1/8/10
Today we went to a waterfall!! We traveled there by jeepney – a long van-like vehicle with 2 bench seats facing each other on the inside. There are no seat belts, so we were sliding around for the 2 hour drive! We got a little lost on the way there, so it took longer, but the drive was BEAUTIFUL - we are in the mountains, so at some parts you could see forever away! The towns are so fun to drive through – little stands line the streets selling fruit and fried-everything, people everywhere, and trikes and jeepneys weaving in and out of traffic – there are no stop lights or stop signs! Intersections were a little scary at first, but the drivers are actually very good – everyone knows what to do it seems. I’ve heard it described as a dance, where you just know the steps!
Jeepney
One of the many Squatter Camps in the area
that we passed on the way to the falls
The waterfall (Daranak Falls) was GORGEOUS – perfectly blue water & picture-perfect surrounding forest. We had brought a cooler full of lunch with us, so as soon as we arrived in the park we all passed around bread, PB& J, apples, oranges, and crackers (they are kind of like Saltine crackers, but without the salt – we are all addicted to them!) You can just swim in the water surrounding the falls, so we had worn our suits – the water was chilly at first but really refreshing! We all just swam around a bit, sat out on rocks, sunned ourselves & talked together. Some of the local people who were there were climbing up the rocks on the side of the waterfall & jumping off into the water – of course after watching them a few times, I had to try it! It was quite a difficult task to get up there – the rocks were slippery & there were only a few good hand/foot holds you had to find. Most of the time I was just holding my whole body weight on my arms! The landing was about 35 feet above the water…..it was really intimidating looking down, but there was no other way down except to jump! Got quite a rush! Am sooooo glad I did it!
We didn’t get back to the guesthouse until dinnertime. I went up to the children’s home again in the evening. Sat and talked with Ira (Note: as I type this, I found out her name is actually spelled Aira) again & then played with her, another girl named Jessica, and one of the guys from the Australian team that is here. I helped put the kids to bed – sat and read a story to Joy. I left again with a heart full of joy and love for those new friends.
1/9/11
Got up and left for church at 9:00am. We went to the “mega church” that the Long’s go to – Community Christian Fellowship (CCF). It was absolutely HUGE – It’s actually on like the 4th floor of a mall. The sanctuary was a two-floor auditorium, each floor holding AT LEAST 3,000 people –and that’s just an estimate!!! Worship was incredible…..the songs were upbeat and fun and the music director just radiated the joy of the Lord! One of the songs had little dance movements – so fun! One of the slower worship songs was first sung in English, but then they sang a verse in Tagalog – it was so beautiful, it brought me to tears! It was just amazing to think about how even though we were in a different country, and even a different language, everyone in that sanctuary was a part of the global body of Christ.
I think the message was written for me….it was entitled “Prioritize Prayer”. Before coming on this trip, I really felt like I was in a dry patch as far as my spiritual life was going – specifically, devotions and prayer. I honestly was not spending a lot of quality time in prayer for myself and others – oftentimes when I tried to pray, I always felt like I had nothing to say….but the pastor’s words were completely convicting: “Saying you ‘don’t have time to pray’ is actually saying you don’t value prayer or think it is important. At the times you don’t feel like praying, THOSE are the times you should pray.” It was so refreshing to get that area of my life right with God again – I am again filled with His joy and the desire to spend time with Him in prayer.
After church, we spent the afternoon at the “Mega Mall” across the street. And “Mega” it was; 5 floors and two separate buildings!!! It was pretty intimidating actually….haha, coming from the shopper too! We all split up, and my group ate lunch at a sit-down place – not sure if it was actually authentic Filipino or Chinese, but it was VERY good (HUGE portions though!). Shopped all afternoon – things are pretty cheap here…I got 7 souvenir/gifts to bring back for people and only spent equivalent to $10 US dollars (they use pesos here – the exchange rate is about 43 pesos for every US dollar)!!!! Also there’s no sales tax here – very cool. They have A TON of awesome food places here – Cerealicious, a place where you can get cereal/milk/ice cream concoctions and Bread Talk, a bakery-like place (in the mall!) that had the bread and pastries out on display tables and you get trays and tongs to fill up your tray with and then take the whole tray up to pay for it (they wrap each pastry for you individual when you buy them!) are 2 of my personal favorites. We Americans are basically celebrities here….we stick out pretty well among the Filipinos, and we got A LOT of stares and smiles and waves as we walked through the mall….it was very strange, but kind of fun in a way – haha! We left the mall at 5pm, very hot and tired, but very happy.
