5th DAY IN BICOL

Its officially the half way mark of our mission. So far, we've accomplished many things. Today, we were split into our different groups, Samaritans, Kings, Maccabees. We were assigned to our different schools.

UPDATE FROM THE SAMARITANS:
Masarawag is actually just about 10 minute's commute from our hostel, but the route we took was a circuitous one, avoiding the areas that were inundated by heavy flooding. It was where Uncle Al and Celestine said their goodbyes to us before they made their way to Legaspi airport. Butt not before presenting teh officer in charge with a bass drum and a quadruple drum set for their drum and lyre corps. The OIC of the school, Mrs Bosque, was in tears when she received the gifts - tears of joy and gratitude that were a priceless affirmation to our mission. She said: "On behalf of the children of Masarawag, I thank you for this beautiful gift of music and yourserlves. May God bless all of you!"

Our entire time at Masarawag Elementary School has been an AWESOME one. (: We spent the whole day with the students there, teaching them and playing games with them. The children there were all very friendly and welcoming. As we toured the school, all the children were so excited and happy to see us and were frantically waving at us. There were 3 Grade 5 classes that we were in charge of, so we split our groups into pairs. This was quite a challenge for us as we were not prepared to conduct our lessons with ONLY 2 PEOPLE. We started off with ice breakers, playing captain's ball & sock thief. After which, we proceeded to the classrooms and conducted our lessons. For my class, we taught them how to fold origami hearts, made them form sentences, create stories and played hangman. My partner, Christian, and I were REALLY IMPRESSED by their English. We thought that communicating with them might be a little difficult as English was not their first subject. However, the children at Masarawag were VERY GOOD in English and could easily guess the words of our hangman game. After all these activities were carried out, it was already quite late and thus we ended off with a mass game of JACOB'S LADDER (: all the students were super excited and energetic (it seemed like they have an endless supply of energy!!!). We summed up everything with a little praise and worship (action songs) as we said our final goodbyes (we finally gave them our gifts, the rosaries, which we had painstakingly tied with our hands and sweat). We were all reluctant to leave Masarawag Elementary School. This was an AMAZING experience for all of us. Being able to make friends with the students, bond with our group members and were also able to experience a little of what their life was like. We saw how the children there were not afraid of the usual worms and insects. While all of us were freaking out over a giant millipede, the boys in the school bravely picked it up with their BARE HANDS and threw it at the girls!!! EEEKKK!!! (SO EVIL!!!) All in all, it was a VERY FUN DAY at Masarawag Elementary School, and we can't wait to return to the school for the upcoming Christmas Party (:

MACCABEES: heyy :) so, today, we went to Guinobatan West Central School to  spend time with the primary 5 kids. Lucky for us, the school was just a 5 min walk away XD YAY! We were greeted by the school's friendly principal and were told by him that there was about 200 students(?!). So, we decided to split them into two sections, one before and one after lunch. We were at the school early, so we went into Grade 1 and grade 2 classrooms, just to say HI, sing songs and give them delicious SWEETS!! When the kids saw us, they were SOOOOOOOOOO FRIENDLY AND HIGH! :) For the first section, we got them to write them to write them a story about Christmas. They then have to perform their story using sock puppets or acting it out. The kids were REALLY AWESOME! They did everything in like 2 hours! :DDD Some of the groups had really interesting stories and AWESOME (& FUNNY) costumes. One chubby, adorable kid took one of our scrap cloth (which was actually a LONG SKIRT) and wore it as a dress! He also took a strip of purple scrap cloth and wore it like a headband! Apparently, he was supposed to be Joseph in his group's skit. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! :DDD Then, after the sock puppets session ended, we sang songs with them to end off such a wonderful session with such ENERGETIC kids! After this session ended, we were all swarmed by MOST OF THE KIDS, asking us for our autographs! They even asked us for our contact numbers and Facebook accounts! :O HAHAs! Furthermore, our dear Vanessa Goh just got a new little boyfriend during this session!! Their convo:

Kim (the little boy): How old are you?

VG: 15...?

Kim: (very happy) Oh I'm Grade 6 next year. -wiggle eyebrows-

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! It was soooooo hilarious! CUTE MUCH! XD

After lunch, we had our second session. We taught them how to fold paper cranes :) but before they folded it, we got them to write a message inside to whoever they want. It was quite tough to teach them as this batch was weaker in English and were rather distracted and stuff. Despite that obstacle, we still managed to teach them and they managed to complete their awesome cranes. After that, we asked them to do a skit based on the title 'Christmas'. However, there were quite a few who could not speak or write in English, so they sang instead. They sang Christmas and Tagalog songs. (Most of the Tagalog songs were about love... wow...) Some were really brave and got up on stage to do a solo. Among them was this boy, he was super cute and sang with so much power, so much emotion (with the that facial expression and body language). It was so cool :D Like with the previous session, we ended off with some singing and action songs ;)

All of us really enjoyed ourselves, just by spending time with the kids and looking at them enjoying themselves give us a sense of satisfaction. Like all the preparation and planning we did before really paid off. :) Ohyeah! Vanessa Goh was like a total SUPERSTAR in the school. Some girls, who were from the first session, came in after the second session to look for her and interviewed her for like a good half hour! :D hahaha!

On behalf of the people who are not feeling well and stayed behind:

We are really sad that we missed out on all the fun everyone had with the kids :( For any parents reading this, please don't worry about us! All of us got a lot better today! :) Hopefully we will recover soon to be able to contribute and play our part for the mission team. We pray that the rest of the team remain healthy and strong and HAPPY :)

Thank you all for your prayers for us!

In Guinobatan East, other than the sessions they did (I am sure leader Darrion will give updates in the coming days), the  KINGS actually donated a bass drum for the use of their drum and lyre corps. The teacher in charge was so happy and practically hugged Uncle Al when she was told of the bass drum donation.

Updates from Kings...
We had a good start to our day. In the morning, we played captain's ball and Duck Duck Goose with the students. we then proceeded with lessons after lunch, where we taught them how they would hurt Jesus whenever they commited a sin. After that, we taught them how to speak Chinese and even gave them Chinese names. The students then came together for praise and worship. Lastly, to end it off we sang the children's favourite song- Lazy Song by Bruno Mars.

UNCLE AL WRITES... Just arrived from Bicol together with Celestine a few hours ago, and I feel I have to add to this blog. We had a chance to chat while seated at the transit lounge of the Legaspi airport, while seated side by side in the plane, and while waiting out the five hour transit in manila airport. The night before I told her in jest: We were in the same boat yesterday; today we are in the same flight. Really funny. And to think that I am the Mission leader and she was the leader of the youths. But we concluded that God has a special plan for us here in Singapore while supporting the mission.

Already I am missing my beloved group - the Samaritans. At least I managed to be with them this morning all teh way to Masarwag. That was a precious moment for me hugging you all and blessing you all with a God-filled and spirit filled time in Masarawag. That said, I am already missing the entire group; after all the preparations I had with you - be it fund raising, spiritual formation, mission formation, camps etc - it is really sad to be going back. But God dwells in you, and you will be his witnesses in Bicol.

And Vanessa Tay - keep up the good work with the logistics.

And for the rest of the people there - Lucy, Anthony, Sr Grace, Sr Angie, Michael: As I leave stewardship to you, my prayers are with you. We will support the mission trip from here. God bless you all.