First Week!

Sorry it's been a while since I updated this! So be prepared for a very long post! :P As many of you know, I've been very tired (and still am) and also a bit homesick.

On Thursday as I mentioned, I went to Ron and Joanna's for lunch and got given my schedule. On the way back it absolutely tipped it down with rain – I had never seen so much fall all at once! It honestly was like a river running down the window pane. It was warm rain though so it was actually very refreshing to walk through! Then when I got back I went shopping with Maureen to get a few things like towels that I hadn't brought with me.

On Friday Maureen and I went to help at the New School where they had a dental mission. The children got looked at by one of the army people to decide what needed doing, and then joined a queue for either 'extraction' or 'filling'. Then at 10am we were taken on a tour of the PCF sites in Navotas (the cemetery) and the Smokey Mountain dumpsite. After that we returned to the Condo as I had started to get very tired. I spent the evening replying to emails and talking to my family on Skype!

PCF Water Filter Station on Smokey Mountain

Birthing Clinic

One of the 3 toilet blocks that PCF has set up on the dump

I was very surprised to see a snooker table, but it makes sense. The people are wonderfully resourceful and try to repair everything that comes in in the trash, so there were even TVs etc. that they had managed to repair and could then use to earn a bit of an income!

Flies!!

I just love their smiles. And they are ALWAYS smiling!

One of the trucks

This is in Navotas now. A lot of the houses are built over the river. It's scary to see such young children walking about - it really is not safe at all, yet that is where they live!

Dogs and animals of all sorts were a common sight

The graves and coffins that they are living around

Saturday started with us helping with the feeding in Tondo. The children sat in the main room and sung a few songs and prayed before going through in batches to the dining room to be fed. It is so lovely and warming to the heart to see little children of all ages worshipping! Especially considering the conditions they live in, yet they always greet you with a smile and a wave and a big 'Hello'! That's what makes this work worthwhile. By 11am we had finished helping with that, and Maureen had gone home to rest, so I sat down and waited for the youth to come, as we were leaving at 12.30 to go to Ron and Joanna's for a fun and fellowship day.

I had my first experience of Filipino time and travel though, and there were many complications with the different transport they were trying to use, ending in us not being picked up until 4pm! It was quite a challenge as we were stood in the boiling heat by the side of the road for at least 3 of the 5 hours, and although the youth are lovely and do their best to make me feel welcome, they don't speak very good English (some better than others) and for the most part were talking in Tagalog between themselves. Plus, if you know me, you know that I can't stand up for any length of time without getting very tired very quickly! Still, the transport did arrive and by 5pm we were at Ron and Joanna's.

We had a lovely evening. The youth swam in the pool while we (Ron, Joanna and I) watched and then later on Ron got out his guitar and we sung a few songs. We left theirs at 10.30, and so I didn't get back until 11.30pm.

Joanna, and some of the youth!

Any guesses for the flavours of this icecream?

A lovely young girl called Andrea. She is very sweet and welcoming!

Sunday I had a very busy day! We went to Tondo in time for 9 (which means leaving the condo at 8) and then I was playing the flute in the Worship Group. It was really nice to be able to play the flute again, although it was strangely different and I think the heat definitely affects how I need to play!! (sorry if that last sentence doesn't make any sense ;-)). Then I was helping with Rosemae's Sunday School class aged 7-8. Again, it was all in Tagalog and the children didn't understand a word of English, but it was still fun. After that it was time to help with feeding again. PCF church do this feeding 3 times a week, and it is vital for the children who will almost definitely not get enough food at home. They are praying about developments to be able to feed the children every day, so watch this space!

After feeding, I quickly had a bowl of whatever it was they were eating, before driving to Navotas. In Navotas I taught piano for 2 hours which was a challenge not knowing how much English they could actually understand! They seemed to enjoy it though and they did really well. At 3pm I then helped with the Kids' Church in Navotas, and also helped in another Sunday School aged 4-6! By this point I was very tired, and starting to get a migrainey headache/sickness. At 5pm, the lovely Navotas girls who had run the kids church had invited me for some time out at the mall. I rode in a jeepney on the way there which was an interesting experience! I couldn't sit up straight, because I would bang my head on the ceiling! :-)

At the mall we looked around a few stalls, and a few of the girls bought some things, and then we went and did some karaoke (!!). I enjoyed it because the girls all have amazing voices and are wonderful to listen to, but I already had a headache, and it did just make it worse. We got back to the Navotas Church at 9 and then I was able to take some Paracetamol. So by the time I arrived back at Malate (9.40) I fortunately no longer felt ill, but instead I felt very weak and almost fainted quite a few times! Fortunately Maureen had saved me some of the food she had cooked for herself, and once I had got that inside of me I felt a lot better. And then I stayed up 'til the wee hours of the morning talking to lovely people on Facebook! :-)

Christine, Donna and Maryann on the way to the mall in the jeepney!

Me with my lovely wellies that everyone keeps making fun of ;) and Rafee and Brenda

Monday was my day off anyway, so I just spent it around the condo doing various jobs and replying to emails etc. Tuesday I was meant to be working, but I was still very tired so I just slept for most of the day, getting up in the evening to have some food and watch television with Maureen. Then I read before sleeping again. Today I should have been going in at 3pm, but Joanna suggested I miss out the teaching and just go for the youth service this evening, so I will be leaving at 5pm and hopefully getting back no later than 9.

For those who pray, please pray that I will get over this tiredness soon! I think it's a combination of accumulated tiredness over the last 7 hectic months, tiredness from culture change and the heat (!) and the jet lag. But it means that I am not really enjoying anything at the moment, because I'm just thinking about when I can next sleep. And it just augments the homesickness as well, because I am longing to have a proper night's sleep in my comfy bed at home!

Tomorrow and the next day I am helping at the PCF school, and I have no idea what I'll be doing there, but that will be from 9am-4pm. I will try and update this a little more regularly as I'm getting a little bit more into the routine of life here.

One book that I am reading at the moment that I am finding VERY helpful is 'Hinds' feet on High Places' by Hannah Hurnard. I read a chapter every day and it always has very relevant comments that speak right into my situation (sorry can't think of an alternative word right now! ;-)) and how I'm feeling at that precise moment. Yesterday, one sentence that stuck out at me was “Upheld by the Shepherd's hand and supported by His strength, she had been unconscious of either tiredness or weakness”. I am praying that I will be able to hold on to God through this very challenging time, but I know that He knows what He is doing, and He has plans for me here, even if I can't see them! And even when “I'm not holding onto Him, He is holding onto me.”.

And I really can't thank everyone enough! Those people who have messaged me or talked to me just when I needed it, you know who you are! And those people who have written me letters and sent texts or put notes in a brown envelope, thank you! God has used so many people to help me through this last week, and I know he will continue to be there for me, through everything.