Another Adventure

While we loved living in the province for so many years, and the adjustment to the crowded city of Manila has been difficult at times, one of the real blessings has been getting to know other families with whom we can enjoy fellowship in our heart language. One of the families that we have enjoyed connecting with this past semester is the Maxwell family.  Jen actually knew Roberta in high school at Faith Academy, and we have found that our two families share a lot of interests - water sports and crazy adventures are two of them.  So who better to invite on another adventure?   

 We have always done ministry as a family, so now that the kids are in school in Manila, we use their school breaks for ministry travel.  Over Christmas break, we invited the Maxwells to join us on a trip up into the Sierra Madre mountains to visit some Bugkalot villages.

 Our little tribal house (not so little!) has been such a blessing when we visit the Bugkalot.

 We spent a lot of time bundling up (it gets chilly in the mountains..at least for the tropics!) and playing games or reading on the porch.

 The Maxwells have 3 daughters, and they are just as crazy as our kids, so we decided to venture out for an all-day hike to visit a village where Steve recently led a storying training.

 We started out hiking along the river...

 ...and crossing it many times.

 The trail led up into the mountains... 

,...and when I say "up", I mean UP!

We met a sweet group of Bugkalot on the trail. 

 We also passed through a couple little villages where Steve has previously led trainings.

 The trail was very steep and muddy in some places. 

 Then we arrived at a gorgeous waterfall!

 But sitting at the base of the waterfall isn't good enough for these two crazy families!

They scaled up beside the waterfall (using ropes)...

 ...then walked BEHIND the waterfall!

(Look carefully to see them behind the falls about halfway up.)

 They then made their way over to a cave. 

 They crawled through the cave...

 ...held some bats...

 ...then enjoyed the spectacular view out the cave opening on the other side of the mountain!

 Then we started the long trek back to our tribal house.

 It was incredibly slippery going back down the mountain - more like skiing than hiking!

 By the time we made it back, we had hiked more than 8 hours in one day, not including the rock climbing and spelunking in the cave!

 It was an exhausting day, but it was an amazing adventure, and we enjoyed some breath-taking views along the way!

While we were up in the mountains, we spent a lot of time in hammocks, and Mikayla and Z even slept out on the porch in hammocks one night.

 

We also had a great hot dog roast on the rocks where the two rivers meet.

On Sunday, we attended church in the village of Abaca.  Steve shared a report about the ministry of those whom they have sent out to church plant amongst the Agta tribe in Bicol.

Trevor Maxwell also shared a word of testimony while Steve translated, and it was a real encouragement to the people.

Then, as is normal with visitors, we were asked to sing a special number.  I dodged the bullet this time so I could take pictures of the group. :)

They had a delicious lunch prepared for us after church.

The kids had an absolute blast together on our trip.  One afternoon, they gathered pine branches and created a Christmas tree since it was just a couple days before Christmas.

The end result put Charlie Brown's Christmas tree to shame. :)

We are so thankful for families like the Maxwells, with whom we can share crazy adventures like this one!

Merry Christmas!

So we just got back from an adventure in the mountains, but since we only have a 48 hr turn-around time before our next trip (and only 40 hr turn-around before the NEXT trip after that), the blog post with pics will have to wait until January.

But I did want to get on and tell you all Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Our partners

I noticed that a few of our tribal partners recently got FaceBook, and they had some great pics on their accounts, so I thought you might enjoy seeing a few shots of their everyday life.  Since only a few of them have FB, these pics don't include all our tribal partners, but it still gives you a glimpse of their world...

In one of the areas, we have been able to work it out for them to have some land where they can plant a garden.  Everyone works together to grow the crops they have, and the vegetables lessen their food expenses.  This pic is the youngest daughter of one of our partners working in their garden.

 Lots of coconut trees in Bicol!  And some gorgeous views as you hike through the mountains.

 Love this one taken of one of the couples leading a Bible study.

 Great smiles!

 Bible studies are held wherever you can find a place.  The tribal huts down in this area are usually too small, so gatherings are often held outside or in a little open hut.

 Our tribal partners do a LOT of walking/hiking to get to the villages to do Bible studies.  Since they are targeting a fairly large geographically area (the tribal people down in Bicol are very spread out, so you have to travel quite a ways if you are going to reach very many people), they are on the go a lot.

