Ready, Set, Go!

At a recent conference that Steve attended in the mountains, he had to drive through this river.  The water came half-way up the doors, and it made for a difficult crossing.  It was only on the way back that he was told that the road actually goes under the walking bridge.  So if you drive straight from the one road to where the road comes out on the other side, it gets deep. If you stay to the right, under the bridge, that's where the road actually goes so it is much more shallow - just can't tell this from looking at it.  This is an example of why it is important to plug in to local leadership; the people who are from that place know what's really going on - even under the surface! We outsiders will come in with a plan...and just try to drive straight from one road to the other, totally unaware that it would be a lot easier (safer) to drive a different route.  They see things we don't because they know the people and place in ways we don't.  We need to listen.

 With that in mind, one of our tribal partners who is from the churches up there has been working to train the next batch of people whom the Bugkalot churches will send out to reach other tribal people (like the Agta in Bicol).  So Steve spent time training Felipe, and now Felipe has been doing a wonderful job of working tirelessly with this next group of people (several single men, one couple, possibly a family), training them for the job ahead. 

Steve happened to be present for the "final exam" for this young man. Mel just finished the pre-req training, and his final exam was to be able to story through the Bible in his heart language - covering almost 20 stories from Creation to Christ.  We are excited to see what God will do through him and the others who are getting ready to GO!

Family Time

We are so blessed to have my (Jen's) siblings living in SE Asia!  We had meetings in Indonesia the last couple weeks, so we stopped through to see them on our way there.

 Cousin time!

 While we were there, Steve celebrated his birthday.  He's not big on cake, but these lamb satay were right up his alley. :)

 We got to spend his bday in a historic city a couple hours from where they live.  We had a blast walking through the old streets together.

 

 It is a port city, so we climbed to a lookout point to enjoy the amazing view of the harbor.

 

 We also enjoyed some activities like these funny bikes.

 And of course a trip to the park to swing.

 There was lots of goofing around and laughing - a good day!

 We walked a loooong ways in the course of the day, so some of the smaller ones caught a few rides...

 ...but most of us had to walk the whole way - which led to some pretty tired people.  We stopped for an afternoon coffee, and several of the group sacked out while we waited for our order.

 We had a wonderful time re-connecting with our family!

 At the end of our time there, 6 other youth flew in to join us for a night.  They were attending the summer camp with our kids in Indonesia, so they stayed overnight with us on the way. We made for quite the sight as we maneuvered through the mall - all of these plus 1 more kid and 6 adults!

 After our time with my siblings, we headed on to Indonesia for the kids' summer camp and our meetings. (I will do a post about that time soon.)  

Then after our meetings, we headed home by way of Singapore.  The kids enjoyed seeing the Marina Bay Sands and giant ferris wheel.

 What made it even more special though was that we got to meet my dad there!

 Our main reason for going through Singapore on the way home was to see our friends and ministry partners at a church there.  It was great to catch up with everyone and give them an update about all that God is doing amongst tribal people in the Philippines.

 

 The next day, our flight wasn't until the evening, so we spent the day on Sentosa Island with my dad.

 We got to enjoy several activities, including jumping off this 5 story "parajump" (that's Zach up there!) and racing the luge carts down a hill.

 After riding the luge, we took the ski lift back up to the top and enjoyed a view of Singapore's harbor.

If you look between Steve & me, you can see my dad and Zach in the chair behind us.

Everyone's favorite activity was the aquarium. 

 We spent several hours amazed by the underwater world.

We spent quite a bit of time at the predator tank.  Such a weird feeling to watch a shark swimming right at you!

 God's creation is amazing!

 Then we were off to the airport.  By this point, my dad's fit bit already showed us as having taken more than 20,000 steps for the day so we were pretty wiped out.  Zach fell asleep sitting on his bag.  When my dad (AKA backstop) moved, Zach actually rolled away when the bus slowed down.  Made for a funny video. :)

 We had such a sweet time with my dad in Singapore, and it was great to connect with our ministry partners there.

We are so thankful for the opportunities that God provides for us to spend time with family on this side of the world.  We definitely cherish every moment!