Day 26 - Tuesday 27th June

Tuesday was a better day in terms of weather as we barely had any rain and finally got to see some of the amazing beauty of the Philippines. We had an early start at 6pm and then were taken round the community so see some of the projects that the social workers and CCM had been helping in. They had given the people a boat, some pigs and other capital items to help them.

Some of you might be wondering what the connection is with this small village. About a year ago in Dec 2004, there was a combination of 3 typhoons that hit this part of the coast. Because some stupid people had cut down a lot of the trees from mountains (illegal logging), the heavy rain caused landslides and floods in this community. It buried alive several hundred people and destroyed/damaged a lot more homes and buildings. Some of the western churches saw this and asked if CCM was able to use any money to help these people. CCM was initially reluctant to take on another project that was unrelated to its children work and so far away but two social workers (Reah and Estella) volunteered to do the work. So they used the money to invest in the community rather than simply hand out rice packages and emergency relief. This was their 11th visit and now they are simply following up their investment and sorting out any problems. Pastor Ellis is not so keen on them taking so much time off their work here now that the project is almost completed so they took their own holiday to come and do this work.

So after the tour round the community we headed to the river where we spent an hour swimming. The river looks out onto the sea with a hilly backdrop and the water is clear and fresh, straight from the mountains. The tide was strong so we couldn't go out that far but it was really lovely. After exploring the area a bit we headed down to the beach. The beach was pebbly and the tide strong so we paddled around near the edge as the waves coming in were massive and almost took us off our feet. I believe it was the Philippine Sea we were in. After a while we headed back to the house where we were staying. Reah and Estella were holding progress meetings with different groups of the community and were still busy so we had a light snack, packed our bags and headed back to the beach, to where the boat would come and pick us up in an hours time. It takes about half an hour to walk but this time as there was no rain we were able to take our time and take in the scenery. Imagine Jurrasic Park scenery (without the dinosaurs) and you've got pretty much what it looks like. Its a really isolated spot, the only way to quickly get to it is by boat otherwise it takes several days over the mountains. Once we arrived at our pickup spot we spent more time in the sea and also explored some of the nearby rock clefts. Once Reah and Estella arrived they joined us for a bit before the boat came and we headed back. As the weather was nicer, so was the sea. The water was calm, deep blue and warm and we were able to sit on the edges of the boats and dangle our legs in whilst going along. We had lunch aboard the boat. Then once we arrived at Dingalen we changed into dry clothes, had some jack fruit to tide us over and got the minibus back. By this time several people were red again from the sun. The journey was quite long coming back - probably because we were all so tired but it had been such a fun trip. Even the wet Monday was good. These people that we have seen are about as rural as you can get and their lifestyles are quite different from what you find in Manila.

We headed to bed the moment we got back!

Day 27: Wednesday 28th June & Thursday 29th

Well Wednesday has come and gone and I'm writing this last blog entry about an hour before we are heading off to the airport. The Housemothers have all gone on a 3 day retreat so we said goodbye to them wednesday morning and became house mothers ourselves for a day. It didn't really amount to anything however as the girls are so well organised that all we had to really do was watch them. Some members of the church had also come in to help. Becci & I were in the Bethany home whilst the three American girls were in Emmaus. It meant two days of early risings though as we had to get up to say goodbye to the mothers and on thursday to see the children off to school. We stayed in the staff rooms in the homes for the night.

Wednesday & Thursday have mainly been days of packing and cleaning our rooms as well as playing with the children. They got hold of our cameras again! It was Abi's birthday (one of the American girls) and she was 18. The older girls cooked her a special meal in the evening and we bought her ice cream. Our visas finally arrived (ironically the day before we leave) as well as the cards that we are bringing home. A correction to the price I stated early - it is 75p per card not per pack.

One thing that Becci reminded me that I'd missed on the Saturday blog was the fact that we went to the early morning market with the housemothers. When i say early this was the earliest we'd been up. We left at 4 so we were up around 3.30. They like to get their early to get the fresh meal and fish. The housemothers take it in turns to go each week and take one of the older girls with them to carry the bags. Each of us was assigned to go with one housemother and I went with Bethany's housemother Gerlie. The people loved to have their pictures taken, display their products and even with broken english tell us a bit about themselves. Most of the fish were still alive, the meal was freshly cut from animals - as all parts of the animals were sold and carved up in front of you. The market is open 24 hours so a lot of people were asleep on chairs. We spent 3 hours there before heading home at 7 and collapsing into bed for a few hours.

