Our group in Chongqing, China

Lauren at the Great Wall

Lauren and Jake at Tiananmen square

Some of the kids at a church service in Boracay Island, Philippines.

Hello everyone!

We are having an awesome, although stretching time on our YWAM outreach!

As we mentioned in our last e-mail, we finally have unfiltered internet access in the Philippines, after a few weeks of blocked access in China. We began our trip nearly four weeks ago in Beijing, China. Our time there was recovering from jet-lag, meeting with a local missionary, getting oriented to Chinese culture, and exploring. We saw a lot of sites and prayed over the city.

From there, it was a 36-hour train ride to Chongqing, China. In Chongqing we partnered with a group of missionaries who live there year round. Much of our time was spent sharing about Christianity at "English Corners." An English Corner is a spot where Chinese people gather to practice their English. When a group 0f 8 Americans/Candians walked in, we were mobbed immediately! We were able to share our faith with hundreds of people and had many conversations about faith. We were shocked to realize how misinformed we were about the Chinese people and their culture. Aside from this, we spent a lot of time praying in different parts of the city and encouraging the missionaries there.

After three weeks in Chongqing, we took a flight Hong Kong for a mid-way debrief. We spent time as a group talking about how to be more effective as a team.

From there, we took a plane to Manila, Philippines, a plane to the city of Kalibo, a boat to Boracay Island, and a motorbike to our apartment on the island. We've been here for nearly 5 days and think Boracay is an amazing place! The climate is much like the Aruba, although there is much more poverty here. We're partnering with a local church to teach in services and Bible studies. Most of our mornings are spent building a four story concrete building that will hold their church services, house a free school for local children, and host a variety of sports and medical ministries. Every day around 4:00 pm we go throughout the villages on the island to feed and play games with hundreds of children who are living in poverty.

This seems like quite a summary, and we'd love to go into more detail, but we'll have to save it for another time! We'll try to update the blog again soon, but we can't wait to share all of our stories with you in person!

We've been able to tell many of you have kept us in your prayers. Please keep praying for us as we finish out these next 3 weeks!

- Lauren and Jake