Mahal Kita...

It's hard to believe we've already been here for three weeks and our time is almost over. The majority of our ministry has been the same week to week. Many of the people here hold on to religion (mainly Catholicism) as a piece of their identity without really knowing what they believe in or why they believe it. Between this blind faith and the close-mindedness to other denominations, there is a lot of division over religion. We've spent a lot of time working with people who already hold some type of faith, discussing the need for unity between churches and the pursuit of the truth of God over being "religious." We've worked with college students in a campus ministry affiliated with InterVarsity, spoken in churches from week to week and done various open-air ministry. A couple weeks ago, we organized a training workshop for young people from local Batangas churches and they joined us the following week in an open-air program in a small farming community. Last week, Brian preached a 45 minute sermon on loving God is about action. We also spent a few days on a small vacation at a beach house in Lubo. It was gorgeous, relaxing and a good way to spend time together as a team.

It's been such an adventure so far - and we've probably grown more as a couple and as individuals than we have done anything huge to change the world (as is typical YWAM DTS fashion, or so I'm learning). Since we got here, we've been looking for ways we could give to the base. We have really caught a hold of their vision, love what they're doing and believe in their success. When we arrived, we learned the base director used to be a graphic designer who had always been Mac-loyal until his powerbook was stolen last year. It seemed obvious that I was to leave my laptop here when we return to South Africa. He was working on an old PC with an old version of PhotoShop and Illustrator and my macbook has CS2 and Dreamweaver - programs I can barely use myself. I told Brian I felt like I should give my laptop away and we agreed we would do it when we left. But then the base PC broke down. I passed up a chance to impulsively give it up when I found out, but halfheartedly said to God that maybe the PC would break again and, if so, I would give it to Erik immediately. The next morning, the computer was broken. I knew that I was supposed to give him my computer right away, so Brian and I left for the mall to get a flash drive for all of our files.

I (Brian now) had been talking about wanting to buy a guitar - whether for myself or the base - since we arrived. Buying a flash drive big enough for all of our files was going to cost almost as much as a guitar, so I gave up the idea. We went to the mall and bought a 32 gig flash drive (amazing how big they are now right?) and then go watch the move Sherlock Holmes because movie tickets here are less than 3 USD. We met some of our friends outside the theater and right before we went into the movie our friend from Switzerland gave me a brand new guitar. He said that he felt he was supposed to do it, so he did.

When we got home, I (Kati again) took Erik and Josie aside and told them that I felt like God wanted them to have my laptop. Erik later told us that ever since his Powerbook was stolen, he had been holding out for another Mac - despite having so little money in a country where Apple products are so expensive. A man who really believes that God cares about each one of our specific needs, he told us that he had prayed for a "white Macbook with the new magnetic latch." Even that morning, his wife said it was time to buy a new computer  - they couldn't put all their trust in the old base PC when Erik was supposed to be designing literature for YWAM's 50th anniversary and the base's yearly financial report was due to YWAM International soon. Erik said no, God's going to give me a Mac, and that night, he did - the exact computer he had prayed for with all of the Adobe products he uses for graphic design and software to maintain his own website.

We have been so excited to be part of the little - but so big - things that God is doing. Brian loves his new guitar and has even been teaching me how to play. Check out our new pictures in the Philippines album to the left.

Thank you all for supporting us and being interested in the things God has set up for us to do. We love you all and miss you heaps.