Catching Up

As I read my most recent comments, I realized it was time for a new blog! I really appreciate the comments, sorry they can be a bit difficult to post. For a while there, I was wondering if anyone was still reading them. I worried maybe they had lost their charm after four months. Well, just so you all know, the homesickness isn't going away, as much as I love it here. It really helps hearing from my loved ones and knowing that you're still keeping up with me, even if I can't always keep up with you. I certainly need your prayers now more than ever. The American teams that I have been doing some of the groundwork for will start arriving tomorrow for orientation. But before I get ahead of myself, let me update you on the past couple weeks.

My time at Surallah was great! I'm so excited about going back to work with the kids. It looks like the three of us will be doing some on-campus Bible studies at the local high school and elementary school. The orphanage kids will invite their friends, although I don't think we'll have any trouble attracting a crowd. I really look forward to meeting my two team members and seeing what we can do together. I'm also pretty excited about having some companions my age who can sympathize with the difficulties of being a foreigner. (Plus I'm kind of a know-it-all and I look forward to showing them the ropes! Hehe...)

This is a picture of a couple of the kids working on that planter. Pretty nice work, huh? I was very impressed.


This is some of the boys at dinner. There was a birthday that day, so they had special food- spaghetti, pancit (noodles with meat and veggies), and rice- for dinner! The boy in the middle is quite the singer, he wowed us all at camp when he performed for us, and he was very helpful in my choir practice.



While Nice and I were in Surallah, we visited Lake Sebu with the director and her family. This is two of her kids with Nice and me. I'm the monkey and Nice is the little boy. Good times. :)


This is one of my favorite pictures so far, Nice and me at Lake Sebu. I'm really going to miss her when I go home! She's been a great friend.



After my time in Surallah, I had a couple of weeks off. I returned to Butuan, where I spent my first month in the Philippines, to visit my friends there for a few days. I got to see almost everyone I wanted to see and spend some good time with my friends there. While there, I also got to attend a wedding and a birthday party.

This was taken at a birthday party I attended. We had a lot of fun there, especially with the karaoke machine provided for the guests' entertainment. And yes, I did sing a couple of songs. This is a picture of lechon baboy, which is a whole cooked pig, skin and all. It's a popular treat for parties. As you can see, this guy is already mostly eaten. I'm surprised he still has an ear though, those usually get snatched right up! It's a little weird cutting the meat out, but it tastes great (as long as you don't get a piece with hair on it!)


Lastly, this is my friend Pie and me. I stayed at her house for a couple nights in Butuan (which was vastly better than the hotel I had been staying at). We had a lot of fun hanging out at her place with our friends.


I had a blast in Butuan and was very sad to leave, especially knowing that I wouldn't be back, at least not any time in the near future. I have some great friends there who I hope I can keep in touch with.

After Butuan, I returned to Davao and the house of my supervisors. We had a few more days off before being totally consumed in preparations for the arrival of the American teams. We constructed all of these team building/obstacle course kind of things for each team. We made everything from raw materials and spent a lot of time drawing, cutting, sawing, sewing, and sweating. It was a lot of work, but we had fun hanging out with each other. Last night after the work was done, I went out with some of the Filipinos my age who are helping out. We went to the mall, a huge public park (a very popular hang-out), and to a very reasonably priced dinner, complete with unlimited rice! What more could you ask for? Oh, and we ate with our hands like the country folk here. All in all, it's been a great couple of weeks. I am refreshed and ready to start Nehemiah Teams and my summer assignment.

Please pray for me that I'll be a good team leader, preferably one that is "helpfully informative" instead of a know-it-all. Pray for the work we'll be doing with the orphanage kids as well as for the kids in the community. Pray for the Americans as they arrive and adjust to the new culture. Pray for unity within the teams. Pray for our supervisors and their family who are going to be really busy! Lastly, please pray for personal growth for those of us serving, that we would have a better perspective of God's plan and how we fit into it and that we would draw closer to Him as all the distractions are stripped away. Which reminds me, I won't have my laptop any more after this, so my updates might be shorter and less frequent. Even if I am not able to write, please still keep me in your prayers! Thank you to those of you faithful pray-ers who have been keeping me in your prayers all this time. I appreciate and need them more than you know! Love you guys!
~Becca

The Longer Version

Well, I don't have time to post a lot of pictures, but these are just a couple to tide you over. The first is of me (duh) on a scenic little stop on our way from Davao to Surallah. The second is the view over the cliff at the edge of the property at the orphanage here in Surallah. Beautiful, isn't it? It's my desktop background right now.

Hey everyone! Sorry my last entry was so short. I had hoped to write more, but I was really on the clock. It seems like the best plan is to type it up ahead of time, save it on a jump drive, then bring that to the internet café. Where to begin?

