Adventure Three on Mindanao

    Our third adventure started similarly to the first two. Alex and Fritz hopped on motorcycles while David and Erin jumped in the car to go on a survey. So up to this point we haven't mentioned that David is a rally car driver. Erin was in good hands on these rough roads, and had just a little fun drifting around a couple of corners :) There is a big push here to develop highways through more rural parts of the country, and let me tell you some of these roads are crazy! Not only are some of them badly washed out and under construction, there is also the random animal laying there sunning itself, including but not limited to: dogs, goats, geese, and chickens. Oh, and did I mention that it is totally normal to dry your agricultural products like corn, coffee, and anything else on said highways. Almost forgot to mention that Fritz and Alex rode by a king cobra! Alex didn't even see it... 
    The goal of a survey is to see if the gospel has spread and will continue to spread within a language group. It was exciting to see how this was done practically and understand the challenges that come along with it.
    Arriving in the area we first met with local pastors. Filipinos have this amazing relational network. When meeting a new person one of the first things they do is start making connections of who both people know, and most of the time it doesn't take long before they've found someone that they both know. We want to partner with the local church to see the gospel spread rather than jump in and try to do it all ourselves. Most often the local pastors have a good idea of what is happening in the area and know the culture much better than we ever will - even after years of study.

Pastor Pablo (left) and Fritz (middle) were a huge help in surveying the area! Fritz often helps David (far right) on surveys.

        The real adventure began when we took off into the village. The roads were rough and the car wasn't going to make it. We knew that so we hired a skylab. A skylab is a motorcycle for hire that has two side racks for any cargo you may want to take. Often they pile rice, wood, or other goods on the side for transport in this case it was three of us plus the rider. You should see how many Filipinos they can fit on these things! Erin rode behind the driver while Pastor Pablo and I rode of the sides. It was very exciting and we were very sore by the end of the day:)

    The pastor of this church we visited was actually a student of Pastor Pablo. That Sunday they celebrated pastor appreciation day. After a message from a guest speaker, gifts and letters were given to the pastor and his wife. A huge meal was prepared and everyone enjoyed!

The Church we visited

Our group with the Pastor and his family

Just a little of all the food we enjoyed!

    At the end of the day we had talked to several pastors and locals in the area. Sometimes it is hard to immediately know if someone understands salvation by grace - just like at home. At times it takes more than one trip to build relationships and truly know how well the gospel is understood. David now has a better understanding of the area and how well the gospel will spread. For this specific location it did seem that there were some true believers! Please pray for them and that it would spread throughout the area. There are many church's that don't preach the truth. It is very common that all you'll ever hear from the pulpit is to obey God's commands to receive physical blessing. All in all, it was a great opportunity to see what actually happens on a survey and get some hands on experience. We talked about them quite a bit at school but practically didn't know everything that went into one.

Adventure Two on Mindanao

     Our second trip on Mindanao started by getting back on the bike. Well, Erin decided to jump in the 4x4 with some other missionaries. It was a fairly uneventful ride except for the beautiful scenery. 

This was better than trying the bridge...

     It was a big day there in the village. The missionary there started a family day, where everybody would take a day off to play games and have a good time together. Today it was even bigger than normal! They invited the next village over, quite a few missionaries came in, and a pastor from Luzon came down with some of his church just for this event. They danced, sang, played games and had a huge meal which was delicious. It was such a great time!

In this game they took turns blowing flower out of a bowl to uncover a coin. The last person had to pick up the coin with their mouth and run back to the start!

Listen to this great tribal beat!

It turns out the white guys aren't too great at it:) Look at the local laugh at us!

     The beat is made by 4 people hitting the log at different times, then a couple other people add on with smaller sticks. Three NTM missionaries and the pastor from Luzon tried. We didn't make the right sound once! Turns out playing a log takes some skill...

     After all the festivities the food was brought out and we were ready! We knew it was common to eat with your hands in remote locations but we weren't very skilled. My first thought was, wheres the hand sanitizer? After fumbling around for a bit we were instructed on how to eat with your hands properly:) It involves forming the rice and topping into a single piece then using your thumb to push it off your cupped fingers into your mouth. 

It was a great time experiencing so much culture in one afternoon!

     Please pray for these people. They have no access to the gospel at this time. Soon the missionaries will begin teaching. They are already asking to hear God's word because of the lives of the missionaries there. 

Adventure One on Mindanao

     Less than a two hour flight from Manila and we were already landing in Davao City, Mindanao. Josh and Belinda were there waiting to pick us up. They showed us a great time for the two days we were in Davao. We attended church, had lunch on a beautiful white sand beach, were introduced to kinilaw (a new favorite dish similar to civiche using vinegar instead of citrus juice), and grilled tuna jaw. Before we knew it David was there to take us further north to a smaller city - Malaybalay.

It doesn't look like much but there's a lot of meat on there and it was great!

    After a month and a half in Manila, Malaybalay seemed small but actually has a population of 153,00 as of 2010. It didn't take long before we were headed out of town to visit a village. One night in Malaybalay and we were off on our first motorcycle adventure in the Philippines. David was our 'guide' for the two weeks in Mindanao and this first trip was a test of sorts to see how well we'd do on the bike. I've had about six months experience riding a dual-sport (street legal dirt bike) in Indiana. All of my experience was on the road however.

We didn't see much pavement on this trip:)

     We rode for a couple of hours before we finally got to our destination. The terrain was rough! For me it was anyway... We went up and down some steep 'roads' some clay, some gravel, and some really chunky gravel with large boulders mixed in. David only had to take the bike up one short hill for me. It was a steep clay hill with big ruts I just couldn't seem to stay out of. I felt pretty tough getting through certain parts of the road especially with Erin on the bike (who did great). I was soon humbled by a local riding a little 100cc motorcycle with a few hundred pounds of rice strapped to it going over the same stuff I was with ease!

     Our destination was a small village with a baptist church pastored by a national. We just had a short visit before it was time to head back home. 

Check out these pictures from our journey!

Having merienda with the Pastor and his wife

Had a little trouble getting back across...

     After a full day of riding on dirt roads we were all pretty tired. We were just about home when we had a little accident. There are dogs pretty much everywhere on the street and you never know what they're going to do. David was a little ahead of us and barely missed a dog crossing the road. The dog turned around, so I thought we were in the clear. It took two steps away from us then turned and went right under our front tire. We were going around 25 mph when we hit the road. We think Erin went over the bike and rolled while I stayed with the bike and slid. To add insult to injury the dog bit me! Erin came away with a few scratches. I had a bit of road rash and had to get rabies shots! It was a bad end to a great day. We are both all healed up and fully recovered from our crash.

Check back tomorrow for our next story!