Dear Friends and family,
 
Carol and I (along with our team ) have spent the past few days in a small village, Canoe. We came north from Baguio to Bontoc. Spent a week there, then on to Canoe for 5 nights.
 
This village has a small church that was planted by our co-workers Harry and Dee Smith. One of the interesting aspects of this village of approx 500 people, is there are no roads! Only foot paths. The road stops at the edge of the village and you must walk along the rice terraces to access the homes, some of which are across a suspension bridge which traverses the river. The surroundings are steep canyon walls, with most of the homes near the river. Banana, Coconut and Mango trees are plentiful!
 
The people here are wonderful, enterprising and hard workers as they must work in the fields many hours to eek out their existence. We have had daily meetings in the church, from 8:00 – 9:00 P.M. The locals finish in the fields, prepare their dinners, then come to the meeting. The roosters start crowing about 4 A.M. , so I don’t think they get much sleep!
 
We are staying in a vacant home. Many in the village have gone to the city to look for better work. Our “home” is a room on stilts. The construction is wood frame with tin sides and roof. We leave the shudders open for air flow. There is no glass in the windows. The church has a kitchen upstairs and our team eats all our meals there.
 
Carol and many of the women have led an outreach to the local school. They have a puppet presentation which depicts several Bible stories. The men have been involved in construction projects for the church.
 
On Sunday the team will return to Bontoc for a week, then to Baguio for a week, then on Nov 1 we will fly out of Manila to head home. We have had many wonderful experiences working in the jails, schools, churches, and orphanages.
 
Carol and I came down with lice, so we have returned via the one hour drive by Jeepney to Bontoc to get the right shampoo, and launder our bedding and clothing in hot water. Many of our team has had to deal with lice, so we don’t feel too special! We were excited to ride on the roof of the Jeepney! The view is much better up there!
 
I have been reading the book “Heavenly Man”. It is the story of a Chinese pastor, “Brother Yun” who endured many beatings and multiple imprisonments, to spread this gospel of the Kingdom during the 80′s and 90′s in Communist China. Our simple problems seem so minor compared to his. If you see this book in the Christian bookstore, I highly recommend it.
 
Thank you again for your prayers and support! The Lord is using us to encourage His people here, and to spread His good news to many lost people.
 
Grace and peace to you, Fred and Carol
 
Again here are the links to our coworkers blogs. There are many pictures available there!
http://fullquiver8.blogspot.com/
 
http://garden-of-grace.blogspot.com/