im still alive I promise :)

dear blog readers I apologize for my absence :/ the internet situation has been few and far between and when we do get connection its extremely slow :( I am currently at an internet cafe enjoying a delicious smoothie and fries a nice break from the normal rice, beans and chicken :)

So on Wednesday August 4th we left the restoration house in Olongapo that we were staying a and drove about 9 hours by bus to Bombang, here is one of the open air buses we were in, it was so retro and sweet! :) in Bombang we stayed at Aurua Bible college teaching a mini dts to the students. We spoke morning and afternoon sessions for two day and participated in the campus activities. The students were so sweet and fun to hangout with. Saturday morning we headed out to the "tribes" (more like very rural villages) (our contacts who took us everywhere)

(one of the houses we stayed in and our lovely nets :) (Banaue rice field terraces.. 8th wonder of the world)

We moved around to different house and church, we only stayed in a location for about two days, so we visited LOTS of different churches. We shared testimonies mostly as well as preached some sermons and did a dance and skit we had learned. Some of the places were hours apart so it was lots of traveling and speaking and meeting new people who you couldn't really spend time with anyway :/ so that was hard but it was lots of fun and we were able to have lots of cool experiences. I loved being out in the country rural parts of the Philippines. The view and landscapes were amazing!! so incredible beautiful Gods majesty reigned so much it was amazing. I sat on a water buffalo, dyed my hair brown ;) , walked across a swinging bridge, rode on top of a jeepney during a pouring rain storm while two wild horses run in front, took in some of the most beautiful sites, saw rice terraces after rice terrace, met some sweet Ifugao un-moderized tribal people still in their traditional garb, ate coconut feshly chopped down..I witnessed the guy shimmy up the tree and chop it haha, slept on many MANY different floors and church pews and did my business on a few squatty potties, and drank wayyy to much coffee :) oh the life of a missionary. I LOVE IT! so fun, never a dull moment, God grace and blessings become so apparent as well as his joy being my strength. and the Lord's humor, ..never gets old :) One thing I enjoyed about going to all the different church was just worshiping with so many different believers here in the Philippines, they are so heartfelt in their worship. Singing as loud as they can, dancing, always clapping, its so much fun :) Right now we are taking two days to rest in Banaue its one of the first villages we went to and we liked it so much we decided to come back for two days. The weather is nice and cool and Thursday we head out for the 10 hour drive to Tugigurao our last and final outreach location. Apparently its the hottest place in the Philippines haha :/ sorry this blog is rushed and a little vague, I don't have much time to write. Thanks for reading and for all your prayers!

(surrounding the Bishop of the Aurura Bible College)
(riding on top of the jeepney!)
(the sweet rope bridge)