Day 19

The days of summer continue to pas on this beautiful island. God's grace & beautiful blessings continue to amaze me. The fire in my soul fades on some days-but His glory will always be there & I pray that the fire ignites when I need it most.

6/14 Thursday
Today we went to a new area for our afternoon evangelism. I was able to share my testimony twice. The first opportunity turened out to be a little more difficult than planned. After I started sharing my testimony, she almost fell off the bench. There was too much alcohol involved in the situation for the story to be effective but, we shared our story and then moved on. We had to give her fake names because Bulong said that the communist have a list and that it was unsafe to give anyone our real name on paper. The second lady was across the street. She was very sweet and listened attentively as I shared my story and the gospel with her. This morning we learned how to perform a Filipino circumcision. We practiced sutures on a piece of old tire. We learned remedies for several different ailments. The taught us how we will help the people of Lamosig build FAITH (food always in the home) gardens. We will be given 10 kits to plant gardens while we are there. The people of the village do not have fresh vegetables and this will allow them to have food and a small income. The rats were on the move tonight-they are pretty big-they come out when we eat dinner and at night when we are sleeping in the hammocks-yuck!! Tomorrow we will have a full day!

6/15 Friday
I read Acts 8 this morning-what a true testimony to God's faithfulnes throughout the ages. Today is Tuli day! When we arrived at the clinic this morning we had about 20 litlle guys waiting. I won't post the whole graphic procedure but, it was crazy to see how different things are done here. The kids were laying on newspaper and our sterile glove package was used as our "sterile drape". The sutures are definitely the hardest part..practice, practice, practice. I got to assist and soon I will be a pro at it (hopefully!). All of the little guys were such troopers! In the afternoon some of us deceded to go looking for an adventure.  We set out on a hunt for ice cream but after a 3.5 mile hike uphill and in this crazy heat-there was no ice cream to be found. SAD DAY! We settled for a cold coke, some break and a crazy trike ride back.

6/16 & 6/17  Saturday & Sunday
This weekend we traveled. Our team of 5 headed out to a village to preach at a church. The means of transportation is always amazing to me-not much safe about any of it! A jeepney, truck and motorcycle! Last night we slept all 5 of us in hammocks in the church. The mosquitos are very bad here because we are surrounded by banana trees. The toilet is a porcelain hole and wooden walls. The house had a bamboo floor and the steepest steps I have ever seen. One of my teammates fell down them, but she is ok! Sunday morning we participated in the church service. I got to share my testimony and the white people sang again! haha

I continue to miss my family. This adventure is incredible but I wish that they could experience it with me. I think about all of you every day. Please pray for my teams as we prepare the head to the village on Tuesday.

Pray that...
-I keep my focus on the task at hand
-I continue to stay free of injury or illnes
-Spen hearts and minds for the peole we will meet and talk with
-My homesick heart
-Safety as we enter into the village

I love you all! Blessings from Butuan City.