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Well I have been in the Philippines for
a week and I can’t believe it has been that long and I can’t believe
it has only been that long. Travel went seamlessly without any delays
or complications whatsoever, which is a great blessing and shock,
considering there were 50 people traveling together. We arrived and
boarded a bus to K.I.M.- Kids International Ministry and moved in
with the Longs Family. They work with the community, run a children’s
home/orphanage, raise their kids, and work at a missionary kid
school. They have a ton on their plate, and took on 55 visitors. We
were so blessed to get to stay there and transition and train for the
World Race. We were fed incredible food and had a great place to
stay.
a week and I can’t believe it has been that long and I can’t believe
it has only been that long. Travel went seamlessly without any delays
or complications whatsoever, which is a great blessing and shock,
considering there were 50 people traveling together. We arrived and
boarded a bus to K.I.M.- Kids International Ministry and moved in
with the Longs Family. They work with the community, run a children’s
home/orphanage, raise their kids, and work at a missionary kid
school. They have a ton on their plate, and took on 55 visitors. We
were so blessed to get to stay there and transition and train for the
World Race. We were fed incredible food and had a great place to
stay.
A typical day started with working out
or “healthy lifestyle,� breakfast, prayer, teaching/training,
lunch, team time, free-time, dinner, teaching/training, sleep.
During team time we set up team norms
and talked about our expectations. We tried to picture what a day
will look like and how best to use our time and protect our time as
well. We met with our squad coaches, Gary and Lisa Black who are
incredible, insane, love all of us, scare most of us (just Gary here
I think) and will be/have taken us to a whole new level in our faith.
I will be posting a blog more about them soon, look forward to it. We
also started to form our family. My team of 6 is my family this year
while I am away from my biological family. We have to learn to love
each other, live with each other, fight with each other and still
love each other, be honest and open with each other, and so so much
more. We are learning about each other knowing all of that is to come
with makes a really cool and different dynamic than I have ever
experienced. I’m hoping to blog more about them too, so we’ll see
about that. Feel free to hold me accountable.Here is a picture of us at our kick off squad dinner.
and talked about our expectations. We tried to picture what a day
will look like and how best to use our time and protect our time as
well. We met with our squad coaches, Gary and Lisa Black who are
incredible, insane, love all of us, scare most of us (just Gary here
I think) and will be/have taken us to a whole new level in our faith.
I will be posting a blog more about them soon, look forward to it. We
also started to form our family. My team of 6 is my family this year
while I am away from my biological family. We have to learn to love
each other, live with each other, fight with each other and still
love each other, be honest and open with each other, and so so much
more. We are learning about each other knowing all of that is to come
with makes a really cool and different dynamic than I have ever
experienced. I’m hoping to blog more about them too, so we’ll see
about that. Feel free to hold me accountable.Here is a picture of us at our kick off squad dinner.
Fast forward to the last 2days. We are
in Malate, a “district?� of Manila. We and team Judah are staying
in one hostel room for the next 21 days. We have the “beach/bay/DO
NOT swim in that water no matter how pretty it looks� 3 blocks
away, and a HUGE mall a few blocks away as well- I mean this mall is
nicer than any mall in San Diego, it is huge and clean and air
conditioned :). We are staying in a cool little place and not paying
too much and strictly budgeting our food for our meals.
Tomorrow we begin our ministry at the
dump, or “Trash City.� 5,000 people live ON the dump, they work
by finding anything from trash trucks or barges that can be recycled,
eaten, reused, sold or made into anything worth selling. They wait in
lines to get water that is practically donated by organizations,have
no electricity and build their homes from the scraps of metal and
plastic they find. We will be working with a school located right
smack dab in the middle of it. We could be working with their
education program, teaching English to any of the 500 pre-K to 5th
graders, with their vocational program, working with those student’s
parents to learn a marketable trade, or their health department,
helping to distribute water, medicine and other health related
information. (In all actuality we could be doing ANYTHING, but the
organization sees those 3 areas as having the biggest need right now.
We will also spend time in the dump playing with other children and
bringing hope and joy to all of it’s squatter residents. I’ll be
keeping you all up to date on how that all goes. We have internet
here at Friendly’s Hostel, so keep those emails coming, and if you
don’t have a Skype name or haven’t sent me your Skype name please do.
(Don’t forget those birthday wishes come the 15th!!- gift’s can all
be mailed to my sister in the form of a check or donated online, I’m
still raising support;-). I’ll write again soon– with bullet points
I promise. (here is a picture of the sun setting over Manila, we now live just to the right of where the sun is setting:)
dump, or “Trash City.� 5,000 people live ON the dump, they work
by finding anything from trash trucks or barges that can be recycled,
eaten, reused, sold or made into anything worth selling. They wait in
lines to get water that is practically donated by organizations,have
no electricity and build their homes from the scraps of metal and
plastic they find. We will be working with a school located right
smack dab in the middle of it. We could be working with their
education program, teaching English to any of the 500 pre-K to 5th
graders, with their vocational program, working with those student’s
parents to learn a marketable trade, or their health department,
helping to distribute water, medicine and other health related
information. (In all actuality we could be doing ANYTHING, but the
organization sees those 3 areas as having the biggest need right now.
We will also spend time in the dump playing with other children and
bringing hope and joy to all of it’s squatter residents. I’ll be
keeping you all up to date on how that all goes. We have internet
here at Friendly’s Hostel, so keep those emails coming, and if you
don’t have a Skype name or haven’t sent me your Skype name please do.
(Don’t forget those birthday wishes come the 15th!!- gift’s can all
be mailed to my sister in the form of a check or donated online, I’m
still raising support;-). I’ll write again soon– with bullet points
I promise. (here is a picture of the sun setting over Manila, we now live just to the right of where the sun is setting:)
