Life's an adventure, Live it!

Ok so it has been awhile once again since the last update.  Sorry – we get so busy that I run out of time to do an update.  Anyways, I will try to keep this one shorter than the last one and just do sort of a bulleted overview of each day with maybe some extra comments at the end.  (If I don’t do it this way it will take me all night to type it out and you will have a small book to read) so anyways here it goes:

Day 7 – Rest and Relaxation

• We spent pretty much all of day 7 resting and relaxing and trying to catch up on some sleep.

Day 8 – Jogna

• We visited a deaf school associated with BDA in Jogna
• We went to a pool that is fed by natural water springs
• We went on a firefly cruise for dinner

Day 9 – Evangelism

• We did street evangelism in a plaza right in front of the biggest Catholic Church in Bohol
• We went to the mall for lunch and souvenier shopping
• We went to the beach and did open air evangelism on the sand

Day 10 – Evangelism 2

• We went back to the plaza in front of the biggest Catholic Church in Bohol to watch the Sandugo Parade
• We ate lunch at the Garden Café
• We did open air evangelism in the same plaza once again
• We had dinner at the pool at Dao Diamond
• I typed up an update (this one) because I was way behind

The last several days have been full of great quiet times, many salvation decisions, and changed lives – both our own and the people we ministered to.  It has been amazing seeing our team really come out of their shells in proclaiming the truth of the Gospel.  Sami Price gave her testimony today to a crowd that was probably over 500 people.  It has been an amazing day and I praise the Lord for the incredible work that He has done through us here in Bohol over the last few days.  Truly, lives have been eternally changed in the last 48 hours and it is my greatest joy to view that and testify about it to you.

So because I am doing just a brief overview of each day in this post, I have asked Kelsey to add some of her thoughts from these days so you get a more in depth view of some of the goings on of the past few days!

Hey Y’all, (just a side note: Many of us have added Y’all to our vocabulary because Kerstin and Brytor both say it Wow, ok, it feels like FOREVER since day 7! That was a good day! Just relaxing, sleeping, journaling, swimming. Swimming has been fantastic on this trip! It’s super hot and humid mostly. We’ve found ourselves sweating a lot, but lately I’ve been even chilly at points! We’re adjusting to the climate. Washington is going to feel so cold!

Day 8 was a rougher day for everyone I think. The elementary school we went to is so dark. When I stepped off the bus I felt the weight, and the kiddos there are so conservative with their love. Also the team was having several problems with unity. The pool was nice, however, I got to take a quick nap on the diving board! The firefly sightings were absolutely gorgeous! It was fantastic to, first, have a bug that was actually glowing inside your hands, second to see them all blinking in sync, and third, to be able to worship God in such beauty.

Day 9 was absolutely amazing. I think the days keep getting better and better! Even the hard parts are better, because the team keeps getting closer and all of us are growing so much! Day 8 we were all so tired so BJ told us breakfast would be a 8:30! Yay! Sleep in!!! Sadly, we all got woken up at 7 because there was some miscommunication with the breakfast people. So much for more sleep. But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we got to do long quiet times to prepare for our quickly upcoming evangelism. I was so scared! I’ve never done anything like that before and it was one of the most scary, but one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever experienced! BJ had us all split up into groups of three or four. My group was Jessica M., Heidi, and Nick. The first place we went to was the Plaza. It’s right in front of the main catholic church, and a place that a lot of people pass through.  Stepping off the bus was not fun. The darkness of the place was apparent and barely anyone was in the actually plaza, so we worshiped. The dramas went fantastic, Nick was extremely passionate in sharing his testimony. I cried along with most of our team. Shopping was way fun as well. The beach was beautiful and we all performed the dramas with more excitement and passion than normal. Andee shared her testimony very powerfully. I’m extremely happy to report that yesterday four people way accepted into the Kingdom! Praise Jesus!

Day 10 was FANTASTIC!!!!!!! Oh man! Words cannot express how amazing today was, but I’ll do my best. We actually did get to sleep till 8ish today. We went to the plaza once again. Mass was going on. There were so many people crammed into that church. I was very glad we’d decided not to go. The parade that went through town was fun. The music was happy and I always love the dancing. The evangelism of today blew our socks off. The dramas went amazing once again and Sami did a great job sharing her testimony in front of hundreds. I was in a group with Garat and Aliya. We talked to quite a few people and had a somewhat frustrating, but very rewarding and happy time. The stories are amazing and I wish I had all night to blog, but I’m sure y’all want to hear them from your loved ones as well. The biggest news is over the past two days, heaven has been throwing a huge party, because thirteen people have joined our family!!!! God is so good!! Thank you all for your prayers! Keep praying! We need all we can get!!! Much much love!

