Posted 6/25 at http://dep-thephilippines.tumblr.com/
Hello all!
To start the journey, traveling on a 11 hour plane ride can have some perks. As we sat in our seats, right in front of us was our own TV. We were able to watch movies, play video games, listen to music, and the most interesting for me.. learn Korean words. As I leaned back in my chair, I decided to take advantage of this amazing opportunity. As the flight came to a stop.. I watched four movies, played random video games, listened to unique music and learned how to speak more Korean words.. which I thought my family and relatives would be proud of. Then flying from Seoul Korea to Cebu went by fast, mostly sleeping the whole way.
Exiting out of the airport, we were greeted with the Young Life team. After we were taken to the place we would be staying at for a couple of days, which was a pension house for the church. As we walk in and dropped off our things in our room we were greeted with lizards in the bathroom, who made it uncomfortable for us to do our business… (if you know what I mean).
The next day we were able to sleep in and travel around Cebu, learning about the historical places around the area. The first place we went to was the oldest Catholic Church called Santa Nino. Walking in, the architecture was amazing, with high ceilings and detailed work, including a beautiful painting of biblical characters. Being a people watcher, I loved watching people in their thoughts of prayer and seeing their love for their religion. Also something that was interesting to me, was as people would walk out they would turn towards the front and wave goodbye and also touch Mary for blessings.
Traveling around Cebu is so amazingly interesting. While in the US structure is a necessity, anything here goes! Cars can travel in any lane and while cutting off each other is natural, I’m terrified while sitting on a bus. There are many taxis and small buses that people use for transportation and while in the US we have certain bus stops and areas to get on, they are allowed to get on and off at anytime.
Experiencing just a couple of days here has already opened my eyes to things I take for granted in the states. As my mom stated before I left, “you will miss toilet paper” thinking to myself I thought that was silly, but in fact the toilet paper is so different here, or having to use a bucket for a shower, or not being able to be comfortable while going to the bathroom because you feel the eyes of the lizard staring at you, or having clean streets and the smell of fresh air. Yes just after a couple days here I can already tell I will be learning a lot!
I’m excited to see the Lord work in amazing ways here and starting Monday we will be traveling to Trinity Ranch (the Young Life Camp) and begin our construction work towards helping them build two more cabins for campers to stay at.