 |
Roadside fruit stand on
the way to Koronadal |
 |
| Pineapples and Durin (stinky fruit) |
Monday we traveled to Koronadal. We flew into Gensan which is short for General Santos. Upon arrival, we took an hour van ride to Koronadal. This area is known as the fruit basket of the Philippines. On the way, we stopped at a large fruit stand and I understood why it is called this. There are several Dole farms in the area, producing many pineapples. There are many other kinds of fruit here and you will find few of them in any American produce departments. All of the ones I tasted were delicious.
 |
| Rambutam |
I tasted lazones and rambutam as well as pineapple when we stopped at the stand.
We arrived at Koronadal just before supper. After a short rest, the All4Christ team met for supper and planning for the next day. The supper consisted of several kinds of seafood including fish, calamari, shrimp salad, and seafood corn chowder (food is definitely the theme of this post!).
Tuesday, we went to the venue and set up. We had about 120 pastors, wives, and Christian workers attend the event.
 |
| Preaching from Luke 14:1-25 |
The first day went well with four messages and a question and answer at the end of the day. Tonight we will meet for dinner and debrief on the first day. I got a ride back to the hotel from the event in a motorcycle sidecar taxi which is always a bit exciting.
 |
| About 120 attendees for the conference |
 |
| Walk-up registration |
Tomorrow is our final day in Koronadal and the conference. We will return to Gensan to spend the night before our return flight to Manila. We hope to be able to spend some extended time tomorrow night with our CBSIS graduates that are ministering in the area. Please continue to pray for these pastors as some of them have requested that we return and come to their towns. Many of these pastors are from or around the Muslim autonomous region and in some cases, their continued ministry is at the goodwill of the local Muslim cleric. Of course, we know God turns the heart of men, so we pray that He will continue to do so.
 |
The Motorcycle taxi,
always an exciting ride |
 |
Graduates of the Center for Biblical Studies that came
to the conference that are ministering around Koronadal |
