Day Five

Well, we had quite a day. Before heading to Antipolo for some street ministry we continued work on the clinic. I spent some time this morning with the kids and enjoyed playing with them. I talked it over with Jess and we are going to sponsor at least one child here. I am so excited to be a part of their lives. Sometimes I don’t know what to do or say to the kids, but I still enjoy them and they probably just think I’m silly. I also was able to spend some time sorting out some computer issues that they are having. I still have more work to do. A couple others, Jess and I were able to witness a coconut picking where, Apa, one of the workers, climbed up the tree, dropped us some coconuts, came down and chopped the tops off with a machete to reveal the sweet juice inside. They are full to the brim with water! It was delicious and Apa then proceeded to halve the fruit and we scooped some of the soft membrane out to eat, it too was delicious!

This afternoon, we traveled to Antipolo to minister to some street kids at a park, but there was a celebration in the city and the park became overflow parking for the event, so we moved into the nearby government maintained social services building. So there we were, a bunch of timid Americans sitting with a bunch of apprehensive teenagers. We tried to start up a few conversations, but it was rough going. I brought my guitar at request not knowing if and when I would use it. After everyone was in the buildings waiting area, sitting down and somewhat ready for the events to unfold, the lead social worker asked me to play some songs. She mentioned “One Way” and I was relieved, I know that one! I began to play, keep in mind we are in a government building that is conducting business as usual, people entering and exiting, pausing between the two to see what was going on with a bunch of pasty white Montanans singing some songs with kids off the street. It actually went very well, I even had my picture taken by some abashed girls that were standing in the back. I played a few more songs that we all knew and then the food arrived. Part of the event was providing food for all of the kids from Jollibee, a local fast food place. The crazy part in observing all of the kids with their food was that some of them either didn’t eat much or eat at all.They were saving the meal to take home to their families. For reference of the size of the meal, it was one chicken drumstick and a scoop of spaghetti with a soft drink. Probably much less than many of you had for dinner (myself included) last night, yet they saved it to share with their families. The rest of the time spent with the kids was full of talking and playing some games. Jordan and Kyra were the main attraction when it came to some circle games. I was asked to play one last song and we closed in prayer. We left that place feeling like God was in control and He had His purpose in us being there.

We returned to Rehoboth around 6:40 and a few of us headed off to play with the kids. I was immediately attacked with books and sat down and read every book that the kids handed me, trying to give my best impressions of elephants, hippos, worms and grumpy characters. Theses kids will forever have a soft spot in my heart. One of the girls, Mary Joy, had Jessica reading a book to her and a few other kids that was in Tagalog. She did pretty well, but they had her read it 3 times for practice. God bless all of you are continuing to lift us up in prayer, we really do appreciated it! We will continue a full day of work tomorrow on the clinic and will hopefully pour some of the floors. Concrete bucket brigade, here we come!