Back in the USA

Well. We are here, and it is just as strange as I thought it would be.

I am sitting on the most comfortable couch on the planet with three heaven-soft pillows and a fluffy down comforter. It is glorious. As comfortable as this feels physically, mentally I am sooo out of my element.

The cold does not bother me at all. I actually really enjoy it, so that it a happy surprise.

We are getting to see friends who we have dearly missed, and catch up on needed rest. God feels far away, but I know that faith is not always emotional. During my last week at Monsoon, I wrote a 7 day devotional for incoming interns that I am now going through myself. It seems like a different person wrote it.

Please excuse my brief and chaotic thoughts. Pray for clarity and adjustment.

-Rachel

Colins Portfolio

Well here is just a look at what I have been up to while we have been here in Asia. You can download this PDF to look at a portfolio that shows you the projects we have worked on, where we have travelled to in order to do them, as well as get a glimpse of some of the design/photography. There is a lot of mention of Rachel in my portfolio as we worked together on almost every single project!

Thanks for tuning in again!
-Colin

Beauty

A gorgeous bridge over a river in the jungle. Wow.

The village we visited yesterday was stunning. I have come to realize that these places (we are so enraptured by) are seen as mundane by the people who live there. Rainforest covered mountains take my breath away. Hibiscus flowers capture my attention. The beauty of my surroundings is so obvious. I find myself frequently saying “We have nothing so beautiful in the states!” Always, without fail, a local corrects me. “No! You have much more beautiful places in the US.”

The exotic is always deemed lovelier. We always long for what we don’t see. Why are we so ill contented?

Click read more to hear my thoughts and see more pictures.

Needing and Wanting

Communion is always beautiful...
no matter where you are.

What do you need right now?

Make a list.

What would happen if you didn't get those things?

I have declined to go to the bathroom in all gas station restrooms. I have avoided drinking tap water because it "just doesn't taste right." I have refused to sleep at certain hotels because they "looked too cheap." I have complained about the heat when my house and every surrounding business had air-conditioning.

Ungratefulness has consumed my mind for far too long.

God has been speaking to me very clearly about dependancy on him and being thankful for his blessings. Click read more to hear specifics. Without his permission, we could not breathe. He is merciful and good.

Always.

About Time!

Sorry we haven't done a post in a long while! We have been away from the internet on assignment. This will be Colins post in response to this past week, and later I believe Rachel will post also!

I can't go into much detail about our latest assignment. We will save that for a face to face talk sometime! But I can tell you about what amazing things we learned! Please click the read more button to keep reading, there are a lot of good things still to read in this post!

Prayer Update

Please pray for Rachel! She is feeling sick. she has a cold/some nausea. Praise God that she got to go to a doctor and he didn't charge us a dime! We are so thankful for God placing christians here that can blessing in all kinds of ministries! She was able to eat some this afternoon and is now sleeping. Hopefully she will get better soon!
-Colin

Daily life in Manila

Well, I think its time for another long blog post from yours truly! (Colin) I will put some pictures up and then you can click the read more button to see what all we have been up to this week!

Office Life

The past few days we have had a bit more time to go and do some work in the office here in Manila. As Rachel and I were setting up our desks we got invited to help out with a project that is attempting to fundraise to train pastors  in Kenya in sign language, to reach the deaf community.

here is a view of Rachel's desk at the office

Yesterday Rachel and I worked on getting a script in order which took quite a while.
Even if it's only a 30 second project, it's hard to get a script written! Now Rachel and I are going to be working on storyboards and getting the animation assets created.

Also this week, for the nerds out there, I learned basic CSS. (a web language). It was not as hard as I thought it would be! So praise God, this was a step I had to pass before I can move on in learning how to do other web development things the right way!

Today we are going with the orientation group to a museum after we have a devotional time. Tonight I think we are going out with the office to an all you can eat chicken place! It should be a great day!

-Colin

Orientation: Day 1

Today was the first day of orientation. Edna is our placement organizer and guide during this week. She and her husband spent 24 years in Colombia and most recently, 10 years here in the Philippines. They seem to me like a mix of my mentor/friend/professor RuthAnn from home and Colin’s grandpa and grandma Helton… very wise in their years and surprisingly hip.

Joining us was a family of four from North Carolina who have served with our organization in the past. Also, a mother and her son Gage who is 5 and super duper energetic. Along with a few other people, we all spent the first part of the day learning about the SIL Philippines office and some important things about engaging in cross-cultural communication.

Soon, the “book work” was over and it was time for another Filipino adventure!

Introductions, Foodventures and Community

We have finally met our host family the Criostomos's! They are a wonderful family and we can't wait to move in with them! We met Ate Eloi and Kuya Cris at a chinese restaurant with our new friends Oliver and Ann. We had already tried the salmon head soup and things so we got very adventurous at this meal.

These are pictures from the meal, Click the read more button to hear all about what is in the pictures and what we have in store this next week.

Click on the images to see them bigger!

Rachel's First Filipino Post

Yeah. That's a Typhoon!

Hello from the Philippines! Colin has been doing most of the updating because I've been sleeping in due to jet lag. He said it was like I was in a coma... and he was right was a few exceptions. The first of which is that I WAS able to be woken up; however,  because I DID NOT WANT to be woken up I was mean and whiney.

Anyway.

Yesterday we did more than just eat an amazing lunch. There was a whole adventure beforehand beginning with the realization that we had no food, drinkable water, or pesos to get it. Because we had no pesos, we couldn't even pay for a taxi to take us to a bank to exchange our currency.

