Preparations for the Mountain Trip

Today was a very busy day today--we met with a lady named Tresa, who showed us a hospital, the local market, and the homes of some Filipino families. All of these showed a great cross-section of the culture that we would have never experienced had we not spent the day with her. We capped off the day by having dinner with the high school principal at Faith Academy. He and his wife live in the same condo building that we think that we would like to live in once we arrive here next January.

Tomorrow morning, we will be getting up early to head off to the jungle for a few days. While there, we will be attending the much anticipated New Testament dedication. Many people who have been here for many years have told us that they wished that they could come to this event, because they have never had the chance to go to one of these. Ellen and I will be staying in the home of one of the families that will be receiving one of these new New Testaments. We believe that just staying with them in their home will be a pretty exciting adventure. Needless to say, this town does not have phone or internet access, so I will probably won't be able to post anything to this weblog until Monday afternoon.

Although we had fun today, much of it was spent praying and talking with family about a major decision that needed to made. We learned today that a close family member had passed out after playing tennis, and he is still in the hospital as a write this. Of course, we wrestled with the decision as to whether or not we should return home--but because we feel like we are in God's will, and because we feel like this family member was very excited about our trip to the Philippines, we felt that it would be best to continue with our trip as planned. I think we realized today that a missionary's biggest sacrifice is giving up the ability to "be there" in these kinds of situations. Please pray for us, that we will make decisions that will honor God, and more important, pray that the health of this family member would improve quickly.