How Lucky I Am

Wow is all i can say, this has been amazing- i know that doesn't say much but that's all i can think of to describe this time we are having...It's about 6:00pm Saturday night, so about 4:00am Saturday morning, we got back to our lovely, comfy hotel room, in our lovely great hotel! We are close to a Shakey's
Pizza Parlor, a place i didn't know existed out of Idaho, seeings how they recently closed off of overland, i used to go there with my family when i was young, so that was exciting to see when we drove in from the airport Wednesday night. We had a great time meeting a lot of people Wednesday night, we were all exhausted, i personally had no recollection of the time nor how many hours i hadn't slept. God is so amazing, i was praying that i would either become closer with the girls (Stacyann and Alyssa) which i believe has happened, but also that i would have someone to be with whether it was one of them or a native person, and God gave me that, she is a precious, sweet, fun 14 yeart old and her name is Kona. We are roomates and i swear Captain and Jamie forgot the year she was born, this smart girl can not only be 14 years old! We think thoughts simultaneously and almost say them the same. I love her!

So we left Thursday morning after a great breakfast *american pancakes* and bacon and papaya with lime on it- yummy, unfortunately Elyce had to eat quickly because We are on Philipino time, and even though we ordered early and quickly that didn't mean we recieved it the same. So i was surprised at how fast i could down that! not horribly fast, but a good pace, fast enough to keep Captain behind me which seems to be the reacurring goal of mine and it is working don't you worry! (he might object)

We took a jeepney which isn't what i pictured, it seems like a carnival ish mobile- hard to explain i will hopefully get a picture and hoping to post pictures if possible tomorrow so don't you worry! We then took a bus (not yellow) but green and basically the same, yet smaller in size and seat size as well, but fine. Then we took motorcycles i was with Pastor Alan (not to be confused with pastor Alex as Cap'n mentioned before) AND A DRIVER so 3 people on a motorbike similar to what i used to ride at my grandparents house around the farm with my grandpa Harold, i don't know what type or anything but it was a dirtbike- i got lucky some people as they will probably share, had up to 4 people on it. I was in the back, sunglasses on, and holding on and praying at certain points, i absolutely LOVED going fast, Pastor Alan just said "TRUST THE DRIVER" and so i did, it was almost surreal, i'm on the back of a dirtbike with bags strapped to it, Pastor Alan sitting sideways in front of the driver at times and the white girl in the back, flying through the hills (mountains) of the beautiful, GREEN Phillipines!

I was reminded at how good God is to me, how lucky i am to be here, i kept wondering how great it would be for all of you to be able to ZOOM IN on us. Justin said he was so proud of me for doing Robie, and surprised at how well i did, Hun, if only you could have seen me then!!!! The motorcylce ride, and also when we got a flat tire half way down the mountain and Pastor Alan and i hopped off and started walking! THANK you MRS. Stevens for being in shape, and ecouraging us to be the same, i am so thankful we trained and had some down hill AND uphill experience, we were literally walking after resting of course through rivers, streams and bushes, brush, plants that i didn't even know existed and got some nice welts and scratches as Kona did, but not nearly as bad as hers.

We were on the last stretch, almost reaching the third village going up hill, and God decided to Give us RAIN........ AND LOOOOTS OF IT, and not just a sprinkle to cool us off which we were very thankful for A FLOOD! lol jk not really but when you are walking uphill on dirt, and water mixes, you are walking UP a water FALL! Alyssa MAtt and i were together at that point, Alyssa slipped and slided and we laughed and helped eachother up, and across water and hopping from rock to rock. I don't know why we attempted to keep our tennis shoes dry, we almost ended up soaking wet... i was very smart and only brought one pair of socks (Thanks Bethany) i would bring them home but they are in the garbage!!! you don't want them back i promise! Kona and i threw our nasty tennis shoes in the closet in the hotel but i don't think that will cure them.... Yikes we shall see tomorrow! (or tonight when we return to the nice smell) We got to visit 3 churches, and 3 different tribes, i always pictured tribes as like crazy indians that wore face paint and had arrows or walking sticks in their hands WRONGO!!! Thank God! They are amazing people that live in huts, that love eachother, that have a lot of little kids, precious little kids who just stare at you, wondering where the heck you came from!!! They watch every little move you make, they smile and are just so dang cute, we slept in a hut thursday and Friday nights, it was awesome, besides the Rooster that i wished was a chicken so it had the potential of dying sometime soon. A Cockadoodledoing Rooster does NOT have a timer! it went off once (went off hehehe) and then we just turned over then it's like the snooze button you try to escape it but every 30 seconds there it is again! Between that and the lovely Stacyann and her snoring i had to change my perspective on life pretty quickly after the first couple thoughts running through my head. I had a great talk or two with Pastor Alan about life and such, he has taught me so much! love you all Miss you All thank you for your prayers, commitment, support and LOVE!! Muah, Elyce, Aunt Elly, Lc,