The New Church in Diffun

One of the places I hope to visit during my November trip is Diffun in northern Luzon.  The church there has just received the blessing of a World Mission Builders construction project.  This gives them a permanent home and a wonderful place to begin a Christian academy.  Brother Gilbert Guillermo, pastor of the Diffun Church of Christ, is excited about the prospects of providing such a service to his congregation.  From what I've seen of comments and photographs from him, he has a positive relationship with community leaders, including the mayor of Diffun and several councilors of the municipality.  There is a large parcel of land adjacent to the church's property which would be an ideal location for a school facility.   The land that Pastor Gilbert is hoping to use for the school is approximately 8000 square meters (2 acres).  The site is rural but close enough to the community to be easily accessible by students and parents.  The cost for the land is around 1.5 million Philippines pesos, which equates to around $37,500 US.  Compared to prices of land in the US, that's quite a bargain!

Another project that I'm involved with on this trip is to provide some materials for homeschool students who are studying geography and social studies.  This idea started with my own grandson (being homeschooled by his mother and grandmother) -- he will be following my travels and plotting them on a variety of maps.  I will also be sending home photos and videos of the places I go to and the people I encounter.  There are countless applications here, so if anyone would like to be on my mailing list, just leave me a message with your email.  I think it will be both fun and educational.  And for those who enjoy such travel shows and Andrew Zimmer's  Bizarre Foods or Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, I plan on exploring as many local culinary delights as possible.  I'm not going to travel half way around the world just to eat at Pizza Hut.  I did that on my last trip and was seriously disappointed!

Please, take a few moments and leave some comments for my blog.  Those comments are useful to me, as they can help guide future posts, but they also help to create a community among my readers and can spark some truly educational and entertaining discussions.

So, until next time!
Scott