Thanks for your prayers and comments.  Any messages you have left for others have been communicated to them.  Sorry, but I have no pictures for you all today – blame Kerstin.  Thanks for reading!

~Brytor and Kelseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Well now you may have noticed that I have fallen behind on my posts.  I truly did mean to post everyday but I did not intend on getting a fever….you can only plan for so much.  I have been out like a trout with a soar throat, runny nose, migraines, and fever.  And its not only me – BJ has the same thing while Hannah has some form of a stomach bug.  So yeah its not a good thing when two of the leaders are out with the flu, luckily though Spencer, Lydia, and Kerstin really stepped up in our absence.  So I really have too much to say about day 5 because I spent most of the day in bed but day 5 I can tell you all about because I was with the team even though I was under the weather.  I will have one of the others on the team talk about all that God did on day 5 later on in this post.

Well anyways, Day 5 started very early for the guys, and when I say very early I mean around 2:00 AM. Apparently, one of the girls (none of them have fessed up to it yet) flushed something down the toilet in the girls room that should not have been flushed down the toilet because the toilet got plugged up.  Now, normally this wouldn’t have been an issue because even though the toilet was overflowing there are drains in the bathroom, however in this case, the drain in the girls bathroom was stopped up with toilet paper and so much like the BP fiasco in the Gulf of Mexico, the failsafe failed.  Apparently there is an invisible trench that runs directly from the toilet stall that happened to be overflowing in the girls bathroom to the guys room because all the water that was overflowing went directly to our room and no one elses which in itself is a feat considering the distance between the girls bathroom and the guys room.  We aren’t really sure when the flood began but Garat woke up to go to the bathroom around 2AM and when he put his feet down he was standing in about 2 inches of water.  KC and Nick woke up shortly after  and ran downstairs to get the guard to get us a mop.  They also realized the flood was coming from the girls bathroom so they ran in there and unplugged the drain.  They also got everyone’s stuff that was on the ground up out of the water and on the top bunks that were open.  I woke up around 2:20 to the sound of Garat swishing the water out our door with a T shirt.  I was very confused at what exactly was taking place when I first stirred from sleep and couldn’t quite figure out what was happening until I put my feet down and realized they were wet.  Anyways it took us until about 3:30 to get it cleaned up.  Props to Brian and Daniel for sleeping like a rock.  They didn’t wake up the whole time.   So it was already a very exciting morning by the time we got to breakfast at 8.  After breakfast we had an hour quiet time to get our hearts right before we started our day.  We left for Loon (that’s pronounced La-ewn) around 9:30 to go to a school that is associated with BDA.  It was a public elementary school that also had classes for the deaf.  We spent the morning with the deaf and then in the afternoon they had an all school assembly in the main meeting hall where we were able to do our dramas and give a clear gospel message to about 500 children from 1st – 6th grade.  Christina had the opportunity of giving her testimony too.  I could tell that she was a little nervous but she did very well.  We stopped at a park at the ocean on the way home to get some more water and see the sights.  Now at this point I was feeling fairly under the weather.  I already had a runny nose and soar throat, though the headaches and fever had not started yet.  By the time we got home I was feeling really bad.  I had the shivers and cold sweats and I opted out of going to dinner.  I stayed behind as the rest of the team went to dinner and then to the market again.  I don’t really know what all went on at the market, except Kelsey began to feel the effects of dehydration and lack of sleep, but some of the team came back with some cool souvenirs.  When they got back  BJ was in the early stages of what I had.  By the next morning BJ had all the symptoms of what I had.

I’d like to make 2 comments concerning day 5.  I really experienced the joy of the Lord on Day 5 because even though my body felt like garbage I experienced so much joy in ministering to the school in Loon.  There is no doubt that physically I felt terrible, but in the midst of that I had such joy in seeing the working going on around me.  The other comment I would like to make is that I didn’t really understand why I was getting sick and I will come back to this later on this post, but I was really lost on what the purpose was behind both me and BJ getting sick.  It didn’t make alot of sense in why God would allow that to happen because wouldn’t God want me and BJ healthy throughout the whole trip as we are leaders of the trip and wouldn’t He want us being involved in the mission He has sent us on instead of sitting on the sidelines because of sickness?  God’s plans are not our own and His plan is infinitely better and even when we don’t see reason behind the circumstances in our lives, it does not mean that there is none.  Anyways I will comment more on this at the end of the post.  On to Day 6!

