can begin, they have to learn the art of moving in.
The first few days of moving in consisted of unpacking and hooking up an inverter so the Olsons could have electricity. The first days also involved building beds for George and Ginny's children.
"There were many mistakes, but eventually I got it made…I posted the bed frames incorrectly," George wrote about making his son's bed. "After I finished it, I sat on it and the whole thing collapsed."
George and Ginny also set to work in the medical clinic. During the first week a baby girl was brought to them who had a cleft palate and was said to have malaria.
The Olsons tried to treat the sick baby but had to send her to a hospital. The baby did not survive. The family flew back and had a funeral for the baby.
"The mother did not come to the baby's funeral. They put a full bottle of baby formula in the coffin (a cardboard box) and buried the baby, although the baby's body is not submerged in the dirt," George wrote. "They put sticks over the top at ground level and then said some kind of prayer (to whom we don't know yet)."
On another occasion, George and his family, who had already gone to bed for the evening, were woken up by one of the Tagalog speakers in the village.
"I … had fallen asleep listening to my MP3 player, so I totally didn't hear them," George wrote. "Ginny sleeps with ear-plugs, so I don't know how she heard him, so we can be certain that the Lord woke us up."
George and Ginny got out of bed and went to the door to find out what was happening. A family was coming to them with their young daughter who was in severe pain with a swollen liver and fever. The family said she had malaria, but Ginny, upon further inspection said it looked more like hepatitis.
"As we were treating her and praying for her, it occurred to me how much these people need help," George wrote. "They live up here in the mountains, and this is the only life they know. They cannot go and live in the towns because they don't know the way of life there."
The Olsons flew the little girl out to a hospital and it was confirmed that she had hepatitis. The Olsons also discovered that the girl had two other relatives with hepatitis. The Olsons do not have the facilities to treat hepatitis in their medical clinic.
"I have this vision of people in the mountains here crying out to God, whom they don't know, asking for Him to send someone to help them. I wonder why it was so difficult to get here and help these people," George wrote.
To get to the tribe, it took four and a half years of training, a year of deputation, and a year of studying the Tagalog language. But George is very happy his family had to go through that because without it, they wouldn't have been much of a help. "Yet our Father's ways are perfect and He knows exactly what He is doing," George wrote.
Please pray that the Olson's transition into the village continues to run smoothly and that they begin to develop strong friendships with the tribal people. Also pray for the illnesses that are emerging in the village to cease and for the Olsons to become equipped with the proper facilities to treat hepatitis.
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