Hi folks...yes I'm back. Sorry it took so long. We've been busy but that's not really an excuse! Actually we are in Florida now, working on that little cottage I blogged about last year. It's getting homier every day (if that's a word!). Bill is a great 'fixer-upper' and is pounding nails at this very moment.
Anyway, back to our recent missions trip. Earlier I blogged that we went to Cebu to minister at their Bible college, in some of the churches, and to the local pastors at several of their meetings. It was really great.
I'll pick it up on...
Saturday, December 3. We had some time for a bit of sight-seeing in Cebu. Across from Cebu City is a small island where the airport is located. This island also has a very beautiful resort called the Shangrila. We walked the grounds of this resort, went to the beach (where I'm told they actually had to haul in white sand to make it look beachy, otherwise it's all coral), and had lunch there. We were with Joanne Oftedahl and her missionary associates from the Tampa area (Marcio & Mayda). After that we stopped at the Lapulapu Shrine. Lapulapu is a local hero-chief from ages passed that defeated (and killed) the explorer Magellan. Interesting! It was a great day and very nice to be outside in the sunshine and warmth. We returned the the place where we were staying and enjoyed an evening of relaxing.
Sunday, December 4. Bill spoke at a local church, about 30 mls south of the city. A great church with a lot of local outreach to the neighborhood led by Pastor's Edgar & Mercy. We were there for the morning service and an afternoon service that was mostly single mom's. See, the church has a Saturday school for the children (feeds them, etc. too) and on Sunday a service for the mom's. It's a great, evangelistic tool that reaches their hearts and 'see's' the love of God in action by helping with their children. Needless to say, we had a great time and the people were so glad that we had come.
Monday, December 5, This was our last day at IBC; Bill spoke in the Chapel. The students are really on fire for the Lord, wanting all that he has for them. They were also appreciative of our ministry. Somehow the students put together a gift for us to...as an appreciation! Two t-shirts from Cebu and two coffee mugs from IBC. Very sweet!
Most of the time Joanne came to get us, but some times it was easier for us to meet her at a certain location. Just up the street from the Bible college was a restaurant called 'Jolly B'; it's kind of like a McD's but with a different menu. The food is pretty good actually. Anyway, to meet Joanne we had to take a taxi on several occasions. Funny thing was most of the taxi driver's knew where that Jolly B was, no communication breakdown.
Next blog will be about the week we spent on the nearby island of Bohol. We took a 2.5 hr. ferry ride to get there. Bill spoke at the Bible college there and also had a pastor's seminar. Several things unique to Bohol are what they call the 'Chocolate Mountains' and the very tiny monkeys call 'Tartier'.
'Til then...
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
It was a great trip!
We've been home for a couple of weeks now; finally able to really sit down and give you an idea how our recent trip to Cebu, Philippines went. I kept a simple diary of each days events... below is an edited version of that log.
Tuesday, November 29: We left our home about 2:30 pm for a short drive to Janesville, WI. We had two-weeks worth of luggage with us, boarded a bus for a 2.5 hr. drive to Chicago O'Hare. Taking the bus was so much better than driving to the airport! On our arrival at O'Hare we started the check-in at the kiosk. We were interrupted by a ticket agent, trying to be helpful (I think he made me more nervous). Our ticket from Chicago to Cebu had us landing in Beijing, China. The agent told us we would have to pick up our luggage and get them rechecked and still go to the Philippine Airline ticket counter to get our boarding passes for the rest of our trip. He was seeing if there was any way possible for us to rebook our flight through another country. You know...normally your luggage travels to your destination...you don't see it again until you arrive. Because we were at the airport so early, this time delay wasn't a factor, but like I said it made me a little anxious. The agent was unable to rebook us. We boarded the airplane about 8 pm Chicago time for our 13 hour flight. The plane was pretty empty so we were actually able to stretch out...which was very nice! The flight went smoothly with no problems.
Wednesday, November 30: We arrived in Beijing, got our luggage (which wasn't that bad after all), boarded a bus to take us to another terminal, checked in at Philippine Air, and boarded our next plane for Manila. After a 4.5 hr flight, we transferred to a plane going to Cebu.