Becci & I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone who has kept up with our blog and our trip. We have really appreciated your prayers, best wishes and emails along the way and look forward to seeing you all soon. Take care everyone. Love Sarah

Days 25: Monday 26th June

Unfortunately, we had to get up really early again Monday morning (as you can probably tell I'm not really a morning person, especially not at four in the morning!) We had to be at the bus station at six so that we would have enough time to travel the long distance across the island. We met Estella and the others at the station and got on the bus (what we would call a coach but they call a bus), for the first three hours of our journey. On the bus we were able to catch up on some sleep, (well everyone except Sarah!), have a sort of second breakfast, and watch a bit of some film that wasn't really that good!
After we got of the bus we got into a van (minibus) that took us the two hours to the coast, dropping of some things with Estella's relatives on the way. This part of the journey took us past rice fields, crops of other kinds and moutains, so we saw some of the natral beauty of the Philippines. Once we got to the coast it started to pour with rain and we were told that we were experiencing the tail end of a typhoon that was, fortuately moving away, but we decided to go ahead and finish the journey anyway, (after wrapping up all our things in plastic bags). So we all got into the small boat that was waiting for us and headed off along the coast. The journey took about three hours and was interesting because the sea was a little choppy! I was sat on the bamboo poles that stick out over the edge of the boat, over the beautiful green-blue sea and so I had to hold on tight!!!!
By the time we got to the shore and had got off the boat we were all soaked through, and still had a half hour walk in the pouring rain! Jennifer and I decided that we were so wet anyway that we would try and protest our bags as much as possible, having them on our front and covering them with our umbrellas! Estella thought this was funny and said we looked like soliders of to war with our shields! The walk took us across rivers and streams swollen with all the rain (I don't know how many times I nearly lost my flip-flops!), and through jungle-like terrain, before we got to the house we were staying in! You may think that this sounds like a miserable and uncomfortable walk, but it was exciting, and didn't really care much by that point! We had got to the point where it was just funny when we lost our shoes and they threatened to go floating off to sea for the tenth time!
We were staying in one of the houses of the people who live in that area that Estella and Reah made contact with and are helping. There are three tiny bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen with an outhouse sort of building on one side, and a CR a little way off outside. (This is big for a filippino house, most of the time they have one room which they share and use for everything)
After we had changed into some dry clothes (so glad we had put them in plastic bags!) we had some tea and then went to bed shortly after as everyone goes to bed early because they don't have many lights they can put on when it gets dark, and as their days go from early morning to early evening.
The five of us girls shared they floor in one of the tiny rooms and the social workers shared a bed in the room next door. The floor wasn't exactly the most comfortable of palces to sleep, but we were all so tired that we managed to catch at least a few hours!

That's it from me! Cya soon!
Becci x

Days 23 & 24: Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th June

Well due to lack of time we've combined a few days just to let you know what we did on them. Saturday was a fairly uninteresting day compared to others but it was nice to relax with the children for a whole day. We were meant to go to the medical clinic that the church runs every Saturday morning but this was cancelled unfortunately. So we headed home and the rains started to come down. So we mainly stayed indoors with the children and they taught us traditional Filiapino games and we also played some familiar ones such as Twister (I actually played) and Memory.

Saturday evening was our Farewell party. It was a really lovely occasion. Each of the houses sang us a song as did the house mothers. Songs that were particularly moving were Amazing Grace (one of my favourites) and Friends are friends forever, if the Lord is the Lord of them (sang by the housemothers). The children played games in order to answer questions about each of us and Becci & I were tested on our Tagalog. We didn't do that well and for every time we got something wrong one of the girls was allowed to draw on our faces with lipstick. When we got something right we were able to put lipstick on the girls. I ended up looking like I had war paint on me whilst Becci looked quite hippy like. We sang wide, wide as the ocean again, presented them all with gifts and made short farewell speeches. Then we all had dinner together and took group photos. A very moving occasion that produced tears in the eyes of both Becci & myself.

Sunday was similar to previous Sundays with the services all being in Tagalog. However the morning Bible study was on different types of church governance and parts of it were in english so we could understand. We had dinner with the church members this time and then retreated into the library again to finish our books. It's been quite nice as different members have come and chatted to us and today was no exception. After the evening service we had church fellowship at the manse and this time the three American girls gave their testimonies. After that we ate balut. And here is what it is - a half formed embryonic duck with beak, feathers etc. You get it in an egg and you are supposed to drink the fluid and eat the contents. Thank goodness it was dark so we didn't see the contents of what we were eating. It didn't look pleasant but we downed it nonetheless. The taste was................ hard to describe but similar i suppose to a normal chicken egg. We had a large group of spectators delighted at the fact that we were trying one of their specialities. Would I eat it again.............not really sure.