Needless to say: it was time for an adventure.

...read more!

Manila, Day 1

So we are happy to report that we are boldly fighting jet lag! Yesterday we got up and decided to visit the office where we will be working! Ann our internship coordinator took us out to lunch at a very nice restaurant called Mesa.
They served Filipino food there. We decided to be adventurous so we ordered Duck Adobo, which is basically duck stewed in vinegar and some spices, which was DELICIOUS! Then we had pinapatok Tiliapia which was basically fish steamed in banana leaves with tomatoes and onions on top. Our soup was Sinigang, a Salmon head soup. Its literally a tamarind based soup with a floating salmon head in it that you pick the meat off of. I was told that the eyes are tasty so I went for it and it was true! They were juicy!
All in all it was a wonderful first meal here in the Philippines! Thanks Ann!
We also went to Mega Mall. There we were at the supermarket and it was interesting how they had a lot so similar things to the states, but a few differences. For instance, Milk is not in a refrigerated section. It's all down an aisle where they keep rice and soy milk, thats where they even keep cows milk. They keep it in a box, So we thought that was interesting. Later we saw a box of milk at Aileens house that said lactose free on the front, and then on the side of ingredients it listed lactose. That was funny.
Rachel will post more later about all the things we did yesterday, we had quite the packed day!
Thanks,
Colin

We have arrived!

Well, after literally 24 hours of non stop travel fun we have arrived at the SIL Guesthouse here in Manila. This morning I am writing to you at 9:30 am Manila time, and Rachel is fast asleep. I think I must have slept more on the plane than she did because I am wide awake and she is practically in a coma.

I wanted to share a little bit with you about our travel experience, since we asked many of you for tips and tricks on how to survive a long flight. You will have to click the read more button because this is a long post, so enter at your own risk!

We Fly Tommorow!

Check out our newsletter! We will send it out monthly, so if you would like to be added send us your email at the whitehursts@att.net. Click the image to see full size and Enjoy!

The Last Three Days

Wow! Things are getting crazy around here! We want to share with you a bit of what we have been experiencing these last few days.

On saturday we got these little cameras called a Digital Clover. These little guys will be able to fit on our keychains so we can have a camera everywhere we go! We are pretty excited about these and have been playing with them! (Pictures coming soon!)

Sunday we got to have the great pleasure of going back to Chicago to Vist with Colins family as we all celebrated his grandparents 50th anniversary party! It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed meeting so many new people, and enjoying the company of those we haven't gotten to see in a while.

Today! We began packing and taking care of random loose ends! We didn't realize we had this much junk! Crazy! We are getting tired quick and it seems a bit overwhelming, however it's also exciting because we are getting more and more ready to get to the Philippines!

Please Pray For-
-The interns already arrived in Manila, and their orientation process
-Or need to continue to raise financial support
-That we get everything packed up in time and that our apartment will find another tenant by thursday to move in so we don't have to pay early cancellation fees on our lease
-That we would be able to find time to rest as we have a lot to do before we take off

As always thank you for your prayer support, financial support, and encouragement as we go down this path. We couldn't be doing this without the Grace of God, and his spirit moving you, so thank you for your faith!

Colin & Rachel

Huntington Tour

Well the time to leave is getting close! We made a video to show what our life in Huntington is like to show to our host family in Manila, and to document this town that we have lived in for the last few years.
Enjoy!

-Colin

A poem... sorta.

Once upon a time,
There was a little rhyme.

It was gracious and cute,
with class to boot,
looking for friends to recruit.

It spoke on behalf
of missionary staff
moving to Manila to live.

In order to go,
The reader must know
that some happy soul must give.

So please if you will,
out of your charity to spill
finances for Colin and Rachel.

www.wycliffeassociates.org/links/donatenow

The Parable of The two Debtors

Hey everybody,
This past Sunday I had the great honor of being able to teach at the 509 Community the passage Luke 7:36-50. The recording is available at the following link if you would like to listen to what I had prepared.

http://www.509community.com/audio/audiofiles/download.php?filename=Sunday_05_22_2011.mp3

It was a great week of preparation. I learned a lot this week through preparing to speak. The ending was really hard coming, and it was really awesome to see how God just taught me that its not about me wrapping up things perfectly and neatly, and that I should leave room for people to approach the text as well.

Enjoy, and thanks for listening,
Colin

Tax Deductible Contributions

Hello Everybody!

The day many of you have been waiting for has finally arrived!
If you would like to receive a tax deductible receipt for your contribution to our trip,
go to this link:

Wycliffe Donation Form

In the box that says "My Commitment To", write in Colin & Rachel Whitehurst in the Wycliffe Associates name line. and add the account # M10358 to the line that says Ministry Account #.

Thank you to all those that have supported us already! It is awesome to see God providing through our brothers and sisters! Also Thank you to those that have pledged and and to support us in the future. And those of you praying, we couldn't do it with out you!

Thanks!
Colin & Rachel

Audience

So our Blog has a cool stats feature, and we can see what countries people are reading our blog from.
Here is what the stats report:

United States 835

Germany 30

Senegal 18

Malaysia 14

Philippines 11

Canada 8

Japan 7

Hungary 6

Russia 6

Saudi Arabia 2

We Know of some friends in most of these locations, but we were wondering who we knew from Hungary, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Japan. If you have checked in from one of those locations, let us know who you are by commenting on this post! 


We are exited to know we have global readers, and we would love to know that there are people praying for us around the world. Also we would love to pray for those around the world, So go on a head and send us your prayer requests as well!


Thanks, 
Colin