Finally, We Arrive :)

Hey Guys!

To be completely honest, I have no idea where to start with this post. SO much has happened since my last update from Japan. When we arrived in Manila and got all our luggage and team members to the local mission, it was already 1 AM. I had been under the impression that we were going to be able to sleep overnight there before leaving, but I was wrong. We separated into our teams immediately, loaded our luggage into the vans and off we all headed. My team was faced with an 8 hour drive, and we were told that we were going to arrive at the hotel at 9 AM and have an hour to change/shower before heading out to immediately begin our sharing in the schools. We had a few speed bumps in this plan however....

We started out with 2 vans, both holding about half the luggage, and the team members split between the two. We were about an hour into the trip when the van behind my van burst out in smoke and they stopped. We stopped too, to see what the problem was. It turns out that the other van had a flat tire, which resulted in a fire, filling the van with smoke. We immediately unloaded all the people and luggage out of that van, and we ended up spending 3 and a half hours on the side of the road, trying to figure out where to get another van and figuring out what to do. We didn't get back on the road again until 6 AM this morning, with another seven hours to go. We just arrived at our hotel this afternoon, and as a result we are only going to attempt one school today, for which we are leaving in about an hour.

The Philippines is amazing. I can't even try to describe in words the beauty of this place. But with it's beauty there are other things as well. My heart broke today as we were driving and I saw a sign outside a home saying "Baby boy for sale. Inquire within." Some of the things we see are heart wrenching, others beautiful. The culture is definitely different, just as I expected however. For example, over here, the white dashed lines that are supposed to mark road lanes...they're really just for decoration. Driving with our Filipino drivers today, we basically kept seeing our lives flash before our eyes. People will cross double yellow lines to go infront of other cars, even if a truck is coming right at them. It's just normal driving here. It's also perfectly normal and even expected to see motorcycles cut lines at red lights and just drive right around you to get in front.

In addition, there are a TON of stray dogs sitting by the roadsides. Many of them get hit by cars and we even saw several dead on the side of the road. We were informed by our pastors/translators that within half an hour someone will pick them up and make stew with them. I found this horrific, but it's all part of the culture. I have wi-fi constantly, at least for this week, so I'll try to keep you guys consistently updated with what we're doing. I'll try to put some pictures up tonight for you too, so you have a bit of a visual :) Thanks so much for all your prayers, everything's going fantastic!

In Christ,
Hannah