jesus said, 'let the children come...the kingdom of heaven belongs to these.'

What better way to gain appreciation for life than to cradle in your arms a baby orphan? I had the best day of my trip yesterday. We went to an orphanage called Gentle Hands which rescues and takes in abandoned, malnourished, and abused children, mostly from a squatter village nearby. www.gentlehands.typepad.com They take photos of the children when they come in for their file and when you look at pictures, then at the kids now you can hardly recognize them. We took out all the children to a park near the orphanage. A woman who lives next door pointed at a little girl Taylor was holding. She was shocked to see this little girl now, because she had seen her when she first came in. She said the girl was so skinny before, but now she has a chubby belly, praise God! Gentle Hands is an incredible place. There are so many kids there to hold and love and play with. One little boy in particular got attached to me. He would cry every time I put him down, and eventually I didn't want to put him down at all. When I did so that he could eat, as soon as he was finished he sat there on the floor and looked for me. So when he found me he came crawling over and reached up to be held. Ugh it just melted my heart! When I was holding the babies, I kept thinking how natural it felt, and how easy it was for me in those moments to show love to some really special kids. It is one thing for me to say "this child has no parents", but when I'm holding him in my arms and he lays his head down on my chest, it hits me that he has no mommy, and he has no daddy. I don't know what to think, but all I can do is just hug him and kiss him. I hope we go back soon.

We were all tired after the long day. It was the best work I've ever done, but it was draining. This morning we woke up with plans to go over to a garbage dump where people live, and kind of observe what it's like there. But after talking with our Filipino friends it turns out it's too dangerous for the team to go, partially because we're white so we stand out, but also because of Dani and I being women. It was disappointing, but it makes sense. And there wouldn't be a whole lot we could do that's beneficial anyway. So instead we went to Greenhills! We got on an airconditioned bus that took us straight there. It's a big, huge mall with some stores but mostly a ton of market stalls. I can't describe how many there are haha but basically there's a lot of stuff. I got lost a couple times in the maze of stalls and booths. I bargained for everything I bought. I got a big, beautiful pinkish pearl necklace (genuine pearls) for 400 pesos, ten dollars! It was supposed to be 800 so I was pretty pleased with myself :) You can tell if the pearls are real or not by rubbing them on your teeth. If it feels smooth, they are imitation. You want it to feel like sand against your tooth, and then you know it's real. I got a few other pearly goods and some t shirts and shorts. I was only there for a few hours but I really enjoyed myself.

So now it's 7:30 in the evening and I think I might go over to the church and see what's going on over there. Tomorrow is my fasting day (every friday) so you can keep me in your prayers! God bless, love you!

ang.

you can't enjoy those fresh baked buns without eating chicken intestine and pig liver too!

Guess who came in third place in the singing competition!? (No thanks to me!) Milet sang beautifully and I, lucky to be her partner, got to share in the winnings with her. Our prize was a box of chocolates, a little stuffed panda bear and 150 pesos each! I would have been content with just the chocolates haha. It's really really different here, not all of it tastes very good but these were lovely. I was doing well up until we had to get on the stage and then I just turned into a nervous wreck lol. It's a good thing I wore a long skirt, I don't think anyone saw my knees shaking but I'm pretty sure it was obvious that I wasn't entirely comfortable up there haha. Anyway, much to our surprise we won top three so it turned out all right in the end.

Today hasn't been incredibly eventful, but the spice of it thus far was eating liver. Oh my. It's almost 4:00 pm here and like I said, it's been a fairly lazy day. We cleaned the house this morning after breakfast and then went our separate ways, most of us to our beds. I walked over to the church to grab my toothpaste which I left there last night, and was invited to stay for lunch ("kain na!" ....'eat now!') The church puts out a free lunch mondays and wednesdays for students and any of the kids who hang around. So, according to culture, I had to sit and eat what was offered or else I would be offending everyone. I'm happy to do it for the sake of the Kingdom, but it wasn't easy by any means! I held back a gag twice lol and finally I got through it. It could be worse. Here they eat blood mixed with gelatin and fry it up. If that is ever offered to us we'll have to eat it. I will confess that I'm praying that day will never come.

A couple people on the team ate some balut, which is hard boiled goose egg. The fetus is a couple weeks old when you eat it. You break open a little hole in the top of the egg, suck out the juices (yes, the juices), then break off more of the shell and just gobble the whole thing down. Every now and then you get some crunchy bits (beak or bones), and the occasional feather (yes, feather). I dare you to look it up on wikipedia. Thank God I didn't have to eat the balut. I don't think I'll ever try it if I don't have to.

So I don't know what else I'll be up to today, probably capitalize on some time to read my bible. I'm going to make an effort to update more often, even with the boring and mundane. At least my folks will know I'm still kicking that way lol.

God bless!