My trip to the Philippines was an all-around wonderful experience. I appreciated getting to know the people on the Ripon team better, and it was a pleasure getting to know the people on the Ashland team. Let's hear it for new friends! I also really enjoyed getting to know some of my Filipino brothers and sisters. The Filipino people are so friendly! My experience in the Philippines has really whetted my appetite for overseas missions, but it also served to light a fire under me for reaching out to the people here in my own community. Just because I am back in my own culture does not mean it is going to be easy though. I tried to strike up a conversation with the lady who was checking out my groceries at the store this afternoon and was reminded how much harder it is going to be to talk to Americans. Harder as a rule anyway. There will always be the exception. But who said life is supposed to be easy?
It has not even been a week yet, and already I am off and running again. Tomorrow morning I strike out on the next adventure. It is time for our annual trek to Washington to go camping with the family. This has always been a highlight of my year. I am sad to miss seeing my church family though, especially those who were on the Philippines team. I will not be around for the next four Sundays either. One of the ladies at church said something the other night about church discipline... :)
Tori and her husband Dan are missionaries in Manila. They helped organize much of our trip for us. Tori met us for our final trek by boat to get to the island.
FRESH coconut juice. Mmmm!
The avenue from our guest house to the main road on the island.
Meal times, especially breakfast, were one of my favorite parts of the day. It was a good time to get to know everyone. And the morning coffee was delicious!
Sunday morning before church.
We REALLY underestimated the number of children who would be there! It was amazing!
I think this was our first afternoon out to the feeding sites, and the rain drenched clothes were a perfect start to what we would experience the remainder of our time there.
Yay for the rainy season!
Feeding the children.
The balloons were a huge hit.
Along with the singing, Bible stories, balloons, and feeding, we also gave the children vitamins and bandaged up any boo-boos. We gave out many "comfort" bandaids. It was funny watching some of the little ones carefully searching for that scratch they knew they had in order to get a bandaid.
Some of the ladies from the church who faithfully cooked our breakfast and lunch every day. These ladies are also very instrumental in the feeding ministry. They each have one day off a week that they do not go out to the feeding sites.
By the end of the trip, our team had become very good friends. :)
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