A good two days. Luv Sarah

Day 22: Friday 23rd June

Friday we had a leisurely morning helping out in the office, finishing reports and cutting out hundreds of paper shapes as well as doing a bit of tidying of our room and some washing.
After lunch Ate Fe took us to pick up some of the children from school.
As there are so many children who want to go to school here and only limited teachers and resources the day is split into two sessions with half of the children going to school from six to lunchtime and the others doing from lunch until about five or six in the evening.
We got stared at by most of the people there but the girls were pleased to see us and insisted on introducing us to their friends and showing us their classrooms. After that we were dropped of at the CCM office so that we could video an interview with Kuya Arnel, the director of CCM. As Sarah didn't bring her tripod I had to hold the camera so my arm was aching by the time we finished!
We then headed of to Gateway to get some presents for the children. When we had asked Ate Mai what we should get she told us to get socks and umbrellas, so we ended up getting 21 pairs of socks and 15 umbrellas!! I think the staff of the shop thought we were strange, they kept telling us that there was 15 umbrellas and seemed shocked we when said that that was right! We also got hats for the two smallest girls as they don't need either sock or umbrellas and presents for each house and little things for the housemothers and social workers.
Although when we left the office we thought we had too much time to shop we ended up taking about three hours getting those things and got back to the office just in time!
We took a jeepney back to Masinag and it was the most scary jeepney ride I have ever had! (not that I've had that many!) The driver was a maniac! Both he and the person who sits in the front seat and takes the money kept asking us questions, such as "Are you american?" (which got confusing as we were with the American girls and one of the girls from Hope house, so there were two English, three American and one Fillipino!) and then in reponse to our answer, "Where's England?" so I resigned myself to the fact that we would be refered to as Americans for the journey! I think they were talking about us at one point as well, because I kept hearing the word 'Americano'. They obviously felt confident enough that we didn't speak the language to talk about us whilst we were still there!
But we got home in one piece, had dinner in Hebron and then went to bed!

Day 21, Thursday 22nd June

So we are now a week to go before leaving and time seems to have flown by. And now being here for so long we are attached to the Philippines and the people and don't really want to leave them all. But our own little island is also very much on our hearts and we do look forward to returning also!

By now for what we did on Thursday. One of the social workers decided to take us on a visit to see one of the families of the CCM girls. The girl was a 14 year old called Angela, who was taken into care on account of her being one of 10 children and her parents could not afford to keep her. However she still visits them regularly. The family live in a squatter area which is located very near to a large dump. And it is at this dump that the father tries to find work savaging. Everything has to be sifted through to get out all plastics, metals etc and then try and get some money for them. The only problem is that wages are low and work comes one day and not another. The father told us he made about 1.60 the previous day but today there was no work for him. The dump has been named Smokey Mountain and we were taken then to see it. Its not exactly a pleasant sight and even more disturbing to see the people practically living next to it. An amusing thing however was that they didn't want visitors to see it without a special permit from the major of the city. Then should we get that we would get a special orientation regarding the rubbish pile and get a guided tour round it. On top of that when we eventually found a side route in, they didn't want us taking photos of it. Bizzare I know! The homes were strewn with litter and there were flies everywhere. Disease is more prevalent here.

After we finished viewing this mountain as they call it we headed back to the office. From there Becci & I went over to Faith House where I did my second devotion to the older girls. They seemed to understand what I was getting at. After that we headed over to the church for our last drop in centre. This is something we really have enjoyed helping with as most other things the church does, we can't really participate because of language barriers. Prayers were answered when around 100 people showed up again (despite the fact that the law I mentioned last week is still in place). The street people simply move in a circle when the police hassle them and are in the area. Becci did some filming of some of the street children that CCM is putting through school. There are 10 of them and so far they have lasted 3 weeks. Its a really big deal for these kids because they live on the streets (unlike the other sponsered children who at least have a roof over them in a slum). Therefore the parents have to be educated about the concepts of washing, uniforms, timetables and assignments and this is all made extra difficult as they are on the streets. A lot of their stuff such as uniforms often goes missing or is stolen and so these children require more money to replace items. They will eventually all get sponsors. Please pray they will remain in school and not drop out.

