Coconuts and mangos and bananas oh my

Hello from all the way around the world in the Philippines. I’d like to start this off by giving thanks to God for blessing us with the opportunity to serve and grow closer to him in such a beautiful place. So much has happened since our last report including an awesome weekend. On the work site we were able to finish and patch all of the block walls. Our next step will be to use finishing mortar on the walls to get a smooth finish and to protect the walls from the sun. In the mean time before we get to smoothing the walls, we were able to get fill dirt and stone to level out the patio to get it ready for concrete. We could’ve gotten a little more work done on Friday if it wasn’t for us having to take a break to eat the freshest and juiciest mangos that KP brought by as a snack. Speaking of that, the fresh fruit here has been amazing. The staff and students on base keep stopping by the kitchen with all different kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables that are grown on base for us to try. We have been very blessed to have so much fresh coconut as well. Several times the students have climbed straight up one of the hundreds of coconut trees that surround the base to get us fresh coconut. Coconut water has become a favorite for a lot of the team and the coconut meat is just as good. We started our day on Saturday sleeping in until 7:00. A little later on a couple of the BMW students climbed a nearby tree to get us fresh coconut to drink during our devotions. Our Saturday plan was to go to the mall to explore the shops and pick up groceries. Once we got to the mall everyone pretty much bee lined it to Dairy Queen for some Blizzards. After that thirst was quenched we spread out to explore before meeting up at an Asian restaurant for some dinner. During grocery shopping at the mall we had the opportunity to evangelize and hand out tracts to several of the workers and shoppers. This led to us meeting some cool people and having good conversations about the gospel. We ended the day with a quick evening devotion before heading off to bed. On Sunday we had to go back to our normal schedule of waking up at 5:00 so that we could make it to church on time. One of the people we talked to on Saturday was interested in what we were doing so he ended up meeting us and an intersection and following us to church. At the church we were able to give our presentation for the congregation and share about our work. Following the service we were invited to a huge and delicious lunch full of meat, vegetables, fruit and a wide assortment of drinks. We were able to meet the chief of Butuan city and the indigenous people in the area dressed in their traditional cultural clothing. As we were leaving the church blessed us with a large sum of money to use as we are in the Philippines. Our time at the church was so wonderful and it was such a blessing to see how generous and hospitable our brothers and sisters in Christ have been. When we made it back to base we had nap time for a little while before going into our normal schedule of free time, bath and laundry, supper, and evening devotion to close out the day. A couple of side notes to mention as well were that Rebecca led team devotions on Thursday followed by Jesse on Friday, Blade on Saturday, and Jenavive on Sunday. The team has spent just about every free time they had spending time together and bonding. Signs is a fan favorite game with a lot of time spend playing over the past couple of days. However whenever the students are out playing basketball everyone’s attention move over to the court to play. Whenever we are traveling in the van everyone turns to start playing mafia. KP has also been killing it with every meal. It’s been so awesome to come in to such an amazing meal every single time. I can’t express enough how much of a blessing it has to be here in the Philippines with such a wonderful team. We have been growing closer to God with every passing day.

Gavin C: Yo, what’s up. Team Philippines here. I have grown so much from this amazing team. The view here is so pretty. The people here are so nice. The food is so good. I love it here. God has been doing good things in me. Praise the Lord I get to wake up and see a pretty sunrise. I miss you fam!! Peace!

Aaron P: So far being out in the field has been so much fun. The Philippines are so beautiful. Our work project has been super good and we are almost done with laying brick and mortar. The afternoons have also been a lot of fun, ending my night with some basketball with the Filipinos and GG’s or Bible verse quizzing.