Finally Some Pictures!

This is a summary of all my pictures so far that I wasn't able to post before, so I'm sorry if it takes forever and a day to load! But I think it's worth it- looking at pictures is my favorite part of reading a blog! The captions are underneath.

Bye, Mom, I'll miss you! Also, please note that this was the last time my hair was actually done.

This is my room in Butuan, one of the few times it was clean. On the other side of the room is a mini classroom, complete with a whiteboard.

This is the backside of the Fortun house. The door to my room is on the far right. It's not connected to the house, but it's comfortably close.

The shower.

A meeting place out back of the house. Pretty, huh?

A view from the house of the local water pump.

Around the house again. It's so lush!

This is the doggies napping outside my door, waiting for me to come out. I named the puppies Stinky, Cutie, Meanie, and Sweetie. Stinky was my favorite.

These are my poor poor feet. They have bandaids for the blisters that I got from wearing flip flops every day. One the right is an excellent example of my allergic reaction to red ant bites. As you can see, though the bite is just a bit under my two first toes, the swelling goes all the way around to my ankle, as did the itching. Some of my mosquito bites also react this way. While disciplining some kids today, I got six ant bites on my feet. I was NOT happy. Thankfully, some allergy medicine that my mom sent me has helped keep the swelling down so far. Thanks, Mom! I would say, "Where would I be without you?", but I think this picture says it all!

At this point, I realized that I didn't have any pictures of myself yet. I happened to be dressed up at the moment for a party we were going to, so I took a picture, Filipino style.

This is Tyler, Ate Mimi's son, precariously perched on a ladder picking calamansis. A calamansi looks like a small, round lime. they call it a Filipino lemon. It's absolutely amazing in soysauce. I'll pretty much eat anything dipped in soysauce and calamansi.

This is the display for movies playing at the one mall in Butuan, paintings of the movie posters. Cool, huh?

The makings of a delicious meal. The long green stuff is batong, like a really long green bean. And yes, I did cook this, all by myself! And yes, it was yummy!


This is my adopted little brother Troy, Ate Mimi's youngest son, taking a nap in his parent's office. I spent many a happy afternoon there running errands, practicing Cebuano, and just hanging out.

This is how my birthday began... at five thirty in the morning... which is during sunrise... which meant that I got a ton of bug bites in the half hour that I was serenaded.

This is where I spent most of my birthday, at the beautiful Duka Bay, famous for it's cold springs and brilliant blue starfish.
I just had to include this charming picture of myself, swimming with Troy. We were dunking, hence the facial expressions.
This the the family that came to the beach that day, and me (I'm the white one...)

This is the outdoor grill at the beach. They made barbequed pork, fish, and squid... I skipped the squid. The pork was delicious, but I bit into a piece that still had skin and hair on it, which apparently is not uncommon here.

This is a bunch of the kids at the beach.

This is a cute picture of Myrtle, Ate Mimi's second oldest daughter.

Maymay and Ate Mimi.

Some of the little cousins playing in the ocean.
My adopted fourteen year old brother, Tyler.


Maymay and me reclining on the beach...

This is the saddest dog in the world- almost no fur left, starving, and one of her back legs is lame. She was wandering around our area all day looking for scraps. Dogs here are very different from in the States. There, dogs are treated like children, while here, children are often treated like dogs, especially poor beggar children. Sad, huh?


This is Tyler, Myrtle, me, Maymay, and Bebe on the lounge chairs at Duka Bay.

Maymay's friends and me on the evening of my birthday. They got me flowers for my birthday, so my friend Marvin and I thought we'd be silly. He's a character...

These are of me singing at the Fortun's church, Bible Believers Fellowship, in Butuan. It was part of their program to have one special song before the sermon, and I got to do it my last Sunday there. I sang God of Wonders.

This is a few of us at the beach a few days before I left Butuan (not Duka Bay, a closer beach). It was another fun family day with lots of food and swimming. Good times...

This is my Filipino brother, Kuya Jun (pronounced June). He is proudly showing off a delicious creation that we made called mango float. If you're a very lucky person, I just might make it for you one of these days. It's amazing. Oh yeah, and so is Jun. He really helped me in the process of adjusting to the culture.
These are some of my friends and I hanging out at a local coffee shop in Butuan. In the back is Joyce, then Ryan, me, Edgar, and Pai. Joyce and Ryan are cousins of the Fortun kids and the other two are friends that I met through them. We spent a handful of evenings here because it's a nice, cheap place to hang out and talk.



Now I journey on to my first orphanage job at Love the Children.

