Philippines 2011

I am writing from the Philippines, after our first night of sleep here, tearfully thankful that I am able to come back again. Every year I think, this may be my last, take advantage of it... yet I cannot not come back. This year I was overwhelmingly blessed at my friends and family who supported me financially and are praying for me.


Thankfully our trip was uneventful. I was one of the very few that actually slept very well and quite long on our first flight which was 12 hours and 20 minutes long. I had just enough in me to stay awake for one movie and then awake towards the end of the first trip with 3 hours left. I was shocked! We arrived in Taiwan with a 4 hour layover and made the 2nd flight to Manila. We went through customs without a hitch and transferred to the domestic airport. We arrived on Bohol around 3:30 and was greeted by not our normal hot, humid air, but by an unusually cool air. We loaded our bags onto a jeepnee which were taken to the house. We hopped into our van and greeted our familiar driver, Leo. He took me and two other students, new to the Philippines, to a school supply store. We found all the supplies on our list for the weekend and met the driver again outside. We met up with the rest of the team in the BQ, shopping for t-shirts and food. All of us, by this time, were feeling loopy from the travel. On our way to the Sunrise House I did the math... we had been traveling for 30 1/2 hours, if you count from door (in Washington) to door (at the Sunrise House). However, since I didn't leave my house in Graham until 10:30pm, I was actually awake for a lot longer. Waking up at 7am, means that most of the team (I probably slept the most) was awake for around 46 hours.

The travel from Tagbilarin, the capital of Bohol, to the Sunrise House consisted of a 20 minute drive along the perimeter road and a 20 minute drive on a one lane barrio road. Half of the barrio road is paved, the other half is a very bumpy clay and rock path. With palm trees and jungle vegetation surrounding and covering us, it was a very surreal experience especially for those who haven't experienced the Philippines. We arrived at the house and was greeted by friends from the barrio. We went straight to dinner that Marita had cooked for us: rice and pancit, perfect!!! She is an amazing cook and we are blessed that she works so hard to feed us. We didn't eat until 8pm, so many of us fought keeping our eyes open. The students and the kids did great, I never heard anyone complain or say they were SO tired. We were all very thankful to arrive at the house and very excited for our first ministry opportunity tomorrow. 65 barrio high school students are coming tomorrow at 10am.... nope, 8am. Praying for a restful sleep!

I finished this blog after the weekend. We've been very busy and our internet has been intermittant. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up soon and write about our happenings on a more frequent basis.

Thank you for your prayers!