Hello from Tacloban!

Maupay nga aga! That's how you say "good morning" in Waray. Today was our second full day in Tacloban. We arrived here Tuesday morning, after four days of orientation in Batangas and Manila. Even though I was jet lagged, I could still pay attention and take in information (most of the time!) during orientation sessions. I also have felt peace being in a new place. So grateful for your prayers!

One of the most encouraging times here so far was having house church with the students in Batangas. There were about 20 students there. They were full of joy in the Lord and shared how they were sharing their faith with others. They were so sweet and welcoming to us. One of the students told me that none of the students there had believing families. She said has been hard to share her faith with her parents, but she is praying she will have courage to keep doing it because of her burden for them.

Here in Tacloban, Amanda and I are learning the Waray language. In the morning, we ride in the bike carriage to see the two ladies who are teaching us. They laugh so much at our Waray! We have had more orientation sessions in the afternoon and night. On Wednesday afternoon, we helped serve food at an after-school feeding program. Today, we rode the jeepney downtown to get some things we needed. We saw the outdoor market by the water, and we had coke in a bag. When we came back, the children were ringing the doorbell at the gate, so we let them in and played catch and duck duck goose with them.

Tacloban is nothing like Manila. We awake to roosters crowing. As we walk through the streets, we see all the bikes going here and there and people mingling and children playing. Everywhere we go, people stare because they are curious (that's not considered rude here!). They are so friendly. We have been practicing some of our Waray with them. We'll be here the rest of this week and next week, and then we'll move to our apartment in Samar and begin our ministry in the villages on the Oras river.

Prayer requests:
-that God will help us learn Waray
-for the hungry children here
-God will prepare "persons of peace" in the barangays and give us wisdom to find them
-For the hearts of the believers in the barangays. It has been over a month since the last Hands On volunteers were here, so pray that the believers have continued to grow from the seeds that were planted then while no "outsiders" have been coming in. Pray also that they will grow to be practicing believers, who see the need on their own to share their faith and lead their church.
-that God will continue to prepare us and give us his words and his heart
-for the students in Batangas, that they will continue to share their faith and not become discouraged

More soon! "Let all the peoples praise you, O God, let all the peoples praise you!" Psalm 67:3