Wednesday, July 8th - Tagbilaran Elementary & BDA

Today was my last full day here in the Philippines... a full day, but fun and reflective as well. We started our day by going to Tagbilaran Elementary. This is the only public school on the island that has a special education and deaf program. It's not funded by IDEA, but we still visit it and love the kids and teachers there. I always visit the high school students there, as some had transferred from BDA to this school. Usually it's because IDEA is a Christian organization, and the more fruit we've seen there, parents who are opposed to Christian principles, transfer their kids to this public school. The kids are so sad, and don't want to talk about it, as they know they will get in trouble. It's SO sad!

I also took a video of a new student that I met. She is the student on the left, in the picture. She was new, 3 weeks into school, as a preschooler. She knew her name, most of the time that I asked, but nothing else. I asked how old she was, I asked which grade she was in... she only copied my signs, indicating to me that she didn't know a language, sign language. I talked with a teacher who answered my questions. Her age? 42! At least she was in school now, but wow, I can't imagine what she has gone through in her 42 years of life!

After we left, we went to ICM, the mall for the last time. Last stop for souvenier shopping! My big purchase? I got the top of my ear pierced, for $1.50. I've always wanted to do it, but the sanitary level in the PHilippines was a little frightening, but so far it's been great! We continued from here to McDonald's. Pizza Hut last night, McDonald's tonight for dinner - yikes! I think it tastes pretty similar to American McDonald's but about a third of the price. My value meal: double cheeseburger, fries, light coke was $1.75.

We then traveled to BDA for their Bible study. It was our last time to visit with the Deaf. Again I interpreted the worship and the message from Emisan, and then we had time to chat with the Deaf. It was such an amazing, bittersweet time. I was able to give Jessa and Clarise, two girls who had accepted Christ just two weeks ago, Bibles that I had found. It was a sweet time of showing them how to use the Bible and one of my favorite verses, Jeremiah 29:11-13. They read it, as I helped them sign the English, and I was able to encourage them by explaining what it meant. I love these times, but am also very sad to say good-bye for another year. These friends are so dear to my heart.

Tuesday, July 7th - Beach Day!

Today was our one day of rest, at Alona Beach Resort, one of my favorite places on Earth!

I splurged and got a one-hour massage, laying on the beach, and a foot scrub all for $8. It was heavenly! I also went snorkeling with Erica where we saw a bunch of fish, including big clown fish. You can swim out about 200 yards and you come to the cliff. The beach gradually gets deeper and deeper as you swim out, but at that 200 yard mark, it just drops off. You can't see the bottom, it's pitch black. That's where the best fish are - AMAZING! It was so nice to get a day to just relax, after 2 1/2 weeks of just pouring out of ourselves.

We ended the day buy going to BQ (Bohol Quality - a small mall downtown) to shop and go to Pizza Hut. These guys know us here, and it's always funny as we take up more than half the restaurant. We celebrated Dani's birthday today - Happy Birthday Dani! - with a stop at Bo's coffee and cake from the Garden Cafe. What a fun day!

Monday, July 6th - Road work & Loboc Elementary

The materials for the road were promised to arrive today, so our team set out to complete the second half of the road. We arrived and the middle section where we were to pour concrete, needed to be emptied of about 3 inches of clay and rock. We had a few shovels, and a few "spears" that we used to "rota till" the dirt to get it loosened enough to shovel. We finished the digging and sat down for a much needed break. It was very hot and muggy today, typical after the monsoon storm we had the previous night. The materials that we needed for the concrete never showed up. We were bummed as we were anticipating to finish the project today and see it to completion.

We went back to the house, got cleaned up and took off for the Loboc River. Loboc is a town near us, that is located along the exterior road of the island. The Loboc River is seen from our house and has boats that take tours down to the falls and back. In the past few years they have set up a tourist shopping area where we were able to shop for our last Bohol souvenirs. We then went to Loboc Elementary, our biggest group of about 300 kids. I was thankful for our large group of 30! We played games, played games and played games. We don't even attempt to do crafts... we have in the past and have learned not to. Our dramas were great and the staff at this school provided snacks when we were done. It's always a joy going to this school as we were blessed again this year to hear the Loboc Choir sing. They are a National Treasure and have traveled all over the world performing and winning contests. I saw them when they came to Seattle a few years ago, and they have even performed at the White House! We always make a point to hear them when we are in Bohol. They were wonderful!

