I had a very exciting/semi-adventurous weekend. Let's see . . . Friday night, I went to McDonald's for a ministry that the church has for young professionals. We went into the conference room and listened to Pastor John (not from SBCC) speak about prosperity and why God desires it for us. When he spoke in English, I enjoyed it (he also had an English handout).

I think I'm going on a youth retreat with the high school Sunday school class this weekend. It's going to be at a former US navy base that's been converted to a resort (I think). It's from Thursday through Saturday, maybe. They have so many activities here! But I've really been enjoying them. They've helped me stay busy and not get lonely.

Okay, back to the weekend story. On Sat morning, I woke up at 4:15 and we loaded the van at 5:30, for our trip to the mountains. The trip was seven hours, and it was really nice to see the country side. I saw a volcano, rice fields, mountain ranges, water buffalo, and goats. We passed through several towns that were very crowded with tricycles, or mopeds with a side cart. I also talked to Ate Gemima for a really long time. She's a missionary from Korea and we have made a good connection with each other. She's so sweet and compliments me much, much more than I deserve. Around 9:30 we bought steamed corn, so I ate three heads of corn for breakfast. We got to Ate Josie's house (she works at SBCC, but she has a separate house in the province) before lunch. We ate tupig, which is so far one of my favorites. It's steamed sticky rice mashed with coconut and brown sugar, wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled over a charcoal fire. For lunch, we ate in a bamboo hut (which is their dining room). I tried everything on the table, but I didn't ask what i ate until after I ate it. This is what i had: watermelon, steamed sweet potato greens, okra, eggplant, rice, bananas, shrimp/prawns, goat stew with carrots, goat intestines soup, and a goat intestines and skin mixture. Yes, I ate goat. It wasn't too bad, but the smell is really hard to handle. I didn't have the strength to finish the goat soup. We all took a siesta after lunch. I slept in the hut, because there was a nice breeze. It was so beautiful there, because we were up in the mountains, with God's creation surrounding us. It's so different from the city. Then, we went to the beach, which was only a 15 minute drive from the house. I waded in the water and talked to Ate Gemima. We watched the sun go down, which Pastor Dave took pictures. He's a very talented photographer, and he's won many prizes for his photos. When we got back to the house, we took showers and watched TV. Then we ate dinner on the front porch. I didn't try everything on the table this time. I ate a green papaya and chicken soup (very good), rice, roasted tuna, lemongrass tea, and mango (the best mango I've ever had). After dinner, I interviewed a young man who had previously been in the Shelter Kids Ministry. He has been living and working at Ate Josie's house for 10 years now. I think he's about 25ish. It's hard to tell because he is very small, even shorter than me, which, by the way is not that common here. Ate Gemima helped interpret. It was so wonderful hearing his story, especially since he is now a Christian and wants to serve the Lord. He was very nervous at first, though. I went to bed in a room with four other women. They let me have the single bed. In the morning, we got up early and ate breakfast together on their other front porch. I ate dried squid. We drove to SBCC's daughter church, who was having it's anniversary celebration. There were some familiar English praise songs, which I really enjoyed. They had a band of a guitar, base, and drums. They were very talented players. Pastor Dave gave the sermon, but it was in Tagalog. After the sermon, a group of young girls came up to me and they wanted to shake my hand. I am the first white person they've ever seen. They were so funny. They called me Barbie and touched my hair. I felt like a celebrity! It was very strange, and I didn't really know how to handle the attention. All of us from SBCC ate lunch inside the church while everyone else ate outside. Only guests can eat inside. We left the church at 2:30 and drove back to the church. We got to the church at 7:30. Today, I ate breakfast with the boys, which I really enjoyed. I was able to talk to one boy, who knew some English. He invited me to watch TV with them. I'm going to go to their Bible study at 1 pm. Ate Gemima and Ate Erna will lead that. I'm wanting to spend time with them so they get comfortable around me. They're still very shy. I admit though, I'm shy around them too.