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!
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!
1 comment:
Thank you for posting about your trip. It has been a pleasure reading and looking at pictures of your adventures.
Jeff
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