Day 4

Hey All,
Today, a Wednesday i think (We have lost track of all time from all the travelling) our group experienced the first full day of hard work!
Our morning, like most began at 7 am with once again a delightful breakfast from the fantastic cooks...Waffles! Often because of the 'Philippino Time' our day can be choppped and changed quite regularly due to our busy schedules so our day for many started quite differently to what we had expected.
Two groups headed an hour or so away from the Ministry center to a school and community in some need for help whilst other groups continued to work hard at the duties within the ministry centre.
The Food distribution that took place today was honestly challenging and confronting. Briefly to explain, about 12 months ago floods swept through Manila leaving many homeless and without any belongings. Last year we also participated in a food distribution to provide some help to the many families who were suffering. After only one year, these families have been moved along into a country area where they strive to build up a new community for these suffering families. At the moment though, these people are still far from any shops and without jobs so whilst imrproving, they're still in desperate need.
Our team headed out there today to the school and new community to help in feeding the many families that are living there. Children flocked as we tried to make hundreds of balloon animals and keep up with the growing crowds. Toothbrushes and first aid supplies were handed out, so thankyou all for the supplies as we can see first hand how they are helping!
Once returning home we saw some great achievments take place throughout the afternoon. On the building project, the floor was made completely ready for laying concrete; a job we thought would take 3 days, only took 1! It's absolutely amazing to see everyone working together to see our goals achieved.
Once we finished our daily rotations we gathered for an amazing Lasagne and prepared for our night activities...which still remained a surprise.
The children's home for songs and bed time stories is always a highlight for everyone's day. These energetic kids are capable of lighting up anyone's day and really makes you thankful for what we have!

Mr Beacham announced that tonight would be a total Philippino night and began with the opportunity to eat the delacacies of this nation. To the disgust of some, varieties of fish, chicken and pig intestines and chicken feet were eaten with the finale of  'Balut' a boiled egg with a ten day old duck foetus. Yes, they do have beaks and feathers! Hanna graced us with an image of what was in her mouth when she couldn't stomach the contents of Balut. Amazingly though Cameron, Luke and Mr Mac seemed to enjoy it and completely finished the delecacy.
We all then jumped into a number of cars and headed to a small kareoke bar located on a beautiful lookout of the city. Everyone decided to get involved with hits such as Come Together from the Beatles, Delilah by Tom Jones, a little bit of Taylor Swift and a chorus of Queen's We Are the Champions ending the Night. Besides some slight embarassment, it turned out to be a fantastic night.
We returned to the ministry centre for our usual highs and lows and journal writing, followed by a small devotion from Beth. Now everybody is heading off to bed, tired from our extremely busy day and honestly, I would like to be a sheep and follow. So on that note have a fantastic night and we'll talk to you tomorrow!
Olivia

Just Quickly, a few people wanted to drop a few comments, so enjoy!

P.S Paisley misses and loves her mumma :) oxox
P.S.S. Hi to justin murauer and all our family, hey guys working really hard. glad you are home and safe justin. miss you heaps.  be good for everyone.  tara sends love. miss you all. take care. have fun.  love you heaps and heaps.  love mum and tara murauer
P.S.S.S katrina says 'Mum, Please don't paint my room pink!'
P.S.S.S.S Thankyou for all your comments. They are awlays very much appreciated!
and Dino, your jokes and words of inspiration are always helpful haha