{"id":1090,"date":"2013-11-08T14:51:34","date_gmt":"2013-11-08T06:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/robert-smith\/?p=1090"},"modified":"2013-11-08T14:51:34","modified_gmt":"2013-11-08T06:51:34","slug":"a-couple-of-not-so-awesome-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/robert-smith\/2013\/11\/08\/a-couple-of-not-so-awesome-first\/","title":{"rendered":"A Couple of Not-So-Awesome First"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Our last update focused on a couple of awesome opportunities we had over the summer.\u00a0 <\/span>Unfortunately, between the two ministry opportunities mentioned in that article, we also endured a very negative first time experience which was being pick-pocketed for the first time on a crowded mass rail transit system in Manila.\u00a0 <\/span>Normally I try to stay away from the MRT during busy hours but unfortunately this day I was in a hurry to get home for a dinner engagement and so I thought I would take my chances.\u00a0 <\/span>I lost.\u00a0 <\/span>Even with my wallet in my front-pocket, it was slipped away from me.\u00a0 <\/span>I later identified the culprit standing next to me on the train after he was caught trying to lift another wallet.\u00a0 <\/span>While he did not deny taking my wallet, unfortunately at that point my wallet had already been passed along to fellow culprits.\u00a0 <\/span>Lessons learned.<\/p>\n

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Recovering from Dengue fever in the hospital with one of our church mates who also works at the same hospital where I was admitted.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One other first to top off our summer landed me in the hospital for a few days.\u00a0 <\/span>For the first time after ten years in the Philippines I contracted the dreaded dengue fever.\u00a0 <\/span>Rainy season is epidemic time for this tropical disease and despite avoiding it many times in the past when our co-workers were getting sick, this time it hit me like a brick wall.\u00a0 <\/span>I can only say I\u2019m grateful it was me and not my wife or daughter.\u00a0 <\/span>Incidentally, my wife and daughter managed to move our entire home into a new townhouse while I was lying sick in the hospital.\u00a0 <\/span>We praise the Lord for assistance from those within the local church during this time.\u00a0 <\/span>And what are the lessons learned?\u00a0 <\/span>Just a simple reminder from 2 Corinthians:<\/p>\n

\u201cBlessed be God, even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of all mercies and the God of all comfort; Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort where with we ourselves are comforted by God.<\/em>\u201d (2 Cor. 1: 3-4).\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Even as I create this post, we are only recently returned from Cirena’s home island of Cebu following a major 7.2 earthquake that centered on the neighboring island of Bohol where we also have family members.\u00a0 And now today we are monitoring a super typhoon as it passes over the Philippines with 200+ km\/hr winds, the biggest storm anywhere in the world this year.\u00a0 My prayer is that with every new experience, whether good or bad, we learn to be a blessing to those around us and provide comfort where comfort is needed.\u00a0 <\/span>Thanks for your partnership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Our last update focused on a couple of awesome opportunities we had over the summer.\u00a0 Unfortunately, between the two ministry opportunities mentioned in that article, we also endured a very negative first time experience which was being pick-pocketed for the first time on a crowded mass rail transit system in Manila.\u00a0 Normally I try […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":407,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10064,269,6244],"class_list":{"0":"post-1090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-family","7":"tag-dengue-fever","8":"tag-earthquake","9":"tag-typhoon","10":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/robert-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/robert-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/robert-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/robert-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/407"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/robert-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/robert-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1090\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/robert-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/robert-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/robert-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}