Feeding sites and new friends!

My first week on Boracay has been a whirlwind. I have experienced so much in just a week's time. In some ways I feel like I have been here much longer that a week, and in other ways I feel like I have so much more to learn about this island. All the people from the ministry have made me feel so welcome and apart of the Church on the Rock family. They immediately took my hand and showed me this little island. Even though this island is small in size, it is FULL of people!

One of my favorite experiences is visiting the feeding sites. There are 16 different feeding sites spread out across the island. Everyday at about 4:30 at least two feeding sites are going. A few days a week there are three different sites going at once. The women who run these sites are absolutely amazing with the kids. They start off singing Bible songs with the kids. From there they have Bible stories and sometimes memory verses. I am always so amazed at how much the kids can remember. After they have been fed they get any scratches, cuts, or injuries tended to. They also receive a chewable vitamin while at the site.

When there are groups visiting, they prepare songs to teach the kids and then do Bible skits. The kids absolutely love having visitors. At one site we turned a corner to a group of kids running at us. Then they followed us all the way up a long hill to the feeding site. Once we were done and ready to leave, the kids actually followed us all the way back to the main road.

One site that remans at the focus of my thoughts was on the other side of the island from where I am living. The kids all greeted us with a "welcome" sign. Although Boracay is very poor, most people still wear shoes. And by shoes I mean flip-flops. They were flip-flops because they are cheap and because it is so HOT hear. But at this site many of the kids didn't have shoes on. They also had many wounds that needed to be taken care of. The flies and mosquitoes were extremely bad in this area. This is probably where a lot of the scabs are from. Some of the kids didn't have any parents present, but instead they were taken care of by older siblings. This site seemed to need sooooo much, and we could only provide a small amount compared to the size of their needs.

There is another site that is very close to where I live. This site brought tears to my eyes. To see how much these kids have learned made me so happy. Many of the kids at this site are apart of the Muslim community. Not only did they sing and dance with so much enthusiasm, they one-by-one got up and recited different memory-verses that they have learned. Some kids know more than one. They know more than me! I just pray that they can live through those verses that they have imprinted in their brains!

One thing that I will be concentrating on while I am here is getting lessons in advance for Sunday school and to share at these sites. I hope to take a lot of stress off of the ministry workers. So I make posters for visual aide and memory verse cards for the kids to take home and memorize.

On another note.....

God sent two Australian girls (Gemma and Tess) to visit Church on the Rock this Sunday. Teresa asked me to go speak with them because they spoke English. I invited them to come to the feeding site that night. I wasn't sure if they were interested so I wasn't going to pressure them into coming. But as they were leaving they asked Pastor Rolando  about the sites and said they would love to come see what it was all about. They met us later and went to a site where Jimer is putting together an outreach building that still needs walls and flooring. The girls had a heart for this sight and outreach, and decided to take pictures and videos back to their church in Australia.  They hope to raise some money to get it finished and would love to come back someday to help out the ministry. It's amazing how God sends people to the right place at just the right moment ;-)

(Gemma and Tess leading the group in a song)

Later that night I took my camera to the beach. A local family approached me and started talking to me. The young girl was there with some of here young extended family. She is 18 and is going to college in Calibo (a town on Panay that is about a 2 hour drive from Caticlan). She is studying to become a teacher. She comes home every weekend to be with her family. Her grandfather owns a resort not too far off the beach. She invited me over to meet her mother. So I went and chatted with them for awhile. They offered for me to come and stay with them for cheaper than I am paying now. So the next time I am here they insist I visit them and stay at their place. Novie Anne and I exchanged phone numbers and we will get in touch on the weekends so we can hang out. The whole family was so hospitable and made me feel very welcome. I hope to get to know this family more while I am here on the island!

Until next time.......