Visit with Brenda

Call it proof that it is a small world, the payoff of networking and/or God's plan that I was assigned to a city on the other side of the world at the same time a girl from my women's bible study group of 10 women is also there!  Yep, I already knew someone in Davao when I got here - beat that.  Brenda and I arranged to meet up for dinner at a local restaurant near her clinic last night, but this is what the weather looked like when I got ready to leave the hotel. 

It was pouring, the power in the hotel actually went off for a minute, which is apparently rare.  I think this may be the tail of the typhoon that hit Manila - don't worry, typhoons don't hit Davao.

I made it to Brenda's neighborhood only to find her entire area had lost power.  I stepped out of the cab into a small river and got soaked up to my calfs - of course, I was wearing jeans, yuck.  Brenda had an umbrella and we went to her house next to the clinic that she shares with 5 other women missionaries.  They tried to show me the place, but it was lit by nothing but candles and flashlights.  The flash on my camera did a pretty good job of lighting the place up and the women were nice enough to let me take pictures.  For those that know Brenda, she has a really cute house and nice roommates. 

Brenda has the bottom bunk



  

Kitchen

Living Room

We decided not to try to go out, since we didn't even know if the restaurant would have power.  The girls were fixing beef stroganoff on the gas stove, so we just stayed and had dinner with everyone at the house.  Brenda promised to take me to local markets to look for pearls and these pretty local wraps that one of her roommates was wearing.  We will just try to watch the weather forecast next time.  It took the cab a lot longer than normal to get me back to the hotel, where I took a shower and washed out my jeans and shoes before warming up with hot tea.