UPDATE!!!

Sorry we havnt updated this in a while. its been crazy busy. its GO GO GO all day then dinner and asleep by 9:30 when we get home :D

So we have done alot in the past week. (Sorry for the length but i want to mention everything)

Wednesday and Thursday: We helped teach the kids at Bright Lights; which is a school for children who have been forced out of normal school due to financial and other reasons. We listened to Tagolo and tried to learned tagolo but had to still speak in english. Its funny how much body language and hand signals comes in to play in communicating cross-culturally. Thursday also, Rick Bell (our host) decided it would be good for us to just drop us off outside his house and we had to find our way to the school.... yeah. it was super hott. we ended up walking to Junction, which is a major intersection, and then hopping on a jeepney for there but it was still like a 20 min walk.

Also Thursday we learned all about riding on jeepneys and the marketplace actually from the Bright lights students. Then those students took us by jeepney to a local mall where we tried HALO HALO (mix mix) which is like coconut milk,fruit, veggies and shaved ice. Nolan, jared and i dont like it. Katie and Dana thought it was ok, and im not sure about matt.

Friday: we painted the church in the Squatter Community of San Buena. Alot of the Bright lights students come from this community, and it is very very very poor. The whole scene looked like one of those compassion commercial; it was surreal to me. Some of the children helped paint this church building (no bigger than maybe 30 feet by 15 feet) and it was HOTT!! you seriously have to carry around a sweat rag and no one looks at you weird for doing it. Dana ended up getting a little heat sick, so she went early but the rest of us were there from like 8am-4/5pm.

Later that night we host a FINDING NEMO movie night for the children of San Buena and there were maybe 150-200 of them. it was in english but it didnt matter. They laughed and mauled us when we had popcorn and fell asleep in our laps. Dana Gave a message about Gods love and how he seeks after us (via translator) and she did very well.

Saturday: We had a sort of Rest day/not really. We ended up going out with the churchs youth group to a water park called manilla east. the funny thing was this was the only day so far that it had actually decided to seriously rain ;). But it was fun to just swim in the rain and get to the know the youth. there was a wave pool and it was AWESOME.

Later that night we had the youth over for a pizza and message/discussion. The pizza was round table and the messages were good. katie, nolan and i gave a brief message and then broke into small discussion group to talk about the ways that God is working in their lives. it went very well.

Sunday: We went to the Cells Alive church, which is where the school is and Rick Bell is Co-Pastor. Nolan and Matt played a song, dana gave her testimony and katie, Jared and I helped in the sunday School. We then rode by jeepney. solo, to the mall and had filipino fast food at a place called Chowking. Then we went back to the church for YOUTH ALIVE, the churches youth group. We played a game called Bear, hunter,girl. its kinda like rock,paper,scissors meets tag. but that was super fun. and then katie gave her testimony and jared preached. it was amazing. for worship we actually sang like Hillsong, so we knew all the words, which was cool. Nolan got his hair cut after (it was super long), now it is super short and he looks like he did when they came to the philippines the first time :D

Monday-Tuesday/today: The girls and boys split up. it was kinda sadd. we had all just spent so much time together. Us girls went to a Baby adoption home/birthing center, and the boys went to a boys childrens home. The girls are staying at the Bells still (hence where i am writing this) but the boys are at the home till wednesday afternoon, so we shall see them tomorrow. From here on out in this entry it will be just about the girls, since all we know about the guys via text is that they are doing good.

The baby home is amazing. the kids are sooo cute. there are two babys: jm(john-michael) and Simon. Then a few 1-2 year olds named: Diane,Roi, Harry, Calvin. then there is the cutest little girl named Bernadette who is 3. then there are a few 4 year old named: Senon, and the twins Dennis and Ray. They are all so cute. dennis punched my in the lip though haha. Ray is very happy. Senon is incredable loveable and was the first child i got to know because i carried him on a little walk(he also has serible palsey and has trouble walking). Bernadette is ...just cute. seriously. harry and Roi just waddle. Calvin is a trouble maker. Diane is super shy and will barely play with us. Jm has the weirdest most infectious laugh, and simon has a big open smile, but also suffers from a extreme club foot and must where a cast.

Funny story. We got super lost on the way to the home today. we took the wrong jeepney and ended up in the backroads of Tai Tai for like an hour. When we got to a random place i recongnized we just walked to the home. it was like 2 miles uphill. took us forever. in some rain. but we did it. CAUSE WE ARE AWESOME. but everyone is making fun of us now and we have many cell numbers to call in case we get lost again :D

We are drinking plenty of water, but are not really in need of sunscreen since its monsoon season. It randomly rains and rain hards and i love it. We havnt got ripped off yet.we got lost, but found our way with little/no help. We havnt had any major fights, nolan got his hair cut, we communed with some youth, got soaked, got sweaty, and we are having an AMAZING TIME!!!

Peace out and we will try to be more regular in our updates.

Cynthia

ps. We have some sample pictures up but i havnt figured out how yet on this site so they are on our facebook page http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58848963916