Kamusta, mga kaibigan at pamilya! Hello friends and family!
We just finished our third day here and it was quite incredible! It first started off with a delicious breakfast of banana bread , eggs and oranges. After that, Farmer led us in a devotion which was followed by a group prayer to ask God to give us the strength for the long day we had ahead of us.
Our first stop was in a neighborhood that we did the feeding in. We took two different kinds of porridges for the kids , one that was chicken based called lugaw and the other one was chocolate based called champorado. It was a hit with the kids!
As we were walking through the community, we would walk by peoples’ homes. The kids were greeting us with warm smiles and high fives, it was the sweetest thing. In the middle of the slum, there was a little church where a bunch of kids meet up and praise the Lord together. It was nothing like I’ve ever seen. These kids were singing songs which had some pretty cool dance moves to it. Our group was doing our best to follow along with them but they were the real stars of the show. Their love for the Lord was very inspirational and it was so beautiful to see this in person. Despite their living situation, they still have a great passion to praise Him.
After that, our host Brooks took us to a boba shop and I got my favorite, a passion fruit tea with 3 different types of jelly/boba. It was so amazing and well needed after our morning in the heat.
After lunch, we had some downtime so we relaxed a little bit before we headed into our afternoon activities. We visited a jail and brought them some food as well. It was definitely an unforgettable experience, you’d have to be there to understand. Farmer spoke some encouraging words to them and we sang worship songs right after. Everyone in the jail was so invested in what Farmer was saying and they were also into the worship songs, just singing along, smiling and dancing. It was definitely an amazing sight to see. The presence of God was in there with us and you could tell.
We ended off our night with a boodle fight or kamayan which sounds a little silly but it was the best thing ever. It is essentially a traditional local feast where all the food is lined up on the table on top of banana leaves and everyone just digs in. Everyone eats with their hands and it’s basically like you are fighting to eat your food because everyone is going at it. There was rice, fish, chicken, pork, fried chilli peppers (which was my personal favorite), cucumbers, mangoes and some little sauce to pour on top. It was one of the coolest things ever and I am so glad we were able to experience it together as a group. Also with everyone else that is here with us like the kids and staff of the children’s home.
The weather was great, the food was amazing, and the vibes were awesome. It was definitely the perfect way to end our day! We are off to get a good nights rest because tomorrow we are hitting it off strong in the morning with picking up trash and painting some walls.
Thank you so much for keeping us in your prayers and we cannot wait to see what’s in store for tomorrow!
Lots of love,
Keilah
What an amazing blessing!