We get bombarded by little kids whenever we step foot outside. We have to force the kids to stop following us when we get too far away from their homes.
Within 2 days, all the kids in the area had learned most of our names and now yell out at us as we walk down the street. One day, we were a 20 minute walk away from the church…when a little kid yelled out, "Jessica, Jessica!" Then a lady greeted me on the street and said "Welcome back" because we had visited her area a couple days before. I just walk down the street laughing.
I feel like we're in a parade every time we walk down the street because we are constantly waving to every person who yells out greetings to us.
One day we were sweeping the streets and a local man started video taping us and told me it was a souvenir for him. I told him we were cleaning their streets out of a love for Jesus.
Strangers will run up to us (not just little kids…elderly men too) and throw their arms around us, as their friends snap pictures.
A few teammates met a congressman here who then invited us to dinner. We met at his house that night and were driven by his driver and assistant to dinner. The congressman ended up not joining us because he was working late, but he treated us to dinner. They ordered huge plates of food for us so we could try many different traditional Philippino dishes from pig thigh to sushi.
We were invited by a man that works for a senator to visit the worksites of his recycling projects. After spending the morning learning about the ways they were turning the overwhelming problem of trash in the city into bricks and coco-nets and fertilizer, we were invited to have a catered lunch at the senator's house.
We have been so blessed by the people in the Philippines. Even though this month is the hardest physically, we've had so much fun meeting new people everyday.
