Posted 7/4 at http://dep-thephilippines.tumblr.com/
Hello all! I will start out by covering the first 2 days of our time at Trinity Ranch then I will share my individual plans in Cebu City.
Monday was our first day at the camp. We thoroughly enjoyed our jeepnie ride to the camp and the opportunity to see the countryside outside of the busy city. We arrived at the camp early and got to meet and get to know the team of 21 high schoolers from Grenich, CT that we worked with for the week. We got started moving rocks and stacking bricks for the cabins. On Tuesday we continued moving rocks.. (the theme of the week for me and Bri’s team) and stacking the bricks with cement. We found out that when the property was bought it was covered in gravel and that the staff planting every plant there and now it looks like a jungle!  This was a testing time for all of us with the extreme heat, humidity, new team members,and manual labor we weren’t used to. Tuesday night our lack of sleep from the night before caught up to us. We spent time in prayer with just the 3 of us and it was a great time to give our fears and frustrations over to God. (read the others blogs for info about the bugs, geckos, frogs, and thunderstorms). Overall the first two days were a great bonding time for the team and a great chance to get to know the whole YL Philippines staff. It is amazing how cohesively everyone works together and it was a very fun week to be a part of.
I am now at my home for the next month in Cebu City. I just got my schedule and plans for my time here and I am excited to get started after a few days of rest. Filipino planning is so foreign to people from the U.S. I have nothing to plan around, so I have given up asking what the plans are and I am just surprised everyday! Basically everything we were told in the beginning has been changed, it’s been a fun adventure 📷 My host Bebmie is the area director for Cebu South and she is involved with so much! I will be attending staff meetings, hanging out with students at 3 high schools, be a part of a leadership class, multiple bible studies, 3 YL club nights a week, and I will help lead a relationship seminar in a nearby high school. I am excited to start getting to know people in the area. I am going to discuss plans with Bebmie now but I will try to update once a week! I have easy internet access here and would love emails to hear how you are all doing in the states! happy 4th of July:)
—Hannah