I can not believe we are cold!

*not all the pictures are working yet, I will try to get them up later
(written March 10, 2008)
We have enjoyed leading fellowship with youth at the different congregations that we have visited. It has been a little hard at first though, because they are painfully shy and won’t even respond when we say hi and ask them their name. After some songs and games they usually warm up to us and then I really enjoy talking with them. Here is a picture of the some of youth at the fellowship night in Sanchez Mira.

We got to do a program in Tabuk at Grace Lutheran Church, which is out in the middle of rice fields. On our way to the church, Pastor Luis got the van stuck, with one side of the wheels in a rice field.

It was a muddy walk the rest of the way to the church. When we got to the church, the members of the community did a cultural dance with gongs. They said it was a welcome dance to welcome us and to let the rest of the village know that we were there. It really worked. As soon as the people heard the gongs, they started coming from everywhere. They even got Ua, Jenny, and I to dance with them.

Also here’s a better picture of me playing the guitar during that program.

We have continued traveling through the mountain provinces. It is so beautiful up here. Pastor Luis from Tabuk traveled with us to Apayao, a remote village in the mountains. He also took us to a shop where they sell Kalinga cultural dress.


Jenny and Luke got to try them on.


Here we are in Apayao with Vicar Eric, Pastor Rolly, and Pastor Luis after the congregation presented us with Kalinga bead necklaces as a token of their love and thanks. Pastor Luis has a daughter that lives in St. Paul, MN about 10 minutes from my house and he visits her there! His granddaughter takes swimming lessons at Como Park Pool, where I took swimming lessons when I was little! It was fun to make connections with him, talking about things around home. Hopefully we will see him again sometime when he is visiting his daughter.
This is a picture of a sign for a dentist. I saw it and thought of my mom, so this is for you mom!

When we were in Baay, Baglin, La Union, at the church where Pastor Rolly is serving, we got to be part of a wedding. We were asked to sing a song after the sermon. While we were waiting for the wedding to start one of the ladies came running over to us to ask if any of us knew how to play the wedding march on the keyboard. Before all of us could look at Dave, someone told her that they had found someone. Dave was relieved but then she came back saying that the person had refused. She asked Dave to play anything on the keyboard, even if he didn’t know the wedding march. Then the keyboard didn’t work so it turned into the five of us singing “This is the Day” as the wedding party marched down the isle. :) They asked us again near the end of the wedding to sing another song, so all together we sang three. We also got to go to the wedding reception.

When we first arrived at the home we were staying in in Baay, there was a little girl with a pet baby owl! It was less than a month old. It was so little and soft, and so calm. I have never seen an owl that close. So here is the pet owl on my shoulder!

Also while we were at Baay we lead a fellowship for the youth, a puppet making workshop and sang during Sunday morning worship.

I met three little friends that I first met as they were peeking into the windows of the parsonage, where we were sitting. Shaina Mar, Archie Lynn, and Lynn Sunshine were all around three years old and so much fun to play with. The only English they knew was “Hello!” so every time they saw me they would yell “Hello!” over and over again, waving wildly. I found out the day that we left that they also knew how to say “Good morning!” so we said “Good morning" to each other over and over again, even though it was 3 o’clock in the afternoon.
We are now in Baguio City. It is up in the mountains, in the highland district on the island of Luzon. As we were driving up into the city I was amazed by all the houses built on the side of the mountains. There are so many of them! We saw lots of parks with open spaces and pine trees! Getting out of the van at the Lutheran Seminary, where we are staying, we all kind of felt like we were at camp. It is so much cooler here as well! Up until the last couple weeks, the coolest it has gotten has been about 84 degrees Fahrenheit (at night) and yesterday it was 68 degrees out. It felt so refreshing and cool and the air here is so fresh. Last night we walked to the SM mall about 15 minutes away. It was drizzling and cool so I wore my fleece with my rain jacket over it. I also wore the hat that Annie gave me to bring on the trip for the cooler weather! I don’t think I actually needed the hat; I just wore it because I could.
At the mall we bought some groceries and went to a coffee shop that stays open late, for our team outing. They also had wireless internet, so it was nice to be able to check e-mail and all of that. Being in the mountains we haven’t had as much access to the internet, so with lots of time between entries I feel like each blog I write is like a book….so long!
It felt good to walk last night, as we haven’t been doing much of that lately. We have an upcoming 3 hour hike that I am a little nervous about. We are able to pack down and leave some things at the Seminary until the end of March, so I guess that will be more incentive for me not to pack as much.

The mountains are beautiful and I think that is one thing that I am going to miss when I go home. It is so beautiful to look out and be able to see the mountains and the ocean! It has also been fun being in Baguio with all the pine trees. It reminds me of home!
We will be traveling around in the mountains until the end of the month. It looks like we will be back in Baguio on March 27th. This might be the only update until then, as it looks like we won't have much internet access.
We only have about one more month in the Philippines before we head to Taiwan for a few weeks. The time is going so fast and I can’t believe we have been here this long! Hope all is well at home!