Into the Mountains Again

After the long drive from Manila, we started climbing into the majestic mountains for another week in the village... ...amongst beautiful people...

...whom we have come to love dearly...

Our time there is always full of fun and adventure...

...the kids enjoy playing in the river...

...and on the big rock...

...building little play houses...

...cooking root crops in a tin can over a little fire...

...playing with their hand-made tops...
They also help out with family work - de-kerneling corn here...

We also hosted a couple of wonderful visitors this week. This is Shawy, and she is praying about how God may want her to get involved in what He is doing here.

And this is Megan. She served on our team as a volunteer for almost a year and has now returned as a member of our organization to serve for a couple years.

We also attended a clan reunion - the 1st of its kind. Members of that clan came from all over Bogkalot territory.

They asked Steve to share from the Good News from the Word since there were people there who were not believers.

And Ben thrilled the whole crowd when he attempted their traditional tribal dance with the other kids.

Steve also had some important meetings this week to set up the schedule for our return up there in January -- that's right, we will be going back up there in January, this time for 2 months. Steve will be teaching through the rest of the book of Acts, and he will travel to each of the 4 village churches 2x a week. M-Thursday, he will teach a day-long seminar in a different village everyday. Then he will also share two Challenge messages in each church on either Sunday am or pm - challenging them to change their thinking and send people out from their churches to serve long-term amongst the Agta, not just on short-term trips. We will also do a couple 2 day wkend seminars where we pull all the churches together. It will be a very busy time for all of us, but we are excited about it because they are excited about learning what God has for them during this time.

Please pray with us that God would burden their hearts during this time that we are gone, that they would feel a stirring to be involved in what He is doing outside the Bogkalot territory. Pray specifically that God would call several families to step out in faith and follow Him on this journey. There are several whom God is already working on; pray that they don't become distracted or discourged but would continue to listen to His voice. Pray that when we return north in January that they would be more passionate then ever to reach out beyond their boundaries and bring the Truth to another people group, the Agta people.

Manila Days

We made it home safely! Tnx for all your prayers for us these last 5 wks as we have been up in the village. More pics and update on that will follow soon, but first I wanted to share a couple pics from the days we had in Manila in between trips into the mountains.
We found a great little go-cart place. The kids were given a driving lesson and driver safety course, then they got to hit the track.

Ready to go!

(Gotta love the protective suit, helmet, and...flip flops!)

Zach was so stoked - right down his alley!

The proud racers

Zach won the heat, but they are all eager to give it another go one of these days.

On another one of our pit stops in Manila, the kids had a soccer tournament. Mikayla did so well out there with all the guys! She played almost the entire time, and she even scored a goal!

Mikayla kicked the ball, and her opponent kicked her ankle...hmmm, maybe we are going to need to look for shin guards that have ankle guards on them since BOTH Mikayla and Ben ended up with serious lumps/bruises on their ankle bones. :(

We didn't have a team for Zach's age to compete, but Zach got to play some as a sub for Mikayla when she needed a breather. He did great too, even though he was playing against kids 2 yrs older.

He even ALMOST scored - that defender made a great play after Zach beat the goalie.

We were so proud of all the kids! Ben's team got annihilated (sorry, forgot the cam that day), but he played amazingly well and had a great attitude. Mikayla and Zach's team ended up 2 and 2 - a lot better than we were expecting for a team from the province (who doesn't get to practice as a team) competing against organized Manila teams.

And then it was time to drive back up into the mountains. We spent MANY hours doing school IN the car this past month. Not fun, but when you are on the road that much, it is the only way to get it done.

Raging River

We got back from our 2nd week of camping up in the mountains, have spent 2 days here in Manila, and we will head north again tomoro am.

This past week was a lot crazier than the 1st one since we got rain, rain, and more rain. The river rose to prevent us from visiting one of the places we had planned to go, our water sources (for both drinking and other) became very muddy, and we couldn't get all the wet clothes dry for anything. It was a muddy mess everywhere, but all in all it went ok.

Thought I would share a couple pics before we head north again. Remember that peaceful little stream that the kids were having fun playing in last week?

not so gentle or peaceful now!

quiet mountain brook...

now a raging river.
It's hard to tell from the pics, but that water is really moving!
Remember the shot of this rock that the kids like to play on next to the stream?

Now that rock is just barely sticking out of the current.

Before...

...and after.

Tnx again to all of you who are praying for us and sending encouraging notes for us to find when we come back to the world or email & FB again. Really such a blessing. This next week will be our last week up there for a while; pls pray that God will continue to work in hearts. After this week, we will head home for about a month to get some work done down there, host some visitors, and maybe even get in some vacay time! Then back up north for Jan & Feb; anyone want to come for a visit? We'd love to have you, and you will be hard-pressed to find a more gorgeous place. :)