Thursday, December 1: We arrived in Cebu at about 10:30 am. Boy was it hot. Imagine the hottest summer day where temps are near 100 degrees and humidity is about 90%! That would be Cebu; it was very nice but we were still dressed for the Wisconsin 'November' weather! Missionary Joanne Oftedahl picked us up at the airport (with her Missionary Associates from Florida) and we went out to eat. Another missionary joined us for lunch. It was really good! We stayed at a local Baptist missions house while we were in Cebu. It was very comfortable. We could sign up for meals, we had our own bathroom, and an in room AC!!! We checked in, brought in our luggage (I changed to summer clothes and flip flops...yes!!!), and then went to exchange some money. We returned to the missions house to unpack, freshen up, get on the Internet, and finally lay down to sleep around 10 pm.
Friday, December 2: Up early to get ready, go have breakfast (very American), and go to the Bible college. Bill spoke at their chapel. It was great meeting all the students and interacting with the professors and staff. We also had the privilege of going out for lunch with the college president, his wife, the missionary associates, and Joanne. We had some down time to rest and refresh, then that evening Bill spoke at another chapel service, which was truly great! The students are very enthusiastic about worshipping their Savior.
Tomorrow I'll post some more diary logs. Hopefully by Friday I'll have the full two weeks of ministry here for you to read. Just to say, again, it was a fantastic trip and we are really blessed to have experienced it!
Tuesday, November 29: We left our home about 2:30 pm for a short drive to Janesville, WI. We had two-weeks worth of luggage with us, boarded a bus for a 2.5 hr. drive to Chicago O'Hare. Taking the bus was so much better than driving to the airport! On our arrival at O'Hare we started the check-in at the kiosk. We were interrupted by a ticket agent, trying to be helpful (I think he made me more nervous). Our ticket from Chicago to Cebu had us landing in Beijing, China. The agent told us we would have to pick up our luggage and get them rechecked and still go to the Philippine Airline ticket counter to get our boarding passes for the rest of our trip. He was seeing if there was any way possible for us to rebook our flight through another country. You know...normally your luggage travels to your destination...you don't see it again until you arrive. Because we were at the airport so early, this time delay wasn't a factor, but like I said it made me a little anxious. The agent was unable to rebook us. We boarded the airplane about 8 pm Chicago time for our 13 hour flight. The plane was pretty empty so we were actually able to stretch out...which was very nice! The flight went smoothly with no problems.
Wednesday, November 30: We arrived in Beijing, got our luggage (which wasn't that bad after all), boarded a bus to take us to another terminal, checked in at Philippine Air, and boarded our next plane for Manila. After a 4.5 hr flight, we transferred to a plane going to Cebu.
Thursday, December 1: We arrived in Cebu at about 10:30 am. Boy was it hot. Imagine the hottest summer day where temps are near 100 degrees and humidity is about 90%! That would be Cebu; it was very nice but we were still dressed for the Wisconsin 'November' weather! Missionary Joanne Oftedahl picked us up at the airport (with her Missionary Associates from Florida) and we went out to eat. Another missionary joined us for lunch. It was really good! We stayed at a local Baptist missions house while we were in Cebu. It was very comfortable. We could sign up for meals, we had our own bathroom, and an in room AC!!! We checked in, brought in our luggage (I changed to summer clothes and flip flops...yes!!!), and then went to exchange some money. We returned to the missions house to unpack, freshen up, get on the Internet, and finally lay down to sleep around 10 pm.
Friday, December 2: Up early to get ready, go have breakfast (very American), and go to the Bible college. Bill spoke at their chapel. It was great meeting all the students and interacting with the professors and staff. We also had the privilege of going out for lunch with the college president, his wife, the missionary associates, and Joanne. We had some down time to rest and refresh, then that evening Bill spoke at another chapel service, which was truly great! The students are very enthusiastic about worshipping their Savior.
Tomorrow I'll post some more diary logs. Hopefully by Friday I'll have the full two weeks of ministry here for you to read. Just to say, again, it was a fantastic trip and we are really blessed to have experienced it!
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