Four months in the Philippines represents quite a milestone for me. It is the longest I've been outside of Australia. My previous record was three-and-a-half months doing a summer camp in the US in 2004.
If you're on my email list or you've seen my Facebook page then some of this might be "old news" to you. It's been a very rewarding time here so far, but also one with many struggles and challenges in regards to adjusting to the culture and relating to others.
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| On a staff outing to a local resort. I spent much of the time watching out for two-inch-long ants and little jumping spiders |
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| I got my Philippines drivers license! Because I already have an Australian license, all that was involved was a blood pressure check, fill out a form, pay some money (less than $20) and I was done. I have already completed a few journeys around the place in the big Ruel van. |
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| We were privileged to have Ruel CEO David Cowie stay with us for a few days. It caused much confusion and amusement to the kids having two "Kuya David's" around the place. |
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| Add this to the "I never thought I'd do it" list - I am a junior soccer coach! I've been taking a few of the kids along to soccer training the last few weeks, I took a couple of sessions and then got asked if I could coach an 8-and-under team at an upcoming tournament. I've had experience coaching Under 8s in basketball, so it's not a big stretch for me. |
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| In the pre-tournament chaos, we tried to take a "team photo". Three of these kids weren't even in my team |
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| Soccer lads after training |
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| This is Laura and Henriikka from Finland. They spent a month with us after being in Vietnam and Cambodia, and it was great having them around the place. |
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| This is Baby K, one of the new arrivals at Ruel. He is four months old, very tiny and quite sick. I really enjoy popping into the Malnourish Centre and spending time with the littlest ones. Yesterday I held Baby K and started singing to him. Twinkle Twinkle and Humpty Dumpty went down okay, but I noticed a huge change in his demeanour when I started singing about Jesus. I sang "One Way", "My Redeemer Lives" and "Open the Eyes of My Heart". He looked into my face, his eyes grew as big as saucers and he started giving off massive smiles. It was incredible to watch. God is at work in this place, friends. |
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| This is Baby M. He is now one month old, and was given to Ruel by his family at four days old, since they were just unable to provide for him. My 19-month-old niece doesn't have the mop of hair he does. |
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| This is Baby Girl D. She is two months old and her mother is very sick. She hadn't had any milk for two weeks when she was brought to us. Here we are just having a little chat |
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| I have taken over the petty cash and banking responsibilities. My first time in a bank I had a 90 minute wait and really felt like doing a Mr Bean ticket-swap, but their were no wheelchair-bound suckers to take advantage of. |
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| It was great having a group of guys from YWAM stay with us for three weeks. One of them, Mikko from Finland, is a keen soccer player, and he was able to show his skills a few times while he was here. Thanks to my friend Dom from church for organising it. |
On Ate Danielle's last night with us, we all sat down together and watched the movie "Frozen" (the things we do for our kids!). I have to be honest and say I can't stand the movie or any of the songs which are sung incessantly at this place, and was not won over
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| Mr R is the son of the Ruel director, and for his tenth birthday I took him out to watch Spiderman and eat a delicious dessert called halo-halo. |
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| This is Ruel's oldest resident Miss P, and she just turned 11. Miss P is an incredibly loving, responsible and helpful girl. I bought her a watch for her birthday. There was no mucking around, she chose the first pink one she saw. |