Once the drop in centre was done, we had a meal together and then we got a jeepney home again.

Day 20, Wednesday 21st June

Wednesday was supposed to be our day off but in our opinion we already spend most of our time here 'having a rest', so after breakfast we went to the office to ask if there were any jobs that they wanted us to do and they gave us some, (well, Sarah had two, and I had four), reports to edit. These reports were either progress or incident reports about the children in the homes that were going to the children's sponsors in England. We had to check that the spellings were right, (so I don't know why they asked me!), and that the sentences made sense, basically making sure that it was good English and that someone in England would be able to understand what they had written!

But before I could get all of mine finished we had to head off out.

Ate Vergie, (one of the social workers based at the homes), took us to visit the home of one of the girls, Remy. Her mother lives in a squatter area some distance from Masinag so we got a crowded train, (like the underground, but above the road), and a jeepney and had to walk a little way before we got there. Remy's mother has learning difficulties and so is deemed unfit to look after children. She has other children but they are cared for by a different organisation. Both the mother and the father would rather that all the children were cared for by a Catholic organisation, but as Remy was refered to CCM she will now stay there. Only Remy's mother was in when we got there and apparently she never goes out but stays in the small dark room all the time. Ate Vergie talked with her for a little while and gave her some bananas as a gift. When we looked around the room, which was pitifully bare, we noticed that there were three cockroaches in one corner (big ones too!), and although I'm sure this is common throughout the community we had not seen anything like that before and it really brought it home what a dirty, disease-ridden area they live in.

Having just seen that we then went and experienced a very different way of living, when we went back to Megamall. This felt a little odd after what we had just seen, but it's shocking how quickly you can forget.

It took us a little longer to find the right place this time as Ate Vergie didn't know what shop we were talking about and then we had some difficulty finding it (the mall really is that big!) But eventually we ended up in the right place and were able to finish shopping for presents.

We had to get an even more crowded train back to Cubao and it was a squezze getting everyone in, dispite being in the compartment reserved for only women, children and the elderly. But we got there and made our way to the church for the prayer meeting.

We were there too early for the meeting and so were able to have a rest in the library before it started.

After the prayer meeting we gave all our bags to Ate Fe, who was going back in the van, whilst we stayed to help with the street outreach. We met some of the street people we had met the last time we did the outreach, but they were in a slightly different place. We also met some new people, one of whom was a nine month old baby (whose name changed each time we asked so I'm not sure about the name!) and her mother. Although a little unsure by the five white faces at first, (the American girls were also with us), she soon gave us a big grin which was lovely to see. We also met one of the girls who is being put through school by CCM and we got shown her lovely yellow uniform. Although I would love to have stayed and helped more there is not much we can do really, as we don't speak Tagalog and they speak very little English, so after a short while we got a jeepney back to Masinag and headed off to bed.

Day 19, Tuesday 20th June

Well Tuesday was another interesting day as we were introduced to the Livelihood projects that the church runs. As well as caring for children, they also try to help the parents towards a better living. One part of the project is the giving of low interest loans to people to start up small businesses and the other part is skills training and actually employing people to do certain things. The skills training takes place at certain times of the year in things like cooking, sewing, welding, computers and card making. Then for two days a week the church employs 10 people to come and make professional cards which they will then sell to make some sort of a living. The cards are absolutely amazing. Sadly they cannot sell in the Philippines due to prices being so low. So the church is hoping that they will be sold in England and the US, through the churches, where their price will be significantly lower in comparison to the shops. They make them for all occasions, particularly Christmas.

The problem is that they can only employ 10 people over 2 days when they would like to employ more. The problem is that the people are becoming faster and more experienced in making them and more cards are being produced than can be sold at the moment. So they have had to limit how many are made, until the project is suffciently advertised. What they really want is people to buy the cards not out of pity for the people but because they are good cards. Ideally they want some stability for the people and therefore are looking for around 30-40 churches (or groups/individuals) to make regular commitments to purchase cards. Thus the project will not collapse after a few years. Becci & I are bringing a sizeable amount of cards back to the UK to sell so please ask us when we get back about them. They are going to cost 75p for 2 cards. If you like them, more can be ordered.

So Matthew, an english missionary here who works alongside CRBC with street people, took us to see the project and asked us to give any suggestions about designs. He then showed us the rag making project which is a product that can be sold in the Philippines. However it is at a very low cost. Members of the church supervise all these people and get alongside them to build relationships and ultimately share the gospel with them. As a result there are over 10 Bible Studies going on and some of the people come to church. The church seems to have got a healthy balance between their social work and their spiritual work.

