After 24+ hours of travel we have arrived! We enjoyed getting off the plane in Hawaii- even if only for a few minutes to stretch our legs. The second leg of the flight was long- but allowed Jeff P time to see three patients who needed assistance on the plane. It is amazing how many people talked to us on the plane and in the airport- and how many people we were able to encourage and tell about what God has been doing in the Philippines.
We hit our first big customs snag when we arrived in Manila. It seems as if we were due after 5 trips! Its seems this go round that we did not have all of the appropriate paperwork for the boxes and boxes of supplies that were donated. They pulled our whole team aside and gave us two choices- we could leave all of our supplies in customs and wait for the appropriate paperwork to come through (which can take several days) or we could pay high duty and taxes (up to 30% of the value of the supplies) to release them from customs. After an hour of fervent prayer and many phone calls, we got permission to pay 4000 pesos (the equivalent of 90 US dollars) so that we could leave the airport with all of our supplies. This was a huge praise- as they could have been super tough on us.
Friday, Dec 7
I will let Noah (age 11) tell you about his first impressions of Sankey on Friday morning:
My first impression was how beautiful the orphanage was. I was shocked to know how nice people are here and how many people know Jesus outside the orphanage. When we got off the plane, two or three people greeted us and said that they loved our T-shirts which said "God belongs in this city." I know from the beginning this is going to an experience I'll never forget.
Today was very fun. We did our first medical mission, and hung out with the kids! The medical mission was fun and there were some really nice people helping us there too! After that, we came back to Sankey and had fun with some of the kids. The kids were crazy, energetic, and fun all at the same time! I had lots of fun. Love, Noah
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We spent Friday morning getting unpacked and sorted in preparation for our first day of medical missions. We gave Noah and Jeff O a quick tour of the Sankey campus and got to chat with some of the kids and staff members. The volunteers from Bethal Church came and spent the morning helping us get ready and then going thru a quick crash course for all of the medical stations. They all had great attitudes and jumped right in to help whereever needed.
At Bethal, we saw over 100 patients in just over 4 hours. Our good friend Doc Arjel came and helped us out again. He took time out of preparing for his general surgery rotation to spend the day loving on people and seeing patients. Jeff P also had help from one of the Sankey nursing students, Grace, as a translator and super assistant. All of our volunteers did a great job- even with all of the yucky jobs like cleaning ears and taking urine samples.
The evening time was spent with the students doing a devotional, putting together a puzzle, and making bead necklaces. It was a great time to just hang out with the kids and hear how they were doing. All of the high school students have their summative exams on Saturday- so please pray for wisdom and recall of knowledge as they take their exams.
Praise God for a good first day! It was a great warm up for what is to come.