This is Carlo. He was grounded (by me), so he's looking out the window watching the other kids play. I found his story in an old Love the Children update letter. When he was four, his father abandoned him in a busy market place. He wandered the streets of that area for a few days before someone took him to the authorities to try to locate his parents. Carlo didn't know his last name and his parents left him on the streets with no way of survival. After a fruitless search for his parents, Carlo was given over to Love the Children. He's been there a couple years now. He's generally a sweet kid, but he can have a mischievious streak at times.

These are most of the girls at Love the Children. Four of the older girls were at school at the time this was taken. This is also about the number of them who sleep on the two bunk beds shown.

This is Jonel, one of the "older" boys that I was friends with, me, and Jaymark who invited himself into the picture.

This is the boys fighting with sticks (right before I made them put all the sticks away before they hurt each other). Aren't they sweet at this age?

This is Bamboo. He is part dog, part tiger. He is very good at discouraging unwanted visitors.

This is the kids playing in the yard. In the back, you can see two of the houses, one for the girls and one for the troubled boys. The other two houses for the younger boys and the older boys are upstairs inside a big building. The kitchen and dining room are downstairs.

This is some of the older girls working in the kitchen. The second girl there is 19 years old and working alongside her mother in the kitchen full-time. Her mom is the main cook there. The kitchen was one of my favorite places to be because the company was always good.

This is some of the girls helping to sort out the laundry. The kids go through two outfits a day, more or less, so the laundry is a lot of work! The hired laundry person left one day and never returned, so the girls stepped up.

Okay, so I know you're not supposed to have favorites, but this is one of mine. Her name is Maila, and her smile is actually a lot cuter than that. She's very small for her age (12), but she's also mature for her age. Her English was good, so she helped translate to the younger kids sometimes.

This is the other girl I was close to, Sheila Mae. She is also 12, and she just graduated from elementary school (a big achievement that many adults here have not accomplished). Since there is no jr. high here, she will start high school next year. I stayed an extra day at Love the Children and delayed my trip to Manila by a day to go to her graduation. I was just like a proud mama, running around taking pictures of everything.

This is Loyd and me. He's the youngest in the younger boys' room (there might be a couple of the troubled boys who are younger). Loyd is 6 and cute as can be! He's so hard to punish because he flashes you his same huge smile even when he's being naughty. He does a precious silly dance and taught me how to make cool shapes with rubberbands on my fingers (a popular game here). Dad, if I were to steal a son for you, this would be him.

My time at Love the Children was both challenging and rewarding. The schedule was strenuous at times and I had to function on less sleep most of the time, but I made some valuable relationships with some of the kids and staff. Now I'm at my second orphanage, called New Faith Family Children's Home (I had to consult my polo that I'm currently wearing for that one). I'm still getting into the swing of things here- I had my first official shift today, from 8AM to 4PM. It will be nice to have eight hour shifts instead of 24 hour ones for six days straight! The kids were very naughty today, but I hope that they will learn to be respectful and obedient towards me, even though I'm new here. There's plenty to do on my off time here in Manila and plenty of other volunteers and workers here to do it with. It looks like these next couple weeks will be a completely different and fun adventure!

Thanks for all your love and support! I love reading your comments, thanks so much for keeping in touch! I love you guys! ~Becca

Welcome Abroad

I was sitting on the bus on my way home from Butuan, still sad from leaving and thinking about how leaving people I care about is just really not my specialty. As I gazed out the window looking forlorn, I saw a misspelled sign on the back of a public transportation vehicle called a jeepney. The greeting read “Welcome Abroad.” It seemed to say to me, “Yep, that’s what happens when you travel. You have to say a lot of goodbyes.”

I left Butuan on March 7, and it was a very difficult goodbye for me. I had an adopted family and a good group of friends there. Thankfully, they're really into texting here, so we'll keep in touch that way. I'll especially miss my friend Kuya Jun. He is the youth pastor at their church, 26 years old, and my adopted Filipino brother. He has an American girlfriend (talk about a long distance relationship!) so he really understands all the adjusting and difficulties I'm going through- and his English is pretty much perfect. I’ve also made a lot of friends with the Fortun’s extended family. Anyway, I cried when I left. A bunch of the family met us at the office in the morning for snacks and goodbyes. Ate Mimi, Kuya Jun, and my friends Joyce and Ryan (cousins of the family) accompanied me to the bus.

You'll never believe what I did, those very three friends, plus one other named Pai, got me to eat balut! Balut is a Filipino delicacy which is made of partially developed duck eggs that are boiled. It tastes like chicken soup on top of a hard boiled egg yolk. It would be quite soothing to the stomach if you weren't totally grossed out. The one I had was 18 days developed, so it had a distinct shape, but no feathers or bones yet like it would at 21 days. My friends said, "And at 24 days, it'll bite you!" So that's my story about eating aborted duck.

