The True Meaning of Christmas

Every once in a while we have an experience that touches our soul. Last night was such an experience. Susan organized a visit to the temple grounds for the children of the Mabuhay House (our Ronald McDonald house). The temple area is beautifully decorated here with colored lights on the palm trees and a manger scene near the temple. It is closed on Monday nights but we arranged for it to be opened for our children. We met about 5 PM and the children had been anxiously awaiting our arrival for the past 2 hours. We brought the children a treat of yogurt and tangerines and sang Christmas songs while we waited for the vans to arrive. I pulled one little girl over to the food. Her arms were deformed and so thin I thought they might break. I pealed a tangerine for her but had to feed it to her as her arms wouldn't bend enough for her to put the food into her mouth by herself. Most of the kids currently are there for repair of clubbed feet and are on crutches or in wheelchairs, but others have cleft lip & palate deformities, cataracts or crossed eyes or burn contractures. They each have a parent or guardian with them. After singing "Jolly Ole St. Nicholas" I asked them "when does Santa Claus visit in the Philippines?" All I got was a blank stare. I then realized that these people were too poor to have Santa visit. It is all they can do to feed their families. The time finally came to get in the vans and we drove through Manila traffic for 15 minutes to arrive at the temple. One little deaf boy, who has difficulty interacting with the kids because he can't talk, started jumping up and down with delight as he saw the colored lights and ran up to Susan, threw his arms around her and gave her a big hug. This was something he could experience like the other kids. We walked as a group, looking at the beauty of the grounds, stopped for a few group pictures and then over to the apartments of the temple workers right there on the temple grounds. We sang Christmas carols to them in English and Tagalog and they came out and gave the children candy. After, we went to the Manger scene and I told them a condensed version of the Christmas story as related by Luke. During the entire evening no one cried, there was no fighting among the children only a peaceful feeling of love and happiness that is difficult to put into words. When it came time to leave, no one wanted to get in the vans, but babies were starting to fall asleep and the time had come. We drove back to the Mabuhay House and let them out knowing they had experienced something special, the true spirit of Christmas in their hearts as we had. Early this morning I awoke with tears in my eyes as I thought about these children. We have come here to help mend their broken and deformed bodies but Christ is there to comfort their souls and through His atoning sacrifice they will eventually all be healed, completely restored to their perfect frame. They will undergo enormous difficulty in this life but can be resurrected without blemish through His perfect life and atonement. This makes me feel very inadequate but so grateful for the knowledge I have that He lives and loves us all.

The Clinic is Completed

Susan is letting me write on the blog this time! The Craniofacial Clinic buildout is finally finished and really looks great. The purpose in doing this is to reduce the number of hospital cases we do by using the clinic as an outpatient facility thereby reducing foundation costs and increasing the number of cases we can do for the same amount of money. I brought a lot of instruments and some equipment with us but the dental chair, unit, light and air/water facilities needed to be purchased. The problem with much donated equipment is that it is a cast off from someone who no longer uses the outdated stuff or it is broken and requires hard to find and expensive parts. We thus invested in some new equipment that will last and can be repaired locally. Using my previous office as a template we employed a local carpenter to build out the cabinets, plumbing and electrical. We were able to get a donated panoramic x-ray machine to work so now we're in business. We should be able to do many of the cleft lip and some palates right in the office under local anesthesia and sedation. Dr. Guiverra, our plastic surgeon, was really excited after seeing the potential and I am anxious to work with him. I have struggled getting licensed through the local political boards and failed to get approval last week as one of the agencies once again failed to get their certificate to the Regulator Board in time so it will be January before I can be official, but we will begin to use the clinic anyway. I do have a cleft lip case scheduled later this week at Fatima Hospital Medical School. Hope you enjoy seeing the before and after pictures of the clinic. Hopefully, next month, there will be a few pictures of patients to show.

