A little catch-up

I've been without internet access for the past few days. In fact, right now I'm at an internet cafe at a mall. So I'll give you a little catch-up, and hopefully I'll be able to post pictures later.

Sunday 7/4/10 - We spent our independence day attending worship services at the Barreto Church in the morning and evening. This was the same place of the Central Luzon Forum. No children's class today, though. We all just relaxed in the afternoon.

Monday 7/5/10 - This day we did a few errands around town, exchanging money and such. I have learned from this trip that travellers' checks are a thing of the past. It has been a little bit of a hassle. I guess next time I will pay with plastic and get money from ATM's.

Tuesday 7/6/10 - This day is probably my favorite of the trip so far. We went to an Aeta village. Aeta's are the native people of the Philippines. Some of them, including this village, separate themselves from the regular villages and live in the mountains. This village was by far the poorest village. In fact, the Christians have only been meeting there since May. A group from the Cabalan church started having Bible studies with some of them, and soon afterward 20 people were baptized. Now a young preacher goes there every Sunday and Tuesday for worship and Bible studies. This group of people live in the mountains. We actually had to hike in. (Which I really liked. I've been missing hiking with Bill, so this was an acceptable alternative!) The people were very poor. The children obviously malnourished. In fact, there was one little girl there who was 6 years old, but she looked no bigger than Marie. The people are generally attentive and accepting of what we taught. We had another dole out, and also prepared hot meals for them. After we left the village, we went to a drug store and bought a month's worth of multivitamins for the children and babies. And we also bought a nutritional supplement for the tiny 6 year old girl.

Wednesday 7/7/10 - We travelled all day!!!!!!! We left Olongopo at about 8:45 and did not arrive in Daet until almost midnight. We are staying in a house that belongs to Eddie's brother. The family are very hospitable hosts. In not so many words, I will say that I appreciate showers and air conditioners.

Thursday 7/8/10 - The church in Daet had their annual fellowship. Vernon taught the main auditorium class and I taught some of the ladies. It went okay I guess. The topic I was given was how to teach children's Bible class. Since I don't feel all that confident about teaching children's Bible class anyway, this was a difficult lesson for me to prepare for. There was not a lot of comments or questions from the ladies, but someone explained to me that it was because that even though they understand English, sometimes they don't feel confident enough to speak it. In the afternoon, we went to a place about 40 minutes away where there is a group of Christians that meet in a house church. Vernon baptized 4 people. But getting to the river was a little difficult. There had just been a downpour of rain. And we had to hike to the river. If it weren't for 2 strapping young Filipino men, I'm sure I would have fallen in the foul-smelling soil. But God took care of me and I did not fall.

Friday 7/9/10 (Today!) - We spent the morning at the Philipine Bible College in Naga City. We stopped at this mall for lunch and a little shopping. We're actually supposed to visit the Mayon Volcano, but I'm not sure if we'll have time for that.

Thank you for your prayers for this mission. God has richly blessed our efforts. Although I've had a good time, I'm missing Bill and Marie a lot. We have one more week, and I'll be glad to get home.