back to the cold...

After a very long day, we are back in the big city of Grand Rapids. The day started out at 3:30 am in the Philippines, which was about 28 hours before we made it to the GRR airport at 6:30ish tonight. We were delayed a few hours in Chicago (our favorite airport.... at least we know our way around it by now). We are thankful for all the answered prayers on our trip and glad to be back to the cold and snowy MI, but we will miss the people that we have built relationships with while we were in the Philippines. It was a great trip that we will remember for the rest of our lives!

A bittersweet celebration

Words can not describe our day today, it was amazing. This morning we spent a lot of time at our normal post on the playground enjoying our last morning fellowshipping with the students. After lunch the celebration began.
There was a whole school farewell program for us. Each class/grade performed a song and dance for us (we even had to join the grade 2 students in their dance!). After each grade finished their performance they presented us with a gift from the class. We are blown away by the thought and generosity that went into these gifts. The dances and songs were great, it was a really fun way to spend our last afternoon together. When the program was done the students filed out, many of them giving us a hand shake, high five, or hug.
We had some free time to spend on the playground for one last afternoon before we began the farewell party with the staff. During this time we took many final pictures, said a lot of goodbyes and gave a lot of hugs.
The farewell party with the staff was one of the highlights of our trip! It began with 4 dance performances from groups of teachers (yes… their teachers dance!). They did a great job and we had a lot of laughs. We had some games mixed in too which added to the laughter. Following the games and dances each staff member had a chance to say a few words and give us a token to remember them and our great trip to the Philippines. After the gifts from this afternoon we weren’t sure if we would be able to fit everything in and we were again overwhelmed by the piles of gifts we both received. We were also very touched by their encouraging words to us.
All these activities were followed by a wonderful meal, our last meal with rice in it here in the Philippines. We enjoyed not only the good food but also the wonderful fellowship of good friends. We also enjoyed a chocolate cake that was made for us.
After dinner came the real laughter… to the point of tears! We will keep this story short, but if you want to hear the real version please ask, it was hilarious! Balut is a Filipino delicacy, it is a chick fetus that is about a day old, bones, juice, and all. We have joked around the entire trip about them making us eat it, so Pastor Leo and Maria came up with an idea. After watching many of the staff members eat Balut and seeing what it looked like (you actually see the bird), they started asking us to try it. Maria gave in, got up to the front and started opening the egg. Heather gave into peer pressure against her better judgments… After beginning to open the egg, Heather’s stomach was already churning. At the same time we both took a big bite of the Balut… Heather is lucky she kept it all down as she gagged trying to swallow it. Little did she know… it was actually a hard boiled egg. Pastor Leo and Maria had planned it out earlier that we could trick Heather thinking she was eating a Balut and it worked out perfectly! In her head… she truly did eat Balut! Everyone there got a good laugh out of that… Heather wasn’t laughing at first but she has gotten over it now and thinks it was pretty funny.
Hugs and goodbyes followed. The friendships that we have formed are incredible and we couldn’t feel any more at home here than we do. We have been welcomed with open arms into an amazing Christian Community and we hope that we will be able to stay in contact with the wonderful staff here.
Somehow we actually managed to pack all of our things into our bags, we just hope they won’t weigh too much on the scale tomorrow! Tomorrow we face a long day of traveling, but we are hoping that it will only be one day of traveling instead of two.
Thank you for your support by reading our blog and praying for us. We would love to show you more pictures and tell you more stories when we get back. This is a trip we will be talking about for years to come!

The kinder students put on traditional Filipino dress for their performance.

Yes, that is us dancing with the grade 2 students.

With Eloisa, one of our friends from grade 6.

Heather with Aira, the first student from GCCS we met on our trip.

Maria on the stage with a bunch of students (and Pastor Nestor in the back).

With some of the teachers, Maribel, Donna, Raul, and Girlie.

Our farewell cake.

Some of the staff eating Balut- the real Balut!

Heather and some of the staff she ate with.

With the whole staff, we will miss them a lot!

Church at last!

Today we were finally able to join the church for worship. We were hoping to attend church the first Sunday we were supposed to be here, but were not able to because of the delay. The day began with the worship service, we really enjoyed being able to worship God together even though we live so far away.

After church we had a chance to spend some time with the youth group. While playing a game with them they all laughed pretty hard at us as we attempted to repeat Tagalog words back to them. Let's just say some of those words are very long and hard to pronounce!

Then we went back to the Mall of Asia for lunch with Precy, Yoy, Julie, and Raul. They were nice and took us to Subway even though they don't eat sandwiches for meals very often.

We then walked around and got another halo-halo dessert, this time we were able to eat it correctly because we knew we were supposed to mix all the ingredients together rather than eat them separately.

After the mall we came back and rested for a while we were able to join the Ordiales at their home for dinner. We had Filipino Spaghetti for dinner and really enjoyed fellowshiping with their family.

