Day 3 - Team Mary Ann to Bulacan

Team Mary Ann was with Eva, Shawn, and Forrest. We were assigned to two different churches in the Bulacan Area. Since we were going the furthest from our mission house, we had to leave super early. On our way to our 1st destination, we had to make two stops to pick up Julie and Nonong who were two of our escorts for the day. Our host was Pastor Rey and his wife Cecille. Not only did we pick up passengers, but extra cargo aside from the bags of joy we had to deliver. Those extra bags contained items for Ukay Ukay (rummage sale, similar to garages sales for us). It's a good thing for the people here since they don't have lots of money. The money they raise from this will help the church with their building fund. We finally arrived our first church for the day in time...just a couple of minutes before 930am. It was really wonderful to drive throught the country-side since most of our assignements are pretty much in the vicinity of the city.

Before we entered the church to do our program and all...Shawn and Forrest decided to apply bug spray. That bug spray had the pine sol smell. As soon we reached the front the kids weren't too thrilled about the smell. They expressed their thoughts by saying "Ang baho" [It's stinks] The photo says it all. I guess the bug spray works well to repell not only mosquitos but these little kids as well. At that school, Pastor Karina and her staff did a great job, all of the kids who were assigned a bag came to the party. What a success. The also performed a puppet show and some games and dancing for us.

This was a really great school. These kids were absolutely precious. Since we had to trek over to the next destination, we didn't get to spend too much time there. They sent us off with a snack, which consisted of Lumpiang Ubod (Fresh Lumpia) and Biko, and Philippine Rice dessert.

In between our schools, we had lunch at Greenwich [a pizza chain], which was yummy enough.

Our second school was a lot of fun as well...but super HOT. We were sweating like crazy...it was a small room that felt very humid. We made it though and tried to get through it as quickly as possible. Not all the kids made it to the party so we attempted to deliver their bags but had no luck. It was nice walking in the country side and see some local fruit trees and vegetables on our walk.

We are having a great time. It's a lot of work but a big blessing to all the kids who receive these bags.