Day 10

Hey, hey, hey!!! What's crackalackin?? :):):)

Firstly just a quick update on what our leaders, Matt, Alex, Olivia, and Kait are doing. This morning the lovely leaders and the teachers, Mr Puzey, Mr Mac and Mrs Nicholls, had the joy of rising at 2am for their mystical adventure that they had no idea of what it involved until they arrived at the airport. Well Katrina and Paisley are going to let you guys all in on a little bit of a secret!!! They left on a twin prop aeroplane to relax on a resort island which was rated as having the second best beach in the world, however it is not all fun and games as they are also going out to help at a ministry centre, doing food distribution and construction. So unfortunately for the rest of us we're going to be missing them until Wednesday afternoon, but we'll all hear about their adventure when they return!!

Meanwhile, we had a little bit of a sleep in to 5am. Having breakfast served at 5:30am and a coach picking us up at 6am leaving for the Manila Bay port, this is where we then travelled across the fierce sea on the MV Bay Cruiser to Corregidor. Corregidor is an island where the Americans and Filipinos fought off the Japanese during World War Two, and today the island is a memorial for tourists to come and learn about the horrific past and honour the people who fought and lost their lives. This is a really significant area to the Australian history, as theJapanese expected to take control of this island and then Australia within 5 weeks. Instead the Filipinos and Americans held them off for 5 months so the Japanese were unable to get to Australia, ultimately giving us a totally different future.
Arriving at the 'tadpole-shaped' island at 9:30am we started our tour (separate from the Japanese tourists) and had a fantastic buffet lunch at 11:30am. On the tour we were able to view huge cannons that were the actual ones used in World War two, they even had shrapnel hole marks from where explosions hit them. The machinery was so massive that we were able to fit Cameron in the gun barrel of the cannon. However we were also able to view the damage that one of these guns could do, this being the huge crater holes in the ground, buildings that were demolished only having frame work standing, we were even able to explore through these massive buildings. One of the buildings that was really quite eye opening was the Malinta Tunnel. This tunnel was designed to look like a train tunnel, but internally it was accommodating thousands of Americans and Philippenos including the injured and wounded. The tunnel was bomb proof making it a secure place in WW2, having a mini hospital, beds and food and water supply.
After three years of war and hardship Japan finally surrended, freeing Corregidor and the Philippine islands. This is why this amazing story is so eye opening and touching because without all of it Australia could be so different.

The tour finished and we arrived back in Manila at 4:30pm where we went to the Mall of Asia (second biggest mall in Asia) there we had dinner which consisted of some new dishes of Pig Face and Pig Brain, YUMMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! Then for dessert we enjoyed a fantastic and very impressive dish called Halohalo. After filling our bellies we headed off for own little surprise of ice skating in the middle of a shopping centre, amazing!!!! And KRISPY CREME donuts!!! Jealous much??? We then continued onto time zone where we ran a muck for an hour acting like big kids :)
We then left the Mall of Asia at 8:00pm and headed back to base at YMC, arriving back at 9:30pm having devotion, showers, and now everyone is off to bed.
So thanks for being with us and for all the thoughts, prayers and support so please keep them coming :)
Peace out! Love Katrina and Paisley :):):) oxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxox

Day 9

Hey y'all, family, friends and random followers!
Allow us to enlighten you with today's extraordinary and improvised events.

Today started with our usual 7am roll out of bed, and at 7:30 we staggered tiredly down the stairs following our noses to an amazing breakfast consisting of egg on toast, mango and apple. After our delicious feast we were presented with our team basketball uniforms. ACC crusaders represent. After the excitement of receiving our new uniforms, we all raced up the stairs, tearing down anyone in our way, to get our first glimpse of how we would look like as profiz b-ballers.Yo!

Jumping into cars we took off down the road to the nearest prison, all anxious to meet new people and share the word of God. When we arrived the boys and girls were separated, the boys to play basket ball, and the girls to sing songs and do what girls do best, jewelry making and manicures. It was all going well, singing songs (even though one of the guys hogged the mic) and Mrs Scriv sharing her powerful testimony, and outside we could see the boys and hear the familiar sounds of "pass the ball" and "over here", us girls then moved on to making beaded bracelets and doing manicures, until we were told to swiftly leave the prison within the next five minutes. A lot of us were anxious and worried as to what was happening and why we were being kicked out, mixed with the feelings of disappointment and sadness as we had only been making the bracelets for 5 minutes. In our cars we were explained the situation which was: Although our visit was scheduled and our intentions were good, the new warden of the prison apparently didnt know we were coming, or who we were. On the way home, we were treated to Jollibee (Mr Beacham never ceases to amaze us). At jollibee we sipped our coke and downed our ice creams :) yummy!! Taking awesome photos with the staff of jollibee replaced the feelings of sadness with feelings of warmth and joy. Laughing at Jollibee and Cayleebee sitting at the front of our group photo grinning away ( mainly cos' Caylee got a prezzie ;) woohoooo)

