Beyond My Doorstep

I realized that many of you probably have no idea what my life is like here, and what my surroundings are. So this blog will paint a picture for you.

I have two amazing roommates and we are presently house-sitting for a missionary family while they are on furlough. Come January, we will move to another missionary home as the people whose home we are staying in return.  Currently, we live about half a mile down the hill from Faith Academy and are very blessed with our home.  We have an amazing porch that looks down into a jungle of greenery with a river passing through it.  We sure spend an awful lot of time sitting and taking in our view.

As you follow the road around a corner it goes over a bridge. We always see squatters filling up buckets to carry home. The people in the area are constantly swimming in the river and the ladies wash their clothes there.  It is definitely a "happening" place.  I love to pause while passing the bridge to see what is happening along the river banks.  Many squatter homes are found further down from the road.

A road full of pot holes leads up to Faith Academy.  The school is on a beautiful campus; it has been very blessed by the Lord by donors who have seen the vision of Faith Academy and have invested in it.  Friendly guards welcome us to school each morning with enthusiastic waves.

Just down the hill from Faith Academy is a squatter village (still about half a mile from my home).  It is buzzing with life with people chatting on the road, walking to and from, children chasing dogs, and others just sitting around chatting.  They have a basketball court there and each day there is a group of men who are faithful in playing a basketball game between 4-6.

Right next door to this squatter community, is an area where people raise roosters for cock fights. These are quite common in the Philippines. We used to hear these roosters EVERY morning but as time has gone on, we hardly notice them anymore. 

The other day I was on a run and was running past the little community when a 7 year old, who was on her way to get safe drinkable water from Faith Academy, ran up to me saying "Ate Ate" (This is a respectful way to address an older female), and gave me a huge hug. This little one is part of the Sunday ministry to squatter kids that I get to be a part of.  It was so neat to have my worlds meet!

There are also many nice homes in my community as we are near a golf course.  These homes are more western styled homes and vary in size.  It can seem strange that the "haves" live so close to the "have nots" (Although there was a lot of this in South Africa too).

There is so much more to say but I think I will leave it at that for now! :) I hope you enjoyed a little larger glimpse in to my life.

The view from our porch

The river around the corner

Squatter community with a basketball court. (I was too embarrassed to go back and take another picture so this one is blurry!)

Faith Academy

The guards at the Faith Academy gate

Some Sunday Fun

My roommate and I were so excited today as one of our filipino friends, who we have been inviting to church for the past few months, finally agreed to come with us! It was so fun to watch as God orchestrated this, and to see her eagerly take notes during the sermon.  We were thrilled when she told us that she wants to come again next week. Praise the Lord!

When we dropped her off at her house, we were very humbled to meet her family and get a tour of her simple home.  We walked up very steep steps to enter in to a very small living room, kitchen, and shared family bedroom.  Her packed narrow street was buzzing with filipino life - venders selling vegetables, children running around, trikes transporting people here and there, and clothes hanging all over windows to dry.  It was neat to see a different side of her and to step in to her world.  

  

We love the culture we are getting to taste and the beauty we are able to see here. 

Learning is more Fun in the Tropics :P

Just over a week ago my class was learning about the Philippines.  To make learning come alive, I took my second graders out to a coconut palm tree and organized some harvesting.  We got to watch as one of the groundsmen swiftly scaled the long trunk, disappeared in to the leaves, whipped out his machete and hacked down enough coconuts for my entire class! It sure put my classroom management to the test as I tried to keep my overly excited boys away from the machetes as the groundsmen chopped open the coconuts for us to eat. :) What an experience to sit around holding coconuts, sipping on milk, and eating the meat as we talked about each part of the coconut!