frontline

with my right hnd i'm typng out a blog... with my left i'm scratching sampson, the first dog i've been able to pet in a loooong time! He's actually quite a distraction, when I need to be writing. Frontline has a few dogs which are safe to pet and it sounds crazy but it's such a blessing to me, especially in this time when I'm lonely for home. So there's sampson, who I just had to go yell at for knocking over a garbage can, and a mama dog named Panda and her two little puppies. They are adorable! They're three weeks old and even Dani, who dislikes animals, loves them. Especially the one she's named Chubs. And there's a few other mutts who come from outside the compound to hang around but I won't be petting those.

It is beautiful beyond words to get out of the concrete jungle that is Manila, and into the real jungle where the air is clearer and the water coming from the pipes is mountain fresh. I just realized how cheesy that sounds but I don't even care, I'm loving this. I love Manila, but this break is just wonderful.

We got picked up yesterday morning from our house in Manila and arrived at Frontline in San Pablo city in the afternoon. We hung out and relaxed for a while, then went to a cell group meeting at one of Frontline's churches. Dani and I were in the same group with some women. All the groups were digging deeper into that sunday's message, which was finding value in people. Then we had dinner at the compound, and went to bed early.

Today we woke up, had breakfast, and went to work. There's a building project right now here at Frontline, they are building a dormitory for the FTC children- the one's they've rescued off the streets. So these kids will stay and sleep in the building and attend the school they already have built and running. (I hope all this makes sense, I'm distracted and at the end of my day haha.) Dani and I painted sheet upon sheet of plywood, Nathan and Taylor poured concrete, and Jordan and Matt dug a hole in the ground by hand. It was good work, and Dani and I were lucky enough to be under the shade of a tarp overhead. The morning passed really quick. Lunch was delicious, ad then I hung out at the Pessina's house (they run the show here). I talked with Rowena Pessina for a good couple hours until I really had to go and have a shower and clean upfrom the work that morning. After that we went out to Santisimo with Pastor Roel. He lives at the church, called the Green Box church and it's situated right in the middle of rice fields pretty much on all sides. It is gorgeous out there, and so cool to finally see rice fields up close! We went around to a few different life groups, with tenish people at each one, again we discussed the value of people. Then we had dinner, and headed back to the compound.

So now it's quarter after ten and I should get to bed since we have devotions with the workers at 6 in the morning. But I don't want to forget any of this and I really needed to be blogging more. God bless, be vigilant and pray for us and for the salvation of those we come across. Tomorrow is a big outreach opportunity at Palakpasan (which I can never say right) and we're really excited to see what will happen.

love angela.