Although Maria has dealt with a few cochroaches already (Heather deals with them too... by screaming) they have never been properly handled according to some of the Filipinos we have talked to. Today Maria handled it the right way and this cochroach met it's fate as it was smushed by the bottom of a hiking boot. It will no longer bother us!

We can not believe that tomorrow is our last day. We have a full schedule planned and hope to spend as much time with the students and teacher as possible.

Us with one of the girls from Sunday School with her card from the kids at Madison Square CRC.

With the church's youth group after church.

Talking with Hannah, Alet, and Merisha.

At the Mall of Asia, the largest mall in Asia and 3rd largest in the world.

Eating Halo-Halo, not in a coconut this time, but at least we are eating it the right way!

another rainy saturday

Today was another early day. It began at 7:00 when we met Pastor Leo, Elma, Precy, and Julie to go to Villa Escudero which is a cultural attraction about 2 and a half hours away. Unfortunately, when we got there it was raining and it continued to rain the entire time we were there. We began by looking through a museum. After the museum we got on a cart behind a Carabao (the national animal of the Philippines that is similar to a bull) and were serenading with folk songs as we were taken to the other part of the park. When we got there we walked around a little bit and found the place where we would have eaten if it had not been raining- in a river right next to a waterfall! We were disappointed that we couldn't eat there, so we got a picture there instead. We also were not able to go out on the bamboo rafts because we would have gotten soaking wet.

We had a bako which is a fresh coconut opened up to drink the milk and eat the meat of it.

We then went and had lunch and waited for the cultural show to begin. The show consisted of many cultural dances here in the Philippines complete with costumes. It was fun to see all the dances and costumes.

When the show was done we took a jeepney back to the car. Jeepneys are a combination of a jeep and a bus and are a common way of getting around here. We then rode back to Grace Christian. We are starting to organize our stuff for the trip home, but are trying not to think to much about how soon that trip will be coming! We are looking forward to joining the church service tomorrow and spending some time with the young people there.

The Carabao that we rode behind.

Our whole group (Julie, Precy, Maria, Heather, Elma, Pastor Leo).

By the waterfall (where we would have eaten if it wasn't raining).

Drinking our Bako (coconut milk).

Our lunch on banana leaf plates.

Our favorite dance of the show.

Riding the Jeepney back.

playgrounds, pineapples, and potholes

We had a busy day today with many stops along our way. We started out at 7:30 when we drove with Pastor Leo and Elma to Grace from Heaven Church in Cavite--a province about an hour away from Pasay (with the crazy traffic, of course). We met the pastor there and were able to see the building that Zeeland Christian helped fund. They are hoping to start a preschool there next school year which would put the building to use everyday.

We then set out to our next stop--Grace Christian Community School in Paliparan. This school only has a preschool with Teacher Lovely who teaches kinder 2 in the morning and Kinder 1 in the afternoon. We were able to meet both classes because of an altered schedule due to examinations that are scheduled for next week. At first the students were very shy but they quickly opened up to us. Some of them were amazed by our different color eyes. It was interesting that they noticed it right away! We enjoyed our time there playing with the students on their playground, singing some songs with them, and reading books. We were very impressed with the school there. Teacher Lovely is great with the kids and we enjoyed observing for a short time.

After our time at Paliparan we left and drove for about an hour to a city that overlooks an island volcano--Ta'al. This was the first time that we were a little chilly while being in the Philippines--but it was nothing compared to the weather in Michigan! We enjoyed lunch at a nice restaurant overlooking the volcano. The weather was slightly rainy so it was foggy and not clear, but we were still able to enjoy the view. While we were eating we were serenaded by 3 men from the restaurant. They sang "Besa me Mucho", "Cuando, Cuando, Cuando", and a Beetles song. While being serenaded we enjoyed a dessert called Halo Halo. It was served in a coconut with a variety of things in it and ice cream on the top. We later learned that we ate it wrong--but we enjoyed it anyways. :)

After Tagaytay we got back into the car and headed to Pastor Leo and Elma's home in a subdivision in Cavite. It is a very nice place for them to get away on the holidays and possibly move to when Joshua finishes at GCCS two years from now.

We headed home and were able to see some of the students and teachers before they left for the day. We hung out at our post on the stage and played some tag and talked before we headed back up to our room for the night.

It has been a relaxing night aside from a run in with hundreds of ants who wanted to eat our trail mix. We learned our lesson and they are no longer occupying our bedroom.

Please continue to keep the family of the grade 2 student who passed away on Thursday in your prayers. Also, keep her classmates and the community at GCCS in your prayers as they grieve.

Students at Paliparan playing on the playground.


Heather and some of the students.

Maria and John Mark

The whole Kinder 1 class at Paliparan

The view of the Ta'al Volcano from our restaurant in Tagaytay.

About to try our halo-halo while being serenaded.

At the restaurant

A quick stop at a fruit stand on our way back.

With our Senorita bananas.

Another beautiful sunset.

Sponsor Students at Grace Christian Community School in Paliparan

Sponsor students in Kinder 1 with teacher Lovely.

