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!
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