Went up to the Children’s Home again tonight to help put them to bed – kids were pretty noncompliant today. It took about half an hour to get them all “ready” for bed-time devotions – and I was only in charge of the 5 oldest girls (9-12 years)! Once they were finally ready, we did devotions – we just read from Psalms and talked about how God was their salvation, strength, glory, and refuge. It was very sweet. Most precious of all were the goodnight hugs and kisses – I got about 50 from each girl! Some of it might have been stalling going to bed, but it was precious all the same.
At 8:15pm our whole group met with the whole Australian and World Racers groups for a time of worship and testimonies. I think I speak for our whole group in saying that that time was a much needed encouragement. Hearing stories of how God was working through other groups, how people were struggling with the same questions and frustrations as we were, and receiving encouragement from each other was another example of the beauty of the body of Christ. The group as a whole was from separate corners of the world, but we could all still come together and worship the same God. Beautiful, absolutely beautiful.
1/10/11
Today my class is back in their regular area – but Teacher Weeney has not yet returned. I was able to get even more involved in the classroom today. I am being observed by my professor Angie on Friday as a part of this class (that’s why I’m here after all), so I talked to the Bible teacher (Teacher Kim) to see if I could teach a lesson in her class that day for it – not only did she agree, but she is allowing me to “practice by teaching another lesson on Wednesday so you can see how you do and if you will need me to do anything”!! She is soooo sweet! I’m very excited to actually do whole-class lessons! Had a break through today with the boys in my class (they were never unfriendly to me, but they just never really opened up until today!) – they found out I played volleyball last Friday and so they asked me to play with them during break. I really enjoyed connecting with them in that way.
Went to the Children’s Home during the afternoon – first time for that – and got to play with the kids outside. A little boy of about 4 – whom I learned was named Christian – leaped into my lap and immediately said “Tita! (basically like “Auntie”) – push on swing!” I played with Christian for much of the time – he is very sweet, but I quickly learned he is also quite a stinker. I had to break up a few fights between him and some other boys that he started, and also tried to discipline him for hurting another child. He didn’t really listen though…one thing I learned about the kids at the Home is that they don’t respond to correction very well – if at all. The brightest point of the afternoon was when I taught a group of boys how to do front walk-overs (they were already doing handstands and cartwheels) – one boy actually got it! He was soooo excited and just wanted me to keep watching him over and over again! Then they got a hold of my camera and started taking videos of themselves – they got a HUGE kick out of being goofy and then watching themselves on the camera.
As our group was walking back to the guest house for dinner, we came across a huge group of the rest of our Taylor group and a slew of street kids. These kids are literally just roaming the streets all day - they don’t go to school because they can’t afford it or just have no way to get there. They are absolutely adorable – every time any of us walk outside the gate to the guesthouse, they all just flock to us for hugs, to hold our hands, or to be picked up. We started playing with them, and it ended up turning into all of us singing and dancing and bouncing to Justin Beiber – it’s really hilarious, but they all know his songs! I zoomed out for a second and just smiled – it was funny to think how our simple gestures of joy meant the world to these kids.
Skyped with Mom tonight for about 10 minutes – it was great to see her and David quick before they headed off to work and school and before my computer battery died! Gotta love technology – video and voice were pretty clear, even though we are on opposite sides of the world! Going to bed sore (from flipping and holding children!) but content.
**I’m hoping to be able to completely get caught up tomorrow night with Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week – have a busy day tomorrow, but will try to get it done! Miss you all, but really wish that you could all just move here because I don’t want to leave this beautiful place and these beautiful people.
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