Ministry and Team Activities – SB
This week was another great week in the Manila! Danny and Kyle are continuing to work away at the sewage project up the street. They are learning what it’s like to work around lots of unnecessary red tape set up by the land owners and using some creative loopholes to get the job done. Kyle is building a great relationship with Sherwin’s family and is involvedin an on going Chess competition with Sherwin’s younger brother, Robert.
Teacher Jackie and teacher Colleen had another great working at the school. Preparations have begun for the Christmas program! Lindsey started teaching art this week in the second grade classroom. We are sad to report that Sarah and Danny were laid off from their music teaching positions. They are grieving but are prayerfully considering other ways to use those talents.
There were a few big events at the Children’s home this week. Thursday night we had a 
sleepover party in the big room because there was no school on Friday. We watched a movie, ate kettle corn, and slept in forts built from sheets. A bunch of the older boys were circumcised this week (bet you didn’t expect to read that in a team blog!) so there was more watching movies, coloring, and reading books than usual this week! Saturday was a very exciting day. A group from Manila came to play, eat lunch, and deliver new tennis shoes to all the kids for Christmas. The children were very excited to open their new shoes and the shoes have made them very hard to catch in our daily games of “ice ice water” (freeze tag).
Sports are very popular here the Philippines. Danny and Kyle participated in the Old Men’s Basketball league and games at the Community Center. Sarah is still coaching touch rugby a few afternoons a week up at faith academy. This week there were also a group of professional baseball players in town doing baseball clinics at local schools. Danny was drafted for the week and spent several days helping run the clinics. We are thankful that he turned down the pros to continue on the World Race. J
We had a surprise group of middle schoolers stay here with us this week. Their mission trip was rerouted due to the typhoon activity on other islands. They certainly livened up the place and provided some great manpower for the sewage project and playing with the kids at the Children’s Home.
One of the long term volunteers flew back to the states so there are extra opportunities for Lindsey, Sarah and Colleen to spend time with twin babies, Jacob and Daniel. They are a lot of work but cute enough to get away with just about anything.
The social scene is hopping around here. People got to watch Anteneo (The university Jeff’s son attends) win an offseason tournament. The stadiums are energized and very loud! Also, we were invited to a cocktail party and white elephant gift exchange at one of the volunteer’s apartments. Danny was the big winner with his Winnie the Pooh toothbrush with Jackie came in a close second with her beloved new pen.
Kids International continues to be an amazing to work with… we will be sad to see this month come to a close in a few short weeks!
Coming Up -DG
The next week looks similar to how most our weeks here have been. Jackie and Colleen will continue to work at the school on the week days. Along with another family who is now staying in the missionary house, they will be working on planning a Christmas program involving the school children.
Sarah and Lindsey will continue to focus their effort on the Children’s home. They are taking 
on various activities such as putting together photo albums of the kids, as well as organizing books and other random stuff. Both Sarah and Lindsey have also been helping in looking after some of the babies to give the regular staff a break in the day.
Danny and Kyle are moving into the second phase of the building project. Now that the streets are clear of sewage and a wall has been built to keep mud from flowing into the street, they will start building flower beds and eventually a septic tank for the community to use. The property managers have told us that we can not build the septic tank as they do not want the squatters to continue to survive there. They completely ignore the fact that a septic tank and the wall that has been built, not only cleans up the area, but it also does much to rid the area of disease. So for now until more negotiations are undertaken with the rich folk, we will be working on building the septic tank in the night time when we aren’t being watch by guards. Cool stuff.
Spiritual Discussions– KC
This last week, during our scheduled spiritual discussion, Lindsey introduced us to Lectio Divina which is Latin for spiritual reading. It is a combination of reading the bible, praying, and listening to God. So we read the beginning of Luke Chapter 3, reflected on what God was telling us, and then discussed that with each other. It was awesome.
Prayer Requests -KC
Sarah, Colleen, and Danny have all been feeling a little sick the last couple days. Pray that God will restore them to 100% so that they will feel better and can go out and pour love out onto this community without any distractions. Also pray that God will shower them with joy and love in the meantime.
Danny has been having a rough time with one of his toes. Pray that God will heal up his toe. Pray that God will bring him joy and comfort as it gets better.
Please pray for the Cuatro Community, the Long family, DJ and Rachel, all the other people connected with this ministry, and for us. Listen to God and let Him lead you in this prayer.
Pray that God will continue to reveal himself to us.
Pray that we would seek Him will all of our hearts.
Pray that we will accept all of the blessings that He wants to rain down on us.
Pray that we would all give in to God and and His plans for us.
Pray that we would be obedient to His calling.
Pray that we would become completely dependant on Him.
Pray that He would continue to strip us of things that are not from Him.
Pray that He would reveal to us what it means to be imitators of God.
Pray that we would pick up our own cross and suffer for others to show them just a glimpse of the love of Jesus Christ.
Thanks for taking the time to pray for us. Know that your prayers have been heard.
You are such a blessing to us. Know that we think of you daily. Without the love you pour into us, this wouldn’t be possible for us. Your support is part of God’s plan, and we thank you for being obedient to what He has called you to, whether you are Christian or not. Everyone is still part of His plan…our God is that big and amazing! Praise God!! We will be praying for you too…let us know if you have any prayer requests.
Cultural Quirkiness -JZ
In the United States, you may enjoy water. So do many people here. The only thing is, the water here is delivered in a truck. The people in this area pay about a third of their income to the water guys. There have been numerous times that I have woken up here in the Philippines to not having any water. Luckily we got connected to city water this week. It is too bad that we are not going to get our daily water truck, but it is nice to know that we will always have water.