After viewing the projects we headed back to Matthew's for pizza and fellowship. Matthew has been working out here in the Philippines for 3 years. Before that he did several short term trips out here. The church that sent him was Trinity Baptist Church in Gloucester. It was Matthew who had the vision for the drop in centre and set it up. He has a real love for the people here which is very moving and it was really interesting to hear about his work. He is coming to the UK for 2 months in October so perhaps some people in UK might be able to meet him.

Then we were taken to a Mega Mall to do a bit of souvenir shopping. After that we had lunch at Hope House and then came back to join in a devotion that the housemothers were leading in Emmaus. Again a very inspiring and moving day.

Luv Sarah

Day 18 - Monday 19th June

Well Monday was a day spent at the CCM office, with the social workers, where we were put to good use. We headed over to the office in the morning after saying goodbye to Pastor & Mrs Tripp. It has been a truly amazing experience getting to know them and one feels like we now have a set of Christian grandparents. Pastor Tripp gave a moving morning devotion for the staff before he left which we were allowed to sit in on. In that devotion he warned against grumbling, complaining, revenge and slander and brought out of the Bible passage that instead we should love, judge fairly and build each other up. In total they have given 32 hours teaching to the people here over the last 10 days , stayed up late, and lost their voices numerous occasions and now they are in India to do more of the same. Apparently Pastor Tripp is fully booked for the next 5 years in terms of international engagements.

At the office wewere subsequently given reports to edit, lists to update and write up neatly, spreadsheets to be completed and tables to be drawn in several of their books. Becci was given the tasks of checking reports. Reports are sent out to all the sponsors of the children, on their progress, if there are problems and if they are dropped from the program for some reason. They like to have people from the countries in question (US, UK and Australia) to check them for the right vocabularly, sentance structure and grammer. There are slight differences which they really want to get right. The tasks took us up to lunchtime and we shared lunch with the staff. There are 10 CCM staff that work in this office though they are not all in at once. Our tasks continued into the evening with a short break for ice cream as it was one of the girls birthdays. She was 23 and its the tradition in the Philippines that the birthday person brings in food to share. One of the older girls brought Becci & myself back to the children's homes via a jeepney. Again it was jammed packed and blasting out Michael Jackson and horrible fumes at the same time. I ended up with a live chicken sitting at my feet in a box which was amusing.

As soon as we got back we had to bolt down our dinner before it was finally time for me to do my first devotion for the children. This devotion has been put off for different reasons for a week or so and now unfortunately i only had about half an hour to collect my thoughts and calm myself before I had to begin. We sang 'wide wide as the ocean with them again' and then i explained the parable of the lost son to them (with the help of visuals Becci had drawn me) and then made a few simple points about it. I ended with prayer and then the children sang the welcome song to three new visitors that arrived today from the US. Their names are Abigail & Amelia Spinney and their friend Jennifer. They are all 17-18 years old and its their first time abroad. They arrived last week but had to wait for Pastor & Mrs Tripp to leave before there was room at the homes for them. So now we have them as neighbours which will be interesting as 5 girls vie for the bathroom in the morning. But it will all work out well I'm sure. We have been moved into the Tripps room at their request, since it has air conditioning and they said they wanted us to experience it a bit before we left. So after the devotion we retreated back to a very cool room and called it a night. All in all, a good and profitable day.

God Bless. Love Sarah

Day 17, Sunday 18th June

Well its our 3rd Sunday here in the Philippines and it truely feels like we've been here only a few days. The day was pretty much like our first Sunday with the usual get down for breakfast at 7 am to leave at 7.30 when in fact we ended up leaving nearer 8 am for a 9 am start (it only takes 15 mins to get to the church). We thought we had Filapino time sussed as being always half an hour late but it really seems that the only rule we can see is that the time that they say to be somewhere or to start something, that is the time it is definately not going to be. A mystery indeed! The services were again in Tagalog but we were given notes in the morning which were in english. Pastor Mon took the subject of church unity and peace for the bible class and then in the main sermon he preached on Colossians 2 v 1-10 and the call to christians to not be decieved by hollow and deceptive philosophy, which seeks to undermine the sufficiency of Christ (namely that he is totally sufficient for everything we need as he is God and Sovereign ruler of all). The evening service was taken from 1 Peter 1 v 16 and the call from God to "be holy as I am holy". Unfortunately that is all I understood because there were no notes and it was completely in Tagalog. But I pray that the words spoken would bless the congregation that heard it. Becci and I spent the afternoon reading in the library again and also chatting with members of the congregation. After the evening service we went back to the CCM office to have after church fellowship. Becci and I were asked to give our testimonies as Richard did last week but it was a smaller group this time and comprised of the older girls from the two CCM Homes, Faith and Hope House (as well as Pastor Ellis). And it was interesting that afterwards some of the girls had questions to ask of us - such as the reason why we became Christians and also why did people mock our faiths and scorn at them. It was a good opportunity for Pastor Ellis to carry on from there to explain things further to them. After that we came back to the CCM homes for dinner. Another day has sped buy! It's going too fast! Luv Sarah

