Everything has been going great so far! We went to church this morning and learned about how this world is not our home and that we need to look toward Jesus and hold onto the Word of God in order to reach our true home. Everyone in the Philippines is so warm and friendly! Around the eighth hour of our longest flight here, I was stretching my legs when I passed an older Filipino lady who smiled brightly and gave me a friendly pat on the back. That small gesture really meant a lot to me. Here in Talisay City, we have made many friends and are having an overall amazing experience.
Wayne and his family (including Mommy Lou-Wayne's mother) are so kind and they never fail to make us smile. On Thursday, we visited Shayne's preschool again. When we arrived, they were singing The Greatest Love of All by Whitney Huston and learning hand motions to perform at their program on Saturday. We sat with the children and learned the motions with them. We loved hearing them sing so joyfully!
We began our reading sessions on Friday. Most of our readers are so eager to learn both English and God's Word. I'm sure Brittiny, Kendra, and I will each be oozing with awesome experiences to share once our stay draws to an end (I pray that day does not come too soon). Friday night, in fact, turned our to be pretty special. Although we read at the church building during the day, a group of Shayne's teachers comes to our house to read with us in the evenings. So last night, Brittiny read with two younger girls while Kendra and I each read with one teacher. My reader, Xela (pronounced: Zella), is a middle-aged woman with a sense of humor. Her English is very good, so we went through two lessons within an hour. She was very interested in the material and loved the fact that Luke actually researched before he wrote anything down. Due to Xela's above average English skills, we had some great conversations and shared many laughs. Once we had all finished reading, we gathered for a chain prayer. All seven of us prayed and it was so powerful. Xela even had tears in her eyes afterwards. That was an amazing evening and we cannot wait to work with those readers again this week.
I had a reader earlier on Friday named Joan. Joan told me that she was Catholic and she seemed eager to start learning. She came again on Saturday and brought us some mangoes. When we sat down to begin reading, I saw that she had filled out at least three lessons on her own. She was so eager to learn more, so we read through two lessons and were both engaged (no pun intended...the word "engaged" is a vocab. word in lessons 2 and 3) the entire time. I look forward to reading more with Joan. Another one of my readers, Gemalyn, is also Catholic and seems a little skeptical about the whole idea of reading the book of Luke, but she was very smart and said that she plans on coming back; let's hope she does!
Besides our reading sessions, we have made friends elsewhere. We go to the mall every day for lunch and supper, so we are beginning to familiarize ourselves with the workers there. One great example is a coffee shop in the mall (Bo's Coffee). It reminds us of Starbucks so we like visiting it. We now recognize the workers there and feel like they will become good friends by the end of our stay. Brittiny will have to tell you more about the coffee shop; she is the coffee addict. :)
Shayne's school did their program on Saturday. It turned out very well and was so much fun!!! The children sang, danced, and recited poems. Brittiny, Kendra, and I were asked to give an inspirational speech during the program, so we got t-shirts and cool hats, and talked to the parents a little about the importance of education. We were also asked to sit in seats of honor and pass out certificates to the children. We hope that we did not take away any thunder from the children, but we felt like we were warmly accepted by the community there. At the end of the program, we sang The Greatest Love of All with the children. Afterwards, there was a potluck that we stayed for. That's a funny story actually: we were all standing at the beginning of the food table, waiting in an imaginary line, until we finally realized there was no line and that everyone just goes straight for what they want. Now we know for next time! So we eventually got our food and sat down. Then multiple people kept coming to us and offering us more food. We were brought cokes, a plate of fruit, cups of ice cream, bananas, and then meat kabobs; therefore, we were stuffed! The food was delicious though! After supper, we watched fire dancers! What an experience that was! Kendra and I had one more reader each that night, and then we crashed at the house.
I LOVE the Philippines and the people here! I praise God for blessing me with the opportunity to be here and for people like you who made this possible. Thank you so much!!!
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