New People, New Places

Sunday (6-5) we visited a different church, Downtown Church of Christ. Dowtown Church is one of the bigger churches here around Cebu (although still fairly small compared to those in the US). They have a pretty large group of young adults around my age. We had met a few of the members previously through other events, and were now getting to meet more. They are all so friendly! They introduce themselves right away, show you where to go, and make sure to involve you in the bible study. Veronica and I went with the women to study 1 Peter 4:7-10. We looked at each of the concepts (keeping an alert and sober mind, loving others, being hospitable, and using our gifts) to see how well we did each of these things, and how we could improve. It was a great discussion and reminder of how important each of those is. It really made me think about how I could improve in each area. Later in the afternoon, we went to play volleyball again with the Churches of Christ in the area. Ian spoke first on how Christ was a servant, and calls us to be servants too. He did a great job! Then we played volleyball. I got to play two games with two different teams. I got to meet some more girls from the different churches, as well as seeing some of the ones I had met the previous week from volleyball and those I had met that morning at Downtown Church. They are so gracious in welcoming us to play with them, and introducing us to everyone. It is so good to see how loving all of these people are towards eachother, even though they all come from different places, and are playing against each other.

Monday (6-10) we took a trip to Mantayupan falls with the Whitts and Caidy and Ronald for their 2 year anniversary. The drive up there was so nice. We went into a more rural part of Cebu to get there. It had the same lively feeling of the city, with people everywhere and colorful buildings, but with less of the trash and more natural greenery. There were a lot of rice fields on the way, with rice drying on the side of the road. When we got there it was just a short walk to three smaller falls, and just up some stairs to the larger fall. It was so beautiful. We all started taking pictures immediately.

Not long after, we were in the water! It was cold at first, but not too bad once you stared swimming. There were two ropes closer to the fall that you could swim out to and hold onto, so as not to by swept out by the current. There was one point where I was out there by myself. I enjoyed just sitting there in the water, surrounded by the green trees as the heavy mist circled around my face. The waterfall was so loud that it blocked out all other noise. It was so peaceful! I love nature, and I remember sitting there thinking I could stay there every day and be perfectly content! We stayed there several hours, swimming, visiting, and having lunch. On our way back we stopped at a look-out over the coast. It was so beautiful! I loved getting to see more of the beauties around Cebu! It is so beautiful here. I loved getting to see what the Lord has created!