Thailand Treetops

We recently spent a couple weeks in Thailand for meetings so I thought I would share some pics from our adventures there.

This is the main way that we got around town while we were there - it is called a tuktuk. Just like your average NYC taxi, right? :)

We made a lot of new friends while we were there. This is actually a long-time friend of my (Jen's) dad, and we were thrilled to finally meet him and get to hang out for a while - and he didn't seem to mind playing grandpa for a couple wks. :)
He treated us all to a day at the local zoo, and we had a ball seeing all the animals. The monkeys were one of our favorites.

Feeding the elephant was cool too.

We also saw this 2 ft creature on the sidewalk. At first we thought it was a snake or a worm, but it turns out that it was dozens of caterpillars, end to end, playing follow the leader.

cool stuff

The kids also posed with the elephant. But the trainer got the elephant to make a roaring noise just as they all posed, and I LOVE Ben's expression in response.

For Steve & my anniversary, we celebrated with a once-in-a-lifetime family adventure at Jungle Flight. Some new friends joined us, and we had a ball together with them. Here are the kids all harnessed up and ready to roll.

We had a short training session, then we started flying through the treetops. It was a wild experience! There was a total of 22 ziplines, 2 hanging bridges, and 3 free-falls.

Having a blast!

(Don't worry, Grandma, we were always latched securely to either the tree or the zipline!)

We were crazy high up in the tops of the trees.

Even though she is flying through the tops of the trees, Mikayla manages to look bored?!? Crazy girl!

That's better, Ben. At least make Mom think this is as nerve-wracking for you as it is for her! (Sidenote: we were supposed to wear shoes that strapped on your feet, but all I brought for the kids was flip flops...no problem, we just tied their flip flops to their feet with shoe laces! Click on the pic to enlarge and see their fancy footwear.)

Apparently flying through the tops of the trees is not enough for these adrenaline junkies - so they decided to try it upside down!

Here is the final free-fall - 40 m (120 ft) straight down.

It was a LONG drop!

Thankful for a "happy ending", new friends, and priceless family memories made in Thailand.

Pressin' On

Well, we arrived home last night from our meetings in Thailand. I will try to post some pics in the next few days from our time there (but you can see some pretty cool pics of ONE thing that happened while were there in the post after this one!).

But before I post Thailand pics, I wanted to post a few pics of what has been going on around here (even though we haven't even been around for most of it). While we have been gallivanting around SE Asia, Megan has been hard at work right here, continuing to cooridinate the translation of the Bible stories into the 4 heart languages of the Agta. Over the last couple weeks, they have cranked out the whole 1st draft for the In-Agta language story set!!! That is a HUGE job, and we are so thankful for her faithfulness to press on, even while we are gone.

After several sessions working with native speakers and some literate close-language speakers, this is what the stories look like. How would YOU like to be the one to try to type this up? :)

After it is typed up, it goes through many, many more revisions by various people to ensure its accuracy. It is a massive undertaking, but Megan just keeps plugging away, and we are gettting SO close to having these key stories in heart language for the people!

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We have been traveling so much lately that we have been trying to maximize every moment while we are actually here in Bicol. The main thing we are focusing our time on is training our new Bogkalot co-workers. They are deep into language study now, and they are getting more and more excited to start teaching. We had a training for them just before we left for Thailand. (Tnx to Megan for the pics!)

We had the training here, at the home of one of our new Bogkalot teammates. It was definitely a full house with all floor space, hammock space and even some tent space taken.

We always enjoy worshipping together.

Then Steve does some training time. This session was about how to learn the Bible stories to be able to teach them more effectively. The idea is that they need to start learning these stories in their heart language now so that they will be ready to teach them in the Agta language when the time comes. We always do lots of practice time in the training sessions - here are a few of them practicing learning the stories.

And while the adults are hard at work, the kids are hard at play.

This is Jerah, the daughter of one of our new Bogkalot teammates. She has been really sick and was in the hospital this week, possibly with Dengue Fever. She seems to be stabilizing now, but her older sister was starting to feel ill. Pls pray for this dear family - pray that Jerah gets well soon, that everyone else stays healthy, and that they would stay encouraged and press on in spite of this setback.

I Have Decided...

Today was an exciting day in our family - BOTH Zach & Ben were baptized!

Zach has had a clear profession of faith for several years now, but he has never asked to be baptized. It is very important to us that THEY are the ones to initiate it, not us. We have seen the HS working on him with this for a while, and this past week, he asked if he could be baptized. That prompted a great discussion, and Ben asked if he could be as well. We spent a lot of time talking with both the boys (particularly Ben since he has not had a clear profession for as long as Zach) to make sure they were really ready.

Since we are at meetings in Thailand right now, we all gathered and baptized them in the hotel pool. One of their good friends was baptized at the same time.

Praise God with us on this exciting day in our family!