Manila was super cool to visit. I felt like I was seeing a world city, a place where world travelers go to see the best and brightest of that culture represented. On one of my days off, I went to the biggest mall I have ever seen in my life. I could have taken a week just to see everything. My favorite floor was filled with different art galleries and cultural artifacts. I pretty much just walked around with my mouth wide open for a few hours. I’m not used to seeing places that are so big and elaborate, especially not here. My biggest shock was when I first walked in, sweaty from the hot sun overhead and the long walk, and saw a huge ice-skating rink. I literally stood there with my mouth open for a few seconds, then started laughing. I probably looked like a crazy person. Well, no use hiding the truth, right? :)

The kids at the orphanage in Manila were mostly younger kids, so I did a lot of playing and supervising. The kids were cared for by a permanent staff, supplemented by a lot of missionaries who came in and out. This was different for me because at the first orphanage, they hadn't had volunteers yet. It's been interesting seeing the different ways that each orphanage deals with discipline and trying to find out where a volunteer fits into that since we'll only be there for a limited time. I've found that across the board, it's not funny dealing with someone with a stinky attitude. It’s funny, as a kid, if I was told to change my attitude, I would think, “Yeah, I’ll get right on that… but seriously, it's not gonna happen.” Now I understand why parents say it so often. It's no fun being around someone with a bad attitude or a disobedient kid. I definitely wish I had been more obedient and respectful! Working with kids so much, I just wish they would trust me that I know better and am looking out for their good. I guess that's why we get to be kids first, so that we have time to learn those things as we grow.

Anyway, on to the next orphanage!

Open Door Christian Orphanage/Baptist Church/Christian Academy was a complex consisting of a four story building, a house, and a two story building, all connected with a basketball court in the middle and a large gate for the fourth wall. I kind of got to live in the shoes of each different group of people there- as a family member, a volunteer, and one of the kids. I was generally treated as all three simultaneously, but I also got to experience the housing of all three. I stayed in one of the air conditioned bedrooms, in one of the classrooms on two foam mattresses (two because I was too tall and had to lay diagonally), and in the orphan girls’ room. Let me tell you, I’m a deeper sleeper than I used to be! But roommates, don’t get any ideas. ;) I got to spend a lot of time with the orphan girls there in serious conversations and just having fun. I really enjoyed getting to know two of the directors daughters, Ate Danna and Ate Aia, who took me under their wing and held my hand (literally and figuratively… about the hand, not the wing… hehe). They were like big sisters, both very kind to me in totally different ways. I miss their company.

The orphanage had a special event while I was there. Some missionaries from North Carolina paid for all of the children to get to go. They dressed in their Sunday clothes, even down to close-toed shoes for the boys and nice sandals for the girls. We walked the ten minute walk together. When we arrived, we sat down in our own reserved room and awaited our food. The kids’ food had been ordered in advance, but we adults got to pick our own course. There was almost a reverence as the food was served. Some of the kids were so excited that they wouldn’t eat their food because they wanted to savor it later, but I encouraged them to enjoy it hot. It was a rare treat that they rarely could afford, only when a gift was given by missionaries or as a reward for some big achievement. It was the most special experience that I’ve ever had eating at McDonalds. Oh, and we had a hip-hop dance party with the big purple character. I’m pretty sure he was flirting with me, but he just wasn’t my type.

After a couple of days off at my supervisor’s house in Davao, I set off yet again! I would have been unhappy about going had it not been for the fact that they sent a companion with me this time. Now that I’ve had to make friends and lose them in such a short amount of time and so many times, I didn’t feel like I had the energy to do it again. They sent my Filipina friend Nice with me (her name is really Eunice, but she doesn’t like it, so everyone calls her Nice). She is the same girl who accompanied me on my bus ride to Butuan a couple days after I arrived, and we have kept in touch since then. Now I get to have my very own friend for a whole two weeks! We had been dying to hang out, and we’re having a great time together. We’re both pretty easy going and like to joke a lot, so we’re popular around here. We are now in Surallah at Uncle Dick’s Home for Children. I don’t know who Uncle Dick is, but I do know that Surallah means that the town is south of the Allah River. I’ve been into town a couple of times here. The people are openly curious and usually friendly, if they’re not too shy.

Aww, nuts, it’s about to rain on my laundry again! It got drenched last night, which wouldn’t be such a big deal if I wasn’t almost out of clothes. It’s been raining hard off and on for a few days now. I got soaked through last night, even with my umbrella, walking to the church where youth camp was being held. Apparently the kids pulled an all-nighter, as is their tradition for the last night of camp. I sat in the back and read Atlas Shrugged. I felt rude for not listening, but they were speaking Illongo, which I cannot understand. Nice and I only stayed until ten thirty. It’s almost three in the afternoon now, and the kids have been unconscious since about seven this morning. I hope they wake up soon, because I’m supposed to teach them a song to sing at church on Sunday. I’d like to teach them a melody and harmony part and have time to help the ones who don’t know how to match their pitch. Teaching them a song is my task for this coming Sunday. Last Sunday, I had to give my testimony. I say “had to” because they asked me to and I was terrified, but it actually went really well. I’ve noticed how much I thrive with such an uncritical audience. I wasn’t nervous at all, and I could really feel God speaking through me. I didn’t stumble or lose my train of thought once!

