Puerto Galera - Valley of Peace

Wow, the world is an incredible place these days. What a great time to be alive. Here I sit in this teeny, weeny little 3rd world village at an internet cafe...imagine. And there are probably a half dozen of these cafes in this town! The village (Puerto Galera) is about a 20 minute walk from the Valley of Peace, where we are staying so I should not have much trouble getting back for at least one more posting before we head back to Manila next week. It is now 8:45 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 6.

I know how much you guys love the pictures and I LOVE posting them, but I cannot figure out how to download them at the moment. I've tried repeatedly to post them, but can't. I think today you'll have to endure reading all my words to find out what's going on.

We arrived on Mindoro (and Puerto Galera) without incident. It was a magnificent day to travel. It was sunny, cool (for here). We ended up traveling in rented vans to Batangas for the ferry ride to Mindoro because of our luggage (it would have been too much trouble to try to take a bus). I even got to get a Starbucks fix on the way...sweet!! The ferry ride was awesome. It was about a 45 minute trip. The water was calm...but me, Marilyn, Nancy and Kathy did manage to get soaked by the ocean spray coming into the ferry!

Once arriving in Mindoro we took 2 jeepneys to the Valley of Peace. The facility is in an amazing setting...truly tropical. Beauty that is hard to describe if you can't see it for yourself. Even the incredile poverty around here takes on a different feel in these spectacular surroundings.

And since we are in the tropics, all the insect life takes on new proportions if you catch my drift. So far we've seen a few spiders that were...no exageration...about 4-5 inches in diameter (including the legs). We've also seen a lizard that was about 5-6 inches long (body only). And then there was the HUGE cockroach...I'm not even going there. And there are any number of adorable little geckos, but we love them because they eat the mosquitos.

Anyway, the facilities at the Valley of Peace need a ton of work. We spent the afternoon of our first day here prepping playground equipment to be repainted. Yesterday Kim, Marilyn, Nancy, me and Chuck spent the morning with several of the ISACC folks (Po Poy, Jun, Jomer, Joel, Jay) deconstructing two rooms in the dining hall. It was truly amazing how quickly we were able to get that all ripped apart. But we found some unexpected surprises...bad termite damage that we did not expect in areas we did not expect...like floor joists. So we've had to order steel joists and hopefully they will get here before we leave, but we have lots of other stuff we can do. Like paint the roof of the dining hall...it's corrugated metal and yesterday afternoon we girls were busy wire brushing it, getting it ready.

The most amazing feat yesterday was accomplished by Matt and Charlie...they had to cut two walkways through concrete walls. What made this so incredible is that they only had hammers to work with...no sledgehammers...only hammers. Theirs was an effort truly blessed by God. You would not believe the work they were able to accomplish. Wish I could post the photos...

Kristin, Marilou and Kathy worked on finishing the playground equipment. They did a great job...even decorating the equipment with hand-drawn monkeys!

We have been so blessed in the evenings by the devotionals led by Jay. You've been such a blessing to us, Jay, in so many ways. We are all so grateful to have gotten to know you.

Today, the "kids"...Matt, Marilou, Kristin and Charlie all went back to Manila to head home. Your prayers for their safe travel will be much appreciated.

Notes from team members to family and friends:
Marilyn wants you all to know that Paul is recovering well from his prostate surgery and that he's back home. The dissection went very well. Thanks so much to all who were praying for him.
All of us want to send a HUGE THANK YOU to our prayer partners...
Ernie and Naomi
Bob and Alice
Mary
Tammy
Jessica, Amanda, Erika
Bet
Your prayerful presence is felt. Thank you so much for faithfully lifting us continually in prayer. I'm not sure who Marilyn's partner is, but please pray especially for her health. She's been struggling with a cold ever since we left the US and is now really being hammered by it.

Notes from me to my friends and family...
waterboy- you should see the water infrastructure here...pipes running all over the surface of the ground...I guess I crews would love those kinds of main breaks!
Linda..you loved Jill's fireplace???? Oh man, you have no idea how much hope that gives me...COLD WEATHER!! I'm dying in this heat (but not whining! LOL)
Chelsie...I miss your dad...

Oh, about those concrete beds...OK, I wasn't entirely forthcoming about them... heee, heee, heee...there are mattresses on them, but believe me...they are still pretty hard. So, to "mom, Jeff & Chrissy", Nancy and Marilyn might in fact appreciate those chiro appointments!

Well, guess I'll sign off now. Please know that your loved ones miss you all and send their love. Hope to be back soon...and posting photos!