Catching Up

Buckle your seatbelts - it has been a long time, and there is a lot to catch you up on so this will be a long post. :) O - and if you haven't seen the next post about Mikayla's adventure yesterday, be sure to do that!

Ok, I really should be working, but just had to take a break and post some pics. The first few are of the kids snowboarding the weekend before we came back here to the Philippines. We were SO thankful for the 4” or so of snow we got just in time for them to try snowboarding (a long-time dream of Zach’s). They all did really well at it and had an absolute blast.

I didn’t take many pics on the flight over, but suffice to say it was pretty awful. We weren’t able to sit together, there were no individual monitors for the kids so had to keep them occupied so they couldn’t see the inappropriate movies on the big screen in front of them, we had a 3 ½ hr delay in the plane on the ground before the 16 hr leg (with the bathrooms broken so no one could use them!), 1 ½ hrs on the ground in Japan – but had to stand in security line the ENTIRE time (again with no bathroom) before immediately boarding the next flight, then to cap it all off we got hit with $400 worth of baggage fees for the last leg that we weren’t’ supposed to have. But we all arrived safely and were happy to have it OVER. While we were busy negotiating with the manager about our baggage on the final leg of the journey (to no avail), I got this shot of Zach. Needless to say, we were all pretty wiped.

Our new house was a disaster when we arrived. A thick layer of dust, grime and bugs (dead & alive) coated everything, both inside and outside the boxes. Cleaning enough to even begin unpacking was a serious job. Also discovered some termite damage in 2 rooms (which led to a lot of the dust since these termites are a little different and drop the dust all over as opposed to accumulating it). They had to remove part of the ceiling in the living room to fix it; haven’t done the dining room damage yet. And a serious leak in our bathroom that led to some good waterfalls and rain from the ceiling in the kitchen below. We also discovered that our fridge and washing machine had gone out; we are still in the process of fixing those.

To top it all off, our tools and school supplies are being held hostage in Manila by FedEx and the customs department and they won’t tell us their complete ransom demands, but it looks like it will be at least $500. Last we heard is that since we listed the value as greater than $500, we will have to apply for a “Importer License” to get it through customs…PRAY that we can get our stuff soon!!!

This little guy has taken up residence in our tiny screened-in porch. Was trying get rid of him then saw him catch this cockroach…now I don’t know what to think. REALLY hate cockroaches.

Our trips into the villages have gone well. A basic assessment of the status of the believers and churches is that the individuals are doing well spiritually, but the churches (at least most of them) are struggling. It is just so against their culture to step up and initiate a meeting as a group, much less teach a group, so many of the leaders are struggling with meeting regularly. We are excited though with how God has worked in their lives since we have been gone and can’t wait to see what He will do in the months ahead as we continue discipling & training the believers and leaders.

Here are a few pics from our trips out:

One of the churches that is really doing well actually started another Bible study about a 45 min hike away. It has been going about a month, and we got to go with them this week. The hike wasn't bad at all, but there were some places where balancing on the skinny rice terraces got exciting. Amazing how that deep mud on both sides seems to pull you in. Realized why the kids were so good at balance beam the few weeks they were in gymnastics though!

As we are hiking out there, MaryAnn tells me there is a bridge coming up that scares her every week. She is about 80 lbs dripping wet so I asked her if it scares HER, what am I going to do??? Ends up it was just a swinging bridge. It moves around a lot but is stable. On the way back, the kids and Steve decided to jump off of it and cool off in the river! The Agta (and I) thought they were crazy, but they had a blast.

We couldn't believe it when we saw that they take motorcycles across! Glad we were on foot.

Jose taught on the story of Noah, and it was such an encouragement to our hearts. I didn’t want to be a distraction by taking pics during the lesson, but I snuck this one afterwards while some of them were standing around talking in front of his aunt’s house where they meet.

Love this pic of Jose and his son hiking out to share the Word with another village.

The rice has just been planted and is a gorgeous bright green color. Beautiful.

Catching up. Precious reunions.

A group gathered to watch our every move wherever we went. They seemed happy to have their entertainment back again. :)

On the way to market.

The kids had fun chasing baby chicks in each of the villages.

those eyes...

village life

Well, Steve left at 5am this morning for a village almost 2 hrs away. He was invited to attend & observe the dedication of some ancestral land that has been deeded to the village by the govt. Upon arrival, they hiked almost 3 hrs to the top of the mountain to do their sacrifices and other ceremonies. They will be there all day and all night; many of the ceremonies will take place under the full moon tonight. This is a notoriously dangerous area so pls pray for safety for everyone involved. There is a large group so they should be ok, but I am still nervous. It was an opportunity to learn more about their culture though that we just couldn't pass up. Steve should be home sometime tomoro. Thanks in advance for praying!