After we left, Joshua surprised us with a dinner "float" on the Loboc River. We had wanted to float down the river and eat dinner, but we were too early for that, so we floated on the shore, eating dinner. We had the opportunity to eat several Filipino foods, most of which I've tried before, but didn't care to experience again. I stuck to the rice, pancit and chicken. It was a crazy past few days, and we were all looking forward to our rest day tomorrow, our first one!

Sunday, July 5th - Barrio retreat continues

After last night, all of us were excited to see the students again. Peter, one of the adult leaders, preached this morning for church, while Along (the barrio pastor) translated into Visayan, the Filipino language. We then took all students to the Nature Resort to play and swim. It was a hot, sunny day... perfect for the beach! The students had a blast! I had more conversation with Cheryl and Irene. Both of them I talked with quite a bit throughout the weekend, and they both accepted Christ the night before. Cheryl also sang in the talent show and won! She has an amazing voice. She knows English very well, and when she talks, she often brings herself down, and putting all others up. She is beautiful, has an amazing voice, and seems confident. Team members would often tell her how beautiful her voice is and she would adamantly argue. Well... through a lot of talking and convincing, she was finally able to admit that she was beautiful. Victory! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at the beach.

That evening, when we returned to the house, we took showers and instantly left for the barrio basketball court. We had provided dinner for the entire barrio to congregate and watch our dramas. The dinner was great, cooked by Marita our cook, and consisted of rice and chicken, and no utensils. This is when I'm very thankful for the invention of hand sanitizer. As the dramas concluded, thunder and lightening hit nearby. Then the monsoon started. It was POURING! We've never been caught out in a storm like that. It wasn't raining cats and dogs, but lions and bears! It was pitch black out and we huddled under the eaves of the preschool wondering how all 30 of us were going to get home in a pickup truck and a four wheeler. Well, Along handed me the keys of the pickup truck and we loaded it up with all the electronic equipment (for the dramas) in the cab. With all the equipment, and 6 other people in the cab... and maybe 15 in the back of the truck, I drove through the barrio praying every second. When it rains there, the roads half being paved, half still rock and clay, were very dangerous. That was not fun! We made it home safely, but all of us, especially those in the back, were drenched! We all looked like we had just gotten out of the shower, with our clothes on. We all arrived back at home safely though!

Saturday, July 4th - Barrio retreat weekend

Happy 4th of July!!! I can't remember the last time I was in the US for the 4th.... maybe when I was in graduate school in Arizona?

This morning I woke up with a great anticipation for great things today. After our morning Bible study, Amy preached to the barrio students. It was amazing and again, the Lord spoke and the students were receptive. We then had an entire day full of activities for the students, very similar to the previous weekend with the Deaf. We had a scavenger hunt, played Romans & Christians, water balloon toss, tie-dye, friendship bracelets, pool time, and painting toenails. It was a fun time.

After dinner we had our yearly talent show. This year we had a lot of great talents, great singers! After the talent show our team performed our dramas with Joshua explaining each of them to the students. It was an AMAZING time and the Lord moved through those students! Joshua decided to share with the students, reiterating what Amy and I had preached about, really being blunt with the students. I looked behind me, outside, and saw our team praying together, asking the Lord to open the hearts of these students. In front of me Irene and Cheryl sat... I prayed and prayed that the Lord would soften their heart and they would feel the love of the Lord that Joshua was talking about. Well, they did because when Joshua asked who wanted to accept Christ, both of them raised their hands. At least ten others decided they wanted to make that decision as well - praise JESUS! It was amazing! We've never experienced or seen such fruit during a barrio weekend before. All of us were in awe, thanking the Lord for what He had done.

The evening concluded with a thunder and lightening show. It was SO powerful, lightening so frequent and near, the thunder following soon after. Kristie and I opened the blinds of our bedroom and watched it through the floor to ceiling windows. We didn't have fireworks on this Fourth of July, but we had the real thing.

