Beach Blast

Matt and Erin just left after an wonderful whirlwind 2-week visit so I am finally getting around to posting some pics from our time together. Erin is an amazing photographer, and she took more than 3,000 pics while she was here! As you will see, she got some spectacular shots. A few of the ones you will see are pics I took, but the vast majority are hers. Enjoy!

Here are Matt and Steve in front of Mt. Mayon on the day they arrived here in Bicol. It was cool for us to watch how their gifts complement one another; they will work really well together. Our 2 families will make a great team! While they were here, we took 2 days of vacation time and headed to a little rental house on an island off the coast of Bicol. It is a gorgeous place with an ocean view on 3 sides, and a view of Mt. Mayon as well. Beautiful. The only problem was the lack of electricity that made it like a glorified camp out. Before we go back we want to try to get some battery-powered fans so we can actually get some sleep at nights - and have them remove the rooster that crows through the night outside the window. We had a great time though.
The views made up for lack of sleep.
The kids all had a blast together. Mikayla and Chloe got on as 7-year-old girls do -- best friends one moment and in tears the next. :)
Much of our time at the beach was spent collecting these amazing shells. While it got a little too competitive at times, they had a good time with it; and now we have some great shells to put in a basket to remember our time together at the beach.

During our shell searching, we also found these tiny hermit crabs. Aren't they amazing? The 2nd pic shows one in the palm of my hand. With intricacies like this in nature, it is unbelievable to me that many people believe it was all created by chance.
One of the highlights of our time at the beach was the snorkeling exhibition. This pic is of Mikayla and Zach on the outrigger of our little boat.
Zach amazed all of us with his ability and confidence with snorkeling. He just took off and had a blast!
Ben still spent most of his time in the boat, but he didn't mind at all because of all the starfish that Steve kept bringing back to him.

Chloe went out snorkeling as well, but she seemed to enjoy playing the starfish in the boat just as much. They were pretty cool.

One morning, Steve and Matt were invited to go out early fishing with the local guys. They left before the sun was up, and Steve decided to take Zach along for the adventure. They had an amazing time and came back with some great stories - and 3 fish (I think they were blue fin tuna, but the guys may correct me on that).

Zach was very proud of his catch, and we fried it up for breakfast. Yum!

There were some adorable little kids who lived in huts just down the beach. A beach and playmates - what more could kids ask for?
They even let Steve borrow their little boat to take the kids out for rides. I love the 2nd picture of all the kids playing in the boat together.
The families on the beach gave us a couple of cool shells - one is a conch shell with a hole in it. Steve discovered that the hole is in the perfect place to turn the conch into a trumpet. He looks pretty funny playing a shell, but it sounds cool. This pic is of the guys showing Steve how to clean the shell with another shell.
Isn't this a cool pic?
Here are some sunset pics to remind you of our God Who loves beauty.

Please remember to pray for Matt and Erin Price and their 3 kids, Chloe, Emma and Laney. They have completed all their paperwork for the application process with our company, and now they are just waiting for the committee to evaluate it and approve them for this position. Please pray with us that it would all go smoothly if this is God's will; the vote will be held the week of August 13th. Here is a picture of their family so you can continue to pray for them. They do send out updates from time to time and have a blog spot as well with some great pics of their time here (http://www.pricefamilyupdates.blogspot.com/). If you would like to be included on their list so you can partner more closely with our team as we partner to reach the Agta, let us know and we will you in touch with them.

Look for pics in the days to come of some more of our Bible studies in the village. Erin got some great pics of those as well.