The Philippines is starting to feel like home

Hello friends and family!Having been here a little over a week, the team is settling in wonderfully and adapting really well to the culture and daily life here.

The week started with us going to a local church service in a theater on Sunday in Butuan City. The church meets in a mall, so it was a really cool experience for the team. Mr. Joel shared his testimony with the congregation, and the teens performed their evangelistic presentation. Jacob even got to play his saxophone for Amazing Grace, which was a big hit. Following the service, everyone got the chance to eat at McDonalds (and get fabulous McFlurries) as well as to shop in a three story mall. A highlight for Ms. Charity’s travel group was getting 30 minute foot massages. :)

The team has been working hard, with their clothes showing it at the end of each day. The road is coming along well, and everyone is loving working with the Philippino staff, especially Ar Man and Ervin. Although fixed now, the concrete mixer was broken for a couple of days. So the team has made significant progress painting the Conference Center yellow, now working on the second coat.

Other than work, days are still filled with time for the teenagers to grow in their personal walks with the Lord. Many are eager to share what they are reading in devotions and what they are learning in their faith. For Bible Study, the team has been diving into the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. And in the evenings, girls and guys have been having separate small group times, called GG’s. The team members have been growing overall, both individually but also closer together to one another.

On Wednesday afternoon, the team had the opportunity to go to a nearby village with the base’s circuit riders to evangelize. They did their presentation, which included the songs ‘Rock Sword Shield’, ‘Making Melodies’, and ‘Rest on us’ as well as the drama ‘Colors’ and the puppet show ‘Child of the King’. After the presentation, games were played with the children like Duck Duck Goose and Freeze Dance before transitioning into a gospel presentation. The kids were full of smiles and laughter, and the time there was also a blessing to our team.

Although they haven’t learned all the verses yet, our teens quizzed with the Philippino teams at their debrief. They came in first and were thrilled at the victory.

Please pray that the team will continue on this summer with persistence and receive unexplainable strength from the Lord. We are so thankful for how well this summer has gone and so eager to see what God continues to do.

With gratitude,

The Philippines Team

It’s going great. I’ve enjoyed talking to the Filipinos. The work project can be hard work but it’s fun. - Joanna

I like it here. I like the people here. I really like the Filipino food. - Ruby

It’s pretty here. We’ve got a lot of work done already. Hi mom and dad. - Jonathan

The landscape is pretty. The mountains are beautiful. The people here are nice and like to help during the concrete work. The food is good. - Justice

The Philippines is nice. I really like my team and the people on the base they’re all really nice. The work we’re doing is fun, I like hauling the bags of rocks to where we are mixing the concrete. I love doing the evangelism is the local village. - Cara