Wednesday, October 09, 2013

First Conference Day

We were up bright and early due to jet lag sending us to bed at 9:30 pm last night.  One good thing about jet lag...when you are exhausted, you don't hear barking dogs and crowing roosters. 

The roosters and dogs are quite a chorus.

The pastors wives arrived this morning--some of whom had a three hour journey to get here.  So I cannot complain about the roosters. 

It is quite hot and humid with no A/C in the building but everyone seemed to have a wonderful time anyway. 
My mom and another lady set up the gift table.
Some of the pastor's wives waiting for the conference to start. Some of them look so much younger than they are.   They are very tiny--many not much taller than an American 9 or 10 year old.

This was one of the students from the school.  She came and sang, "Jesus, Take the Wheel,"  for us.  I did not expect to come to the Philippines and hear a Carrie Underwood song!
Lunch!  It was yummy!  The kids at the school are taught life skills and one of them is helping with the cooking.  They are doing a great job.
After lunch, the younger kids came and sang for us.  They are so cute!  Little PhotoBomber man was standing still while all the other (blurry) kids were dancing.
Have you ever seen a cuter smile?  It light up her whole face.  I found out later that her name is, Princess.
Very fitting, I would say...
"I still have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing."

Now I will catch up from yesterday--some pictures from our trip up to Zambales through the van window.  Sorry!  I just didn't think anyone would appreciate me asking to stop and get out every time I saw something photo worthy.
This was taken in Manila when we walked to get some lunch.  It's a very common mode of transportation.
A side street in Manila.
My coffee latte came with a kitty design--how cool is that.  We were told it's 'coffee art.'
A unique vehicle here is called a Jeepney.  The originals were made from American made Jeeps that were left behind after WW2.  Now some of them are a different make - but they remain 'Jeeps.'  The front is a Jeep and the back is a small bus.
This is some clean-up work being done from the typhoon.  Things are not as bad here as I expected them to be.  People seem to just go back to life as usual and deal with the flooding.  I think the people in the mountains have had a harder time--but we will not be going there until Saturday.
This is the back of several Jeepney's. 
Please excuse the reflection in this shot, but it was the only way to show the river where the typhoon went through.  The water was all the way up the sides and washed part of the bridge out.
Mt. Pinatubo is near here and I tried to get a shot of it but couldn't.  So just pretend that this shot is Mt. Pinatubo. 
You're welcome.
Mt. Pinatubo erupted (I think in 1998?), and demolished this area.  The school we are currently staying in used to be located 10 miles from the volcano.  It was destroyed and they moved to their current location which is about 40 miles from the volcano.
A street in Zambales.  Parts of Zambales have beautiful resorts on the water.  The water and hills reminded me a lot of Hong Kong.  I would have loved to have stopped and gotten some pictures--but alas... 
If you want to see it...well...there is always Google.
Typhoon clean-up in Zambales.
The red dirt you see on this mountain is where a mud slide occurred that killed five people, including two children.  It is directly across the field from the school where we are staying.

The women attending the conference are pretty shy around us but they are opening up little by little.  They are very sweet.  I took their portraits today, amid much giggling.  I am working to get them edited and ready for printing and then we will present them the last day.
The doctor arrived this evening, so tomorrow we can start the medicals.  Some of the women look like they are in need of seeing a doctor, so it will be great to get that started.