Nehemiah Teams Beginnings

I have had an eventful past couple weeks with the arrival of the leaders and teams, as well as getting into the swing of things at the orphanage. There's so much to tell!

I was VERY excited when the leaders arrived. They're a great bunch, of course. We went through some studies together on spiritual leadership and spiritual warfare. We also went through a good deal of practical training for sharing our testimonies, conducting a house church, and facilitating group discussions. We then trained our teams to do these things when they arrived. The leaders bonded a lot in our three days together, and it was a little sad to know that we wouldn't be working together over the summer (well, that's how I felt anyway). Of course, the teams arriving was very exciting, so we got over it.

Team orientation was fun. We learned a lot in those couple of days, particularly in our study of Nehemiah. I'd explain it further, but I know I couldn't do it justice without my notes. You'll just have to take my word for it that it was awesome. Probably the most memorable thing that happened at team orientation was the rain. It doesn't usually rain too much in Davao, usually just for a little bit, then it lets up. Well, apparently some huge storm system was passing through at the time of orientation. We were all sleeping in tents along a path that led down to a river. Well, the rain guards didn't hold up and everyone started getting drenched sometime around two or three in the morning. Also, the tents closest to the the river, about 4-6 of them, got completely flooded- not just damp but partially submerged! I'm sure it was not a nice way to wake up! The leaders went around telling people they could come find shelter in the gazebo. Just about everyone crammed their belongings and themselves in there. One team was in a little bamboo hut thing, so they stayed dry. My tent was near the top of the path, so the bottom was dry. However, I woke up to being rained on (my tent mate was deep asleep and doesn't remember any of it). In my sleepy stupor, I recalled seeing an emergency blanket on the list of things included in a survival kit that I got as a going away present from my family. I managed to find it and put it over the top of our tent to keep dry. Despite the winds, the top of the tent was wet enough for the blanket to stick there for the remaining hours of night. I also discovered a rain poncho, which I have gotten almost daily use of since. Anyway, we were the only two who were able to sleep in our tent for the remainder of the night. Everyone else stayed awake in the gazebo until it was time to get up at five. I must say that they had very good attitudes about the whole thing and were not easily discouraged by lack of sleep and wet luggage. That will certainly serve them well in days to come! That day, I walked around singing, "The wise man pitched his tent upon the hill (3x) and the rains came tumbling down. The rains came down and the floods came up (3x) but the tent upon the hill stayed dry! I'm sure all those poor sleep deprived people really appreciated my gloating. Hehe...

It rains a lot in Surallah, but the bamboo hut that we are housed in holds up well. We have had a very exciting time battling ants, cockroaches, and unusually large spiders in the hut, but we certainly appreciate how well the air circulates in there on a hot day. Our little hut is a few meters from the edge of a high cliff, overlooking the Allah River. It rains often there, but we're prepared. It's been raining a little more than usual for the past couple days and the river is quite swollen and louder and faster than usual. It looks like it would be really fun to white water raft in, purely for missionary purposes, of course, like finding unreached tribes along the river.

Our days and weeks are pretty consistent now. Each of us is assigned to a child who is in need of more care, supervision, or just more love. My little guy, Carlos, age seven, is a sweet little handful. He is one of the only kids who ever has to be disciplined, and he has difficulty concentrating on his school work. My team and I are trying to ascertain whether he has a learning disability or is just being a kid. I love on him a lot, and he seems to be doing well. When we first arrived at the orphanage, we were accompanied by a girl named Lizzy whose job is to take pictures and make videos for each team on this island. She was assigned to another little boy, JohnRel, who is very sweet, funny, and responsible, especially for a ten-year-old. Lizzy mostly just spent quality time with him in the week she was here, and he really misses her now that she had to move on to another team. I miss her too! Since I've been mostly in the boy's dorm, I don't know much about what's going on with the girls. My teammate Hannah has been in charge of the second youngest orphan, Angel. She is always laughing and joking with us, even though she doesn't know much English yet at age six. She and I like to make faces at each other. My other teammate, Sheridan, has been loving on a little girl named You-me. As happy as we are with our assignments, we are going to mix it up soon so that we can spend time in both dorms and get to know all the kids and so that the kids who need love and attention most will get it.

Our day begins at 5 AM, when the alarm on my watch goes off (I needed some time-telling device and alarm without my cellphone). I, however, have not heard the alarm yet. Hannah and Sheridan, on the other side of the room, are awakened by it and wake me up. Then we throw ourselves together to go prepare our kids for school. After the kids eat breakfast, we walk the elementary kids to school, less than a five minute walk away. We make sure to teach them to look both ways before we escort them across the street to school. Then we all get ten quick hugs goodbye, while the other elementary children look on with awe and jealousy of their classmates with American friends. We then head back to the hut for breakfast, group time, and quiet time. After that, we have a couple hours to clean, wash clothes, or go to the market if we need to. At ten, we head over to the kitchen to help prepare lunch. Between eleven and eleven thirty, we go get the elementary school kids for lunch. We then quickly prepare our own lunch and eat, then walk the kids back to school at twelve forty. Then it's naptime! Yay! We don't even set an alarm. Scandalous, I know! That's also a good time for showering since it's hot and the water can be cold. Then at four, we pick up the kids again. We have devotions at five fifteen, where the three of us take turns sharing. On Tuesdays and Fridays, we are splitting up the kids by age to do a special Bible study on being a "World Christian" with the older kids, which I lead. Sheridan and Hannah have the younger ones act out the Bible stories we've been telling, so that they can get a better understanding. Then we eat dinner with the kids and have homework time after that. By then it's about eight thirty and we are all ready for bed. As much as I claim to not be a morning person, this schedule has actually been good for me. I tend to have more energy during the day. Amazing, huh? Too bad it'll probably never happen again! Anyway, Friday night is movie night. Last night we watched The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (I refuse to call the first one "Narnia"!) It was a big hit with the kids. Today, Saturday, is our day off where we go into the next town over to go on the internet for a couple hours and shop at a bigger supermarket. We went to a rather small mall last week, but learned about a bigger one this week, which is where we are now. Sundays are laid back after we attend church in the morning. Usually the sermon is in Illongo, but this past week it was in English, for our benefit I'm sure. After lunch and naptime, we are going through the True Love Waits material for the youth at the orphanage (we had special training for this during orientation).

Well, that's my life until debrief! We're having a great time bonding with the kids. We're just starting to get used to things, for them living in the Philippines and for me living with Americans my age- it's been awhile! I know that we're all growing as individuals and as a team, and I'm really excited to see how much we will grow over the summer.

I love and miss you all! I'm thinking about home more and more, so please pray for me to keep focused and finish the race. Pray for the kids that we'll be working with, that they will know how much God loves them and that we love them. Please pray for the True Love Waits and World Christian studies, that the youth would understand and grow from these. Thank you so much for your love and prayers! ~Becca