Happy Easter! Alleluia He is risen!

We had a very blessed Easter at our house. The girls woke to a small Easter bag of candy on their bed (and they were very excited)! We read about the resurrection from Johns Gospel while they ate their candy.

John 20:11-18*

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they  have laid him." 14 Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she 

did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." 16 Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rab-bo'ni!" (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, "Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my  Father and your Father, to my God and your God." 18 Mary Mag'dalene went and said to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Meditation*: How easy it is to miss the Lord when our focus is on ourselves!  Mary did not at first recognize the Lord because her focus was on the empty tomb and on her own grief. It took only one word from the Master, when he called her by name, for Mary to recognize him. Mary's message to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, is the very essence of Christianity. It is not enough that a Christian know about the Lord, but that we know him personally. It is not enough to argue about him, but to meet him. In the resurrection we encounter the living Lord who loves us personally and shares his glory with us. The Lord gives us "eyes of faith" to see the truth of his resurrection and victory over sin and death (Ephes. 1:18).  The resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of our hope -- the hope that we will see God face to face and share in his everlasting glory and joy.  Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy.  As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:8-9). Do you recognize the Lord's presence with you, in his word, in the "breaking of the bread", and in his church, the body of Christ?
"Lord, may I never fail to recognize your voice nor lose sight of your presence in your saving word." 
* scripture and meditation taken from http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/john2011.htm

Then we cleaned up the house and the girls helped me to hand wash and peal all the vegetables for mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, green bean casserole, and buttered carrots.

Washing string beans (we used them for green bean
casserole). I was excited  to find cream of mushroom
 soup in the imported section of the grocery store.

Lots of scrubbing and pealing potatoes,
carrots and kamote (a white sweet potato).

We have a two burner gas stove (connected to a small gas tank). There is no oven so we had to be very creative in preparing all the food. We covered our outside table with aluminum foil and placed it in the sun. We laid out 2 loaves of bread to toast in the sun for stuffing. Each girl took turns fanning the bugs away with a stick. After toasting for a long while we broke it into pieces and used the crockpot to warm it with seasonings and chicken broth. It came out really yummy! Our Filipino friends had never had stuffing before.

Catherine fanning the flies away.

We ordered 5 cooked chickens from a place in town and picked up some fresh dinner rolls. Some of the Filipino ladies prepared rice and sayote and egg. We also found some cakes that looked like angel food cake (but where much heavier) and taste more like regular cake. We topped it with canned strawberries and the Romero’s brought pineapples and fruit salad to go with it.

We started our gathering with an Easter Egg hunt which was a hit for all the children. 

Go, Catherine, Go!

We enjoyed a very delicious Easter meal and dessert with American and Filipino Food! We prayed over the food and sang songs together.

What a blessing to have all this yummy food to share with our friends! We had 22 children and 11 adults (including our family). For a moment I was worried that we wouldn't have enough food and then I realized how silly to doubt God on Easter. He multiplied the food and we even had leftovers!

White Sweet potatoes with butter, cinnamon,
brown sugar and marshmallows.

Lent and Other Random Things

It is still a challenge to get used to the different food that we have available here in the Philippines. We miss the food that we aren't able to get here (american hamburger and fries, mexican food, chicken pot pie, american salads, pizza, etc). We did find a pizza place that is a little like what we are used to and we had a family pizza night. It is the biggest pizza we have ever had but has a very thin crust. The girls really enjoyed it as you can see!

This is the cutest picture of Felicity and Grace. They have lots of fun playing together and are so sweet together. John, Lindsey's brother, took this picture in the back of Sammy & Lindsey's car.

Here the girls are playing in our yard in the evening. There was a party at the neighbors house across the street and all the kids came over to our fence to watch the american family in the yard. There are not a lot of white people here and we really stand out in the crowd. The girls like all the attention they are getting and are starting to make friends in the neighborhood.

Most of our transportation is done in our car (that was loaned to us by a generous family). Sometimes we get to ride in a multi-cab which the girls really like to do. Here we are riding with Maricel and Jonah (the ladies who help us at home) to a desert day location (to pray and read scripture in nature).

The waterfall at our desert day was gorgeous! Picture courtesy of John Dold.

 

This is an older picture from our weekly Bible Study that we do in Isla Bonita. This picture was taken when the short-term mission trip from Benedictine College was here. They stayed a week during the first week of Lent and it truly was a blessing and gift to all of us here to have them visit us. We all experienced a renewed spirit for missions during this time.