Sponsor students in Kinder 2.

A lull before the storm

Today was a relaxing day for us. We were able to 'sleep in' (we didn't wake up until 6:50!). We then took our time getting ready and were able to read for a little while before heading down to see if there was anybody around.

Today is the beginning of the 3rd quarter exams for the students in Kinder 1- grade 4. Over the next 3 days they will have an exam in every single subject. Half of the students come to school in the morning to take their exam and the other half comes in the afternoon. We decided that it would be best if we did not sit by the playground talking to kids as they finished because we would become a distraction for the students who were still taking exams in the rooms nearby.

We were able to spend some time talking with Pastor Leo and Elma in order to plan an itinerary for the group of ZCS students who will be coming here in April, they have a great trip planned!

After some more relaxation and lunch we gathered all of our empty water bottles and headed downstairs. GCCS is fundraising by collecting garbage (recyclables) and selling them to a junk shop. So we took of the labels and the caps, got all the air out of them, and added them to the big pile of stuff that is ready to be sold.

Then we started walking around and we heard music coming out of a second grade classroom, so we went up there and watched them dance for a while. After watching them dance to a couple of songs, they decided it was time to attempt to teach us to dance again. After going through it about 3 times we are starting to get the hang of it, but they still keep laughing at us!

After talking with some students outside for a while and running around after a bouncy ball, teacher Girlie challenged Heather to a game of Badminton. We continued to play for about an hour between different teachers and students. It was a lot of fun.

Now we are enjoying a relaxing night and hope to go to bed early. We have an exciting day ahead of us with some visits to another church and school tomorrow.

Please be in prayer for one of the school families who lost their 2nd grader to illness. The student had been in the hospital for a couple of weeks and passed away today. Please pray for the family and the entire school community as the grieve the loss.

Heather and some of the girls after they were done with their exams for the day.

We have given away countless number of our email addresses and signatures.

Maria playing badminton against teacher Madie.

Heather playing badminton against teacher Girlie, it is one of the more popular sports here.

After rain on and off today, the sunset was beautiful.

Grade 3 class with teacher Grace

Sponsor Students:Mitchelle Atalia, Shane Amagan, Vince Jacob Berico, Danel Aguilar, Romeo Russel Yleana, Owen Espina

Grade 3 with Pastor Norman (not pictured)

Sponsor students: Mark Jun Molina, Fernando Samson, Ian Joseph Tubungan

Grade 4 with teacher Precy

Sponsor Students: Ging Barrion, Jasmin Bautista, Marilou Ravelo, Dianne Erika Uy

Grade 4 with teacher Rachel

Sponsor Students: Maria Rosario Pabalate, Shaina Odicta, Krystene Mei Abad, Joyce Chua

tour of [A]Marikaban

Today was a very busy day! It began with two chapel hours this morning. At 8:30 the students in grades 1-3 have chapel and at 10:00 the students in grades 4-6 have their chapel hour. Pastor Nestor spoke to the younger kids, but we were the guest speakers for the second chapel hour. We shared with them the idea of choosing Christ as your leader and setting a good example, especially in the words we use, so that others can see that we are Christians.

After the two chapels we were able to have some time to relax and make lunch. Right after lunch we met with all the sponsor students and parents (families and classes at Zeeland Christian School pay the tuition fee for some of the students who are not able to afford private education on their own, the children who are being supported are sponsor students and build a relationship with the family/class that is sponsoring them). We introduced ourselves and were introduced to everyone there, then we got our pictures taken with all the sponsor kids and parents and had a chance to talk to a few of them.

Then we began our tour of some of the homes of the sponsor families. We began by walking to a few of the houses that are very near to the school. Instead of walking to some of the farther away houses, we took petty-cabs (a person riding a bike with a sidecar on the side). We were able to see a lot of the neighborhood and the conditions that many of the students that go to this school live in. We were blessed by their hospitality and willingness to let us visit them in their homes.

After getting back to the school we ventured out to do some shopping at one of the malls, had dinner there, and made it back just in time for the prayer meeting.

Although it has been a busy day and we are looking forward to going to sleep, it has been a day filled with experiences that we will remember for a long time.

The special number for the first chapel hour was a dance by the grade 1 class.

Grade 4 performed the special number for the second chapel hour.

All the sponsor students.

The sponsor students' parents who were able to attend the meeting.

At one of our first house visits.

Maria riding in a petty cab.

Heather in a petty cab.

On our ride to one of the houses.

Another picture along the way.

Kids playing in the street near some of the houses we visited.

Maria and one of the sponsor students in her house.

At our last stop of the tour.

The best view of the school from the outside that we could find (everything is very crowded so there are buildings in the way of the view). We are staying in the guest room on the roof, so the two windows on the upper left hand corner are our bedroom windows.

The school gate from the street, the large roof covers the playground area to create shade when the sun is out and to keep the playground dry when it rains.

Back inside the gate with some of the girls we usually talk to after school.