When we arrived home we went to the childrens home and took a photo (cheeese) with the American missionaries and the faith family home children and staff. walking back home we were greeted with the smells of turkey, yams and pumkin pie, that the awesome Jeff Long and fam. Prepared for us in order for us to celebrate a traditional American thanksgiving. (The turkey might we add was flown over from the states! oh yer!) The food was amazing, being able to experience the holiday was a even better treat as we learnt about the reasons and history of thanksgiving. It really stirred a lot of our team, as we all remembered what we should be thankful for. After lunch we exchanged the Aussie buck for peso's and donated some of it to K.I.M and Pastor Ray.

After our deicious lunch and relaxing break we were treated to our usual routine of afternoon rotations consisting of construction, reading to the childrens home kids and food distribution. Following our rotations most of us had our showers, washing away the days filth and grime and had an early dinner of spag bog :D delicious. We then went to the childrens home for devotions and worship which was lead by; Miss Phoebe Chase , Miss Hanna Burne, Miss Tara Murauer and Mister Sebastian Dawson. Read the kids a book and sent them to bed. We then all parted our courageous leaders, as they wouldn't be coming with us to Corigedore tomorrow, and piled into cars for the night activity. Once again to our favorite coffee shop starbucks, resulting in the team more awake than they should be.

Which brings us to now, as our team is once again gathered around tables participating in our daily de-breif, offloading the events including higlights and challanges, uphills and downhills. Lifting todays occurances and trials up to our loving God, knowing that he will take care of our worries and give us all the strength we need to continue on our journey.

Encouraging you all to leave the comments, we love to hear from you and read your comments, so please ... Don't be shy!  

Much love to everyone back home, we look foward to seeing you soon, we are all missing you dearly.
God Bless
Kaity and Phoebe xx

P.S - To my little bro Drew hope you have had a fantastic 14th birthday and got everything you wanted.
Love always Jade and Luke xx

P.P.S - I miss you Stephen very much! And the rest of the Jano family :) I miss you too Christel and Wade !
love Liz xo

P.P.P.S - I miss my ponies !!!
<3 Caylee xxx

P.P.P.P.S - Mummy can you please record gossip girl tomorrow (Tuesday) on fox8. Thankyou , love you :)
Love Shelby x

P.P.P.P.P.S - Hey lovely's, miss you , love you, blah blah :) Cant wait to see you !!
Heart Bree-pee

P.P.P.P.P.P.S - to my family and Jeanette, who is pretty much family anyway.... i miss you, and Jeanette you have to come into work when i get back, i will be sure to give you an echoing hello :) love you all
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoox and all that stuff love kaity

Day 8

Yo! Yo! Yo!
its the Muzz and the Buzz filling you in on todays events,
Woke up at 7,, totes got dressed, had some pancakes,,oh the compliments.
As we walked down the road to go to church, dressed ever so nicely,
The time we arrived was 8 precisely.
As we sat and we sang and listened and prayed,
for what he spoke our lives were changed.

For the next thing to come was chillin at home,
Where we could sleep, play guitar, play games or just be alone.
For Hanna and Tara decided to jam, wondering if they can play??
HECK YES THEY CAN!

Once 12:30 was here, and the surprise was more near,
Traditional lunch at Mang Insal, chicken and pork on a stick,
rice wrapped in leaves...eating it was the trick.
Of course the movies were to follow,,
Yes thats right it was Harry Potter-The death Hallows...(part one)
Sitting next to eachother (Muzz and Buzz) was the dream,,
Romance was definietly the scene!
As Muzz made a move on the Beachman,
Parrot on the shoulder,
he moved away,,Leaving Muzz colder

Driving home in the Van,
constantly the brakes we had to slam,,
again it was time to chill,
No nobody there was called Bill...(just incase you were wondering)
Our famous friend Kirk Long came along,,
to share with us his life story, for it was very inspirational and strong!
To the children's home we were to go,,
Songs to sing, what was instore we didnt know.
But fun was shared between everyone, as we said goodnight,
we will see you tomorrow when we can play in the light :)

When we arrived home, we enjoyed pizza for tea,
and we cant forget we drunk real pepsi! (Not coke but still very tasty!)
While everyone is in debrief we are writing this blog for you
for we dearly love and miss you (some of you) :P

You may wonder why this blog is not particularly informing,
but today was a day of rest and we had little plans regarding working.
We need this rest so we can continue to work the rest of the week and perform our best!