Day 15 - Friday 16th June

Friday was another busy-but-not-very-interesting-to-write-about day! So don't expect this to be very long!!
We spent the whole day in Masiang (that is how you really spell Macena, but we never saw it written down until the other day!), which was quite relaxing after the busy few days before (shopping is hard work you know!).
We had been asked to sort out and organise the library in any spare time that we had, so we made the most of not having anything else planned, and the peace and quite whilst the children were at school, to get on with this job. Sarah did most of the work I have to say, I was busy making sure that the few children who were 'helping' us didn't disrupt our nicely oraginsed heaps of books! I did do some work I promise! Sarah was making a list of all the recently aquired books on the computer, wherever possible in catagories. (She's better at that sort of thing than me, she's more organised than me!!!)
That took all morning, until we were called for lunch in Galilee with everyone who had stayed in the homes. Can't remember what we had but I'm pretty sure that there was rice in it somewhere and I know that it tasted good because nearly everything does here! (I say nearly everything because I'm not really a fan of liver, which seems to surface fairly often!)
After lunch I went and read one of my many books in our room, whilst Sarah prepared her devotion for the older girls downstairs. After I'd finished my book I started drawing some pictures for Sarah's devotion for the younger girls, on the prodigal son. I decided to sit outside on the roof because it was a nicer temperature out there than in the room. Then Sarah came back up and helped me finish them off, until we were joined by some of the girls who had come up to sort out tables and chairs for the Tripps farewell party.
We then spent some time playing with them until it was time for the party.
Each of the houses sang a song for the Tripps and the housemothers did one all together. Inbetween each song the children were asked various questions about Pastor and Mrs Tripp, such as; 'how many children do they have?' (3), 'how many grandchildren?' (7), and 'What is Pastor Tripp's full name?' This last question caused some confusion as I don't think anyone had asked him and a lot of the girls were just changing the title Mr? Dr? Pastor? but they got it eventually! The girls who got the question right would recieve a prize of sweets.
The Tripps then taught everyone a song about Moses, and Pastor Tripp gave a small speech saying thanks. Then we had some food, which unfortuately included liver!!! but the rest of it was really nice! We had this gorgeous sort of frozen cake sort of dessert thing, which had mango in (my new favourite fruit!) It was really, really nice and so I had 2 (small) pieces!
Then it was time for bed, for a good night's sleep in preparation for another busy day on Saturday!
That's it! Hope you're still awake! (if not you can wake up now, it's over!)
ttfn Becci x

Day 16 - Saturday 17th June

Saturday was another early start as we needed to be at Higher Rock Church, where we were holding the seminar for 8 so that we could register everyone before 9! So that meant leaving the homes at 7 (which meant that we had to be up about 6 in order to b ready and have had breakfast!), so that we could get to the meeting place, and then drive to the church, picking up everyone else on the way!
We arrived at the church just after 8, were put to work straight away Sarah helping sort out those who had pre-registered and me with those who were registering there and then. Pretty soon were swamped with people to register! About 400 people came and we had to try and get them all registered in an hour! Our job was made a little difficult because we found it hard to understand people's accents in the noisy hall, even if they spoke English! Fortunately we were not on our own and the social workers, (who were also cting as ushers for the day), managd to keep things running smothly!
We joined everyone else in the main hall for the seminar, which was split into six sessions and was basically what we had heard Pastor Tripp speak on at the other talks and seminars. During the first break we helped sort out the remaining few people who had not yet been regitered, because they arrived late and at lunchtime we helped to hand out the lunches (Chicken and rice!).
Everything seemed to go really well, and we left Pastor Tripp, (who nearly lost his voice he was doing that much talking!), signing hundreds of copies of his book, 'Shepherding A Child's Heart', to go back to Masinag for dinner.
We played with some of the girls for a bit and then went to bed to recover from all those early mornings s that we would be refreshed and ready for Sunday!
Hope you appreciate my attempts to make the blog more colourful!
ttfn
Becci x

