This video is of Jeremy and Kyle eating baloot, a delicacy made up of a fertilized duck egg hard boiled.

Fairy Tale Ending

It's the night before our last day here in the Philippines and everyone is pretty upset that it is already time to leave this beautiful country and people. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we have thoroughly enjoyed every second we have got to spend with the new friends that we have met here! Though we all are going in different directions when we get home there won't be a single one of us that will forget the experiences and relationships that happened here. To cap off our time here I don't think we could have had a better time today! We came back from Dagupan this morning and were fortunate enough to get to stop by a waterfall and stand underneath and feel the refreshing water splash on us! Once we arrived back in Baguio City we were given a little bit of free time and then got to visit the wood carvers village where we picked up a bunch of different unique souvenirs and such. Once we had finished shopping most of us got the opportunity to go and visit a children's home where we met some of the cutest kids I have ever seen! These kids latched on pretty quickly and most of us (especially the girls) wanted to smuggle some of them out of the country! Tonight we had our last fellowship meeting with the Filipinos and it was one for the history books! We were able to spend some quality time with our new friends which was great because we also had to say goodbye at the end of the night! Before this however we had a couple highlights that made the night pretty unforgettable! First of all after we had finished the service we all were taking pictures and then formed a dance circle and had a lot of fun showing off our moves to worship music! After this the real excitement came when we ate baloot and got to experience some real Filipino food! All and all the day was amazing and completely fun filled! I'm going to miss all our new friends but at the same time we are all excited to share some more of our experiences and what God used us for with all of you back at home!

Ransom

July 4th in the Philippines ! * !

Today was our July 4th, Philippine style! We went to church at Encounter, Baguio for the last time and had some solid hang-out time with the students before we left. We found a lunch spot and walked around the market to find some souvenirs for you family members! Downtown Baguio market place was an interesting place to be. The market was crawling with people and there were some nice stores and some not so nice stores. It was extremely populated so we had to be careful with our money, purses, and wallets. I found it kind of sad as I walked by numerous beggars asking for money. I never know what people do with the money that they are given in that situation, but it always breaks my heart regardless. Again, I realize how blessed we are to have a home, more than one set of clothes, water, food, shelter, the list goes on... After we toured the market we came back here to the house and Lenae had a fourth of July party set up for us! She had barbecue prepared MMMM, chips, exotic fruit that we had never tried before, and chocolate banana bread. Wow, it was so good. It was so nice of them to give our team a fourth of July party. After supper we let off a bunch of fireworks outside it was so fun! Lots of bonding time with the team. We are blessed to have this experience up here with this great team and Philippine Pastors and mentors. Their wives are also sooo amazing and beautiful. Right now some of the team is playing a card game and the other is playing Apples to Apples with the kids, naturally. We are having a blessed fourth of July, so family members do not feel bad that we are not home to see the fireworks! We are fellowshipping with each other and Christ and it's just a great time. Here are some pictures! Much love,

Brooke

Day at the South..... Pecific...... China..... sea?

today was an awesome day, the sand was hot the water was warm and God was everywhere. The highlight was the evening sunset, the song that came to mind while looking at this masterpiece was "How He Loves". It was as perfect as perfect could get, well for the most part. God has showed me and everyone on this trip how much of an artist he really is.

Jesus! Jesus! .... Beach.. More Jesus!

WOW.. This is the only way that I can describe the past two days here in the Philippines. Friday was our last day in Baguio to really connect with the students there and the ladies got together for chat that really spiritually connected us. This is one of the most spiritual moments for me on the trip and I was so amazed at how open and intentional the students and my fellow teammates where. The purpose of the meeting was to help guide the girls in the right direction and help them dig deeper in there faith, and we succeeded. God intervened in the bible study and broke the hearts of the girls and as I'm writing this tonight I am still awestruck at how much God loves us and what his love is suppose to look like. I know that the girls and I learned a lot from the ladies here at the ministry. We learned a new perspective of love and passion and I know that it "rocked our world." Need I remind you that this was the first 2 hours of the day and I know that you can only imagine what all God did throughout the rest of the day.
The team also got the opportunity to go into the heart of Baguio and visit the second Encounter ministry and meet with the students there. We had a lovely evening worshiping the Lord together and really had the chance to witness to students in that area and ministry.
Next.. :) Today the team visited the South China Sea....WOW!!!! I know for me personally and a couple other of the teammates this was the first time that we had ever seen the ocean and it was breath taking. The first thing that I thought of when I say the ocean was how wide it was and it make me think of how wide God's love is and how on going and faithful it is, just like the ocean he created. God, our creator, is stunning and I continue to be speechless in describing him. Today the team really got the chance to reflect and download the events that have happened over the past couple days, which alone is a blessing because I know that we all needed today to relax and build stronger relationships within the team.
Continue to pray for us as we enter Baguio City tomorrow and Dagupan the next day. I know that the Lord has amazing things planned ahead.
Over and Out :)
Tricia

Teaching, Loving, Praising God

It's really hard to believe that we are only on day 3 here in the Philippines. The team feels so welcomed here that it seems like we have been around forever.

We started our morning off with some prayer and worship at the Encounter house at Benguet State University. We were then joined by students who wanted to chat one last time. So we split up into guy/girl rooms to dive in a little deeper with them. Both of the meetings were incredible and we all experienced the Holy Spirit move in the conversations. Struggles were shared, prayer requests were lifted up and we were reminded that God loves these Filipinos SO MUCH. Our hearts broke a little when we had to say good bye.

I had a God filled moment with a student named Jesse. He was in our class that we taught and came to Encounter last night for the first time. He then showed up this morning to meet with us and was hanging at the campus house again this afternoon. Right as we were leaving, he gave me his necklace and explained that he wanted me to have it because he was so blessed to find Encounter. I told him that I couldn't take it and he said I have to, its God's gift.

I'm still in awe that a person who has near to nothing, would be so selfless to give me the only material thing he could to show his love. God is teaching me His love surpasses all things. These Filipinos are opening our hearts to experience God's blessings more and more each day.

We are so thankful for your prayers and comments. We couldnt be here without you all. Much love,

Phil