Can i say a little Halla to Taras family, Josh Justin, Jono and Dad,,
Missing you guys hope no-ones too sad
And a shout out to the Burne family, Missing you Dad, Cal, Nick and Kie,

Keep the comments coming,, we love reading them all,
You all sound so cunning :P
Damn right we are having a ball :)

Much Love,, Muzz and Buzz (Tara and Hanna)
TOGETHER FOREVER!
xoXXoOxx

Day 7

G'day Folks, it's Kait and Caylee here!

Whats happening in the land down under? How is the weather and what's the latest news?

Wanna hear what we got up to today???
It started off with the sweet and delicious smell of fresh hot pancakes and juicy mangos. Jealous much? Today was to be a regular day of rotations between the two building sites, the children's home and food distribution. Our group (consisting of ourselves, Hanna, Luke LB, Mrs Nicholas and Mr Mac) headed off to the building site to mix cement and sift sand - OBVIOUSLY our most favouritest activities EVER! We realise that that may sound sarcastic, but we honestly do love giving the Filippino workers, Randy and Arnold a hand. Watch out we're gonna be muscle machines when were back!! It was a bit of an eye opener though for we were talking to Randy, asking him about how much he worked at the different building sites. He explained to us that he works everyday, even weekends. :O He also told us that he had been doing this for 10 years now. We learnt that without higher education, like university, Randy will never get the opportunity to earn more money for his growing family - which we found extremely devastating.

Today is a very special day for one of the orphanage girls. ITS IRA'S BIRTHDAY!!! she turned 11 years old and to celebrate the orphanage put on a birthday party for her. It was our group's turn to head to the children's home (lucky us!!!) as we got to join in the birthday celebrations. Never did we imagine that a series of interesting events were about to unfold..

So you see, here in the Philippines they have a very popular chain restraunt called Jollibee. It is like the equivelant of our Maccas. Like our Ronald McDonald Jollibee also has a mascott. It's pretty much a big happy bumble bee. As the kids were finishing their meal, out jumped, much to our delight, JOLLIBEE :D
We frantically pushed the small children aside to get our time with the super cool and cuddly bumble bee. There were masses of children everywhere and we could see that it wasn't going to be an easy mission. Tactfully we each picked up a child and holding them above our heads we surged through the growing crowd, dodging grasping hands and using our recently learnt jungle survival skills. It was tough work, but we made it..... just. Up close he was just as awesome and totally squidgie as we imagined *sigh*
As we made it to the front, Jollibee glanced across and something caught his eye. He smoothly made his way over and grabed Caylee by the hand and swooped her onto the dance floor. The two lovebirds (or lovebees?) danced the morning away bee style. But wait! It gets better!! As Jollibee was swinging Caylee around he fell onto his knees and looked up lovingly at the smiling, yet confused and overwhelmed face of Caylee. He was proposing!!! The whole crazy yet romantic shinanigan ended with free fast food for all the hungry tummies and us to head back to the ministry centre for our lunch.

Meanwhile, two other groups had headed out for a food distribution. Through awesome team skills and comunication we heard that this session had been a raging success involving inflatable balloons for the children, mounds and mounds of high protein and carbohydrate stew for everyone, the singing of lyrics and a game about my little pony.. (you may have to ask Pistol Pete about that last one). Of the distributions performed thus far, all groups have done well to handle the situations presented before them and the balloon animals have been ever so popular with the kiddies.

After our break it was on to our third rotation for the day... and it was the children's home again! We excitedly rushed up the hill to the big blue gates of the orphanage desperately seeking the friendly face of Caylee's new fiance. Much to our dismay, he had gone :( Even so, we were just as excited to have an evening with the kids. We have all fallen in love with every single child so much so that we all get very excited when it's our turn to spend time with them.

Construction was our last activity for the day. This particular session consisted of transporting buckets of sand to the top story of the childrens library...by hand.. up four flights of steps! It's incredible what we take for granted in Australia. Our builders have luxuries such as wheel barrows and cement mixers. Here, everything has to be done manually. For example we have to sift the sand before we mix it with the cement. This sand then has to be transported in buckets or bags to its intended site. We then, with shovels, start turning the mixture over and over again until its consistant, adding more water as we go. It's hard work but as we said, we will all return fit and toned. BOOYEAH! Also, Hanna incured a bit of an injury catching a falling bucket and consequently had a booboo :( Practitioner Pete patched it up so its all nice and dandy now.

