On Day 7, 12 of us (Team Sisterhood and TeamOn Day 7, 12 of us (Team Sisterhood and Team S.O.L.I.D) traveled from Manila to the island of Mindanao, province of Bukidnon, and city of Malaybalay (pronounced Ma-lie-ba-lie). We're staying with KIM about 10 minutes outside of the city by Jeepney. There is so much newness to describe that while writing, I feel constantly side tracked. Please bare with me. A Jeepney looks like a small bus that is open to the air, and only has two long benches for seating. It is the public form of transportation that we would need to use to get in and out of the city. We are staying at Mt. Moriah Camp and working daily at the New Faith Family Children's Home. The building we are staying in has more than enough beds for us. It is used for camps during their summer, which is April and May, so this time of the year it is empty. We are so completely spoiled this month to have beds (think summer camp as a kid!!) and so many other amenities. We have a rotating fan, cool evenings, showers (yep, they are cold, but there are 3 of them for 6 of us), and an amazing cook named Roxanne who makes us 3 meals/day. We kind of have a washing machine. It's basically assisted hand washing, so I've had my first experience at that. It rains almost every afternoon/evening here this time of the year, so hanging clothes to dry and then expecting dry clothes in the near future is not something that often works out in our favor. Several articles of my clothing now smell like a dirty gym sock. And yep, I still wear them. So many adjustments from my old way of life, but they happen so seemlessly.
On Day 7, 12 of us (Team Sisterhood and Team S.O.L.I.D) traveled from Manila to the island of Mindanao, province of Bukidnon, and city of Malaybalay (pronounced Ma-lie-ba-lie). We're staying with KIM about 10 minutes outside of the city by Jeepney. There is so much newness to describe that while writing, I feel constantly side tracked. Please bare with me. A Jeepney looks like a small bus that is open to the air, and only has two long benches for seating. It is the public form of transportation that we would need to use to get in and out of the city. We are staying at Mt. Moriah Camp and working daily at the New Faith Family Children's Home. The building we are staying in has more than enough beds for us. It is used for camps during their summer, which is April and May, so this time of the year it is empty. We are so completely spoiled this month to have beds (think summer camp as a kid!!) and so many other amenities. We have a rotating fan, cool evenings, showers (yep, they are cold, but there are 3 of them for 6 of us), toilets that we flush manually and can't put toilet paper down (but hey, it's a toilet! Praise Jesus!!!), and an amazing cook named Roxanne who makes us 3 meals/day. We kind of have a washing machine. It's basically assisted hand washing, so I've had my first experience at that. It rains almost every afternoon/evening here this time of the year, so hanging clothes to dry and then expecting dry clothes in the near future is not something that often works out in our favor. Several articles of my clothing now smell like a dirty gym sock. And yep, I still wear them. So many adjustments from my old way of life, but they happen so seemlessly.
A little bit about the Children's Home: There are 17 children ages 5 to 14 and there are also 9 babies and toddlers. Most of the children here are boys. It was explained to me that young girls are thought to be of more use around the house than young boys. We are learning a lot about Filipino culture from briefings, and from our experiences. The children here are not all orphans by the strict definition of the word. Some of them were abandoned, some were abused, some were given up for financial reasons, and some are truely orphans. Whatever their reason for ending up here, they have a group of loving men and women looking after them here. There are 3 "house moms" and there is one "house dad." We are all given shifts during which we help with the children. We can help the older kids get ready for school, help with dinner and homework after school, and of course help with the toddlers. There are around the clock shifts, with 8pm to 10pm set aside as our "team time," during which we do not have shifts and debrief with our teams or have worship. We have Mondays off, and Saturday and Sunday are busy days. There is an Awana program here on Saturdays and kids are bussed in from the neighboring towns. Sundays we help with Sunday school and attend church. We'll be taking turns giving a 5 minute testimony, and Pastor Larry sums it up in Bisaya so that everyone who attends the service can understand. Your 5 minute testimony turns into about 30 seconds in Bisaya, but the story is still told.
