Consider It Pure Joy: Comings & Goings

I only have three weeks left in the Philippines! I continue to look around everyday and remind myself "I only get to live on a beach surrounded with mountains for 3 more weeks!" BUT there is so much to do in so little time :)

The mass wedding is coming up on November 30th. The mass wedding is something that came about when Patti was teaching about God's plan for marriage and for husband and bride. Most people here are not legally married because it costs too much for the marriage license- and some do not even have a birth certificate to begin the process of a marriage license. however, after the bible study- so many women expressed interest in doing marriage according to God's plan. Sooo.. Miss Patti went through the mess of figuring out how to get birth certificates, marriage licenses, and so much more. Now we are planning a "mass wedding" to take place in the church where all these couples (10 in total) can be married and have a wedding! :) there are so many preparations for the wedding! Some couples do not have rings and cannot afford them-so Rachel (visitor from Oregon) and myself are sponsoring the cost to have rings made here. They are made from a 10 peso coin and only cost 50 PHP to make! They are actually really beautiful rings! We are considering the idea of having more made- sending them to America to the churches that represent the Kenneys and see if we can sell them as a fundraiser for the mass wedding!

Just some pictures from the days:

Guitar lessons are now being offered to the older ladies and the younger boys from the previous lesson are teaching it! How precious!

Catchin fish however you can! After all- the fish is the way of life here

The Friday morning bible study group in the waiting shed.

Two of the little girls who now call me "ate Whit-nayyy" with the "nay" part screamed!

Believe it or not, we prayed about these piglets in bible study. it was a litter of 15 which is a fortune here (1,500 PHP a piece)! So we praised the Lord for this litter!!

The next few pictures are some of my favorite parts of the mornings! I get to wake up, go outside with my cup of coffee and join the community as everyone helps pull in boats from the night before and clean the fish and haul them to market. It is always so much fun and i get to talk to people all morning!

Separating out the fish from the night's catch

One of the guys playing the guitar during morning catch. He knows like every American song there is!! He also plays in the church band.

some of the women in the waiting shed during the morning catch

Only in the Philippines :)

Annamae (her baby Alexa) and Mimay (her baby Mark Joseph)

The kids all strip their clothes and play in the ocean while their parents deal with the fish :)

This is a shot of basketball practice. We have it everyday and it is always a highlight for me! we end up playing for like 2 hours and these guys have gotten comfortable enough with me to joke around. It is a blast!

This is the Saturday morning Gingoog City Volleyball Association. They start playing at 5:30am and we play til 8:30 am then go eat breakfast together. Everyone pulls up on their motorcycle- it is awesome!

Another project- a wonderful lady named Lot Lot who comes to the Wednesday Bible Study is going to be in the mass wedding. Unfortunately, her teeth were in awful shape. She has so many completely decayed teeth and missing others. Over the past few weeks, we have taken her to the dentist numerous times to have them all pulled and now are fitting her for dentures!!! This is another project that I (through my wonderful sponsors and God's provision) have sponsored! She is so so grateful. Many time she has been telling me thank you and will cry to me, or in Bible study she made her prayer how thankful she was for God hearing her cries for new teeth! She will be able to smile and feel beautiful for the first time in a long time! And the dentures only cost $100- to make a woman feel confident and beautiful!! How awesome is that! And it is just in time for the mass wedding. She is so grateful and sweet that she asked me to take part in the "binding with cords" in her part of the wedding. This just means i will be placing the corded veil from her head to her husbands. I am so excited! ;)

The one on the left is ate LotLot. She just got 4 teeth removed. She's tough!

Yet another project- I have mentioned Mimay several times in my blog. She is my age and has 3 kids. Her husband helps bring in the fish every morning and sometimes drives a motorella, but besides that, there is no income. I walked her home one day because i was holding her sweet baby boy- Mark Joseph. I was astonished when I saw her house. Not because it wasn't finished and not because it was hidden behind the others- but because Mimay has never once had a frown on her face when I see her. She has 3 kids (including a month old baby) and lives in a house that doesn't even have 4 walls and yet, she is always smiling and thankful to God in our bible studies. It didn't take God long to tell my heart that we needed to finish this house for her and her family. Looking at the building supplies, it will cost somewhere around 12,000 PHP ($300) to build their house with bamboo and some more bamboo :) Adding electricity costs about 4,000 PHP ($100) to set up everything and for the equipment but the monthly cost is only about 70 PHP (less than $2) for the bill every month. I am cutting it close on my budget left for my stay in the Philippines and I really want to be able to use some money to bless other families in the community- so please be praying for God to give me discernment and wisdom on how to best accommodate this family along with the rest of the community!!

Standing in Mimay's house. the building behind it is a pig pen and the bathroom. The yellow bucket is the kitchen sink and counter currently.

Mimay's House before the fix up.

Picking out the bamboo wood for Mimay's house. I am a professional now ;)

On a really fun note- This is the best "mission" trip ever! I get to be involved in a community, get to know everyone, play with them every single day, and I get to live on the ocean!!! Since I go out to the waiting shed every morning to watch the fishermen bring in the catch from the night while i drink my coffee, i have gotten to know the fishing community around here :) one of the men offered to take me out on his boat to see the coral and the cold springs. It was amazing!!!! I was literally so far out into the ocean and i could see the bottom crystal clear!!!