Day 10

Day 9

Hi everyone! Tonight, we have Jetson, Jess, and Annabelle writing the blog after a long day of adventures.

So this morning the disgruntled travellers were woken up by Mr Beacham at 4:45am. We wolfed down a breakfast of scrambled eggs and banana bread, and then set off on a two and a half hour bus ride. We arrived at a ferry dock in Manila, boarded our vessel and an hour later we were at the island of Corregidor. We spent the day taking a tour of the island, learning about the Japanese invasion of the island, the island’s eventual surrender and then re-taking by the Americans. We learnt about the role these events played not only in world war two, but also in the protection of Australia. We toured Malinta Tunnel, the old hospital site, the war museum, the war memorials, the coast line and the light house. Then, after we’d seen almost everything, we hopped back on our ferry and headed back to Manila.

Once in Manila, we took a short bus ride, and ended up at the Mall of Asia, the second largest shopping mall in the southern hemisphere. We went to Gerry’s Grill where we enjoyed some traditional Filipino cuisine, which included rice, vegetables and pork. After dinner, we found out that one of the pork dishes was pig face and brains mashed up with onion, much to everyone’s disgust. However, Jetson found this hilarious. Ha, ha, carnivores! We then enjoyed a Filipino desert called Halo Halo  or Mix Mix which was composed of ice cream, coconut cream, ice shards, jellies, and pieces of fruit. You mix it all up in a giant cup and it results in an odd purple concoction. And it was pretty yummy. (Or not, I’m told. I thought it was good.)

After dinner, we went ice skating in an ice rink that was inside the mall. We endured a few tumbles and sore feet, but enjoyed ourselves. It even ‘snowed’, and by snow we mean bubbles fell from the roof. It wasn’t really snow, but it was pretty sweet.

From the ice rink, we had some fun at Time Zone. We raced motorcycles, cars, played DDR, and had some attempts at the claw(s).    

After all that, it was time to head home, so we jumped back on the bus, headed home through the crazy traffic, and now we’re back, all tired out and ready for bed. So.... goodnight!

Oh wait, no, we need to say some things first:

Jetson: Thanks for the messages Mum, Dad, Al, and family. I’m missing you all loads, and can’t wait to see you. ^_^

Annabelle: Hi Mum, Dad and Alex, missing you guys heaps and will see you all soon. Lots of love, Annabelle.

Jessie: Hello to Ma, Pa, Mags and everyone else! Having an awesome time J hope everything is well and see you bright and early Sunday morning :D lots and lots of love xxx. P.s. for Dad- You totes owe me $100 J have a safe trip home tomorrow x.

 Ok, goodnight everyone. :D

Day 8

After a late night sharing testimonies we all slept well and woke up at 7.15 all refreshed for breakfast. We had waffles, toast, fruit and boiled eggs which was amazing.

We gathered in groups of 4 and ran through our lessons as we were off to teach the kids at Tent City Primary School. We left the Ministry Centre at 9am arriving approximately an hour later and started organising the food for the feeding program to start. The kids brought up their little bowls and the food flowed ensuring that every student there had food in their bellies.  

As the kids finished their food we moved in. We had chosen a year level to teach and organised pens, pencils, crayons, pipe cleaners (to make toys) and stories to share. We taught kids in classes from Pre-Primary to Year 6. We did activities such as singing, storytelling and colouring in, pipe cleaner animals, rings, bracelets and stick figures; the balloons were made into swords and daggers to act of the story of Goliath. We were in the classrooms for roughly 45 minutes while giving the teachers a well earned break.

A light snack of crackers and home-made biscuits, with a drink from the nearby shop we played a game with the kids. We went onto the basket ball court and the kids formed a huge ring around us. We were left in the middle, surrounded by hundreds of kids. Their bright smiles and cheerful personalities helped us feel less embarrassed for what was come.  The idea was to dance around and invite children to join the group and dance with us. Eventually the majority of the circle would be combined with the inner group, dancing our hearts out. By the end our hearts were racing, our feet were burning but everyone still had gigantic smiles on their faces. It came time to leave the school, so we finished by singing songs with the children. Everyone sung their hearts out and thoroughly enjoyed singing with the younger community.