Day 12: Tuesday 13th June- Visiting Tagatay

Thankfully Tuesday didn't start as early as Monday! We set off from the homes at about eight, with a short stop at Pastor Ellis' house to exchange some of our money, and picking Richard up on the way.
It was about an hours drive to our destination, a volcano situated in the middle of lake Taal. However we had plenty of entertainment as, as well as the usual accompaniment of some of the housemothers, (which today included Ate Fae, Ate Mai, Ate Janet, and Ate Gina), we were also joined by two of the younger children from the homes, Claire, who is four, and Chelly-Joy (not Cherry-Joy as we first thought- it's short for Rachel-Joy), who is three! Although they slept for the first part of the journey the last part was made more interesting by them singing us various songs, in both English and Tagalog, and by them shouting out of the window. Ate Gina translated for us and apparently they were shouting about it being a beautiful place! Chely-Joy also kept shouting '' every time we passed a cow!
The drive took us up and down hills and through pineapple plantations. When we reached the top of the last hill, before beginning to head down to the shore of the lake, there was a fantastic view down to the lake and the volcano. This was where we picked up the person who would arrange our boat trip across the lake to the volcano, so that we coluld climb up it.
Before crossing the lake we had KFC for lunch, and we discovered that Richard is Superman!!!!! (or at least that he looks like the pictures of superman (from the new film) that were on the cups that we had our drinks in!)
We had to wear life jackets for the boat journey, but they only had one size and the little girls were swamped by them! But they looked soooo cute and we had to take photos!
Once we got to the shore of the volcano the locals tried to persuade us to take horse ride up to the top, or buy one of the many things they had on offer, but we were determined to walk up and we already had everything that we needed!
The children were left at the bottom with Ate Mai, which was probably just as well because it was quite a steep climb to the top of one of the craters! The soil was hot and in some places there was steam coming off the rocks!
It was well worth the climb though, a fantastic view out across the lake, and down into the crater itself. (Sorry! I keep metioning the views don't I? but they are fab!!!!!) We took lots of pictures, (which don't really capture what it's really like), and debated about who had taken the most artistic picture so far!
After a short rest we then climbed back down to the bottom, which took about half the time it took to get up there, despite Ate Fae taking us down the wrong turning! Then back across the lake in the boat, having met back up with Ate Mai and the children, and a short drive to 'The People's Park in the Sky'
This is a park, (surprisingly enough!), which is perched at the top of a hill so that you can see for miles and miles and miles! More fantastic views! From this vantage point we could see, among other things, the volcano that we had just climbed up. There was a children's play park there so we admired the view and waited while the girls had a play. It wasn't long before Richard joined them, chasing them round, and in and out of a giant plastic pineapple! Both Claire and Chelly-Joy found this highly entertaining, (as did we!), even though it nearly ended in tears! (This was not Richard's fault, by the way!)
We did a bit of souviner shopping, and the housemothers brought lots of bananas and pineapples, then we headed back to the girls homes with Chelly-Joy and Claire both sitting on Richard's knee!
Sarah was supposed to have led a devotion that night, but we got back later than intended and so it was moved to another day and we just had a quick meal in the Hebron house (instead of Emmaus like usual), and then went of to bed!
Right! Sorry that took me so long to finish that Sarah has already done Wednesday!
ttfn Becci x

Day 14 - Thursdays 15th June - Farewell Richard

Well today was the day that Richard ended his time here in the Philippines. It's amazing how quickly these past two weeks have gone. We headed to the church again in the morning to listen to Pastor Tripps seminar again until around 11.30. Then we had some lunch and headed off to the airport with Richard. Unfortunately we were only able to stay with him for 2 mins as the parking guard wanted us to move. However we were not allowed in the terminal so it didn't really matter. He had to be there 3 hours before his flight. Then we headed back to the church for a final half hour of Pastor Tripps seminar. Afterwards there was a church meeting regarding the conference this Saturday where it seems Becci & I will be involved with the registration and also being ushers. Good thing they all will speak english. After the meeting we headed to the CCM office to check email before the drop in centre began at 6.30 again. We had our first trip in a tricycle which was fun. Its a small carriage attached to a motorbike which takes you around and can fit two people in it. As its so low to the floor you do feel a lot more bumps and pollution in your face but yet another fun ride and experience!

