I'm here!

Greetings from Davao! I am so amazed and blessed to finally be here in the Philippines. God was gracious to us as we traveled and we all made it without any mishaps or lost luggage. Praise the Lord! So far my time here has been a blur of orientation, shopping for needed items and getting to know our way around. Things are definitely not quite the way I expected it to be. You can find anything you ever wanted to buy in the malls and on the surface it almost seems quite westernized, but underneith it all it's still the Philippines with their own culture, customs and ways.

On Sunday, us girls had the opportunity to visit different churches. Sarah and I attented a local baptist church with our classmate Bethany and her husband Tim. It was nice to attend church and meet some new people. Afterwards we had lunch at Tim and Bethany's and had a really great time getting to know them. They're such generous, fun people with a real heart to serve the people that God puts in their path. I'm really looking forward to getting to know them better.

Well, I've got some more orientation to go to in a litle while here, so I think that I'd better go get ready :-) I'll post pictures soon. Thanks for your prayers everyone. It really makes a big difference. Please continue to pray that I'd be able to adjust easily and that God will give me energy for the upcoming work. Thanks again!

Orientation

Hey everyone! Just a quick post to let you know what I've been up to these last few days. On Friday morning Sarah and I flew to Oregon to join up with all the other girls who will be traveling to the Philippines. It's been a really nice few days. I think that after all the craziness of trying to get ready to leave I really needed some time to just relax. We've been doing lots of hiking and fun stuff and it's been so great to have this time to get to know all the girls. It is sooo beautiful out here. I can't remember the last time I saw such breath taking beauty. God's creation has such a way of making you stand in awe of His might. So, tomorrow afternoon we begin our journey to the Davao and should arrive at our final destination on Friday. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel. Thanks everyone!