HIGHS AND LOWS

Working with the government to try and get Grants license has been very frustrating. The committee meets on the first friday of the month. In December he was turned down because one letter had been sent to the wrong fax number. Then last friday it was turned down for some problem with the public health department. We don't even know what it is and Grant is trying to find out what the problem is today. He might have to wait another month. It was not so bad the first time because the clinic was being built out but now it is nearly finished. Now it looks like another months wait. You can imagine that it has been quite discouraging for Grant. On the brighter side, we went to Villa Escudero on monday. It is an old Spanish Plantation. The family still lives there but has opened it to the public probably to make money. The grounds are very extensive and beautiful. One of the fun things to do is eat lunch in the river by a manmade water fall. You can rent places to stay with back porches overlooking the river. They have bamboo rafts you can paddle around the river on. It is quite a peaceful and lovely place. I am sure it is used for some wonderful parties and weddings. Last Saturday night we went to Manny's ward party. He works with Grant and runs the Mabuhay House. He is also bishop of his ward. Anyway it was quite the event. I wanted to show you this little boy who did a Michael Jackson impression. He is probably about six years old. He should probably meet Annika and they could be on "So You Think You Can Dance"! Well, sorry the Michael Jackson dance did not download for some reason. Maybe it needs government approval. I am not sure what happened but I have tried twice and that's it because it takes too long.

Road Shows

Last night we went to the Makati Stake Road Shows. It was something. They had ten wards preforming for a packed house. Each ward chose a musical to give the gist of the story. We were amazed by the costumes, choreography, singing and all out enthusiasm. Each production had well over 50 people. The performances lasted almost 5 hours but it was worth it to experience so many people having such a great time. These Filipino's really know how to have fun. These video's don't really give the productions their due but thought you would get a little flavor of their enthusiasm.

The Clinic is coming along great. The new chair was delivered on Thursday and things are starting to come together. Grant met with the Doctors at Fatima Medical school that volunteer their services and they are going to give the 6:00 am time slot for surgeries to Mabuhay Deseret. He will also be able to work with them under their licenses until his is approved. I have been helping at the Mabuhay House. This is where the children stay with one member of their family while they are being treated. The things they provide for are club feet, crossed eyes, clef lip and clef palate. On Thursdays we have a group of women from the Church come over for "Thursday Thrills". We have singing time and treats and an activity where they make something. Even the adults really get into it and have as much fun as the children. This house is so nice because these children come from other islands and areas outside of Manila. If they didn't have a place to stay they could not get the treatment they need.

Pagsanjan Falls

Wednesday we went with Sister Kim and her daughter Hye-won and DiAnn Bledsoe to Pagsanjan Falls. It took us about two hours to get there but it is only about 50 miles away. That is because of the traffic in Manila. We got in these canoes with two boatmen to pull us up to the falls. At first a motorized canoe pulled both of our canoes up the river until we got to the rapids and rocks. Then the two boatman pull and push you through the rocks and rapids. There are 14 rapids. Then you are at the falls and you get on a bamboo raft and two raft men pull you up to the falls and underneath them behind the falls. It was on a small scale of Niagra but still very powerful. Here they let you jump off the raft into the water. I declined because I was not sure I could get back on the raft again! I will try to download a little film of going up the river. It was really a fun day and it was so beautiful with mountains on both sides of the river and lots of foliage. I don't think I have seen anything more beautiful even in Hawaii. They told us several movies have been filmed there.

Grants Life Changing Experience

Monday we went golfing. We have been on a vacation mode while we are waiting for the Clinic to get finished and Grants license to get approved. It was not the best golf course we have been on but it was interesting to have a caddy who magically put your ball where it should have gone rather than where it went. I also had a much appreciated umbrella girl who kept me shaded and fanned me at the same time. We did walk the 18 holes however. So when we got home my feet were feeling like I needed a foot massage. Luckily we have a massage spa in our building. So for one hour I got a great foot massage for about $5.00. Grant in the mean time went across the street to get his hair cut, not knowing that they do all sorts of services in the barber shop. He decided to have them cut his toenails which turned into a pedicure. He has never been able to understand why I love pedicures. Now he does. He says he is never going to cut his toenails again. Life changing experience? I would say so!