My Week in Bugnay

To me:  “So what can you tell me about Bugnay?”

My response:  “Ah it’s one of my most favorite places in the entire world.  I love the hospitality of the people,  I love how much joy they have in spite of all they lack,  I love how their way of life is so different from mine that being there feels like a dream.”

I spent one of the best weeks of my life in Bugnay.  I went on a Saturday with several other people.  Two of them were volunteers from Manila.  They made me laugh so hard as they prayed and looked out the bus on the way there and told me that there was probably a 50% we would die on the way there.  As we crossed the bridge to Bugnay I heard them say, “Whee this is fun.  Kind of like a trampoline… except you could fall off and die.” One of them asked Apo, Achao’s grandfather, one of the oldest men in the village, “What’s the secret to a long life?” After church on Sunday she said I thought he said apple juice and I thought how in the world did he get apple juice all the way here in the middle of nowhere but then I asked you why the pastor kept saying apple juice in his sermon and you told me that apple juice meant God and I realized what Apo’s secret to a long life was.

They all left on Monday morning and I decide to stay.  I had not packed to stay longer than them and honestly I was not sure just how long I was supposed to stay.  I roamed around the village visiting with friends.  One night I sat in a hut with a dear friend, an elderly lady that insisted I have dinner with her.  She fixed a simple but delicious meal for me.  As I sat with her drinking coffee, smelling her cigar, laughing as I attempted to communicate with her in my broken Butbut I was suddenly overwhelmed with so much joy I wanted to cry.  I fought back the tears because there would be no way to explain that to this tough tribal lady that would never understand a tear of happiness.  I was so incredibly gracious to God for bringing me right there in that moment to just be.  I was fascinated once again by their life that was completely different from mine.  I was ecstatic about God’s plans for them there in Bugnay.  I was thankful for everything I had learned in that moment and that I had experience more happiness than I had in a long time.

On Wednesday I taught preschool, five year olds, 30 of them.  I taught them the song “Itsy Bitsy Spider” since it was raining outside.  The teacher left me for about an hour when she came back I was so impressed I had them all sitting at their desks drawing spiders except for one naughty boy I was toting around upside down (:

Thursday I assisted the local midwife with prenatals and immunizations.  We saw 18 patients but were told that some were in the rice fields working.  It was so much fun asking a million questions about how she did things, learning from her as well as teaching her.  I was so thankful to her for welcoming me and allowing me to help.  

All in all, it was a fantastic week and I am super excited about imminently scheduled trips.