Monday (and Sunday), June 20, 2011

Friends and Family, 

Wow...it has already been a whirlwind of a trip!  Thank you all for your e-mail responses and encouraging words.

Sunday was a great day for us.  We worshipped at Hartwell Baptist Church.  It took us "20 minutes" in Filipino time to get there--i.e. an hour.  We rode a Jeepnee as far up a mountain as we could and then hiked the rest of the way--it was about a 7 minute hike for the spry among us and a 20 minute hike for the rest of us.  We sang a "special" (Be Thou My Vision) at church and Christopher played the piano which is something the students planned ahead of time.  I preached.  At the end of the service, we found out the church knew about Father's Day in the US, so they decided to celebrate Father's Day and Mother's Day.  They called all the mom's and dad's forward and gave them beautiful little pots which they had decorated with ribbon.  We were overwhelmed by the church's hospitality, a common theme here!  Last night we reflected that, even though we'd been in Baguio for less than 48 hours, we'd already been served three elaborate dinners and snacks/soda by churches and ministry groups we've visited.

Yesterday we worked at the Irisan dump site and Shalom Community Church.  I think we would all agree that we learned more at the dump site than those we visited.  I would say we met about 80 children, which was great despite the rain.  We could have had as many as 300, so 80 worked out perfectly.  We did a rotation model Filipino style!  This means chaotic organized chaos!  The students taught the kids about hand washing, brushing their teeth, the story of Jesus welcoming the little children, and a few basketball skills.  The kids got to use hand sanitizer, which they found absolutely fascinating because it dries and disappears--and they liked the smell.  The two most popular activities at the site were basketball (the boys are celebrities because they're mostly tall enough to dunk the ball) and an impromptu time of face painting.  We painted faces for a good 1.5 hours.  The kids used baby wipes to wipe their faces clean and then come back to get them painted again!  We were overwhelmed by how genuinely happy the children were to just BE with us.  We were overwhelmed by their excitement and gratefulness.  The students have also struggled understand the "unfairness" of a child being born into such poverty, which a poverty difficult to imagine until you see it, smell it, touch it, and even taste it in the air.  We were truly humbled when Madame Julie, the coordinator of the ministry for orphans at the dump site, served us ice cold sodas and a multitude of Filipino cookie treats.

At Shalom Church we dug...and dug, and dug, and will keep digging today.  We are digging holes into which we will put re-bar, cement blocks, and cement as foundations for walls.  The bottom section of the church is not enclosed, so I think Brother Mendez (the deacon/contractor) wants us to get as much enclosing done as possible.  There aren't very many tools, so we've improvised a little.  We had an audience of about 7-10 children who sat and giggled at us while we worked.

There is a typhoon passing to the south, so it's rainy pretty much all the time right now.  After the typhoon passes, it will be rainy in the afternoons but not the morning...so we hear.  "maybe tomorrow" it will be gone. haha.

The boys especially are celebrities here.  They are so tall and so white!  They really stand out.  They even had a group of girls stop them in the mall on Sunday night (yes, we went to be "mall rats" on Sunday according to one of our guides) to take a picture of the boys!  People stare at us everywhere we go.  This is a very "international" place, but it's international for the Eastern parts of the world, not the West.  We're the only white people I've seen.  The language barrier felt challenging yesterday with the children because they really don't have access to English.  People, no matter their age, are also very shy with their English for two reasons: (1) they feel that they can't express themselves adequately in English and/or (2) they are ashamed of the poor quality of their English.  So, it's hard to communicate even if people know English because they are so humble.  Communicating just takes a little longer and a lot of negotiation!

We love all of you and miss you.  It's off to Shalom for a full day's work.  The women leaders of the church have insisted on cooking lunch for us today, so I'm excited to see what that's like.  It's taking too long to attach pics right now, so I'll try to tonight (or Tuesday morning your time).

Talk soon!

Hannah

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Friends and Family,

We made it safely and are doing very well.  We're up and getting ready to leave for church. We are running a little behind this morning, so I won't take too long.

Overall our trip went splendidly.  Not one delay, plenty of food on the plane, etc.  Adam got a little motion sick on the 14 hour flight, but is doing fine now. 

We love all of you and I will try to send more as soon as I can.  Right now, we cannot get internet access hooked up in our cottage (mansion!) so I'm e-mailing from the seminary office.

We are doing great.  We are safe.  We love all of you very much and can't wait to share more later!!

Hannah