Day 4

Hello all!

Wow. God is working in huge ways in the Philippines. I only have like 5 minutes to write this entire post, but we have been kept extremely busy. We have also experienced so very much in the short time that we've been here and I think we all have kind of heavy hearts at the moment.

Visiting the orphanage a few times has been amazing. Those kids are just soo yearning for love and want to hold our hands and hug us and play with us for hours and hours. It took a good 20 minutes to say goodbye this morning.

The people at the compound we are staying at are the most welcoming I have ever experienced. I feel like I have already known most of them for years instead of just days. The showers are brisk, but refreshing. We wake up with devotionals and they're wonderful. The food has all been very delicious as well.

Yesterday...oh wait, two days ago (we have nooo sense of time while we're here--no watches or anything. people just tell us we're leaving and we end up where we stop.) we visited a jail here in San Pablo. I don't even know where to begin. There were 15-20 men per cell. We prayed with them and talked with them. They were so kind to us...and then you remembered it was a jail. It was really hard to hear some of their stories and see them reaching out and wanting so much love as well.

This week at FCA-the school here- it is sportsfest, so yesterday we each wore a colored shirt that matched one of the teams and acted as coaches for the races they did, tug of war, and flying ball. Then we as the visitors played against the high schoolers in volleyball. This was sooo much fun!!

Yesterday we walked through a barroqua (sp?) which is a neighborhood here. It was amazing to be immersed in this culture and really walking through their lives. They live sooo very differently and think so differently than we do in America and it really is eye-opening. I hope to bring this mindset back to the United States and let this serve as a movement in my life, as Casey and I talked about, instead of just an experience cemented in time.

I have been extremely homesick because we don't have access to phones or computers often. I have never really felt homesick before, but I definitely have in the past few days.

Everyone here comments on how tall I am, and I mean everyone!! They ask how tall I am and gawk at me and things. Its pretty amusing. But then they ask if I have a boyfriend and I say oh yes, and its wonderful because hes 6'4" and they gawk some more :)

Other things we do here are Life Groups. This is when we gather with a group of people and sing worship songs, discuss our faith, etc. This is Frontlines way of bringing people to their faith and it is wonderful. People just will lay it all on the table and open themselves up and its really inspiring.

We did go tour San Pablo 2 days ago and rode these tricycle things around one of the 7 lakes. It is absolutely beautiful here. The mountains are incredible. Pretty much got gawked at in the market, but havnt seen any other Americans the whole time, so that's probably a big part of it.

Alright, that is about 1/26th of everything I wanted to say. Make sure you read our group blog too so you can see what other perspectives of our trip are.

I miss and love you all. Please keep those prayers coming. I know that every member of the group is feeling this trip in big ways, the people working for Frontline would love your prayers, and of course those they are helping.

Much love,
Danielle