I am going to have Sam tell you about Day 6 because I spent most of that day in bed feeling terrible.  So here she is!

hello dear family and friends (: So…. yesterday Bj, Brytor, and Hannah stayed back at the hotel because they were feeling a little under the weather. During their time here, the rest of us went to BDA (Bohol Deaf Academy) to again work painting the students dorms and terracing the rocks in a path to keep the rain away from the dorms because most of them were suffering from water damage. I was in the painting crew for most of the day and it was super fun painting not only the dorms, but eachother! Once we changed from seafoam green paint to chocolate brown i began to get a little discouraged because none of us knew what the lines were supposed to look like, so i “transfered” to the rock crew and helped amanda fit rocks together like a puzzle for the pathway. It was hardwork and we probably have another days work of painting to go, but then we should all be finished up there. The garden looks amazing!

For dinner we went to a new mall that was five stories tall. My embarassing moment for the day was walking through the mall with Kyle, Jake, and Nick. I was holding my pizza “sandwich” in a box, running up the stairs so we had enough time to get Ube ice cream and my flip-flop broke so i face planted right in the middle of the mall on the stairs and my box went sliding across the floor. Not something Filipinos see every day (: haha. The upside was we still had enough time to get the delicious purple ice cream and some of us more professional eaters even had two servings of the double scooped cones

Later on in the night we went to BDA again for bible study and we showed them all three of our skits and they did a few for us. It is so breath taking watching the deaf dance to music they can’t even hear. Most of them are better dancers then all of us. Jake shared his testimony last night and it was amazing. Christina said that it was the most passionate she had seen Jake when talking about his faith. During this time a fellow student got pretty sick from dehydration and lack of sleep, but through prayers and water this person was rehydrated and brought back to health. After our time at BDA we came back to the hotel and split up into groups for debrief and reflection of the day plus needed prayer. Kelsey, Daniel and I had a really good conversation and then Kyle and KC joined our group and we were able to share our thoughts of the trip so far. The leaders decided that day seven was a needed free day for some nice R&R since everyone seemed to be getting sick and our plans to visit the island of Negroes was canceled due to ferry maintenance. Training camp was much needed because we have gone through many parallel circumstances on this trip and without it we’d probably be freaking out. We have a week left with many more events to come and we are all super excited for those and dreading the day we must leave. God Bless you all and thank you for all of your loving prayers and support (: ta ta for now!

Many thanks to Sam for helpin me out on this one.  I just wanted to finish what I had written about before now that I am on the mend.  I had trouble understanding why God had allowed BJ and I to get sick.  I now see many reasons for both of us getting sick beyond God’s sovereignty in the situation.  The biggest reason is that it helped the other leaders grow by putting more pressure on them.  This missions trip is not only for the people we are ministering to or the students we have brought along with us but God wants the group of leaders to grow through this trip as well.  This was the way he accomplished it for some of the group as He works through all of us.  Ultimately though He is sovereign and is always works gor our best whether or not we see any reason behind life’s situations.  Anyways, that’s what I have been learning.  BJ, Hannah and I are all feeling better though we are not totally over it.  Thanks for your prayers! Leave more comments – We love to hear from you!

~Sam and Brytor
Here are some more pictures!

Here are some pictures from Day 3,  Enjoy!

So unfortunately Brytor is not doing so fantastic and has handed the responsibility of blogging our epic adventure to me (Andee). Bohol Deaf Academy was the destination for our team and we spent most of our humid/blazing hot day serving the school. When I say serve we painted dorms, moved rocks and totally weeded out their garden so it will be functional again. But before we got the opportunity to help the school, the students gave us such a grand welcome and showed us what it meant to love like Jesus. We spent mucho time attempting to communicate with writing and butchering sign language.

Some highlights were when the students danced, watching all of us Americans eat fish heads and being reminded of how much I’m appreciated by all the many hugs.

I feel I should interrupt this entry with a personal embarrassing moment…..So I accidentally dumped water on my pants, the part where it looks awkward. In order to keep hold of my dignity I had a fellow friend chuck water on the remaining part of my pants. I’m still bitter.

ANYWAYS, following the school event we ventured to a restaurant called Bee Farm. By the beach, buffet, geckos on walls and hyper teenagers. Awesome night! When coming back to our hotel in hopes of crashing in bed, BJ informed us that he planned a karaoke birthday bash for Sami. She is a pretty lucky kid to have 26 friends, cake, karaoke and me singing a duet with her. Well I must go to sleep and charge up for tomorrow, much to see and do!

Thank you for your prayers and please continue to do so. We miss and love you all! Peace out

-Andee

Good Morning From Tagbilaran City, Bohol!

