Some thoughts

Alright, so i said that I would try to write a real blog so here it is:

We've just finished up our first leg of the journey in the philippines. It was great. We were on the island of Mindinao and we were treated with great hospitality and love. which leads me to my first rant!
Isn't funny how we are so astounded with great hospitality? It's kind of funny to me because isn't that the way that we should always be treating each other? If we are truly trying to live our lives for Christ, we should be taking on that selfless attitude at all times. Now, naturally we will fail, but if we do as we are supposed to, we would always treat others with respect and hospitality. Instead, it seems that what is supposed to be the norm of our lives is now elevated to a pedestal and is seen as something that makes a person really good or really nice. I wonder when the standards changed and when the norm became the abnormal?

Don't get me wrong, we were treated incredibly the whole time we were in Mindanao. That's the reason for the questioning. It wasn't something they even thought twice about. They gave up their rooms, they let us eat first, they helped us out with whatever they could and they did not want us to do any work. they didn't even seem to think about it. That's just the way you treat guests in your home. It was their normal. So why can't that be our normal as well?

But it's been good. Living with the people and interacting with them has been good.

I am going to be an uncle soon! so that's exciting! gonna find out if it's a boy or girl tomorrow so that's also exciting! I am trying to figure out which way i can secretly undermind the parenting of my sister and bro in law. Maybe every time that I see my niece or nephew I will secretly call him/her the name that I wanted the child to be...that way the child will grow up thinking that he or she has two names!!! Either that or maybe I will teach the child that left is actually right and that right is actually left. Or this one may actually be useful. Everytime I am around the child, I wil make him or her use his non-dominant hand. so when he or she grows up, they'll be ambidexterous! Just kidding laura....i won't do any of those things.

We found this really good jam that we eat on bread. It's called coco jam and it consists of fresh coconut milk and sugar. The downside is there's a lot of sugar. In one tablespoon, there is 21 grams ofs ugar....but it's sooooo good!

I am sad that when we return home the fruits will not be nearly as sweet and fruity as they are here, but that's life I guess.

One of the things that I have appreciated the most is the energy from the young people in the church. They are very excited to be there and to be an active member. I think part of it is that they are not consumed with sports or music or other htings that will steal their time, so this is what they pour themselves into.

The theme that we are sharing in our programs is Unity and how we are one body through what Jesus did. It's a great message and is exemplified by when we are able to sing songs together and worship as one body of believers.

they fight spiders here. The boys will catch spiders and then fight them on a stick. The loser dies and gets wrapped up by the other spider. it's pretty intense and fun to watch. Though i will not touch one.

Ok, I guess I don't have many rants. So life is good. Hope everyone is staying warm. We have a date with some teachers from the school nearby to play volleyball. We beat them 3-1 yesterday and they want a rematch! so keep on keepin on!!
Peace
davepeet