Week One in the Philippines

Hi everyone!

I am having such an amazing time here and the Lord is doing some great things in our lives and in the lives of the people here!

We arrived in Butuan City, Mindanao, Philippines on Thursday morning (your Wednesday night), stepped off that plane and...it...was...HOT!! Like hotter than I have ever experienced kind of hot and humid! We have a running joke though...Like the 5 stages of greif, we also have the 5 stages of heat and humidity in the Philippines...Denial--"There is no way it is this hot...", Anger--"IT IS SO INCREDIBLY HOT!!!!", Bargaining--"Please, just a cold drink of water, no ice required, I'll give you anything!", Depression--"It is going to be this hot for the rest of the Summer...", and lastly Acceptance--"Okay, so it's going to be this hot, it's not so bad :)" I think I've almost reached the acceptance phase ;)

Anyway, after the got our bags from a little bitty baggage claim, we went outside to meet our supervisor and translators. Our supervisor is Kuya Bong (Kuya means older brother, we call all Ate (older sister) or Kuya if they are within 10 years of our own age), and we hae several translators within a few years of our age. We rode to the market on a Jeep-nee! It's a bus type thing with open windows and just two benches...If we had these in the US, we could fit about 12...however, here in the Philippines, we fit A LOT more! There are people everywhere! About 20-25 on the roof and generally 5-7 hanging off on the sides!! :) so brave! I haven't been on the roof yet, but I will tonight when we head back to the BOOST (our home base about an hour away from the city)

Speaking of the BOOST...I will NEVER take warm showers for granted ever again!! Our system consists of a hose spicket from the wall, a cup, and a bucket...that's right, bucket baths :) Honestly, it's so hot that cold showers aren't so bad. Also there at the BOOST, we cook our meals over a fire that we start ourselves, and we wash our clothes in buckets as well and hang them to dry. All that to say, I am so very thankful for what the Lord has blessed me with! I will always remeber to be thankful for these things.

There has been so many things that have happend I don't know what to talk about! I have been keeping a journal every night so I can remember all the great things that have happened.

I think the best moment so far is when we went to church sunday morning. We headed out from the BOOST at 8am. We traveled to the river by tricycle (no, not the child bike). It's a motorcycle with a carriage attached and again, in the US we would fit about 3...not here :) we have fit 7 in this small bike on more than one occasion! It sure is different, but it's fun :) So after we got to the river we crossed in a canoe. I'm not sure if most of you know, but I really do not like water, so crossing in a janky canoe was SOOO nerve racking for me! We made it safely across and started our next leg of the journey on a habl-habl. This nifty transportation device is a motorcycle with "wings" attached so they can fit even more on! :) I love the Philippine people :) So after our ride to the church, we had an amazing time of worship. The best part was that we did not have any instruments, comfy chairs, coffee shops, or hymnals, we just used the voices the Lord gave us. It was amazing!! During children's church, the children would sing to us and recite memory verses (in English, very impressed!). There was one little girl who started her song but stopped suddenly and began to cry. We asked the translator what had happened and she replied "she was moved by the Holy Spirit" How awesome is that?! A little girl, 11-years-old was moved to tears with a song :) It was the most precious thing I have ever seen.

The Lord is working here and I would encourage you all to pray for us as we are His hands and feet doing His work.

Thank you all so much!
--Rachael