We left the school, and had a very short bus trip to tent city. Entering tent city was a shock for many of us. The level of poverty was extremely high. Seeing around 800 houses all crammed into a small area, for the number of people that needed to live in the community was heart breaking. Each house was around 30 square metres, catering for up to 10 siblings with no bathroom or toilet. One house we visited hosted 6 siblings, the oldest being 12. The mother of the children passed away while giving birth, leaving the children to fend for themselves, whilst their father worked away to provide an income. Experiencing the poor living conditions for 4000+ people was a kick in the gut for the majority of the team. The heat was overwhelming with no shade in sight for neither us nor the occupants of the village. We were all sweating, thirsty and tired due to the impact of the sun on us. As a team we walked around the village, getting a firsthand experience of how lucky we all are and witnessing the lack of essential items needed for many homes. We were able to give nine blankets out to nine different families, each who were very appreciative of them and couldn’t thank us enough.

We then left the Village to head home everyone sleepy in the car and bus because of the serious heat at Tent City. We arrived home at 2ish and had lunch at 2:30pm and had rice and stew which consisted of Chicken, Black Beans, Corn and other veggies. It was very yummy. After Lunch we had two lady speakers coming in to talk to us about these coming Wednesday’s events of a street soccer tournament and also a choice of a 1km, 2km, or 3km fun run. Most of us either sponsoring a kid for the run or running in the event itself to raise money for Quattro Christian College and the fees required for the children there. After the speakers left we started our first and last rotation of the day which consisted of Building, Feeding, Cleaning, Children’s Home and writing on the blog.

Lots of love Jordan, Joellykins, Amy and Dean

Jordan- Just wanna say hey to Mum, Dad ,Scott, Carrie, Reuben, Beks and Cal including Bek and Cal missing you all heaps sorry i haven’t been in alot of the photos also wanna do a shoutout to Beans and Nibby missing hanging out with the complete cousinhood , love Jord xx

Jo-Elle – Miss you mummy & daddy, love you’s very much and you too blakey & pessy. See yous Sunday morning early :) Love joey xx

Dean-Hey family, missing you all heaps, especially Busta,hope your having a good time, looking forward to seeing you all. Hey Nanna and Grandad and all the relatives. Love you heaps.

Amy W- Hey all my family, missing you loads, hope that you are all doing well. We are all well here, no one has been terribly sick so its all good. Love you all lots and look forward to seeing ya soon. Love Amy xx

Day 7

The group got up this morning at the normal time of 7:00am, but a few slept in and didn’t get any breaky (Joseph but not Alex and Sam because they are troopers). We set off to church at 8:00am which was just next door. We had high expectations of the worship because we heard the band practising last night near the children’s home, it was very encouraging. As we all got settled in our seats, the leader of the meeting came up and welcomed us to the church and hoped that we would join in fellowship with them. There were actually two meetings that morning, one in English and one in Tagalog. Mr Kieran Burne did an amazing job preaching at both services. He spoke about how if you’re a Christian you go to heaven and if you aren’t then you don’t. He spoke about the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness and the choice we had before us. After church we went back to the place we are now temporarily calling ‘home’ that is literally next door which was a bonus, because we couldn’t be bothered walking far in this heat. When we came home we just chillaxed for like two hours, which was a good effort.

After our ‘chillaxation’ period we jumped on the bus on the way to Tay Tay mall, which was most excellent because we tried some Japanese food - most people enjoyed it while others got the shock of their lives when they tried some ‘honey teriyaki chicken’ and their lips burst into flames. We learned Mr. Beacham was right; we couldn’t make any assumptions in Manila. A sweet sounding dish could just be the spiciest of them all.

Much to some people’s delight and other people’s horror we lined up to watch ‘Breaking Dawn’. The movie was equally mentioned on ‘highlights’ and ‘challenges’ lists.

After the movie we headed back to the ministry centre where some lucky teenagers discovered the game of ‘spoons’, while others stuck to the good old game of Uno.

We didn’t just visit the Children at the Children’s home, tonight we visited our friends. So many of the kids have left footprints in our heart, and we can only pray the memories will be cherished forever. Tonight we sang ‘God is good to me’, and Pastor Pete challenged the kids to see how fast they could go (singing and hand actions), they loved it. After some more reading, it was time for them to go to bed, we headed back to the ministry centre to hold our own devotions and de-brief before hitting the sack as well.

After hearing some of the teacher’s testimonies, Mr. Beacham asked if some of the students wanted to share theirs. A few courageous hearts began sharing their story and emotions ran as we really began to discover each other. It was hard to say and hard to hear but the group seems a thousand times closer now and I honestly believe we’ve made friends for life. It was concluded by a group hug (followed by several smaller ones) and a prayer that had so much love behind it.

Jordan Barham hosted our de-brief session tonight and I think we all agree (although we all love Pastor Pete) that he did an amazing job. A lot of people had things to share today, despite how relaxing our Sunday has been. 

By Sam D & Irene. (Photos to follow in the am)