Busy Weeks!

We are still here in the Philippines…sorry it’s been awhile since we have written! We have had a busy couple weeks!

We finished our week of VBS and had so much fun getting to know the kids! We were all sad to see it end, although we were all rather tired as well. We ended up with about 50 kids each day and had great times of singing, Bible memorization, Bible stories, games, crafts, snacks, and more singing!

This last week has been full as we have been tagging along with the Youth Group team from our church in Alaska and Steve’s parents are co-leading the team. On Sunday we went to a cultural show, Monday we helped on a work project at the Children’s Home and went swimming and played kickball with the Children’s Home kids in the afternoon. As a side note, Monday we said our good-byes to most of the kids at the Children’s Home as 11 of the older kids plus several leaders were headed out to go to Malaybalay for 3 weeks. They won’t be back until after we leave. Most of the kids were so excited to be going on such an adventure on an airplane to Malaybalay, but several were quite sad to realize that we would still be here. Some would have rather stayed so they could still play with our kids. The kids made some great friends!

Tuesday we just stayed “home” and got some school work done as well as ventured out to find the grocery store. Steve did a great job of driving us there and back without getting lost in the crazy traffic of Manila! Wednesday started early as we needed to be up and ready to go by 6am! The Weisser’s van showed up at 6am to pick us up to go back to their house for breakfast and then on the road for an hour long ride to an outlying area where Food for the Hungry serves kids. Food for the Hungry partners with churches to feed children ages 5 and under from poor families; they provide the food while the churches provide the workers. A local church signs a 3 month contract to prepare and feed the children lunch daily as well as lead a Sunday School type program. The volunteers are not paid and commit to about 5 hours of work each day. Once the 3 month commitment is up some of the churches have signed up for another 3 months and others have decided to go ahead on their own. It was great to see the program in action and get to meet some of the people who help out each day!

Thursday morning we once again got up early to be ready to go by 6:30 except this time with our bags packed for a couple days and breakfast eaten! Everyone (Youth Group, Steve’s parents, Weissers, and our family) were all headed up the road about a 3 hours drive to Rizal Re-Creation to do a work project. We took the scenic route as the roads can be bumper to bumper during Holy Week when many are taking advantage of the long weekend to go on a vacation. We enjoyed the scenery as we drove around a large lake and up over a mountain, through small towns each selling their own wares! We stopped halfway at Exotic for delicious Mango shakes, and then hit the road again. We arrived at Rizal with enough time before lunch to be able to get settled in our room and the guys in their tent. Because of the busy holiday weekend Rizal was booked and had to put many in tents. On Friday they fed about 400 people at each meal. The daily cost at Rizal includes room, 3 meals a day, use of the pool, basketball courts, and much more…and the cost is so minimal! The meals are served cafeteria style, but are excellent food!

After lunch the team got started on their work project of mixing and pouring cement for two sidewalks. The plan was to do one sidewalk a day…but they got two sidewalks done the first day in two hours! Then everyone got to go for a refreshing dip in the pool. All the kids…big and small…spent many hours at the pool with the main attraction being the waterslide! Since the original work project didn’t take near as long as expected they found more work for our crew to do…one more sidewalk and stump removal. Sidewalk was easy, but the stump removal was another story!! After several hours of digging and chopping to break the roots then there was more time spent trying to move the massive coconut tree root ball from its hole. Snakes and huge spiders only made the job that much more interesting! With the help of some other guests at Rizal the stump was finally persuaded from its home, and then “rolled” into the woods! Yeah!!!

We stayed at Rizal until Saturday afternoon spending the rest of our time relaxing in the sun or the shade, whichever felt better, and cooling off in the pool. It was very relaxing time for everyone and we all had so much fun playing as well as getting some jobs accomplished!

We have enjoyed our time here it the Philippines so much…can’t believe we are in our last week before we head home on Friday. We have continued staying at the guest house by the Children’s Home until today when we moved to Paula Haunschilds to stay with her until Thursday. We are looking forward to our time with her and her family for the next few days!

Thanks for continuing to pray for us. Please pray for our travels back to Alaska, and that we would all continue to stay healthy especially for our journey home. This has been an amazing adventure…God has shown and taught us so much, and we have felt the prayers of many…thank you!