Having Fun

My cousin Tami has been living in the southern part of the Philippines for 5 months now taking a midwifery course. Her schedule has been so crazy that we weren't sure that it would work for her to come for a visit. But last week she emailed to say that she unexpectedly had a week off and may be able to come up for a visit if we were going to be around. We were THRILLED when this worked perfectly with our schedules! So Tami and her friend Bea arrived on Monday, and we have been running them all over the place ever since. On Monday we went to the hot springs and wakeboarding. On Tuesday we drove 3 hours to the other side of the peninsula to do a women's health seminar and prenatal checks for the pregnant women. Then we came home the long way by way of Legaspi where we got to visit Mt. Mayon and even try out a new zipline! Then Wednesday morning we traveled to the village of Ipil to do another clinic and our regular Bible Studies. We also stopped by Charry's house (our helper who had the stroke 3 weeks ago) to check her blood pressure and talk with her about how she is doing. They arrived Monday morning, but it was Wednesday evening before they saw our house in the light of day (at sunset) because we had been leaving every morning light and arriving home after dark! They have been busy days, but it has been WONDERFUL to catch up with my cousin, and she and her friend have been a HUGE help in the work here as they have taught some women's health classes and done pre-natal checks. Actually, as a result of their visit, the wife of one of our main leaders in Ipil attended the Bible Study for the 1st time yesterday! She has previously been too shy but after she had a prenatal check, she stayed around for the meeting! Please pray with us that she continues to come. Also, we have 3 more clinics scheduled in villages tomorrow - pray that these go well and that more people begin attending the Bible studies as a result.

Tami's friend Bea took the picture below of Mt. Mayon while we were there - isn't it amazing?!?!
Here is the group of us who have been traveling all over in the car together - our family plus my cousin Tami on the right, her friend Bea next to her and Megan (our long-term volunteer) next to me.

Ok, this one is for Uncle A & Aunt B and Uncle D & Aunt B - they bought these great costumes for the boys for Christmas. We have enjoyed having Batman and Spiderman running all over the place around here!

Also this week, Mikayla and Zach decided that they for sure want to compete in the world wakeboarding competition that will be held at the wakeboarding park near us in March. Last year there were over 250 competitors from around the world, and they are expecting even more this year! Zach will compete in the "boys 9 and under" division and Mikayla will compete in the "girls 13 and under" division. The competition is March 25 - 29, and the kids will be working hard to prepare their "run" for it in the coming weeks. Please pray for them as they work towards this goal, that they would lessons about perseverance and hard work and that they would have lots of opportunities to be lights in the wakeboarding community as a result of their involvement.

Also, Steve and I did not realize how expensive it would be for them to compete in this competition, so I am in the midst of looking into the possibility of getting them a sponsor for the competition. This would be such a great opportunity for them to compete in a sport - they don't get many chances like this where we live! Pray with us that it works out.