It may shock people to learn that Carrie left me…for two weeks. She had her eye on another love…mission and traveling so she went out on mission to the Philippines and is having a great time (though I can’t wait until she gets home)!
She left on March 2, but how crazy is it that we are able to communicate moment-by-moment via texting on our cell phones? That is, however, made difficult by the fourteen hour time difference. There really aren’t all that many hours when we are both awake to talk, sadly.
She is really enjoying this trip. They are staying on the island of Leyte where there is a University. One of the problems that the people of the Philippines face is that few women are able to get an education in agriculture and they need to feed their country, so Carrie is with a team of people who are working to build a women’s dormitory at the University.
A mission team started the dormitory 20 years go, finishing two rooms. In a recent disaster, the roof failed and a mission team was needed to repair it: it re-ignited the dream that began two decades before. Carrie is very excited to be part of the team that is working to take the project further (with local construction crews, too, of course). Carrie has been loving this project and feels passionate about the need.
It’s not just construction, though. Her team also collected books and clothes, shipping them in advance of their trip. The United Methodist Church is finding great success in the Philippines and they have many people who want to be trained as clergy, but there is little education for pastors. They need help educating pastors, so Carrie is also part of a group providing training for licensed local pastors who have not had the benefit of a seminary education. Carrie also surprised me the other day when she suggested that we should plan, in the future, to go to the Philippines to teach. How fun would that be?
It was a long journey to get to the Philippines. Her car was making some noise so I decided that we should keep her car here so I could get it to the mechanic (and so that she wasn’t driving an unreliable vehicle, of course). We both had Ash Wednesday services so we couldn’t go up the night before like many people on the team. We got up early on Thursday morning so I could get her to Chicago O’Hare Airport by 9 o’clock to meet the group. We left the house at 5:30am and I got her there at 8:45am to meet the rest of the group, but, then, I rushed back to Hudson for a 12:30pm meeting at my church. It was a really long day for me, but that was nothing compared to poor Carrie. She traveled continuously for 52 hours straight!!! I can’t imagine how miserable that must have been with flights, drives, and the seemingly endless layovers at airports.
It was a crazy-long journey for her, but I think the trip, so far, has been worth it. Based on the photos she is posting on Facebook the food has been one of the most exciting aspects of the trip for her. Is anyone really surprised? I, on the other hand, am not very excited about the food I am eating while she is gone. I’m going to appreciate her culinary skills all-the-more when she returns!
PS: Check out Carrie’s Instagram and Facebook pages to see more!