Lil' Critters...and another trip

These adorable lil' critters just came to live with us. The kids fell in love with them in a pet shop in Manila and all pitched in from their savings to get them. Their names (I think they are actually final now - for a while they were changing minute by minute) are: Franklin, Peter, & Voyager.

We are all enjoying having these little guys around - they are just too cute to resist!
In other news, we are headed out yet again on another trip. O my. This time we are headed to Thailand for a required training with our company for several wks. Needless to say, we are more than a little travel-weary and "meetinged-out" after all our recent travels. We covet your prayers for strength and endurance during this time. Also pray that it would be a profitable training for us, and that we would stay open to anything God wants to teach us through it.

Precious Babies

Those of you who follow our blog will remember the malnourished twins that we asked you to pray for (see here). Well, we were able to go visit them again this past week, and we were encouraged that their eyes are brighter now, and they don't have as many sores. However, the situation has become even more dire since their mother is not able to nurse them at all, and she no longer has money for even regular milk powder, much less formula. So she has been feeding the babies the fermented "milky" water you can skim off the top of rice when it is boiling. There is absolutely no nutritional value in this at all so it is imperative for their survival that they get baby formula. The problem is that the impoverished single mom lives in a very remote mountain village with no money to get to town or buy said formula. Our hearts break for her because she really is a good mom and is trying so hard to care for her babies, but she just doesn't have the resources.

Will you pray with us for Mari-Tes and sweet little Erma and Edmar?

Pray that we are able to find a way to get more formula to her in the remote village so that she can feed these precious babies. Pray that God would burden the hearts of the people in her village to help them. Pray that God would use this to draw many to Himself.

On the Road Again

Some of you who follow our blog may wonder how often we are not "on the road"...trust me, we hear you! But in the midst of the craziness of constant travel, we do get to have some amazing family adventures. And losing your front tooth in Bali definitely qualifies! :)

The past couple weeks have found us traipsing around SE Asia again for some meetings. We did travel out a couple days early though to enjoy a beautiful beach.

We also got to stop through and visit my brother and SIL in the country where they live. We had a great visit, and we got to visit an elephant sanctuary with them besides.

Feeding the babies was a favorite for everyone

Watching the Elephant Talent Show

Feeding the big ones was a hit too.

Love Ben's smile in this one...

This was the 1st time that we got to try feeding the elephants right into their mouths - not just their trunks. Nothing quite compares with being licked by a giant elephant tongue!!!

And of course the elephant ride - bareback!

This was cool - "bathing" with the elephants. Basically it was just sitting on an elephant in the water while everyone splashed you, but the kids had a ball with it - which is evidenced by Mikayla's beaming smile. :)

SO thankful to our Father for blessing us with so many wonderful adventures and priceless family memories!

Nehemiah Teams!

For months now, we have been preparing for the arrival of 2 very special teams of volunteers. They are American college-age "Nehemiah Teams", and they will play a strategic role in our ministry for the next couple months. From now until the end of July, these students will be camping in tents in Agta tribal villages. They will be cooking over open fires, bathing/washing their clothes in the streams, and hiking all throughout the mountains here in Bicol. Please pray for this amazing group of people as they serve in this strategic way!

We picked them up at the airport, then headed to our friend's vacation home to do an on-field orientation. We poured SO much information (about strategy, culture, etc) into their jet-lagged brains, but they did GREAT with it.
We spent a lot of time in meetings during the 3 days.

We also enjoyed some sweet worship times together - this one at sunrise (jet lag does have its benefits - not often do you find a group of college students perky at sunrise!).

They will be washing their clothes by hand in the village this summer, and there was no washing machine at orientation so they jumped right in!

We tried to break up the long meetings with games and activities to keep them awake (jet lag is tough in the afternoon!). They enjoyed this one where you have to avoid being the one to knock over the bamboo pole.

Don't worry, moms of the students, we fed them very well. :) The tropical fruit was a hit.

In addition to group meeting time, they each spent time learning the Bible stories that they will be teaching this summer. They did a great job and worked really hard. They even got to practice what it is like working with an interpreter as you teach.

For some, it is actually much easier to learn a story if you listen to it. Mikayla was thrilled to be able to help several of them learn their stories by reading it to them.

Earlier this morning, they packed up and got ready to head to the villages.

We are super impressed with this group of Godly men and women, and we can't wait to see what God will do in and through them this summer!

Here is the team (with their translators) that will be focussing on the Agta tribal people who speak the language Rinconada. L to R: Ivan, ONeal, Kari, Bam, and Kellie Beth.

And here is the team that will focus on the Agta people who speak Bicol. Donnatello, Ray, Chelsea, Nikki, Michelle, Macey.

Please pray for these young people by name, to be guided by the Spirit moment by moment, stay healthy, be able to truly connect with the hearts of the people, perseverance through the tough days, unity on the teams, and that God would use them mightily in the weeks to come!