Well we have only been on the ground for about 5 days now, and it feels like its been a month. We have hit the ground running to the different “areas of need” as we like to call them. I will try to give just a brief snapshot of life over the past 5 days, and as we begin to process these encounters more I am sure more in depth accounts will be posted here.
Monday
Ethan single-handedly holds up an entire 747 filled with over 400 passengers. There was a mix up in the booking and we were supposed to have received a paper ticket for Ethan to board the plane from Detroit to Japan. The travel agency never gave us this ticket and so as we sorted out the issue all the passengers aboard the plane had to wait. As if that wasn’t bad enough, our seats were in the very back of the plane so we had to feel the stares of all the passengers as we walked by.
Tuesday
We were in the air and losing 13 hours by crossing the International Date Line.
Wednesday
The kids didn’t sleep cause their schedules were completely backwards, but it didn’t stop them from enjoying their first day in the Philippines. The day we spent running errands and getting settled in at the house. The house is very nice, there is plenty of room for all 15 of us, and we actually get our own room. Wednesday night the team hit the bars of Calapandayan and Barretto. I stayed home with the kids while Rachel made her presence known with some of the girls in Barretto (an up date will be coming for this some time I am sure). I tweeted that night, “Its weird saying goodbye to you wife knowing that when she returns she will not be the same.” I think this trip will be filled with moments like this where we are forced to change or be crushed by the weight of this burden.
Thursday
We spend Thursday out in the mountains near Olongapo. We hiked to find a river where we could swim, and along the way brushed up on our Tagalog with the natives known as the Aete. This was a different group of Aete than who we previously visited, however they were just as friendly and as much fun to spend time with. Moriah and Ethan loved the water of course, and we look forward to spending more time out there with Chief Jimmy and his family.
Friday
I sometimes forget how difficult it is to conduct business here in the Philippines. Something as simple as getting connected to the Internet takes a half of a day somehow. I am not complaining though, I still enjoy the pace of life, talking with the other people waiting and the AC units that most of these businesses keep cranked on high. But not all work stopped just because I was taking care of business. The rest of the team spent the morning in another one of our areas of need known as Pag-Asa, a slum area of Olongapo. The team met some really great people and took down the names and the needs of the people there. By Friday night, the kids were about halfway adjusted to the time change; they were sleeping from about 4pm to 2am. So Rachel and I would just stay up with them in our room keeping them entertained.
Saturday
The team split up on Saturday with they guys going to visit the men up on the SBMA (former Military base) who work for Hanjin, while the girls visited the YWAM center in Olongapo. Hanjin is a Korean shipping company who has recently built the 4th largest shipyard in the world right here in Subic Bay. They employ over 18,000 people, and underpay most all of them. We made contact with several applicants being sent home due to illnesses they were unaware they had. (Another article will be written on this topic too) The YWAM facility here works specifically with women who worked in the bars. It was good to gain more perspective from people who are here doing things to help these endangered guardians of life (AKA the trafficked women of the Philippines).
Sunday
The kids slept until 4am this morning, almost back on schedule. Today we spent the day hanging out with families at the beach. Ethan was a hit, with dozens of children hovering around him touching his skin. Moriah also attracted a crowd, but was too timid to make friends until right before we left.
As you can tell this has been an incredibly busy week, and tomorrow we start it all over again. Keep praying for us as we make this transition. We are really enjoying our time, despite dealing with the heat and humidity, and things will only get better as our bodies get adjusted, and we make more friends. God Bless!
. But over time I began to hear things differently and have become accustomed to using better listening skills so as to assure communication.