The Road to Anabel

Near the end of our outreach Team B finally got to fulfill the mission of a weekend village visit. Because of all of the typhoons that hit the area in our 2 months in Bontoc, most of our village plans were cancelled due to landslides and road blockages.. no bueno for traveling with young children. As the weekend approached I was nervous. Nervous for sleeping on the floor in the middle of the jungle. Nervous for language barriers. Nervous that the love and message of Jesus Christ wouldn't be seen or displayed in me. Nervous that my daughter would freak out about being in different conditions.. the list goes on. The entire thing was walking into a world of unknowns for me.. and although I was excited to embrace and walk forth into something new.. anxiety set in. This was paired with it coming to the end of outreach.. complete exhaustion had fully set in after Bella's hospital stay and feelings of "I just want to get home" had set in amongst many of us.

Little did I know that God knew just what our team needed. It had rained the night before and I was sure that our trip was going to be a wet one.. and honestly, I began to dread it. The morning that we were set to leave we awoke to glorious sunshine. We got everything loaded into the jeepney, and thanks to the kindness of my team mates Bella stayed inside while this mama got to take in the scenery from on top of the jeep with three of my favorite people.

That ride marked the beginning of realization for me. Realization and confirmation that the whole process of Crossroads WAS indeed and DID in fact change me. Cemented my beliefs. Rocked my world. Built a fire for my passions to blaze upon. I realized that it's ok for me to be exhausted...kicked down.. heart-broken.. and weary because I have a God who is going to get me through it and in the process develop in me a whole new strength and perspective. A God who so gladly brings sunshine when only rain is expected simply to delight the heck out his children.. and these sights..these sights that leave us simply in awe struck wonder of His creation.

I realized that there will be plenty of roadblocks and wash-outs..times that leave you in absolute frustration and confusion and bring plenty of "why's" and in these circumstances.. wait patiently, and if necessary, just build whole new road and a whole new way to get on with the journey.

  And when you have succeeded at that.. He will bring you to a little place to show you just how strong you really are.. but more importantly, how strong HE is.

I think I took more pictures during our 2 days in Anabel than I did for the rest of the 2 months we were in the Philippines. As simple and as quick as this trip was, it will forever hold a place in my heart- and I know without a doubt that we will go back there someday... More about the rest of our Anabel trip to follow! 

YWAM Health Clinic

One of the ways our team was able to minister was through the YWAM Health Clinic that our contacts Tom & Lisa run. This was one of my favorite ministries. It is open every Friday morning to anyone who is concerned about their blood pressure/glucose levels. The clinic attracts many elderly people. Tom does the blood pressure station, where they gather information on the "patient" and take and record blood pressure readings, and Lisa does the glucose testing. They were both kind enough to teach us students both.

I loved hearing Tom & Lisa talk to the people who came in about their health. They were both so loving and compassionate but very direct about the affects of hypertension and diabetes on the human body and how important it is to manage both. This ministry is such a great way to speak into the lives of people- often they would pray for people and ask about the details of their lives. We, as students got the same opportunity- I miss Fridays at the health clinic!

park days

One of my favorite things to do in Bontoc was to simply hang out at the park. Every Monday evening our team hosted Kid's Club- where we would gather at the park with as many kids we could and do a simple bible teaching, songs, and games. It was SO much fun, and the best way for us to involve our kids as well. Bella and I also enjoyed heading up to the park on random days after school when there were tons of kids playing.

The park was just a place where I felt like everyone on the team could let loose, relax, and truly love on all the kids...and bring back some of our child-like selves. 

I miss these park days!

Typhoons..who knew?

Before living in the Philippines I never REALLY knew what exactly a typhoon was. I had heard of them.. but didn't know they are really just an off-shore hurricane. It never occurred to me that they would be something that we could deal with during our time in PI. But, alas, we did! 3 typhoons hit during our time in Bontoc. One of the was a pretty big one- knocking out the power and flooding the river.. the other 2 were fairly harmless. But boy.. did the rain pour and the wind blow! There was something exciting about being amongst the crazy weather..

On the worst day of the typhoon out team went out to pancakes instead of staying in. One of my team mates had set it up ahead of time with our local little wifi cafe.. Toqwifi for us all to go have pancakes in shifts. And this little shop served us, in the middle of a typhoon- with no power just one little single gas stove top. It was fun to get in our rain gear and jump in a trike to get to the cafe.. and then to relax in a cozy little cafe while it was stormin' away outside. Blessings straight from the Lord!

Toqwifi pancakes..delish!

playing in the typhoon..NBD.

The worst thing about the biggest typhoon is that the internet was down throughout town for a week.. CNN reported these huge typhoons hitting Manila and flooding the embassy, causing fatalities, etc. so our family stateside was freakin' out. But.. we were covered by God's grace and the beautiful mountains easing the blow of all the storms. We now can say we've lived through typhoons..and know exactly what they are!

Sometimes you just gotta...

DANCE WHEN THE MONSOON HITS!

A couple of weeks into our outreach it started raining like crazy every.single.day...in large amounts. I was tired of being stuck inside so I grabbed Bella and asked her if she wanted to dance in the rain. She was hesitant at first.. because mama doesn't let loose like that often but she agreed and out we went!

Our friend Ariana joined in with us, and then Marie..fun is contagious! 

It was so fun to just enjoy the moment of being there.. in the pouring rain getting soaked and muddy. Thank you Lord for joy in the simplicity.. I plan to have many more moments like this in the future!

Malicong

Still.trying.to.catch.up. AHHH! *ahem* Now that I have that out of my system.. Malicong was our first village visit- and in all ways this day trip seemed purposeful in easing us into that specific type of ministry. It was just a day trip-close to Bontoc and it was an easy jeepney ride. (This was the first time our team packed into one!)

Our team split in half- Team B (our team) in the sitio of Favuyan and Team A took a hike through rice terraces (some of the best in the region!) to Fang-orao. Both teams were there to minister within the local churches- students were responsible for leading worship, teaching, and kids church. The pastora & pastor of Favuyan were lovely.. they hosted us for a snack before Sunday school started- which nerves of doing this for the first time! Bella & I did kid's church here and we were SO thankful for Arielle who helped us out- we had no idea what to expect.. what we ended up doing was some of the kids songs we had prepared and a time of coloring. Kids 5 & under didn't speak English, so there was a language barrier there- and the little boys kept us on our toes as they were monkey crawling up the walls :-)   What the kids loved most was looking through our cameras to view pictures of our friends & families in the States- and taking pictures of them themselves. Our Malicong trip was such a great precursor of what was to come during our time in the Philippines!

 

Am-Among Festival

We were blessed to be spectators at the Am-Among Festival-held in Bontoc annually. Am-among was (is) a traditional practice where tribes of the north take rest after the planting of rice fields. Today the entire community gathers in celebration with amazing traditional dances- this is where Bella really fell in love with the tapis skirt and traditional dance.

During the festival our team handed out water bottles that said this & prayed that the free gift of God's love would touch the people of Bontoc...this was my first experience (in PI) of approaching random people to share the gospel in small ways. It was so fun- and something Bella could help with too!