Our Family Visits the Philippines

Last August, Michaelle's sister Joce and 3 nephews,

Kader 16, Kiegen 14, and Reiner 12

came for a visit.

Our first stop was Corrigedor,

where American and Filipino soldiers
fought side by side

against the Japanese during World War II.

A few days later,

Becca arrived to show her cousins around

the country of her birth.

Then we headed for Villa Escadero,

where we enjoyed the music and cultural dances.

When Filipino food, like this dried fish,

was difficult for the guys to swallow,

Jiffy Peanut butter became a welcomed treat.

On Sunday at house church,

Becca was Aunt Joce and Kader's interpreter.

When Becca gave her testimony,

folks asked us,

"Why does she speak better Tagalog than you do?"

Riding the carabao was Reiner's favorite activity.

The guys wanted to take one home with them.

Kiegen and Becca enjoyed a cousin chat

at Cagsawa Ruins next to Mt. Mayon.

By the way,

Cagsawa is a great place to buy a hammock.
When we hiked to the village of Mampili,

the guys saw poverty up close,

but that didn't stop them from playing with the boys.

Becca and Aunt Joce joined the Bible study.

Afterwards, we rounded up the group for a picture.

Their visit ended with a few days on the beach,

where this little boy and Kiegen became fast friends.

At Christmas, Matt and Rachel came for a visit.Rachel remembered drinking soda out of plastic bags

and wanted Matt to try one too.Matt went with Terry to the market

where they bought vegetables, of course.

December 23rd was our annual Children's Christmas party

with more than 100 neighborhood children.

The color of the children's name tags

divided them into 3 groups.

The first group enjoyed traditional party food

of spaghetti, hot dogs and marshmellows on a stick,

a cheese spread sandwich, and juice.

Matt and Rachel played games with the second group.The third group listened

to Lolo Terry tell the Christmas story.

(Lolo means grandpa,

a term of respect that lets us know

we have grown older in the Philippines.)

The final event was a water balloon toss.

Great fun on a warm day!

On Christmas Day,

we hiked to a church in the middle of nowhere.

As you can see by Terry's pants,

the hike was a muddy one.

This is where Matt and Rachel

showered gifts on their godchild and her big sister.

At house church on Sunday,

Matt played the guitar

and sang "Mighty is our God".

Lola (grandma) Michaelle taught the children,

and Rachel played games with them.

Just before returning home,

Rachel wanted to visit Ate (big sister) Juls,

a former helper who is like family to us.