Missions Trip – Manila and Handumanan, Philippines

9-20-10

Yay!  The school supplies that POA VBS shipped to the Philippines in July have arrived!  How precious!  My favorite picture is the little girl with the big pink hair bow!  Someone donated tons of ribbon, so I made hair bows for all the girls.  They sure did love that Play-Doh too!  Here are a couple pics:

Andrea

7-27-10

POA VBA

7-24-10

VBS week at POA.  We had a school supply drive for the children of Handumanan Village, PH.  I was hoping to fill at least one big box and ended up having to scout out 7 more boxes!!  We had 8 boxes set up by the end of the week and they were filled with the much needed supplies for Philadelphia Christian Academy, Handumanan.  I am so proud of our kids! 

On Friday, all of the children who attended VBS wrote a letter to a child in Handumanan.  I then gathered them all, laminated them and tucked them in with the school supplies.

The school supplies got packed up Saturday.  I took all of the pencils, pencil sharpeners, erasers, pens and glue sticks out of the packaging so we could get more in the boxes.  Also, a very smart lady donated plastic containers.  She said “How are they going to store it once they get it all?”.  Good question!  So, we packed them into the plastic containers.  The boxes left Houston yesterday morning on their way to the islands.  God’s Word is for Everyone – Let’s GO!  

Andrea

6-23-10

A group from our church left Monday to visit three islands in the Philippines.  I was not able to go this trip, but my heart is with the Filipino people.  Have a safe trip, guys!  You are visiting my second home.

07-09-09

I love receiving letters like this.

“Hello Andrea:) Good To see you too… Were doing great by God’s Love.

I have a good news to you, We 42 students in Philadelphia School and most of them are free tuitions and books and their parents pastor Tom having a bible study to them, also they go in our church on Sunday Service. And the Package that you send to us specially school supplies is a big help to those that cant afford to buy school supplies, and also the salary of the teacher we never worry about the monthly salary, because of the POA saints God bless your heart.

About kids specially Jireh and Genesis they never forget you we always talk about POA and specially the DVD’S that Mam Melani gave to Pastor Tom, the BOTT 2008 Jirah saw you singing in the choir and she go to the T.V screen and she KISS YOU…and she say, OH ANDREA I MISS YOU SO MUCH..even your picture she always bring in her school and she show your picture to her classmate and she says that this my friend from USA.
They miss you so much, they waiting of your coming back again in handuamanan even Becky they never forget you and the church too.

Til next time…..i Love soo much! say Hello to bro Steven from Pastor Tom.”

Jiji Jemina

_____________________

The view from the church window in Bacolod City

Bacolod City, Philippines

Across the street from the church, Bacolod City, PH

Entering Handumanan Village

Waiting for several hours for us to arrive

Welcoming us to their village

Welcome service

The Church

Children enrolled in the church school singing a welcome song

Even though it was the hottest time of the year and they had a couple hundred people in the cinderblock building, the church gathered all the fans and turned them toward us. We felt awful.

Buying school supplies for the Handumanan Village school. For $20, Becky and I bought enough supplies for the whole year for 24 students, plus misc. supplies the teachers needed

Our new friends

Teaching the children

These children were so quiet and respectful. You could hear a pin drop. They were very easy to teach.

Beautiful kids!

Watching a game of basketball. You have never seen one like this! The guys were in flip flops and had a dirt, uneven court, it was fun to watch.

This little tike was curious about me. I kept trying to give him a granola bar, but he wouldn't come get it.

He finally came and got it. I had several granola bars in my purse because we did not know when or if we would be able to eat. I gave them all away. The kids were so sharing. They tore theirs into tiny bits and shared with others who did not get one.

The girls enjoying my Bath and Body Works, 'Sweet Pea', hand sanitizer

Jimmy, in the purple and gold, played b-ball with the guys. They picked on him, but also protected him at the same time. Even though he is only about 5'6 - 5'7, they called him Jim-Shaq because he towered over a lot of them! HA!

The kids waiting outside in line to come in and perform the song I taught them. So happy!

Last day in the PH. My new friends!

Manila, PH, in the kitchen at ACTS Bible College

This is the American Cemetery in Manila, PH. These are service members who served in World War I and World War II

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Bro. and Sis. Mallory, after this trip, decided to go back to the Philippines and become full time missionaries there.  For the works they are doing and for updates, you can visit their blog at:  http://thoughtsfromthemalloryhearth.blogspot.com/

Here are pictures of when we toured a school in Manila that our church supports.  We toured the girls sleeping area (it was a small little hall where they had wooden frame beds with no mattreses!) and noticed that they did not have mattresses.  The four of us asked how much mattresses were and quickly found out that with a donation of $20 from each of us, these girls could have mattresses to sleep on by that night.  We quickly coughed up $20 bucks.

Philippines Girls dorms

The hall where they sleep

One of the classrooms, Manila, PH

2-26-09

The beautiful sign that greeted us at Handumanan Village, Philippines.

1-09-09  I finally got organized enough to upload some of our trip pictures.  Click here to see some of the pictures from our trip.   More will be posted as I have time.

Andrea

Manila, PH

This picture is of the first day or two we were in Manila.  The end of July is the rainiest and hottest time of the year there.  The streets become flooded very easily.  These were taken from the van as we were trying to get back to our hotel without having to break out a paddle!

Andrea

I am back from my missions trip to the Philippines!  We had a great time.  The reason I did not advertise that I was going is because everyone in Alexandria knows my address since it has been published in the paper.  I did not want any problems while I was gone.

Coming soon are pictures and our experiences.  I am thankful to be back on American soil.  If the floor wasn’t so dirty in the San Francisco airport, I might have kissed the ground!  We are blessed to live in such a great country.

Andrea