We had the awesome opportunity to be a part of the Sunday Morning Worship service at Tip Tip Foursquare Bible Church.  It was a bilingual service in English and sign, but mostly sign language.  It was pretty funny watching our team try to sing in sign language.  There were no instruments or music sung with lips, but all with our hands.  The administrator from Bohol Deaf Academy Spoke on Philipians 4:8 and how we need to focus our minds on the things that true and pure and lovely and of good repute.    After the morning church service we went to the beach and had a great time.  I had never been to a beach quite like this one.  There was only about 45 feet of sand before we hit the water.  Taking up about half of that area was a bunch of huts that you have to reserve if you want to get a spot on the beach because so many people go there.  We had to reserve 3 huts because of the size of our group.  Alot of the deaf people came to the beach with us and we had a great time talking and hanging out with them.  I was eating lunch in a hut with mostly deaf and I was telling the girl next to me how I got all the scars on my arms and chest.  I was pointing out all the different scars I have across the top of my body and when I looked up I had what felt like 20 eyes on me all wanting to hear the story.  Now, I don’t know pretty much any sign language so I just made up signs for what I was trying to say and spelt the things they weren’t understanding.  It was kind of nerve racking but they all seemed to understand me.  After lunch we all went swimming.  Some of the girls found a starfish while the guys were having fun with chicken fights and seeing how high we could launch each other into the air.  We launched Jake so high in the air that we started to attracted a crowd.  I will try to post a video for you all to see the fun we were having in the water.  Oh and by the way I take no credit for any of the pictures.  They were all taken by and edited by Kristen Pless, a missionary to Cambodia that has joined us here in Bohol.  Well just like yesterday morning when I started to post I have run out of time. I will finish this update tonight along with some pictures from day 3.  Here is a pic of us on the tarmac in Tagbilaran that I meant to upload yesterday but forgot to.  Thanks for reading!

~Bryan

Lets see here, I had to cut off my last post kind of short, so here I will try to finish it off.  We went to Vineyard Fellowship Bible Church last night and participated in their youth group service.  Being in a cross cultural worship service was a real eye opener for many in our group.  Nick Del Degan along with Heidi, Amanda, Alissa, and Aliya all got to lead part of the music service along with the Filipino band.  We could tell by the look on their faces that the joy of the Lord was overflowing in those moments.  It was a great evening.  Around 9:30 (in the middle of our “family time”) I got really tired and thought I was gonna DIE from lack of sleep.  All together, I think day 2 was the best day of the trip so far, but its only day 2 so there wasn’t alot to compare it to.  Anyways, I got photo albums working for this site so I am going to post the day 2 photo album.  Thanks for reading!  Leave lots of comments!

~Bryan

This is a picture of me (and not a very good one) from a road trip to DC I went on with a bunch of my buds last spring.   Mainly this is just a test to get individual photos inserted in this site from flickr.  Sweet! it works!

~Bryan

Hello All,

I know I have been lacking on updates but we have been very busy since we arrived in Tagbilaran City, Bohol, Philippines.  I will try to do daily updates from here on out. I will do an update for the previous days events the next day each day.  So this post covers the first two days, but mainly the second day because that was the first full day we had in Tagbilaran City.

We left Seattle for Vancouver on July 14th around noon and arrived in Tagbilaran City, Bohol around 10:30 AM on July 16th.  It was a very long trip and we are all still recovering from the jetlag.  Our first day we spent kind of relaxing.  We visited the school we will be working at next week and then we ate dinner at a restaurant that is run by the deaf to raise money for the school.  We all went to bed early that first night because we were all really tired

Day 2 we woke up really really early cause of the jetlag.  We walked to the marketplace at 5:30 AM and everyone was wide awake.  The market place was really interesting but it smelled really bad.  We ate some crazy fruit that looked like a yellow porcupine on the outside but was soft and delicious on the inside.  After getting back from the market we went to Arms of Love children’s orphanage.  I had never been to an orphanage before and it was a real eye opener.  There were young children there all the way to late high schoolers.  It was amazing to see our group interacting with these people as they just tried to show Christ’s love to people who desperately need love.  I had the opportunity of hanging out with 3, 10 year olds – JR, Francis and Jaselle.   While at the orphanage we did our three dramas and then they did one for us.  We left the orphanage around 3:30 and went to the mall to get anything we forgot and to eat dinner.  We went strait from the mall to Vineyard Bible Fellowship Church for a youth group service.  This was the church where all the orphans attend and many of them were there.  We had a bilingual service and an awesome time of worship after the message was given.  The pastor talked about how we need to live our lives as a living sacrifice to God, unify together with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and use our gifts to worship God and serve others.  Our time of worship after the message cannot be explained by words.  They sang all their songs in English but I didn’t know all of them.  Im running out of time.  I will finish this post in my next one.  Gotta Run!  Thanks for your prayers!

~Bryan

Hello folks!

This is a space for video, photographs, and blogging about the 2010 Philippines Missions trip by Adventure Community Church in Duvall, Washington.  I will be developing this site over the next few weeks.  feel free to follow me!

~Bryan