The drop in centre routine was the same as last week but numbers were low this evening. We had about 70 as supposed to the 110 last week. And it was soon related to us that the police and the MMDA (Metro Manila Development Agency) had put in a new rule - no street people are allowed to sleep in Cubao. If they are found they will be moved on, if they resist they will be arrested. Subsequently there were many sad tales to be told. The street people have absolutely nowhere to go. They cannot even go in the side streets and its too far to walk to the next town. Many, Pastor Ellis said, will go underground for a few days, hide under bridges and try and wait it out, until attitudes change. However this is supposedly the most inflexible rule yet and the police are showing no leeway. One man came in asking for painkillers as the police had beaten him up. Another regular at the drop in centre was in jail, for throwing a rock at one of the policemen when he fired his gun in the air to try and move the people on. Several are resisting so fights are breaking out. As we walked back that evening we say people waiting on concrete blocks to see if the police were gone and then perhaps they could try to get some sleep. Pastor Ellis's only comfort was that at least the police don't shoot them outright as they do in Mexico and Brazil, where street people often just dissapear. However since the police here carry guns, perhaps thats not too far away either.

The problem is that the authorities are trying to give the city a better image, particularly in light of the new posh mall. Shop keepers in particular want the street people gone as they are bad for business. And admitted some of the street people are into drugs, prostitution and theft. But the great majority are simply trying to survive on the streets with their families and aren't doing anything wrong. Please pray for the church here as they do not know how to advise these homeless people on the current situation. They want to help but also to keep within the law. Please pray that this law will be lifted or relaxed in the next few days. If it stays in place it puts the churches ministry to these people and the drop in centre itself in question.

Another sad event which we saw on our way home was a dreadful accident just near the children's home. A big articulated truck going down a hill had lost its brakes and crumpled into a motobike and the back of a jeepney, killing around 8 people. We didn't witness the event or the immediate aftermath but heard about it and saw the crushed vehicles later on. A sobering reminder that life can be taken from you so quickly, wherever you are. Therefore as Proverbs 3 5 says Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

Take care everyone. Luv Sarah

Day 13 - Wednesday 14th June

Wednesday was a less active day compared to the previous two days of trips/outings. Pastor Ted Tripp was giving seminars over the Tues/Wed/Thurs for the pastors in the Manila area so we went down to the church in the morning to join Richard and listen to them for a bit. We also had some stuff we wanted Richard to take back to the UK for us so we had to get hold of some scales to check his luggage weight. He was just in the limit!

The church has a library (very nicely air conditioned) where the talks were broadcast from the main room so we could listen without taking anyone's place. We helped for a bit in preparing lunch for the pastors (rice again - what a surprise!) before heading down to the mall to buy ourselves lunch. We keep asking if there are things we can do but its a well oiled machine here and often they just tell us to rest! So as it was Richards last full day they encouraged us on this occasion to head to the mall to do some shopping.

The mall we headed to was called Gateway, the one we have been to several times before. Unfortunately its like any other mall we would have at home - it doesn't stock exclusively Filiapino products but day to day stuff. So you kind of wander around but don't buy much. We found a few unique things however including a lovely little Filiapino Christian bookshop which we spent a lot of time in. Almost everything there was stocked in english which was nice. And again the prices everywhere were so cheap. You may disaprove but we ate at Burger King for lunch. But at such prices such as 1 pound 25p for a whole meal, you can't resist, come on! We spent a few hours there before heading back to the church in time for the end of the seminar. Then we all headed back to the homes for dinner (including the Tripps). We spent a few hours with the children before heading back again to the church for the evening prayer meeting. This time it was unfortunately all in Tagalog. But we were able to understand the prayer requests.

The church particularly prayed for its sunday services (including the 4 churches it has planted) and for the main seminar that Pastor Tripp will give this coming Saturday. They are expecting around 300 people to come and so they have hired out a bigger building. Pastor Tripp is going to speak from 9am to 4pm that day. As you can imagine he has had quite a busy schedule but the people here are so appreciative of his teaching. He has done sessions all day Friday, Saturday, preached Sunday evening and did after church fellowship, whole day seminars Tue-Thurs and then all day Sat and all day Sunday. Please pray that God will sustain him in his preaching and give him the wisdom in what to say. He says he's fairly brain dead after most sessions but seems to come back each day with a great freshness and zeal which is fantastic to see. He's given each of us here a copy of his book "Shepherding a childs heart" so that will be nice to read.

A relatively quiet day but nice! Take care everyone. Love Sarah