A Praise and a Prayer

In our house church in San Antonio, we have a huge praise. The first one of the group, a young lady named Anna Lisa, made the commitment to be baptized recently.

Unfortunately, being baptized in this country makes a HUGE statement to the believer's friends and family, and many times results in ostracism. Sadly, this has happened with this group. Ever since Anna Lisa's baptism, there have been all sorts of relationship/family problems, which has greatly affected the faithfulness of the members.

The good news, however, is that Anna Lisa has continued to faithfully attend one of our other churches in a neighboring barangay.

Please join with us in praying for this group in the following ways:

1) Pray for this young lady as she continues to grow in her faith

2) Pray for her to react in a godly manner as her friends and family reject and criticize her

3) Pray for the wisdom of Bong and Wade as they know how to handle the situation

4) Pray for the other members of the group who need to be baptized to have the courage to follow God

5) Pray for God to be glorified in this situation, no matter the result

A Special Treat for Caleb and Dad

While Mom was gallivanting around Europe and Carly was making new friends at camp, Dad and Caleb held down the fort! They were able to have some special “guy time” while the girls were away. One special event included attending a 4th of July party aboard the USS Peleliu, which was docked here in Legazpi City. Since Wade is a warden with the US Embassy, they were officially invited to the festivities. There were about 2,400 people on board the ship that night, and Caleb was the only child. Imagine the attention he received! They were able to meet several Naval officers, including several Captains, Commanders, a couple of Admirals and even a Commodore! But Caleb was most impressed with the menu. “And Mom…there were free hot dogs!!!!!”

For more info about the USS Peleliu, see http://www.peleliu.navy.mil/.

Carly's Camp

Hi. This is Carly. These are a few pics from my camp near Manila. This was a special camp just for MKs (missionary kids). I went with my two best friends, Mikayla and Junia, but I made lots of new friends while I was there.

My mom told me that not too many kids get to FLY to camp!

This is me with my new friend, Kimberly. Behind us is the canteen area. This picture was taken just before we went swimming.

This is Missy - the camp dog! Everyone loved her and she was so cute and friendly!

This is a huge top that belongs to the owner of the camp. You can't really tell in the picture, but the top is actually spinning.

This is a picture of the obstacle coarse. But at night, it's called the DEATH ZONE!! (Which basically means we can't go there at night because we could get really bad hurt!)

My friends thought it was dumb that I would take a picture of the coconut trees, but I thought it looked pretty cool!

This is Mikayla with Alex and Missy.

The food at camp was really good. It wasn't always Filipino, just in this picture.

This is the windsock I made at camp. All the kids made one. I put horses on mine because that's my favorite animal.

This is a picture of everyone in my cabin, except my counselor, Kendra. She was taking the picture!

This is me with Kendra.

This is the 3-story tree house!

This is one of the biggest water slides I've ever been down! It is 70 feet. And the pool was REALLY cold. Early each morning, they had a polar bear swim for those who were brave enough. I wasn't that brave!

This is everyone from my cabin. We were called "The Cheetah Girls." I was voted to paint the cheetah on our flag!

This camp is something I want to do again and again! It was a blast!!

To see the more about the campground, visit http://www.re-creationcenter.com/

Pics from Bacolod Trip

Here are some pictures of our time in Bacolod. (see previous post for more info)

We were able to go Duckpin Bowling while there. It's basically the same as 10-pin bowling, but the balls are smaller and you get 3 rolls per turn, rather than 2.

"Third Time's a Charm!" by Carly Blair Allen

Sorry...another sideways video.

Caleb's escape from boredom!

Tita Dar explains the fine art of keeping score to Carly!

After bowling, doesn't everyone need chocolate fondue??!!

We kept seeing these cool jeepneys with giant coke bottles on top of them. Finally, Carly took a picture out the window while we were passing by (which explains the crooked pic!)

The following are pictures of our friends in Bacolod.

Where In the World are the Allens?

Together!

We aren't back home yet, but at least we're all in the same country now!

Carly had a wonderful time at camp. I'll try to post some pictures and stories in the near future.

Wade and Caleb had some great "guy" time and from what I heard, watched all six "Star Wars" movies while the girls were gone! (Sorry I had to miss that....NOT!)

My trip to Italy was incredible! If you want to know more, look at the previous posts. I'm still working on getting all the pics there, but it takes a while when you take a million pictures!! LOL.

At the present, we're in Bacolod City. We are assisting in some training for a team that will be going to a Creative Access Nation soon. We are enjoying getting to spend time with this group. They are great and I'm anxious to see how God will use them during this next year. He's already doing a work in their lives. We can see that just in the short time we've been here with them.

We'll be heading back to Legazpi soon. All this traveling has been great, but I miss my bed! Thanks for all your prayers while we've been traveling. Don't stop - we're not home yet!

PS - A praise. We just had a super typhoon pass through Asia. It was headed our way and then turned north to Japan. I feel for those that were affected, but am so thankful it didn't hit our area. Thank You, Lord.

Back to Italy

Here are a couple of pictures from our drive from Austria to Italy. The scenery was absolutely beautiful!

When we got back to Vicenza, Karol took me to her favorite Italian restaurant. For our appetizer, she ordered these fried olives stuffed with pork sausage. They may not look too appetizing in the picture, but wow, they were delicious!

My pizza of choice while in Italy - Quatro Formaggio.

(The dark spots are blue cheese.)

Well, my journey ends here. The last two weeks have been an incredible experience. The places I've seen were unforgettable, but what made it so special was being able to experience it all with one of my closest friends in the world.

Karol, you were a wonderful hostess. Thank you so much for everything. Maybe someday Kevin will forgive us for using all his hotel points! LOL. Now, it's your turn to come see me and I'll show you my side of the world!

I love you and miss you! I'll never forget this trip!

The Last of Salzburg

Here are the last of my Salzburg pics.

Another cute little Smart car.

We saw these works of art in the window of a bakery.

This is the birthplace of Joseph Mohr, who wrote "Silent Night."

This is serious cheese!

Yes, this is a really large pretzel! And boy was it good!


Karol enjoyed her strudel.