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

God is so good!

Today was awesome! We started the morning off "hiking" up this really steep hill to find a jeepney to take to the university. It was definitely a bonding experience as we all sweated and tried to catch our breathe at the top. Some of us taught a music class at one of the universities today. We got to sing some songs with them and share our music with them. One of the coolest things about it was that we got to do some worship in the classroom with them. Then, we left the university and went to the Encounter Campus Office to spend some time before lunch just praising God and praying. It was wonderful. We went to an authentic Filipino restaurant and I had fish for the first time in my life. They also all convinced me that I had just eaten dog...I hadn't. We went back to the school for another music class. Kyle, Tiffany, and I got a neat opportunity to be the "judges" of some Filipinos that were trying out for the glee club. We got to hear there glee club sing and it was so beautiful. We all went back and joined the rest of the group afterward for some games, worship, and a message by Dan. Now we are all laying around the house relaxing and journal while the girls get to shower :) God has revealed Himself in so many awesome ways this trip so far. From the way that this team has really come together to the interactions that we have had so far with all of the people here. Everyone is so very welcoming and excited to see us and hear what we have to say. I love being here! Being this tired never felt so good! Well, it's almost my turn to shower! Showers are such a blessing! Thanks for the prayers, they have been HUGE for us! We get to teach in the university tomorrow again and tour one of the bible colleges. God is good!
-Shiann

Beautiful!

So, I'm sitting in this awesome internet cafe in a mall in Baguio. The Philippines are wonderful! Everyone here is so beautiful! God is really on the move here. We've seen so many new things already and we've only been here for 8 hours. The travel was intense and long, but we are all so stoked to be here! We had our first interaction with the students today. After we got in from all of our traveling, we had a "sports event" and played a bunch of games with the students. It went super well. I had an awesome opportunity to talk to and meet a new girl named Melody. The weather is fantastic. Through all of the travels, tiredness and interactions thus far, God is continuing to reveal Himself as faithful and Good! And for all of you out there who know how much I love new foods, I ate cinnamon rolls for breakfast and pepperoni pizza for lunch :) Thank you all for praying. We'll continue to keep you updated! Ps. Some of us rode in a jeepney today- which is a very cramped jeep/bus thing. It definitely didn't have a back on it, and we went up this super steep hill, so fun! I love it here!
Shiann

We reached the Philippines today at 7 a.m. Philippine time!!! The bus ride was a long one but included some sweet views. Baguio is in the mountains so it is not as hot up here, I would say about 80 degrees. Manila, however was a scorcher! Last night around 1 a.m. we were riding around before we hopped on the bus and it was 84 degrees! My eyes are continuing to be opened to the differences of this world. It is humbling to count your blessings once you see areas of such poverty. This morning when we arrived we ate some breakfast at Steve's, the Pastor whose house we are staying at, and then headed out to a shaded basketball court in Baguio to hangout with kids and college students and play sports all morning until 12. They were soooo fun and I immediately loved them all. They were just happy to be there and take part in everything that they could. They gave us hugs and were so lovable it was just too awesome for words the love that God placed in our hearts this morning. And they LOOOOVE pictures haha. Okay, well tonight we are having a leadership meeting with the Baguio Encounter leaders and I am excited for that and some sleep =).

Peace,
Brooke

Seoul, Korea

Heyy!! Okay, so we are now in Seoul, Korea. It is so crazy because we have not seen night yet! We left Chicago at 12:30 on Monday and it is now 6 p.m. at night in Korea. It has been day light as we followed the sun the whole time! It is almost 4 in the morning at home so you all are probably sleeping soundly, I hope. We are doing well and the Holy Spirit is totally with us. We are tired, but excited, knowing that even though we do not know the plans God has for us, we know that He has a plan for us. I think we are a little nervous for the bus trip following the next plane ride because we are not sure what kind of bus it will be haha. I am sure it will be no Peoria Charter! Thank you all for your prayers! Peace and blessings.

Brooke

South Korea

So...after taking off at around one in the afternoon in Chicago, we are now in south korea at around five the next day. We rode that plane for about fifteen hours and watched numerous movies that were available to us. It's funny how little we all talked as we rode, I wonder if it was the nerves that were getting to us or if it was just because we were tired. Now that we are here it's hard to forget that we are in a different country. Not only is everything in a different language, but the way people dress, the quietness of the airport, and how it seems everyone is working when in America it is hard to look around and not see someone gossiping or just standing there. These kind of experiences make you realize how big the world, god made all of this...crazy!!!

Correction

South Korea...NOT North Korea-Derek S.

Sorry, my fault- Andrew S.

Team

Preparation

So...in addition to meeting and having a good time playing pool, we decided that we needed to train so we can be "fit" for the trip. As evidence of our hard work, our fearless leader Pete Cocco volunteered to show us how it's done.....

The Happening.....

Schedule for the next 24 hours....

Noon we are on the plane for 14 hours, we fly to North Korea and have a four hour layover, we finally arrive in the Philippines at eleven PM their time. From there we get on a bus and drive for seven hours, we will arrive around seven in the morning and go to an sports clinic that starts at eight..... We got this.

We spent the night in Illinois doing things like tram poline jumping, rope swinging, eating sloppy joes, packing bags full of candy, and playing pool. All in all, a great night of reuniting as a team as we plan to set out early tomorrow for the airport.

Please pray for us as we just learned that we get to teach two classes, one over reading fundimentals and one over western music. We really have no idea what we are going to do, but the point is to show them Jesus through our lives and words. Thanks for the support!!!

Andrew Sexton and Andrew Hargis

Preparing to leave

So in less than 48 hours our team will be trying to sleep off the jet lag from our 16 hour plane trip (6 hour layover). Most of us are packed and ready to go, and now our goal is to enjoy this last night in our own beds and try to get some good rest, even though I bet that the excitement is going to hinder that effort.

I have some contact numbers for those that need them be they parents or concerned persons:

Arnold (main campus minister)- 0927 378 1037 mobile (074) 443 4729 house

Steve Hung (Owner of the house)- 0919 320 4731 mobile (074) 446 6566 house

Please pray for our team as we travel to Illinois tomorrow, and then for our plane trip there. I hope that God does amazing things with our group, and when we get back we will have plenty of things to talk about that only Jesus could put into our lives. Stay tuned for more posts!!!

Philippines Team 2010

1st Meeting

So all 14 members of the 2010 Philippines trip met up in good 'ole Newtown, Mo this last weekend. The whole town has 209 people, of which all were shook awake when we blew up 2 cans of corn in the middle of the night...fun stuff.

As we all got to know each other, the differences that we all have (States, majors, age, etc.) all went away. It seems that the bond that we all share through Jesus made it possible for us to have a great time with minimal awkwardness.

Pictures of this trip will be posted in the following days.

Andrew

P.S. Keep praying for this trip. We will be leaving June 28th and will be coming back July 9th.