Greetings from the Philippines

As I write this email, a lot of conversations, singing and laughter can be heard all around me. The tents are down, bags are packed and under cover. The team members will be commissioned tonight. Some will leave for their projects tonight after Commissioning and the others will leave in the morning. There is one team staying here.

It has been a busy few days. I will give you some of the highlights. The team continued to assist with classes and those that didn’t have classes continued with various work projects. A new one was burning brush (Samara claimed to be the best “burner” since she is from California…), planting coconut trees, digging a ditch along with pouring another driveway.

The team has enjoyed spending time with the staff, leaders and team members. The team members are pretty good with English, so that has helped a lot. Our team members are NOT looking forward to almost everyone leaving.

Yesterday, our team, along with the staff and leaders, ran the OC together (no, the Kostners did not run…). We got everyone over the Wall! The Wall is about a foot or more taller than the US Wall. The Filipino team members loved watching it. Some of our team members dreaded it, but they all did good.

Another highlight was doing another cheer. Our first one was pretty pathetic compared to theirs. Our second one was much better, thanks to the help of one of the staff ladies. They did another cheer last night and are working on one for tonight. The Filipino teams are all working on their cheers as I write. We may be in trouble…

The Filipinos quiz every evening for an hour at the beginning of rally. It was leaders vs team members last night. Donovan, Charity, Julia, Lupe and Simon all participated for the leaders. The leaders won 240 and the team members scored -70. All five of the LDT team members quizzed out.

We plan on having a dinner on Wednesday night with the staff and the team staying here. The Filipino staff is preparing it. We are excited—their food is delicious.

We leave EARLY Thursday morning for our flight to Manila. We will be there for a couple of days before flying back to LA and then Orlando. We will send an email from Manila.

I don’t think any of us is ready to leave this beautiful place. It has been such a blessing to watch our team engage and develop relationships.

Here are some testimonies:

God is reminding me and teaching me to live in the moment and not try to work out His plan the way I think, but allow Him to work in me and in life. So many things don’t make sense, but that is how I know it is of God. It is so beautiful and amazing here and though I will be so happy to see ya’ll, I will miss here! -Jess

Hi Family! I have loved being part of the Boot Camp here in the Philippines and getting to know the nationals better. Yesterday we got to run the OC with the staff and leaders while all the team members watched which was a lot of fun. I am sad our time here is ending so soon, but excited to see you all. -Bella

I have loved every moment that I have been here in the Philippines. Today (22nd) we had the great honor of running the Obstacle Course. It was so much fun. Not only did I lift about 40 people up the Wall, I also went up the Wall myself! I cannot believe how close the end of this trip is. -Jordan

Dear Family, See you soon. We are doing good. The people here are the best. -Samara