We had an early dinner of ENCHILADAS! which were extremely tasteful and satisfying. We skipped our way back up to the Children's home to have devotions, sing a few songs and settle the kids down for bed. Despite their hard day of partying they were just as insanely energetic and lively as usual. :)

Then it was time for our secret night activity!!! We were given a strict instruction to wear bathers and pack a towel - our guessing of the outing quickly became narrowed down to a few options. Swimming... or swimming? We all jumped into our allocated automobiles and headed towards our unknown destination. ALAS WE WERE RIGHT! We were swimming indeed... at the Manila Resort! This place was home to a giant wave pool and water slide. We all had so much fun, nearly drowining from laughing. All attempted surfing but a major hit was the water slide. This was purely because we had to try lots of different ways of actually sliding down it. Most resulted in various superman glides.

Back at the ministry centre we gratefully gobbled down the leftovers from our previous meals which had been prepared by our lovely kitchen ladies. Kudos to them. Debriefing and devotions was a quick occassion for everyone was rather sleepy from our long day.

So here we are, sitting recounting the events of this awesome day, and we are both just blown away with the experiences we have all shared. We are all having the time of our lives and we all appreciate your thougths and prayers! Your support has been amazing! Keep those comments rolling for we all love to hear from you!

Catch ya later!!
Love Caylee and Kait
xxx



PS: Hi to Jeanette, Bev and Cindy. Hope all is going well, miss you guys!! Love from Nat and Kaity xxx

Day 6

Hey followers :)
Luke G and Seb here

Today was our first day trip, we had a bit of a sleep in, till 4:30 am. We wolfed down our breakfast and got on the bus at around 5:30 or something, we can't  remember. It was a quick 3 and a half hour trip on the bus to Subic Bay, where we went to the Jungle Training Camp. We had a nice and easy 2 hour trek through the beautiful Philippino rain forrest where we encountered many fascinating plants such as 'the water vine', the 'shampoo tree' and this weird plant that you can use the inner bark as a antiseptic band aid but we can't remember the proper name for it.

The weather was fantastic, there was a slight breeze which kept us cool most of the time. After around 2 hours of walking, we stopped and had a chance to stop for a swim. Everything was normal(ish) intill... CAMERON WILLIAMS came running down in a bright green MANKINI, yelling "HIGH FIVE!" in a Borat kind of way (which is totally normal for Cam). I (seb) slipped on the rocks on the way back from the water and fell in the creek below, many found it entertaining, others did not.

Our guides showed us how to make some cooking utensils out of bamboo, using a machette, we made some plates, spoons and cups as well as some rice steamers. The guides started a fire in around 2-3 minutes, it took us westerners around half an hour to 45 minutes to do exactly the same thing.

The way back was quite easy (for some), it only took us 20-30 minutes to get back to the bus. Some of us had some illnesses such as the runs and upset stomachs (not fun), Cameron also has an ear infection, which made some parts of the day a bit of a drag for him. We are hoping he gets better soon. The trip home felt far longer than the trip there, for some reason. Maybe it was because we were sleeping for half the trip to Subic Bay. We got back to the Ministry Center around 6:30pm and we had dinner pretty much straight away, we had tomato soup with meat and veggies in it, i think it was beef.

After dinner we went straight to the New Faith Family Children's Home, we settled the kids down (a miracle in itself) and taught them some new songs, they loved it so much we struggled to keep them from running around and going nuts :) After the songs, the kids were allowed to watch some TV because it was friday night, we put Spongebob Square pants on for them, they went nuts.

Later that night it was time for the surprise night activity (yay!) We went to the mighty Starbucks Coffee! To get some coffee (how ironic). We met a couple of Filipino guys named Joey and Angelo, they are involved in some missionary work in another area of the city. We had an awesome conversation with them and then took an epic photo with them and a random security guard, quite amusing (indeed). After a huge caffeine rush we came home for our debrief and devotion, now we are writing this blog.

Pastor Pete = Legend

P.S from Bree
If you colour my car, I will not be responsible for your injuries. :)
Love you

P.S from Mrs Bain
Hi to Darren, Brijette, Paige and Chelsea, love you guys, miss you heaps, see you next week xoxoxox :)

P.S from Mrs Nicholas
Hi to every one at Rehoboth

P.S from Michelle
Hi to Justin and Josh :) xoxo