"Comosta ka na!" I probably am going to come back fluent in Tagalog... but probably not. I have learned quite a bit though, especially for only being here a little over a week and my teachers are 9 year old girls.
Now let me tell you a little about a lot of things:
Where we live: For these first two weeks, we are living at the newly established YWAM base in Laguna. It is a three story house planted in the squatter area. The first few days it looked like Venice because the streets were all flooded. The children surround our house and yell, "Where Ate Becca?" "Where Ate Rashul?" "Where Quia Jon?" "Hello Ate Abby!" "Hello Quia Daniel!" "Where Ate Sarah?" Oh, and the balcony is just so perfect to sit on and talk or be alone or do devotions or play music and it overlooks the busy streets and the house and all the people.
What we have done: Since our team is the first team ever to come to this base, we are getting to pioneer a lot of things. Mainly we are focusing on establishing relationships with people and letting people know who we are and why we are here. We have passed out cookies, made Christmas cards for the families played soccer with the kids, talked with the neighbors, prayed for people (and seen miraculous healings!), and shown God's love. One day I even preached to a giant mess of rowdy children; that was insanity but so awesome.
The weather: Mostly hot. Really humid. Beautiful sunsets. Random rain. Blue skies.
The food: Breakfast usually consists of pan de sol (most delicious bread ever) with jam or some eggs or this crazy good cereal mixture and fruit. Lunch is typically rice with meat (i.e. fish or chicken) and veggies. Dinner is more rice and other really good typical Filipino meals. (They really love their rice.) Basically, lots of carbs. So good.
So I didn't really bring enough shampoo so I am running on the last little bit in my travel-sized Mane n' Tail... bad decision. Oh well. Gross hair=good outreach? Same thing with dental floss...shoot. Christmas wish list includes shampoo and dental floss and maybe some elves so they can wash my laundry instead of me having to do it in the shower, and an Apple store because my iPod decided to lock up and I can't remember the password that I so cleverly made in the 7th grade. A girl can wish.
I am l-o-v-i-n-g it and I really, really appreciate your prayers and words of encouragement that I get on facebook and the emails! They really make my day. Thank you again.
All my love,
Rachael
ps. I am taking tons of photos with my camera, mom and dad!