I had a big long day of Nehemiah Teams orientation today. I learned about some of their goals and strategies first. Then I wrote my testimony in such a way that it would be easy to translate and understand, which was a bit tricky, but a good exercise. Lastly, I learned a simple way to initiate and carry out a home Bible study if I share the gospel or my testimony and someone is interested in learning more. My leader gave me a cool little card the size of a large bookmark spelling out some suggestions of Bible stories to read, how to process them as a group, and then lead into an invitation. Then I practiced. It was hard, but I'm very glad to have that tool. It's so practical!

I'm going to Manila! I was pretty shocked when I recently found out. I would fret that I'm going alone, but then I remember that I came all the way here alone, and I already know my way around the airport. The only thing that's a little bit of a downer is that I will have no use for my Cebuano up there. Oh well, God has a plan. I wouldn't have traded my time in Butuan for anything. My friends from there still keep in touch, often daily.

So here is my updated schedule- I'll have three months to scope out five different orphanages, spending a couple weeks at each, to assess the situations there and give my supervisors the info they need to equip the teams. There will be five teams of four, two in Manila and three in Davao area, with me leading one of the Davao teams. The teams will be here for June and July, so I'll have three months to scope it out and work on my own. After that I’ll spend two months leading the students, and I'll leave at the same time as them.

Since I am their first impression of the American teams, it's very important that I make a good impression on everyone at the orphanages by being a blessing, not a burden. I can do that, but it might be hard to keep up for three months. It looks like I'll have a pretty strenuous schedule, so please pray for strength, endurance, and patience for me.

I had an unexpected extra day before I went to my first orphanage stay, so I spent it volunteering at the closest orphanage in Davao city, named Living Stones. (I’ll be staying at this one later in my trip). There were six babies and six toddlers. I spent about half the day helping with the toddlers and the other half watching the babies, mostly alone because the worker there got some other stuff done while I watched the babies for her. The babies often cry just to be held, and it's so hard to know what to do. Obviously they need to be loved on some, but you can't be their constant slave, especially with such an uneven ratio. In the end, you have to just let them cry it out most of the time once you're pretty sure nothing is wrong. I was exhausted at the end of the day. I almost put salt in my evening tea.

Let me tell you about Love the Children (and I do!) They are a Pentecostal establishment geared toward taking in street kids. There are four different rooms for housing the kids. One is all the girls, one is for the younger boys (ages 6-12), one is for the older boys (13-16), and the last one is for the really troubled boys. These guys have been through a lot and aren’t yet ready to function normally in society. They don’t go to school yet, so their house father watches them all day. I will spend time working in each of the “houses” for four or five days, except for the last one. My day starts at five with a mad rush to get all the kids bathed, dressed, and fed before school. Since almost all of them go to school, I usually have a break between 1:30 and 4 to either rest or run errands. I haven’t really been able to go out yet because they’re so protective of me as a young American woman. Not only am I a foreigner, but I’m still considered a child in this culture. I’m sleeping in a small room with fourteen girls, so it takes a minute or two to get them to quiet down- Ha! I wish. I made a new rule that works nicely for me when the little ones are being unruly. It’s basically a three-strikes-you’re-grounded rule. I’ll hold up one finger when I ask them to do something, and two fingers when I ask them a second time. If I get to three, grounded! I’ve only grounded one so far, but there’s another boy who refuses to obey. Maybe I should try the opposite game! The food here is… better than what most people here are eating! It’s mostly rice with a little bit of something else. The something else is almost always delicious and healthy, but the balance is a little hard for me to get used to. I was excited about having a washing machine here, but after one of my shirts got lost for a week, I’ve chosen to hand wash my stuff anyway.

On my day off this week, I took a boating/swimming/snorkeling excursion with the family I’m working with and some other missionary families. I had so much fun! Mom, I applied AND reapplied sunscreen, promise, but my back still got fried. You know me, I hardly left the water. I had fun diving down for shells and a closer look at things. It was all I could do to not touch everything down there- I look with my hands as much as with my eyes. It was lovely and I now have a nice shell collection to remember it by. However, I’ll probably opt for taking it easy on my next day off.

"Just call me Long for short,"…is what my friend Balong said, and I found the unintended pun hilarious. For nicknames here, they either make your name shorter or they make it really short and say it twice. So my nickname is either Ate Becca or Ate BecBec. It's pretty cute. Oh wait, there's technically no "c" in their alphabet, so it would be Beka or BekBek. And on that note, it’s my bedtime! Love you guys!