Day 11

G'day my fellow Aussies (and other followers), Its Cricket and Lulu here (Cameron and Luke LB)

So, Day 11. What can I say?
we had an awesome day :) starting without the leaders, It was a good sleep in until about 7:00am.
to start off the awesome day we went to tent city for some food distribution. (a place of extreme poverty because of earlier floods in 2009). where we first went to a school to sing some songs, play some games and blow up balloon animals for all of the kids, oh and dont forget, distributing food. It was an awesome time, the kids loved singing songs and playing games (stealing luke's hat! dont worry he got it back eventually) the trip there took about 45 min to an hour. Tent city was the main site of devestation were a whole community was destroyed by a flood in 2009, there we gave them one of the only two meals that these people get every week, we first aided them and pumped water for the oldies that weren't very strong, it was hard work and great fun.

From there we went straight to a school called antipolo christian college, what a great experience, first we sung songs (one way and lift your name on high), then we played some basketball and after the kids stopped being shy we were bombarded by kids that asked for, autographs, full names and email adresses, we were treated like the biggest celebraties in the world, and apparently everone thinks that i ( luke) have a strikingly close resemblence to justin beiber. We headed back to the ministry centre at 1:30 for lunch and after the very full on morning we were very ready for food.

After lunch, the day changed pace from tearing around to sitting. The girls headed out to the back of the ministry centre to a beauty therapy room where many of the Philipino ladies from the area do weird girls stuff to help earn some money and gain some skills. The boys had a time of driving around trying to shoot something. It started with shooting paintballs which didn't happen! Our driver then told us of another place where we could do some real firing range shooting but when we got there we found out that we needed our own guns. For a few short minutes Mr Beacham and the boys were thinking about fixing up that problem, but we didn't. Well, to cut a long story short we ended up having a hair cut!!!! Go figure.

The evening activity after dinner of shepards pie was a long and very emotional visit to the childrens home to have, quite possibly, our last time with them. There was some crying and long hugs but all this showed just how special everyone has been to each other in the 10 days we have been visiting the home. We then ran from the childrens home to play a game of basketball with all the workers we had been building along side for the week and a half. We had a great time and if it wasn't for Mr Beacham, Mr Mack, Pastor Pete, Katrina, Liz, Shelby, Matt, and a 14 yr old boy from the ministry centre called Jude we would have been completely smashed.

All in all another great day here, sad that it had to end, but we are certainly fitting as much as we can into each day.

Thanks to all who have been following our trip, we have another 2 days to fill until we head home so keep reading until we can tell you all the stories face to face.

Much love from us. Now a note from the returning leaders..............
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From Boracay With Love, (Alex, Matt, Kaitlin, Olivia, Mr Puzey, Mr Mac & Mrs Nicholas)
It was Monday night when we sat down with Mr Puzey to find out what little we were allowed to know about Mr Beacham's suprise for the next day. We were giving a packing list and told to pack our backpacks and get to bed for we would be having a rather early start the next morning.

Our whole adventure started at 2:30 Tuesday morning except for Alex who had been up pacing around since quarter to two, the excitment had begun! We boarded a twin prop plane which didn't make the entire journey particularly settling! Olivia was super excited because she got to sit next to Alex on the plane We arrived at Cataclan Airport, possibly the worst airport in the world, at around I have to idea what time and hire a couple of trikes to take us to the port. Because Mr Puzey bought the tickets wrong or as he would put it, perhaps didn't buy the tickets right we ended up on a ferry to Boracay rather than a tradtional "banka" outrigger and freaked out the whole boat with the digeridoo.

Once we landed in Boracay was a man who came to pick us up to take us to the Jungle Barn, which was to be our accomodation for the next day and a half. It was right on the beach and was picture perfect with clear blue water and fine white sand. The leaders were each given a list of things to do and so we spent the rest of the day trying to do as many as possible. This included: going to the markets, drinking shakes at 'Jonahs', having a relaxing massage (well the girls found it relaxing anyway :), boys found it creepy), going swimming and sailing, drinking mangos shakes, and helping in a food distribution. The food distribution was so good! We first sang some silly song, then Teresa (pastor's wife of the Church on the Rock) taught the kid about Jesus using colours to help them remember, then they coloured in a picture, got yummy vitamins, had fun with balloons and then was given  food and first aid with any sores. The kids are fortunant in that area as they are right on the beach therefore they go swimming in the salt water which means they don't get as many sick diseases as children in other areas of the island. It was a challenge though, going from the food distribution with hungry children back into the tourist area with people spending lots of money on silly knick-knacks. there is a huge difference between the rich and the poor in Boracay.

We finished off the day with Mongolian BBQ dinner and a walk along the beach. The next day we toured the island and had lunch which included the manager singing and playing the piano for us. We then had pizza and some last minute shakes before we packed up and headed back to the mission centre. An uneventful trip, although our flight was shorter than our drive from the Manila airport to the mission centre. I will never again complain about peak hour traffic, it is nothing compared to the craziness of Manila driving :)

And so that was out Boracay trip in a nutshell. We all had lots of fun and it was a great experience :)

Thank you so much Mr Beacham

Alex, Matt, Kait and Oliver, Mr Mack, Mr Puzey and Mrs Nicholas

Mrs Nicholas says 'Hi' to all staff, students and parents at Rehoboth. Can't wait to organise this for the student next year, have had a fantastic time so far :D

Mr MacK here - just read some of the above - would like to add that Mr Puzey snores and must have been feeling unwell today.
My thought for the day is: "if life is like a vapour (James 4:14) then any of these desperately poor people who have found the reason for living and a relationship with Jesus, are far more fortunate than any Westerner who has no need for God".
Signing off now - I would just like to say that Mr Beacham runs a brilliant mission trip and his students are a tribute to a quality school - producing future leaders with a wide range of experiences.
(Mr MacK  - Deputy Principal - Somerville Baptist College)

Nina and Katie, have a great time at the dance concert, I'll be thinking of you Friday night. Love to you El, Caleb and Molly, and of course my wonderful wife.