 The one with the guitar is one of our single guy partners.  He is amazing with a guitar, and he has been instrumental (no pun intended! :) ) in writing and translating many songs into the heart language of the tribal people here. 

 It's a beautiful area!

 And so many people who so desperately need to hear the Truth.

We absolutely love our tribal partners and are so privileged to work with such great men and women of God who make such huge sacrifice to bring His message of salvation to those who have never heard!

Faith Academy

This fall, the kids made a huge transition; we stopped home-schooling, and they started attending "real" school in Manila.  It has been so much fun to watch them settle in to life at Faith Academy, especially since it is the school where I (Jen) graduated.

 All 3 of the kids have transitioned amazingly well into this new world, and we are so proud of them.  They have adjusted very well, are doing great in academics, and are loving the opportunity to get involved in many activities on this sprawling campus in the hills outside of Manila.

 Mikayla made the varsity soccer team (as a freshman!), and it was great to watch her grow in her skills and enjoy connecting with some wonderful young ladies.

 Their team had the opportunity to travel to Thailand to compete in a tournament with other Christian schools, and they won first place!  Mikayla scored a key goal in the championship game.

 This has been a semester of firsts for Mikayla as she also attended her first banquet.  The young man (also a soccer player) who asked her to go with him was a perfect gentleman, and she had a great time with a group of friends bowling after the banquet.

 A highlight of the last couple months has been a visit from Grandpa Hagen!  He was here for almost 4 weeks, and while he traveled with Steve for a lot of that time, he was able to see the kids compete in their sports and spend some good time together over the weekends.

 Zach has jumped right in to life at Faith, and he has been involved in swim club, robotics, youth group, a basketball team, and a soccer league.  His soccer team has done very well, and he is anchoring their defense.  I love this shot of him that a friend took during the game last week.

 Ben has also been enjoying the many opportunities at a school this size.  A few of his favorite activities so far have been puppets club, swim club, soccer team, and playing percussion in the band.

 After soccer season ended, Mikayla decided to try out for touch rugby.  She had absolutely no idea how to play on the 1st day of tryouts (had never even watch the sport!), but she went for it anyway; and she ended up making the varsity team! (I think the fact that she was in excellent shape from soccer was a big factor in this.)

 She has had a great time learning this new sport, and she has even been a starter for several of the games.

 It's a fun group of young ladies, and they have a blast at practice.  This pic was from practice on "Neon Friday".

 We are so thankful for how well this transition has gone for the kids (thanks for praying!).

As we head into this Christmas season, I hope that each of you will cherish the moments with family - even the crazy ones. :)

Over the river and through the cave...

Ok, so maybe going through the cave wasn't absolutely necessary, but they sure seemed to enjoy it!  Steve's dad came for a visit this month, and last week the two of them had quite the adventure up in the mountains.  They trekked up to a couple villages where some small churches have been asking us to come.  

 It was several hours of hiking, first through the river bed...

 ...then you headed up into the mountains.

 After a couple hours of hiking, they arrived at the village, but since they had some extra daylight, they decided to go with a few of the villagers to visit a waterfall and cave.

 Beautiful!

 But of course, where is the fun in observing the waterfall from the bottom?  So they rock climbed their way up to the top and enjoyed the view through the falls as well.

 But why stop there?  There was a cave at the top of the falls, so they climbed through the cave (at times crawling on their bellies in order to fit!)...

...and were rewarded with this spectacular view when they came out the other side!

 Ok, back to business and the REAL reason they hiked to this village in the middle of the Sierra Madre mountain range.  In September, Steve taught several seminars about how to teach effectively by using the stories in God's Word. (See this post for more info.)  One of his goals during those seminars was to train this man so that he could lead future seminars.  

 Felipe has continued on and taught several seminars since that time, and it was such an encouragement to see him doing so well with the material in this new church.

In addition, another young man went with the group so that he could be trained how to lead the seminars.  It is such a joy to be able to pass off training to these men and watch them train others!

 We are also so thankful that Steve's dad gets to be with us for almost a month.  He and Steve will take 3 trips together during this time; 1 down, and they are on their 2nd one now!