Giving Bible Study

 The Kalanguya Ifugaos love to sing. So the missionaries always begin and end with singing in their homes.

 Another avenue for witnessing and friendship is child evangelism.

 There is also health seminars which were attended by mostly the mothers.

This seminar was done a couple of months ago. Health and cooking demos were done here. (BTW: This is the classroom the Florida team will likely sleep in)

 There is a lot of opportunity for telling Bible stories even when it is raining.

 Visitation is also a major activity of the missionaries. Sometimes they even spend the night in the homes of the Bible interests to develop friendship.

The Crusade Venue

 This is the school where the team will find lodging for one week. Don't worry, that's the old building. The actual rooms are newer.

 This is part of the newer rooms. This road goes down to the Open Market where we will hold the crusade.

 This is the Open Market. It serves as both market and barangay meeting place. It's ok to use this since Market day is Sunday and we start on Monday night (ending on Saturday night).

 Another view of the Open Market.

Inside the Open Market. The Barangay will loan us their monoblock chairs and we will make a stage in front.

Hiking in Tinoc

 It's not raining but it is still quite cold in Tinoc. See the clothes they wear are for cooler parts of the States! (They bought these from "Ukay-Ukay!")

 Hanging bridges like this one is quite common. Who knows, you might get to try walking on one during your trip to Tinoc.

 Enjoying the Fog: Most missionaries enjoy seeing the fog since they seldom have that in Manila (just smog!)

 They can still smile. They have just started the hike!

 Rubber boots always come in handy when you have to navigate the muddy trails during the rainy season.

 Going back down to town is ok. But when you are just coming up, you keep wondering when the climbing stops! From the missionaries' station, we walked for 45 minutes. Now we are convinced that the Florida team needs to stay near the crusade venue na lang! But still, I hope the Florida team will visit the town proper some time during their stay - to get another feel of the challenge of frontier mission - hiking!

 Maila is wondering: Paakyat na naman? Well, the good news is, coming back will be all downhill! Or is that also bad news for our knees?

 When the camera clicks they try not to show our exhaustion. But they are really tired!

Gardening in Tinoc

Cabbage Garden

 It is easy and even nice to be vegetarian in Tinoc. There is a lot of vegetables available. In fact, most of the time, cabbages and carrots are given free of charge!

 Mylene Causing (PFM missionary) helps Bible interests pick carrots. She did not realize eating too much carrot can make the skin yellowish!

 Here's the rest of the Tinoc team harvesting carrots - soon we want to harvest souls not just vegetables! They tell us this is friendship evangelism - with a plus on savings.

 This is Jenny (in the middle), one of the Bible students of Sam Nava (right). She gave us a sack of cabbages last weekend when we went to visit Tinoc. Unfortunately, that is too much to carry from Tinoc to Manila. So we took only 7 cabbages and left the rest with the missionaries in another project.

I thought to myself: "How can the Ifugaos reap wonderful vegetables from what looked like barren land?" Then I remember, if we can be as industrious as they are for spiritual fruit, then we will also joyfully reap like they are reaping now.

Once You're There!

Barangay Impugong, Tinoc, Ifugao: This will be your Mission Adventure site!

 Well, you will finally see this place for yourself. After 6 hours bus ride from Baguio, you will find this Shangrila-like baranggay at the outskirts of Tinoc, Ifugao. We do have to walk a few minutes after getting off the bus.

Ifugaos used to have rice terraces lining up the mountain slopes. Today, they have garden-terraces.

Tinoc is a mixture of pristine nature and modern fixtures. I actually like Tinoc more than Baguio City (no smog and less congestion)

Missionary Interns: Mar Rosas (left) and Joel Padilla (right) pose before continuing on the hike.

One thing about Tinoc: You feel like you are inside a postcard all the time! It's a photographer's paradise!

Enjoy the beautiful scenery of Impugong, Tinoc, Ifugao!

Mountain Stop

After about 4 hours of bus ride, we reach this village (2 hours away from Tinoc, Ifugao)

Here the Blooming Hill bus will stop to allow its passengers to have lunch or go the rest room - again, another adventure for our Stateside visitors! You will know why when you get there!

The Start of Your Adventure

PFM Missionaries (on the left) and Mylene (right) getting ready to ride the Victory Liner bus in Pasay

From Manila to Baguio, we have a choice - to ride with style and comfort, or save money. The difference is P200-300, plus the speed in travel time. Like they say, some people save money by using time, others save time by using money. It's an average of 6 hour bus ride from Manila to Baguio City. If we wish to get to Tinoc the following day, we must take the night time bus, arriving in Baguio at around 5 am. The Tinoc Bus leaves at 7 am - if we miss it, we will have to wait the following day - as there is only one bus leaving Baguio to Tinoc.

 Enjoy your comfortable Victory Liner bus ride. That's the last comfort you will have during this Mission Adventure!