Saturday morning welcomed us with cloudy skies and rain soon to follow. We had planned for a good tour down to the beach front so we waited out the rain through breakfast and mid-morning the clouds broke to what would be a very sunny day. Since this was our first trip south together, the pastor was kind to show us all that he could. First stop would be a meditation center nested up into the side of a mountain. From the view there you can see the entire shore line of the "long islands". Peaceful. Beautiful. Nothing is better than experiencing God's glory with the people you love. We laugh here because the pastor had told us before that we would be climbing 100 steps up the mountain...that was partially true! There were, in fact, 100 steps after we had walked quite a way in the forest to the steps. I actually almost titled this post "plus plus" because we say that we went 100 steps "plus, plus".
We comfy-ed ourselves back into the car and he drove us out to a little chapel. This particular chapel has deep meaning because this is where the people will come from miles away to light a candle...burning as a desperate prayer...prayer that a loved one would be able to enter into heaven from purgatory. There were little sari-sari stores surrounding selling candles for such occasion. The grim atmosphere made me sad and gave me a heavy heart. Desperately seeking hope without being able to find it...The low flicker of the candles would eventually burn out and then so does their faith...the process will start over again. {Lord, send a preacher to that people so that they may hear the truth of you.}
The beach would be the next to welcome us. We originally had heard of the waves' reputation for bringing surfers from far and wide, but today, we would see them for ourselves. This was not a good swimming beach, no white sands, only a hard coral-like surface for our tippie-toes...good thing we went ahead and purchased some water socks! So many shells to collect; we even took a few live ones home by accident, but I promise we let them go safely. As the waves rolled in, their sound could be heard before one could see them...First time I have ever seen waves like that~truly amazing! I have never had the desire to surf, but looking into the funnel of the waves, I can certainly understand the temptation.
After lunch we got ambitious to say the least. Paul, Karissa, and myself joined May, Daniel, and Joey for a walk to look over into the area where the rocky edge darts out into the path of the waves. The waves come in and crash against the edge which causes water to spray up into the air several meters. We could see a little of the action from where we had set up our camp for the day, so we walked to get a better look. Here's where we temporarily lost our minds; we decided that instead of just looking over the edge, maybe we should climb down and walk along the 2nd plateau to get a little closer. Oh my word....it was incredible, but I have never seen so many sea urchins in one place before! Ok, let's be honest, I had not ever seen a sea urchin until earlier that day, and now, there was new meaning to the phrase "watch your step"! We ended up walking further and further away just looking for a better place to climb back up...this took us right into the path of the crashing waves. We were no longer viewing them, we were part of them! No danger, just total awesomeness! {Photos to follow soon} We had a wonderful time...we were sore {I think we walked more than a mile out, or at least it felt like it!} and VERY sunburned, but it was worth every bit...definately one of those "once in a lifetime" moments. So glad Karissa was able to enjoy it with us.
Sleep would come without struggle...so grateful for that! No aloe, just Vasoline...oh, so greasy! Sunday would be a new day...God was already working on the souls who would meet Him for the first time...more on that later!
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