At the beginning of Lent the book Kisses From Katie popped into my head one morning (its been on my list to read for a long time). I thought 'how am I going to find this book'? Books are much harder to come by here and I didn't want to spend the money on my Kindle. A few hours later we were at Lindsey's house and we told them we like to read (and miss the access to books we had in the U.S.). She offered to let me look through a box of books she had upstairs and, guess what, there it was! I was so excited. So I started off this Lent reading this book which is now one of my most favorite books. I highly recommend it to everyone! It really helped me with my perspective in missions and I was inspired by her example of holiness as a 23 year old who moved to Africa and adopted 13 girls.

We really enjoy visiting the Monastery that is about 15 minutes down the road from our house. The monks sing so beautifully and the mass is in english (as well as the homily). We have visited a few times to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere and the gorgeous views.

Normally on Sundays we go to our local chapel which is all in the local dialect (visayan). Recently we visited the monastery as part of our family retreat. We spent 3 ½ days praying about where and how God is calling us to serve here in Malaybalay. There are many opportunities to serve in many different ways, which at times can be overwhelming. It is so important to keep prayer as our main priority to help us discern our service as missionaries.

Reading Kisses From Katie really helped me to better understand how we can serve here in the Philippines. I can relate to so much that Katie talks about and it has been so helpful to hear about all that she went through when leaving the U.S. She still misses things and says that her life is hard. But also very good and blessed. I really admire her yes to the Lord. She reminded me that I must say yes in little ways everyday. It's not about trying to change the world but allowing God to work through me and loving whoever He puts in front of me. It's really all about Love. It's funny how overwhelmed I can get and how often I forget this. I can't rely on myself here but on Jesus who will give me the strength to face it all. I must take it one day, one person at a time. I must love whoever the Lord puts in front of me in that moment. It reminds me a lot of how Mother Teresa lived her service to the poor.

Donovan's Trip to Hilantagaan

A few weeks ago Donovan went on a trip with the other men to Hilantagaan (an island affected by typhoon Yolanda). I stayed home with the kids while he was gone. Their group traveled first by plane to Cebu then took a boat ride for about an hour. Once on that island they took another smaller boat for about 20 minutes. This ride was very rocky as the waves were large from another typhoon.

White sandy beaches and clear blue water surround the island.
The boat they traveled on was much like the one above.

They stayed in a partially built house with three tents and four hammocks carefully arranged so everyone could fit. Donovan was in a hammock and really liked it (it provided a comfortable nights rest).

Travis and Donovan coming out of the house that provided
 their shelter while on the island.

A beautiful sunset from the beach.

They were on the island to help rebuild a Catholic Chapel that had been destroyed by typhoon Yolanda last November. It was a horrible storm that destroyed so much. (During Donovan's visit he saw the effects the storm had left: clothing that was plastered to the cliffs permanently, broken trees, destroyed homes). Many of the homes in this area had already been rebuilt. But even when the homes where not rebuilt the people had asked for a chapel. Our Filipino Missionary friends Ramon and Kring had visited the area earlier in the year and the people wanted their chapel rebuilt. Generous benefactors through our missionaries provided funds to rebuild. The men were able to bring materials and tools with them on the boat.

Donovan and Travis digging out the old foundation to prepare for the new one.

Donovan was very impressed with the hard work of the Filipinos who work out in the sun all day, mixing cement by hand with shovels, and only using hand tools.

Another view of the chapel. You can see the pews behind the men
and the old altar near the yellow wall.

Taking a break from the heat. Trying to keep cool and keep
 from getting burned Donovan wrapped his shirt around his
head like the Filipinos do.

After working during the day, they invited the people to prayer meetings in the evenings.

Here John Dold gives his testimony to the group. He also
took all the photos for this blog. Also pictured is Ben
(Kring's Dad) who was the foreman on the chapel project,
He stayed behind after the group left. He is still there working
on it. 

There was no electricity on the entire island. The group had to bring their own food, drinking water, tools and materials. They got to eat lots of fresh fish, sting ray, blue crab, and octopus.

Blue Crab caught fresh for breakfast!

Eating fish and mangoes for dinner (and rice of course).

They also visited a virgin island (for a few hours) with beautiful white sandy beaches and crystal clear water.

The one resort on the virgin island.

Beautiful views from the beach! And no one else on the island
but their group (and the people who ran the resort).

Snack time! Graham crackers and apples.

All pictures courtesy of John Dold. Thank you John!