super kids saturday!

There's this dog that hangs out around the corner from our church, and he's there every day. He's always either laying down or wandering around every time I walk by. Honestly, I know it sounds crazy, but my heart breaks for the poor thing. He's so scrawny, he's got sores all over his body, infections around his eyes, and he just looks so miserable. He's hot, and thirsty, and hungry. Yesterday me and my team mate went to buy some cokes and I got a bag of chips and gave some to this poor dog. Probably not the best of ideas, I don't want to encourage him to look to people for food, but I couldn't help myself. He came to super kids today to get some eats which I was very happy about.

Even more important than that, we were about to feed close to 600 hungry kids! The volume of sound in the church is crazy haha. 600 children yelling out bible verses and singing songs. I loved it! There were so many of them, and they loved us! Many of them were pretty shy, hiding their faces from us, but others wanted to touch us and play. When I sat down, there were probably 8 kids all touching my skin! They rubbed my legs, my arms, hands, and one girl kept touching my face. Please try for a moment to understand how odd this felt hahaha. They have this adoration for white skin that I just don't understand. Back home, we all want to have a tan and have dark skin, but here they even use "whitening soap" and walk around with umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun. It's so polar opposite. Here, to have white skin is a sign of wealth, because it means you don't have to labor outdoors. There were a lot of girls who really liked my hair, it was in a french braid and they liked pulling on the tail of it lol. One girl stayed really close to me the whole time, she was about 9 or 10 and she spoke really good english, she was sort of a translator for the kids around who wanted to ask me questions. They asked about my family, my name, (everyone asks "whats your name" in this cute accent), how old I am, where I live, who my siblings are, where's my mom, etc. I love these kids, oh man, they are so incredibly adorable. The feeding time was a little bit stressful haha. There was so many kids! And the heat was hard to handle. They would ask for "sabaw" which is the chicken broth that we poured over their rice. So I had all these kids yelling Sabaw, sabaw! at the same time! Haha it was crazy. I love it though. What an amazing experience. A lot of them are street kids from squatter villages nearby, so you know you are giving some of them their only full meal for who knows how long. It's a really strange feeling. Good though.

Walking down the street is also a weird feeling. I'm really nothing special, in my eyes, and at home. But here, I just walk down the road to get some bread (sooo yummy), and I get stared at. People wave at me from across the street, and yell hello as they ride by on their trikes. Sometimes little kids point and ask their moms and dads about us lol. It's funny. I've never experienced this before and it feels odd.

Well it's 1:42 and my back is getting sore sitting in this little internet cafe. It's been a long day already, feeding and playing with all the kids, they are big fans of hanging off of me haha. Don't ask me why, I'm as tall as most of them lol.

God bless you all, much love.

-angela.

loving the philippino sun!

I may come home both a shopaholic and obese. The clothes and shoes are so inexpensive, and the food is incredible! Fresh pastries in the morning, just one minute's walk away.

We played gym games with the kids this morning, it was so much fun. We tried to lead "what time is it mister wolf?" and it was... somewhat a success. Haha. The kids (preschool and grade one) speak pretty good english, especially the older ones. But they just got so excited that our efforts to explain the game were practically useless lol. Still, it was a really fun time. The little girls are so precious, I especially love one little shy girl. She looks like she's 4 or 5, she's so small. I just love her to bits and carried her around for a while this morning. She would run in to play a game for 30 seconds but then she'd get scared and run off to the side haha. So I enjoyed holding her.

We also took a jeepney to a mall in Taytay. It was really big! I bought a few shirts and a pair of sandals. Apparently it's not a great idea to walk around on the streets wearing tank tops (even with thick straps) so it looks like I'll be wearing t shirts when I leave the church. Now all I need are some fake oakles to protect my eyes and a couple long skirts. As a team we got two cell phones so we can keep in contact, and also to call home now and then. I bought a calling card- 50 minutes for 100 peso's, which is a really, really good deal. Everything seems to be easy to get to so I'm not too concerned if I should need something. Time's up on the computer, love you all!

magadang gabi!

love ang

you've never had mango until you have Philippines mango

Here I am! At times it felt like I'd never get here, yet now I'm sitting in Cafe Manila writing to you. We've got a little internet cafe only about a minute's walk from the church we're staying at.

The flight wasn't bad at all, it was 13 hours from Vancouver to Taipei but it didn't feel like it. I slept a bit and actually enjoyed myself. I love trips. I read a lot of Isaiah on the plane, starting at chapter 57 and going to the end of the book. Try reading it, I got a lot of sweet revelation out of it. Taipei to Manila was only like an hour and a half, and as soon as we got through customs we all changed into our summer clothes, what a relief! I went to the bathroom, and there was no seat on the toilet, and a little hose next to it. It threw me off haha. I guess I'll have to learn how to squat, but for now I'm happy laying toilet paper down and sitting on it lol. Maybe thats too much information, but for those who'd be entertained by that, there you go.

There are a few rooms on the side of this church, and we're staying in those. I have a room to myself (lucky me), equipped with a fan, and its really comfortable. I have a large matress on the ground with sheets and pillows, and a bathroom on the side which I'm sharing with my team leaders. I'm so blessed, truly. We got our stuff settled, ate some mango with the directors of Super Kids, (a really cool ministry) and then headed off to a mall via jeepney. Haha look up a jeepney, you'll get a kick out of them. I've never heard Jason Mraz sound so brutal as I did riding in the back of this thing, listening to I'm Yours played LOUD over blown speakers.

We got to the mall and I made my first peso transaction (which was a success!). The rate right now is like 40 peso's to one canadian dollar. I got a pair of sandals there, really pretty, a nice little heel on them, for about ten canadian dollars. I LOVE shopping here haha. If you know me well, you know I'm very cheap, so this is exciting for me. I may find I'm coming home with 50 pounds more than what I left with lol.

I slept well, and woke up to the sound of a rooster at 6:20 this morning. Now it is noon and I have a happy belly full of rice and a spirit that is completely at peace, knowing that I am exactly where the Lord wants me to be. The smiles here are unlike any I think I've ever seen. I feel like when a little girl smiles up at me my heart changes a little. Anyway, my time here has been incredible so far, and I've been blessed more than I can say. I know this is where I've been called. There is so much goodness in that.

We're still looking for a house, so if you could pray that we find a cheap, furnished house, my whole team would really appreciate it. Also, we are looking to find God's heart for this city, and this collection of 7100 islands. We're praying to know what his will for our time here is. We don't want to act outside of that, so we're asking for discernment and a lot of wisdom. Thanks for you prayers everyone! It looks like internet is fairly available here, so you may here from me soon.

love your sister in christ, and free-will slave,

angela.