Picture Update!

We have been busy! These past few days have been chuck full of sweating bullets, digging deep holes in the earth, mixing cement, hauling cement bricks, eating the most delicious food, laughing really hard, getting really dirty, taking bucket showers, making lifelong memories, and falling in love with Filipino people. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of the wonderful time we are having, and how great this group is!!

We get pretty tired....

We've never seen rain quite like this

Soon to be a library for Igpanolong Elementary school, and the local community

Wonderful teachers who cook us wonderful food!

Workin' up a sweat!

Riding home on the Jeepney. What a great group!

More to come!

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@rowphilippines

Chandler

The Philippines is awesome! Today was are first day at the schools and it was the funniest/coolest experience ever! The kids at the school are super funny and all look the same or very alike...well hair color, eyes, and height. They have good teachers and are very smart and VERY hard workers! They climb all over you and just want to touch your skin and watch what you do. They love to play and always want to help out some how.
It is crazy humid and hot here but the people are so kind and just like to smile and laugh! Everyone seems to be happy here even if they are living in small bamboo houses and huts.  That is what I really like about the Philippines - they are awesome people!

-Chandler

Mahal Kita Igpanolong

Today was our first day at the schools and even though it took an hour and 15 minutes to get there, it was so worth it. The views are perfect, the kids are perfect, and the teachers are perfect. As soon as we walked up, the kids came up and gave us cute little necklaces that they made and then they had a little welcome program for us.  I taught the first "Getting to Know You" lesson today and it was kind of awkward because all the kids just starred at me. Every time I asked a question I just got blank stares. But that's okay because they've never seen a white person before. I would go up to them and they would run and hide behind their desks and not come out until I left the room. Once they got comfortable and happy though, they got involved in talking to us and playing with us. I love how all the kids just swarm you and they tug at your arms and they want to be involved and it's just amazing. There was a little girl who would smile at me then run away then keep doing it over and over and every time I went to go say hi, she would run away. My goal is to find out her name and give her a hug. Also not just the kids, but the teachers and families and the food they made for us was so delicious. I felt so fat because they fed us three complete meals! I wouldn't even be mad if I gained 20 pounds because I gained it eating the best food in the world. But, after eating and teaching and everything, we started to help build a library for them. We moved bricks and made cement and even that was a lot of fun. I just love doing everything here so much.
I think one of my favorite parts of today though were the missionaries that came and helped out. What are the chances that David ran into his high school friend serving a mission here, literally in the heart of the Philippines at the same store, on the same day? Anyways they came to Igpanolong and watched us teach then helped start to build. It was so cool talking to them and getting their opinions about living in the Philippines and their experiences so far. They also talked to the kids in their native language so that was also cool. It was crazy though because one of the missionaries could carry four cement blocks with four fingers. He was Samoan.
I am a proud Filipina and so happy that I am apart of their loving culture. I definitely could pack myself up, move to the Philippines and live off the land, spending hours in the rice fields and gardens. I wouldn't even care that I lived in a small little hut.... or maybe I can find a way to end all poverty.. but either way, I'd be happy to live here. But gotta go, I'm being kicked off the computer so blog ya later!

-Tori

Hans

The Philippines is so fun!  Just going from place to place is an adventure.  We ride on cars called   'jeep-nes'.  There's not really a speed limit, so they just go as fast as they want and if someone's going slower than they are, they just pass them.  After working in the hot sun for a few hours we couldn't stand to stay inside of it, so almost all of us rode on top of it.  It felt like a roller coaster and we had to dodge out of the way of branches and power lines.

The other way we get around are trikes.  They're little motorcycles with a little cabin for people attached to it.  Two people can go in the front of the cabin, two can go in the back, one can hang on the outside, and one more can sit on the motorcycle seat with the driver.  Unfortunately we don't get to drive, they're basically taxis.  Then again I wouldn't want to drive here, because it's crazy!

This place is so much fun, and I already hope I can come again.

Look I'm digging a hole!

Kellen

It is sunday at 8:00 pm. These first couple of days have been pretty awesome here in the Philippines. We got here thursday night and had dinner, I had the best mango of my freaking life! We got all settled in, then on Friday we woke up and went to the mall and had some fun there. Then we went to help out a village build a medical clinic. It was really nice to know that we were not waisting any time, but helping out the people.  I am already loving it here! The food is pretty awesome but sometimes all I want is a burger... None the less, this is already hands down the greatest opportunity of my life.

-Kellen

This is only the third day of being in the Philippines and I'm completely in love. The traveling was long, hard, and very tiring. Through all the work of just getting here and only being here a couple days, I already want to come back next year. I don't even remember the first day of being here because of how exhausted I was. The second day I do remember though! We tried to sleep in a little bit to get some sleep that we have missed, but I ended up being woken up by other people walking around at 7 am. We ate the food that was prepared for us, and holy cow... LOTS OF RICE. 

We later worked on a project. We had to dig some pretty deep holes in the ground for a medical center that the Filipinos are building. I don't think i have ever sweated so much in my entire life. Sweat was just pooling off my face and onto the philippine soil. The heat is another crazy thing here. It is so humid! Today we went swimming after visiting the LDS church. It was so worth it. The heat was so much hotter than the day before. It started to rain while we were swimming. The rain isn't freezing. Its a warm kind of rain. Sadie and I ran back to the building to shower in the outside showers cause how fun is that? To shower outside while its raining?! Sadie and I ended up just chilling outside in the rain for about an hour. As i am typing this it sounds like the air conditioning vents are broken and blasting out uncontrollably but its just the rain storm outside.. My favorite thing is riding the scooters. Its so nice to get the breeze in your face since its so hot. But when I was sitting on top of the jeep we were riding in, i wasn't paying attention and got decked by a tree and it left a battle scar on the back of my shoulder.  I also really really want to touch the dogs because there is so many! but dewey said I can't.. I'll get some type of disease. 

Another thing that i find kind of crazy, is the fact that everyone stares.. I've been asked for pictures multiple times. It makes me feel somewhat famous. Everyone is so nice. They all smile and wave. When we were walking through a grocery store Sara accidentally bumped me into an old Grandma. I felt so bad! I instantly grabbed her hand and said sorry multiple times and all she did was laugh and nod her head while she grabbed my arms to bring me in for a hug. So yeah, my past few days have been good. Its a good life people!

Victoria Weight

We Made It!

Before everyone wakes up, I thought I'd throw up a few photos of the trip so far.  It has been an awesome few days and we are having a great time!