Our flight to China took 15 hours. We had a 9 hour layover and then we arrived at our first ministry house. While on the airplane, within the first hour of our flight, one of our squad mates passed out from being dehydrated and overheated. Not even half an hour after that, my teammate, Christina, started feeling abdominal pains and continued to feel them throughout the entire 15 hour flight to China. In China, two of our squad leaders took her to the airport clinic. It was there they were told she should go to the hospital, where they said she was having an appendicitis so she ended up having her appendix removed. What a start for The World Race for her.
Thank you Jesus for keeping your hand over Christina during the 15 hour flight!
We arrived to Manila, Philippines, on Monday, January 12 in the evening. During this month, we are staying at Valenzuela Christian School (VCS). VCS was founded in 1966 by Mr. Bacani and his wife. Today his younger daughter, Ivy, and her husband, Ed, run it.
Tuesday after breakfast we toured the compound of the school territory. We met all the teachers and staff who are in charge of helping run VCS smoothly.
Thursday during breakfast we found out that one of the elementary school teachers wouldn’t be able to come in for the day. My teammate, Chelsea, and I somehow ended up in her position to teach all of her classes for the day. Three out of six classes were Filipino classes. We had no clue about the classes, so we had to come up with a plan to teach other subjects. At VCS, students stay in class while the teacher goes from classroom to classroom, which is different from the U.S.A. school system.
Mr. Ed and Mrs. Ivy are in the process of renovating the classrooms. This week we started painting the school desks. Right now we are putting a white primer on them, while the groundskeeper is painting them with bright/happy colors. Currently the classrooms have brown desks that are all attached to each other in one row (five students at each desk). Each student can easily look at his/her neighbor’s school work and/or test/exam. To save some money to buy new classroom desks, Mr.Ed came up with a DIY project. He is using a chainsaw and cutting each row of old desks apart to make them individual desks. So far, they are turning out great!
Jan. 15-19, a holiday weekend, Pope Francis has arrived to the Philippines.
“Have you met Kobe Bryant?”. I was actually shocked to find out that basketball is the main sport here in the Philippines. I thought for sure it would be soccer. Everybody plays soccer, right? Well, except in the Philippines.
We got the opportunity to visit another orphanage, The Salvation Army – Joyville Children’s Home. It was a great experience because in a way I can relate to them. At one point, I felt guilty because of the condition these children are staying in with only five people to look over thirty-two children, ages 7-16. These children have so much joy on their faces, and it seemed like they have a better life there than they would have in their original birthplace homes.
Please pray for me, team Eklektos and N Squad, as we finish up our first month in the Philippines.
