Zach Attack turns 9!

We are in Manila this weekend so Zach got to celebrate his 9th birthday at...

We had one excited young man - presents AND doughnuts?!?!
Who needs a cake when you have Krispy Kreme? :)

Mikayla made Zach a gift that he will cherish forever - she sewed him a 'Lil Blue' puppy dog and crocheted a blanket for it. Ben crocheted a collar. So sweet. :)

And to add to the fun, Papa got to join us for the party since he was in Manila for the same meetings we are. :)

Love this shot of the kids and Papa.

Our little boy has grown into a strong young man, of whom we are very proud. Can't wait to see what God has planned for our Zach in the years to come.

We love you Zach Man!

This 'n That

Well, this past week, we have done a lot of hiking around to different villages all over the area. We have gone to visit & encourage our new Bogkalot tribal partners (their houses are almost done - keep praying!), and we have also been surveying good locations for some college-age American volunteers who are coming this summer to camp out in tribal villages and watch God work.

Now, anyone who knows me knows how I love to take pictures, but I am very careful about bringing my camera with me all the time for fear of them feeling like I work for National Geographic and only care about taking pics of them. So I very rarely bring a camera with me, but I recently got a phone that has a *decent* camera so now I can snap an occasional pic inconspicuously as we travel from place to place. The quality is not that great so you will have to bear with me, but hopefully you enjoy this little glimpse of life here.

In one village, we found this precious lady and her twin babies who are both very sick. This little girl is FOUR months old, but just not doing well at all; her cough sounds terrible, and she (and her brother) have sores covering their bodies (likely from malnutrition).

We offered to take them out with us to get a check up at the doctor. Here they are hiking out with the little ones.

Look at her eyes! Won't you join us in praying for these precious little ones? They got some antibiotics, cough expectorant, cream for their sores and vitamins. We also gave the mom some money to buy baby formula (she has been feeding them just regular powdered milk since her milk dried up).

The gorgeous scenery makes the exhausting hikes much easier to bear

Love this idyllic little village - looks like one of our volunteer teams will be camping here this summer!

A sweet old man

A typical house - notice the black crosses drawn on all the walls and door to protect the family from evil spirits.

Off we go again!

visiting with an old lady, seeing if they would be interested in studying the Bible if we put some volunteers in her village this summer

So does this little motorcycle and sidecar look pretty full already? Not even close! We put SEVEN adults, 2 kids & 2 babies on this little thing!!! Then proceeded to climb and descend some crazy steep mountain roads...we had to lean forward/backward to keep from flipping the thing the grade was so steep! VERY good for our prayer lives.

Ben asked us to get a pic with his new buddy. Gotta love that smile. :)

another cutey pie!

A sweet old grandma

What a great set-up for washing clothes! Just hope none of them float away downstream...

Trying to figure out where to step to avoid getting stuck in the mud.

We have ALL become pros at crossing log bridges! Thankfully, this one is not very high off the ground/river...

In every village, you can always count on Mikayla finding a baby to play with.

Ok, this takes us out of the village for a moment and into the hair salon. :) Mikayla's hair has been giving us a terrible time of late - going into dreadlocks all the time! We decided to try a significant trim - took off 3 inches! Is MUCH easier to work with now, and the ends are a lot healthier.

Sorry the quality is so poor on this one, but I thought you might enjoy seeing a pic of the native version of a "walker". 2 hoops of rattan vine, then dishcloths tied in for the baby to sit in. Not many of the Agta have these, it is more common for those who are more exposed to civilization, but I think it is so inventive.

Here is a shot of Steve visiting with a friend while waiting for our boat to leave.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this random conglomeration of shots from our past week. Tnx for your continued prayers, and pls say a special prayer right now for those precious twins who so desperately need it!

Prayer Reminder

Well the our new Bogkalot tribal partners have been out in the village for about 2 wks now. They have been living in temporary tarp huts (see the pic in the next post) while they are building their homes. They actually weathered a typhoon last week in their little tarp house! Please continue to pray for them as they press on in spite of the many challenges they are facing. Here is one of the homes they are currently building...

