We returned to Maitum as a family on this trip. While there, we celebrated several family birthdays, including Jennifer's, at a large gathering.

We also finalized agreements with local contractors and engineers to construct a road into our home site, extend electricity to the site, drill a well and build our home.

We were also privileged to visit a tribal church in the hills above Maitum. It is a daughter church of a small Assembly of God church in Maitum. On the Sunday morning of our visit, the Upo church was packed with happy, worshiping members of all ages, from the tribe. They sang contemporary choruses and locally derived songs in their own dialect. An elder from the mother church delivered the message. At the conclusion of the service, the congregation assembled outside the building for a group photo, which you can see on the photo page for this trip. That afternoon, after we had returned to Maitum, a particularly vicious monsoon storm hit the region and we learned the following day that the Upo church had nearly been destroyed by a flash flood. The church had been entirely hand-built using tribal volunteers, and materials from the jungle. When we returned to the U.S. from this trip, we let it be known to family, friends and our home church of this event, and $1,500 was collected and sent to help rebuild the church.

We also visited the school which we had helped fund and establish a lunch program. The school is a public school beneath the mountains in which the largest population of T'bolis in the area live. The enrollment is 95% T'boli children. These children walk up to 3 hours each way to school, every day. They cross up to 7 streams and rivers. They arrive wet, cold and hungry. Few of their parents had anything to give them for breakfast before they left their villages, nor a lunch to send with them. During the school's normal lunch period, most of the students (K-6) start walking home and are, therefore, not in afternoon classes. To help address the absenteeism and hunger among the children, we helped the school institute a lunch program. It is now operational and each child in need of it, can receive a hot lunch. The absenteeism has already reversed itself, and more children are enrolling in the school, which may have to build more classrooms and hire more teachers. We also worked with the provincial governor and the local mayor to get used clothes sent to the school.

The lunch and clothing program is a first in the province and it has drawn the attention of educators and authorities from all over Mindanao. Aurea and I personally funded the creation of the kitchen, and other contributions are funding the rice. When our farm begins to reap vegetables, we will also supplement the lunch program from our harvests. This program is directly in line with the principles of our mission project and has started and become successful before we are even there and operational.

Lastly, during this trip we were able to help tribal elders in need of medical care, obtain it in the nearby town of Kiamba.