I’ve gotten used to the bug situation here. I basically can’t emerge from my bed or the shower without putting my Off lotion on first. I have mastered the art of catching/killing mosquitoes in my hand (there’s always a bunch in the shower because they like standing water, so I kill them before they bite me). I still get a bite or two every day, but I’m living with it. I’m even used to the cockroaches crawling around in the bottom of my luggage, although I’m still not too fond of them in my purse. Hehe, one time I reached into my purse to get my lip-gloss, and there was a very large cockroach clinging to it. Naturally, I screamed and threw it down. A few days later, I was in bed at night and I reached down for my cup of water and felt a friend crawling up on my fingers. I was rather unsettled. That was a couple weeks ago. After that, I would be angry with them, not afraid. Now it’s just a feeling of mildly annoyed indifference. Same with the rats and ants. In fact, I can hear a rat in my room right now. He sounds like he’s behind the dresser. As long as he doesn’t die in here or eat any of my clothes, I’m okay. There’s no use fighting the ants, you just do your best to keep clean and brush them away when they bother you.

There’s something very satisfying about the simple life here. I spend a lot of my mornings doing basic chores like washing my clothes, sweeping the room, or doing yard work with the kids. They grow a lot of their own food here, and they also plant a lot of things just for display. The kids build little rock walls around their planters, and it’s funny to me to watch them hauling rocks and building stuff. Nothing like good ol’ fashioned child labor to build the character, eh? Hehe! It’s not really like that, they just help out so that the adults don’t have to do everything and are free to supervise. The kids wash their own clothes, tend the crops, clean the houses, and cook their own food. I’ve been trying to learn some things from them, especially about planting and cooking. They’re so industrious and resourceful, I love it!

I’ve been playing a lot of jokes on the director’s family here, especially Nanay (it means mom, that’s what everyone calls her). This afternoon they were cooking some sort of black, spiral shaped shellfish that could easily look like a bug if you’re not looking too closely. I borrowed one, clasped it in my hands, and said to Nice, “Hehe, watch this!” I walked up to Nanay, who was sitting in the other room, saying, “Look what I caught!” As I opened my hands, I shook them so that it would look like it was moving and “jumped” onto Nanay. She squealed, jumped up, and tried to brush it off her. When she saw it unmoving on the floor, she picked it up and examined it. We all had a good, long laugh. This is just one example of the many things we do. She plays jokes on Nice and me also, but we’re pretty hard to beat. Well, I think that’s about all I’ve got for ya’ll. I’ll post some more pictures and write again when I get a chance. Ttfn (tah-tah for now)! ~Becca

Quick Update

So much has happened since I last blogged! This will have to be a short update for now until I have more time- I'm on the clock here at the internet cafe.

Since I wrote last, I've been to three new orphanages! I went to Manila for a whole month and visited two orphanages on that island, one just outside the city and one a few hours away. I had a fun time in Manila, taking in some of the big city culture and making friends with some American volunteers. The orphanage there was nice and well-supported, and it even had a guest house! The next place I went, called Open Door Christian Orphanage, was great. The kids and I got really attached to each other, even though I spent almost a week with the flu. (Don't worry, they took really good care of me!) Since they were out of school for their summer, I got to just hang out with them and get to know them better. There was a lot of older kids from the orphanage and youth from the church that I was able to share with and encourage. Also, I got to meet a bunch of other missionaries, short-term and long-term, on my travels. I'll post more on that next time when I can put some pictures up.

Right now I'm in a very rural area, in a city named Surallah. I just arrived at this orphanage and am still getting the ropes, but this will be the orphanage where I will spend June and July. I can tell already that I will be pushed to grow here, if not by having to share my testimony so many times, then by all the cockroaches, rats, and mosquitoes. I sleep under a mosquito net now, it's pretty cool. Oh, and this is the orphanage that is supported by the Tebow family, as in Tim Tebow, a very famous college football player at the moment. Look him up, his story is interesting.

Well, more later, I promise! I just wanted to let you all know that I'm alive and well. Please keep me in your prayers, I'm getting a bit homesick. Also, pray for me to have courage in sharing my testimony and encouraging the kids. Lastly, please pray for the salvation of the people here. Thanks so much for keeping in touch! Love you guys! ~Becca

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