a view of the Philippines...

This is the flight from Seattle to Toyko Japan. It was a great flight. All the seats have monitors in front that have games, flight info (maps of where the plane is, how fast it is traveling), etc. The best part was that we could play games with multiple partners so we would play with various people in our group. It kept us well entertained on the 11 hour flight.

I hadn't realized it until we got to the Philippines that they are celebrating their 100th year of Adventism in the Philippines. Their first converts were in 1908. It is really neat to be here 100 years later and be preaching the gospel message so more people can hear. All throughout this year there are major events, rallies, conferences, etc. This past Sabbath, we went to a huge event in a auditorium that seats thousands of people. There were so many Adventists there celebrating the events. Don Schneider gave the sermon. It was neat to be surrounded by so many Filipino Adventists.

The people here are absolutely amazing. They are so incredibly friendly. They open heart and home to you and welcome you right into their lives. We almost feel like celebrities in the way they treat us. It is humbling. They have a wonderful sense of humor too and make us laugh all the time!

I have been traveling around to all the different sites to hear each of my students preach. One site I went to last night was so nice with all the children and young people. Here are just a few pictures of the group.










Two of my students are co-preaching at this site. They are doing a wonderful job! The man on the far right is Benny Moore, the Share Him coordinator.



This morning, one of the pastors picked up my two students that are speaking at his church and myself and took us with his family to the park. It was wonderful to get "out of the city" (it is still in the city but at least it is away from the houses, markets, etc. and the air is cleaner to breathe). I had my first green coconut. (It is call buko here.) It is so amazing to watch them cut the thing! They are so skilled with the machete. The buko is really interesting to eat. It has a layer of thin meat on the top that you poke through, then you drink all the liquid out of the shell. Then you eat the meat that is really soft. It tastes good. Here are just a few pictures of our time out this morning. (Oh, ya, they do things early around here. We got ready to leave for the park at 6:30 am!)

This is the pastor, his wife, son and daughter, and grand daughter as well as my two students.






This is his grand daughter Keesha. She is only two. But she was so cute!










This is the little shop where we got the buko.








I wish I could post the video of this guy chopping the buko.










This is the inside of the buko...








Then we ate it on the hood of the car. It was fun...









This was a memorial at the park to Manuel Louis Quezon, a previous president of the Republic of the Philippines.









Here are just two other random photos of a jeepney ride we took It was fun, but the jeepney's here put out such pollution that it is hard to ride near the back. You about suffocate from exhaust fumes. It was funny watching all the locals being so amused with a bunch of Americans riding in a jeepney. They probably thought that was a funny sight. They kept waving and laughing. So we would wave and laugh back. It was rather entertaining.



















Please continue to pray for the work here. God is doing amazing things I know. I will keep you posted.