Fun with Filipinos

Hey guys! Wow, each time i write to you it seems like there is so much i should/could say. We are having an absolutely amazing time here. Not many of us are ready to go home, but sadly our trip will come to a close on Friday. However, our relationships and connections with the people here will not. Two of us are looking at returning next year through world impact.
Up to this point it seems as if our trip has gone by in a blur. We are filled with emotions and excitement when we think about all we have accomplished, the people we have met, and the fun we've had. We've worked on 3 different islands in at least 7 provinces (villages) under one name - The Almighty! God has blessed us on this trip. Though a couple have had stomach problems, it has not held us back from ministry. Our team is getting along amazingly and working well together. We have been kept safe on the roads (although sometimes we have feared for our lives, haha). We have tried so many new foods (raw seaweed, fried calamari, grilled stingray, lapu-lapu, oyster soup, grilled clams, grilled squid, lots of fresh manogs and coconuts, halo halo dessert, and ube ice cream). It's actually kinda suprising we haven't had more stomach problems - haha.
Today we went to Joel's (Filipino host/traveling pastor) church and met his family. It was so nice to meet the people that are related to the crazy guy. It was very refreshing to be back in church and be filled with the spirit again. We've given so much and had so much poured out of us - last night we have a much needed time of team devotions and debriefing to retrack our mindset and focus on our own spiritual strength while ministering. It is hard now because we just left Palawan (our favorite island where we'd been for the past week) to come back to Manila. The emotions are increased because we know this is our last leg of the journey before US customs. We are also with a new host because Jun & Joel have to attend a district convention. They're so so so much fun and we are going to miss them for the next 2 days. We know we're still in good hands, but it was an abrupt change we weren't expecting. Pray that we are still encouraged to work with this new pastor and minister just as hard as we were with Jun & Joel. This has given us a clue of how hard it will be to tell them goodbye when we leave.
Tomorrow morning we leave at 5am to go to a province way up in the mountains. It is a 6 hour drive. I haven't been told specifics but i'm sure we're planning on putting on our normal VBS routine with games, crafts, stories and songs. We'll be staying overnight and coming back Tuesday evening. I'm not sure again what our overnight conditions will be but we really want to rough it - like stay with squaters in their village w/o electricity. I'm sure that's not the plan though because we've been blessed with our living accomodations (except for the part of having very little water pressure and only cold water - haha).
Each Sunday our team has been asked to sing a special for the church. We've chosen God is so good. It really reflect the blessings we've had on our trip...
God is so good - God is so good - God is so good - He's so good to me


Happy mother's day to all of our mothers. We love you and we hope that you're having a really great day. I'm sure we all have special gifts for you when we return!
And a special happy birthday (tomorrow) to my mother! I love you mom!