Friday, July 3rd - Cross, Calunsansur Norte, & Barrio retreat

Today we anticipated the start of a few busy days. We had planned to continue the road work today, however, we ran out of materials and they were not replenished. Therefore, as we started our daily Bible study with worship, a jeepney pulled up to the house and we all jumped in. We were going to the cross!!! Across the jungle, on top of a hill west of the house, there is a 50 foot cross. During the morning sunrise, you can see the cross silhouette standing on top of the hill. We don't always get a chance to visit the cross, but since our morning plans fell through, we trekked (via jeepney) down the barrio, across the jungle, and up the hill to get to the cross. Once there, we worshipped, had quiet time, and Tyler Moran led us in our Bible study. It was a special time.

Back at the house, anticipating the arrival of road construction supplies, we were unsuccessful. However, since we were going to be having a busy weekend, we now had the time to get ready for that.

In the afternoon we traveled to Calunansan Norte, a barrio school near us. Once home again, we had just minutes prior to the barrio high school students arriving. In years past, we wanted all to hear about Jesus, therefore we allowed high school, almost high school, and post high school students to come to this weekend. Not only was it very costly to have 170 students for the weekend, but with the wide range of ages (typically the older kids), it brought a lot of "worldly distraction". This year we opened the retreat up to ONLY current high school students. This brought 80 kids to us, and there was such a different spiritual dimension this weekend, than in years past. I know the Lord has been showing us more fruit, but I was completely blown away this weekend. Kids were more open with us, just to have a normal conversation. Typically they are very guarded any shy, but there was more openness to talk about their religion or faith in Jesus. I had many conversations about school, family and faith which surprised me and excited me. Irene and Cheryl were two girls that I connected with. They were both in their first year of high school, and intially shy, they started opening up. It was SO fun to talk with them.

Friday night brought conversations and fun with basketball and volleyball. After dinner we had our "session" which consisted of worship and preaching. Tonight I preached the same message that I preached to the Deaf the previous weekend. It was kind of strange for me though, as usually when I preach I'm signing. Today I was preaching with my voice, trying not to use my hands as much as possible. I can say it was a little more difficult, which is odd. Nevertheless, the Lord still spoke and I believe the students were extremely receptive.

Thursday, July 2 - Road Construction & Calunansan Sur

Service project day! Each year we commit to a service project in the barrio. This year we provided the funds and the labor to build a section of the road through the barrio. The road is a dirt, clay, rock, uneven mess. Over the years the people who live in the barrio have built sections of cement road where it was dangerous to drive. We were asked to build 2 sections of the road where they had previously constructed two cement tire "paths". This was temporary but also dangerous if cars or motorcycles didn't follow the paths correctly. We were asked to fill in the 3-foot area between the two paths. We walked down to this section of road as it was near our house. Our day consisted of shoveling rocks and sand into sacks and carrying them 100 feet to where the cement mixer was. I remember a few years ago we mixed cement by hand, shoveling the sand, rock, cement mix, and water with shovels on a flat section. This year we had a gas powered cement mixer. Barrio guys threw in the sand, rock, cement mix and water and when it was mixed, they'd pour it out on the ground. Our team would then shovel it to where it needed to go and smooth it out. It was a long process, dirty and hot, but the team worked very well together and the first section of the road was completed.

We went back to the house to clean off, eat lunch, and cool off in the pool. I think this was my first time in the pool since I had been there. It felt so good after the morning "workout" of shoveling and hauling rock. After lunch and a bit of a rest, we walked to Calunansan Sur, a hearing school down the road. These kids are so fun as they LOVE to have their picture taken. This picture is Marc Anthony, he and his sister, Jelly Mae are dear to us. Endi, the barrio pastor's wife, works at this school, so it's always fun to see her. She and her staff provided a typical Filipino snack: rice, coconut milk, sugar, banana all wrapped up in banana leaves and steamed. I LOVED IT!!! They also gave us fresh coconut milk, chilled with chunks of coconut!