Please pray for good weather and for them to stay encouraged in this time of difficult transition.

New Kids on the Block

This past week we welcomed some new friends.

You see, the Bogkalot tribe (about 20 hrs north of us) just sent out some of their own to partner with us to reach the Agta tribe.
So instead of 3 MKs around these parts, we now have TEN, and we are pretty excited about that! :)
Here is the whole group that just arrived.

Let me break it down for you a little.

First, we have the team that will focus on the Agta people that speak the language In-Agta.

This team is comprised of Pacdal (a widower) and his college-age daughter Donabel (she is transferring to a college located down here)...

...and the team will be led by Gary and his wife Levita.

They have 3 kids: Jeberson (13), Ivy (11), and Leris (7).

About 20 mins by jeepney then 20 mins by boat east of this team, another team is located. They will be focussed on the Agta who speak Buhinon.

This team is comprised of Abel, a 32 year old single guy who is very solid...

...and will be led by Jun and his wife Vilma. They have 3 kids: Juby is transferring to a college here in Bicol, Jera is 11, and JJ is 8.

The teams spent their first few days here in Bicol with us here in the city of Naga. We had some wonderful worship times together and went through some orientation with them. We also got to do some fun things like celebrate Jeberson's birthday with sundaes from McDonald's, ride the elevator and escalator for the very first time (fun to watch them get swaying to time their jump just right to get on), and watch our kids play in a soccer tournament.

We had some great bonding time together, and our hearts are with them as they settle into their new villages this week. After orientation, they loaded up a jeepney to take them to their new villages.

They will be staying in temporary places like this one until they can build homes. This whole team is staying in this shelter made from tarps. Please join us in praying for these dear men, women, and kids as they transition to their new lives here. Imagine YOU are the one moving your family into this village with strangers who speak a different language and have a different culture than yours; they have all the same fears that you would have if it was you moving there.

Our Enemy is going to be working overtime trying to discourage them and get them to give up and go home. Let's cover them with a thick prayer protection.

Some specific requests:

* The 2 college girls have to take transfer exams on Monday, May 2

* Their first task is to find land, build homes, and begin connecting with the Agta

* After they are settled in, they will begin studying the Agta language and culture

Pray that all these things go smoothly and that they would stay encouraged through this time of transition. Our hearts and prayers are with them during this time; won't you join us?

Commissioned and Sent Out

This past week, Steve traveled up the 20 hrs up north again to speak at the annual Bogkalot Believers Conference. This year was pretty exciting because they commissioned and sent out their first team to come and partner with us to reach the Agta tribal people!

The van that we have purchased to use in our travels up north has had some serious issues :( Here is a pic of Steve filling up the jug to put more water in the radiator. They made many such stops on the way up to the village where the conference was held.

The road itself was pretty exciting, and Steve was thrilled with how well the 4x4 van maneuvered through the muddy roads. I have a great video that I hope to add to the end of this post soon of the van splashing through several feet of mud and water.

Then after splashing through the mud (it was deep enough to come INTO the van), they stopped to rinse the floor mats in the river.
The village of Gingin is full to capacity during the conference so no guest rooms available. :) Steve got to cuddle up with the rest of the group on the floor, but he said it was so cold up in the mountains that he was thankful for the warmth of the group.

Here is a shot of the meeting place for the conference. Steve said it was crowded to the point of overflowing during the evening sessions.

It was here, on the final night of the conference, that they commissioned and sent out the new team who will partner with us to church plant amongst the Agta tribe.

Here is the team who just arrived on Easter Sunday.

Please pray with us for these dear people. We just finished orientation with them the last couple days, and they are amazing people with a sweet faith. We are privileged to partner with them. Just today they moved out into their new villages (they were split into 2 teams and will focus on 2 different language groups).

Pray for them as they find land where they can build their homes. Pray as they start developing relationships with the people there. Pray for an extra measure of strength during this difficult time of transition and being bombarded with so much that is brand new to them. Pray that their focus would stay on Him and that they would not become discouraged.