Hello from the Philippines!!! :)

I first want to apologize for taking so long to post an update… I have been extremely busy ever since I arrived here 19 days ago. I have completed two weeks of orientation/training and will be leaving for my village in a few hours!!! :) I am very excited to be getting to my final destination! I will not have internet for the next few months…so unfortunately I won’t be able to post any updates until then. However, if you have Facebook, I will be able to text in status updates so that will be one way to keep up with what I am doing. It may not be every day though, since I won’t actually have cell service in my village…I have to go down to the beach to get it. I will do my best to keep you all informed though :) And of course, snail mail always works…that’s probably the most reliable way to get in contact with me. I will post my address in the next post…I’d love to hear from you!!

Sigh…so much has happened since I’ve been here!!! I think that’s why it feels like I’ve been here way longer than I actually have been. There is so much I wish I could say, but time and space do not permit. However, I will do my best to give you a brief overview of my experience here thus far. I have also posted pictures on Facebook.

I love it here in the Philippines! I am so happy… Yes, I miss home and I have had a day where I was very homesick, but I have a peace that comes from knowing that this is where God wants me to be. Even since I have been here, He has again confirmed that He has called me to be here this year—even down to the village to where I was assigned, I see His leading. It’s very exciting to know that I am in the center of His will! Through this whole experience, I think He is teaching me more than anything to trust in Him… and I will have many, many opportunities to do that this coming year! Continue to pray for me…I know I will have challenges ahead, but I also know that He has amazing things in store for me and I can’t wait to find out what they are!! :)

I arrived in Manila on May 12^th around 10am local time. After nearly 30 hours of travel and basically no sleep during that time, I was totally exhausted!! The mission director, Mrs. Webb or Tita as we call her here, picked me up at the airport and took me to the hotel where we stayed overnight. After leaving LAX, I completely lost track of time and losing a day along the way didn’t help that :P I wanted to sleep so badly when I arrived in Manila, but Tita wisely kept me awake so that I could adjust to the new time. So instead of sleeping, I went shopping and ran several other errands with Tita in Manila.

I wish I could describe to you the craziness of the traffic in Manila. Honestly, I don’t think I could…it’s something you have to experience for yourself! There’s nothing like driving through a very busy city and having other vehicles pass just inches from you. There’s no such thing as traffic rules or lanes…the only traffic rule I really noticed being observed was stop lights. Other than that, they switch lanes whenever they please—no warning. They just expect the other drivers to pay attention I guess. It was crazy. Yet, they seem to not have many accidents so I guess it’s working for them. I would be scared to death to try driving there though :P

On Friday the 13^th, we boarded a ferry bound for the island of Mindoro. It took about 2½ hours to arrive at the port. The ferry trip was absolutely beautiful! We arrived at the mission house later that afternoon after a 45 minute drive to Mamburao. A few hours after I arrived, a group of us went to see the new highschool property and construction site near the village of Sulong Ipil. The new highschool will sit on top of a mountain and the view is amazing…mountains to one side, and the ocean to the other. It will be very exciting when it is finished!! For now, the highschool meets in the mission house in Mamburao.

I went to the local SDA Church my first Sabbath in the Philippines. The people were very nice, but shy. I don’t think they had foreigners join them very often lol. It was very weird to not be able to understand more than a few words of the entire service. They said a few things in English, but the large majority of it was in Tagalog. I have continued to attend this church since I’ve been here—3 times now. Each time, I have been able to understand a tiny bit more of the service. It’s amazing how God can still bless you through a church service even when you can’t understand the language :)

In the time I have been here so far, my Tagalog vocabulary is up to about 50 words plus a beautiful song in Tagalog. I have also pretty much learned the pronunciation, so I can read/sing most everything even though I don’t understand everything I say yet. I spend a lot of time just listening to them talk, and slowly I am making out the difference between just a bunch of sounds and individual words. I by no means can understand everything they are saying, but I am starting to understand short, simple phrases. I am very encouraged by my language progress and have no doubt I will be able to learn Tagalog while I’m here. So I’m very excited :)

On the Monday after I arrived, we started our training/orientation session. It lasted for 2 weeks. There are about 25 or so on our team and we are divided between 4 villages, a prison ministry, and the highschool. Most are Filipino, and I am the only American. There is one girl from South Africa here as well. During the past 2 weeks, my missionary team has become like my family. I love them!!

I have experienced many new things since I’ve been here…I’ll try to name a few of the highlights and my favorites. Mango. I absolutely LOVE mango!! I have eaten so many mangoes in the past few weeks that I wouldn’t even want to try and count :P I have also enjoyed trying several new varieties of banana…they all taste different, but delicious!! I have also tried several new varieties of fruits, including kalimansi, ceriguela, and soursop. Since I have been here, I have tried a new food almost every day I think. :) A few new greens have been kamote tops and chia. I have learned to love green cabbage salad. We eat lots of rice—every day. Even though it’s been a lot of new food, it has all been very good! So far the only thing I haven’t acquired a taste for is fresh papaya.

I have also come to enjoy cold showers. :) There is no such thing as hot water here. In took some getting used to at first, but now I actually look forward to cold showers twice a day. The temperature since I have been here has been quite warm—80s and 90s and humid. But honestly, it hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be! Rainy season started about a week after I arrived here so it rains A LOT.

I have gotten to experience several different methods of local transportation—riding in the back of a truck that has way to many people crammed in it, a tricycle, flat boat, and today I’ll be riding in a small boat that’s commonly used here. I much prefer the forms of transportation here…there’s nothing better than wind blowing in your face. :)

The other new thing I’ve experienced here is my first EARTHQUAKE!!! That was the weirdest thing ever. It happened at 12:40am when I was asleep, but the violent shaking woke me up. At first, I didn’t know what was happening especially since the shaking had somehow gotten into my dream. Then I thought it was the girl in the bunk above me moving around. Within a couple seconds though, I realized what it really was and my heart skipped a beat and started racing. I guess I can’t say I wasn’t alittle bit scared. :P There is nothing more unnerving than having everything shaking around you but having absolutely no control of it. In the morning I found out that it was a 5.7 on the scale and the epicenter was right here in Mamburao!! Thankfully, it only lasted about 5-10 seconds so it didn’t do any damage as far as I know. So I can now say I’ve experienced an earthquake. :)

I have finally bonded with the missionary kids here. They were extremely shy at first, but they have finally come out of their shells and they love me. I have little shadows all the time and I am constantly getting surprised by one of them :) I love the kids here…they are so cute!

This morning I head out to my village—Binuangin. I will be teaching 2^nd grade and classes start on June 6^th, so we will have about a week to get settled in. I am very excited to get there!! :) I will be sharing my house with one of my co-teachers, Isabel. She is Filipino,a little bit older than me, and super sweet. We have become fast friends and I know we are going to have a blast together!! The girl from South Africa, Angie, will also be working with us. I have an amazing team and I’m looking forward to a great year!

Well, there is more I could say and I am quite sure I have forgotten something important, but I need to be ready to board the boat in an hour and I must finish packing up my stuff!! So I hope that you enjoy reading this update and that it gives you alittle glimpse into my life. I miss everyone back home, but I have also made many new friends here. Continue to keep me in your prayers…I really appreciate them!

In the next post, I will put my contact info so that you can contact me if you would like. I would LOVE to hear from you!!!

Love and prayers,

~ Kristen