Mack - Morning has broken over the beautiful mountains near Malabalay. Sunday morning found us packed and ready for our next adventure. First to church in Manila for a beautiful worship service in a very large church at the top of a shopping center in down town Manila. After church we headed for the Green Hills shopping mart. A huge complex which is a cross between one of our malls and a flea market. Before going to Green Hills we stopped at Chile's so we could order our lunch to be enjoyed at 11:30 before making our way to the airport. The lunch was great, tasty and voluminous. Then back into our van and off to the newly opened terminal. We had seen the terminal on our last visit. It was completed several years ago but due to political problems it just opened for business recently.
After a brief 90 minute flight we landed at Mindanao and after picking up our considerable luggage we loaded it and boarded a truck like van for the long ride through the mountains to Malabalay. We made one stop in the town of Cagayan de Oro at a McDonalds and then made the long trek with much singing and laughing. We arrived long after dark to loud singing as the "Racers" group ,who are also working here, were doing Karaoke and greeted us warmly. After getting acquainted we moved into the partially completed dormitory and prepared for a night's sleep and a day of construction work to be started in the morning. The beauty here and the magnitude of the project is amazing. The land for the project is owned by Grace and Glen Ayala. Grace has run a Christian camp here and has now partnered with Jeff Long and his organization to develop a complex which will include a huge soccer field, basketball court, camp dorms to house up to 250 campers and a children's home to permanently house 96 children in eight 12 person units. Grace is a remarkable and committed Christian lady.
Kevin - We've been dropped into a beautiful new (but definitely more rustic) environment. Gone are warm/hot showers -- here are ice cold showers, and friendly spiders that keep the mosquitoes and flies down and fight off other non-friendly spiders. We are situated in the middle of banana plantations that spread up the mountainside - it reminds me in various spots of Maui, and others of Kauai (we had a sunny day interspersed with 2 or 3 torrential downpours). This morning I went to meet some of the construction workers that we expect to work with and in broken English/Tagalog/Visayan/Cebuano we tried to piece together an introductory conversation.
Everyone is very friendly and we were just welcomed by the owner of the next plantation over who brought us some new fresh bananas that he tells us are much sweeter than those grown in Costa Rica or Panama because of the elevation at which they are grown. Also, we have a Durian tree on the premises and a few of us more adventurous types braved the pure stink that accompanies this strange fruit to experience the flavor which is I guess best described as a gooey sweet onion. Similar in texture to durian is the marang, but it does not carry the smell and the flavor is kind of like a sweet custard. Having a great time with the World Racers -- what a great group of energetic and committed young Christians with a heart for the world! After touring the camp facilities and hearing of the plans for the current building effort for the Children's home here in Mindanao, we began the work of sifting sand for plastering cement walls and removing and straightening nails from old scaffolding and moving it to where it is needed for expansion of the dorm/sleeping quarters that we are staying in. Tonight we head to town for some supplies, internet access (hopefully), and possibly the great dessert treat of the Philippines called Halo/Halo - a mix of Ice Cream, Jello, Crushed Ice, Beans, and who know what else into one of the best dessert concoctions ever created..
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