I wouldn't say there has been a cultural shock for me. It's actually been quite fun. I like learning new things about how people operate in their world. And along the way it becomes our world. Next time I have internet, I'll post about more details about what I've been up to here. Hopefully that'll be in the next couple of days. My downtime has been spent reading my Bible and journaling. I'm going to be more deliberate about turning those journal entries into blogs in the next few days. It's definitely become very real now that we've been here for a couple of weeks. I love showing love to the toddlers and older children. He delights in them and He delights in me. I've seen personal changes already and I know this is going to be an amazing journey. It is going to be so hard to leave here in a couple of weeks.
With Miss Tiffany, on top of a Jeepney, seeing rice harvested
I wouldn't say there has been a cultural shock for me. It's actually been quite fun. I like learning new things about how people operate in their world. And along the way it becomes our world. Next time I have internet, I'll post about more details about what I've been up to here. Hopefully that'll be in the next couple of days. My downtime has been spent reading my Bible and journaling. I'm going to be more deliberate about turning those journal entries into blogs in the next few days. It's definitely become very real now that we've been here for a couple of weeks. I love showing love to the toddlers and older children. He delights in them and He delights in me. I've seen personal changes already and I know this is going to be an amazing journey. It is going to be so hard to leave here in a couple of weeks. S.O.L.I.D) traveled from Manila to the island of Mindanao, province of Bukidnon, and city of Malaybalay (pronounced Ma-lie-ba-lie). We're staying with KIM about 10 minutes outside of the city by Jeepney. There is so much newness to describe that while writing, I feel constantly side tracked. Please bare with me. A Jeepney looks like a small bus that is open to the air, and only has two long benches for seating. It is the public form of transportation that we would need to use to get in and out of the city. We are staying at Mt. Moriah Camp and working daily at the New Faith Family Children's Home. The building we are staying in has more than enough beds for us. It is used for camps during their summer, which is April and May, so this time of the year it is empty. We are so completely spoiled this month to have beds (think summer camp as a kid!!) and so many other amenities. We have a rotating fan, cool evenings, showers (yep, they are cold, but there are 3 of them for 6 of us), and an amazing cook named Roxanne who makes us 3 meals/day. We kind of have a washing machine. It's basically assisted hand washing, so I've had my first experience at that. It rains almost every afternoon/evening here this time of the year, so hanging clothes to dry and then expecting dry clothes in the near future is not something that often works out in our favor. Several articles of my clothing now smell like a dirty gym sock. And yep, I still wear them. So many adjustments from my old way of life, but they happen so seemlessly.
A little bit about the Children's Home: There are 17 children ages 5 to 14 and there are also 9 babies and toddlers. Most of the children here are boys. It was explained to me that young girls are thought to be of more use around the house than young boys. We are learning a lot about Filipino culture from briefings, and from our experiences. The children here are not all orphans by the strict definition of the word. Some of them were abandoned, some were abused, some were given up for financial reasons, and some are truely orphans. Whatever their reason for ending up here, they have a group of loving men and women looking after them here. There are 3 "house moms" and there is one "house dad." We are all given shifts during which we help with the children. We can help the older kids get ready for school, help with dinner and homework after school, and of course help with the toddlers. There are around the clock shifts, with 8pm to 10pm set aside as our "team time," during which we do not have shifts and debrief with our teams or have worship. We have Mondays off, and Saturday and Sunday are busy days. There is an Awana program here on Saturdays and kids are bussed in from the neighboring towns. Sundays we help with Sunday school and attend church. We'll be taking turns giving a 5 minute testimony, and Pastor Larry sums it up in Bisaya so that everyone who attends the service can understand. Your 5 minute testimony turns into about 30 seconds in Bisaya, but the story is still told.
I wouldn't say there has been a cultural shock for me. It's actually been quite fun. I like learning new things about how people operate in their world. And along the way it becomes our world. Next time I have internet, I'll post about more details about what I've been up to here. Hopefully that'll be in the next couple of days. My downtime has been spent reading my Bible and journaling. I'm going to be more deliberate about turning those journal entries into blogs in the next few days. It's definitely become very real now that we've been here for a couple of weeks. I love showing love to the toddlers and older children. He delights in them and He delights in me. I've seen personal changes already and I know this is going to be an amazing journey. It is going to be so hard to leave here in a couple of weeks.
