Dental Mission

I'm a little behind on my blogging. I had hoped to finish my blog while I was traveling last week but never had the wifi to be able to do it. So here is what has been going on in Boracay, and then as soon as I get all my pictures up, I can get you caught up on my trip last week.
We had a team of dentists from San Fransisco come to Boracay through our ministry to do a dental clinic. There were probably about 30 of them on the team and they are students, teachers, and alumni from a dental school in SF. They had a couple different stops in the Philippines and luckily we were one of them.
They hosted a dental clinic on a Saturday afternoon in our church building. We had 150 people from the island come to the clinic, and there were probably over 300 teeth pulled. We had people from all over the island, but mostly people that had heard from our church, feeding sites, and school. Even though it was obviously a painful thing to watch it was such an amazing blessing to people because so many of them were living with pain for so long because they couldn't do anything about the tooth or teeth they needed removed. A lot of people had one tooth pulled, but a lot of people had more than that, 2, 3 and there were even some people who had 6 teeth pulled. The clinic was a huge blessing to help people in pain and with infections, but I think the best part of their ministry was the feeding sites they went to throughout the week. They were in Boracay for 4 more days after the clinic and they went to our feeding sites with toothpaste and toothbrushes and handed them out to all of the kids They also showed all the kids how to brush properly and use the toothpaste. I think that is such a huge thing here because the biggest problem, and reason there were so many extractions, is because people don't know how, choose to, or have the financial ability to take care of there teeth. Teaching kids how to do it is a huge step for them to actually do it. Providing them with a toothbrush and toothpaste might be temporary but it is still great for these kids.

Most of the missionaries were at the clinic helping in whatever ways we could. We did a lot of setting up and talking to the kids we knew from school or our feedings. Sometimes we even were the ones to go with them to get their teeth pulled. One of my second graders wouldn't go with her dad but for some reason was ok with me going with her. She was not a happy camper and it was so hard to sit there and watch her be so sad.

The dentists were amazing. Walking around and helping them out I got to watch them interact with the people and the kids and they are the nicest people ever.

Also with most things we do here, our ministry is very evangelical. We had our pastor as well as the pastor from the other island at the clinic to talk to people as they waited. They went around throughout the whole clinic and talked to people and families. It's amazing to see how different people respond here. In the US people would complain about their rights being infringed, or people shoving their views down their throats. People here are so receptive of what people have to share and have open minds to things. The picture above is Pastor Rolando, the pastor of our church, and the picture below is Pastor Peter from the other island, who also works with the Ati villages.

This guy had six teeth pulled, and had a smile the whole time.

A picture from our graduation ceremony, the kinders up front with the grade 6 behind them.

With school being out I've been able to spend time at some of the other feeding sites on the island. I went to the Diniwid feeding with one of the missionary families. We replaced the roof on the Diniwid shelter a while ago and we loved the kids there so I decided to go to the feeding to hang out with them again. Diniwid is on the north end of the island and is out of the way from most of the resorts and tourists. All the kids at our feeding sites are friendly and fun but the kids at Diniwid are definitely a lot of fun to hang out with and play with.

A picture of our trip to Antique last month, walking through the jungle.

At the end of the school year we had a staff party, and the only thing that's a given at a Filipino party is karaoke. It is so huge here and it was fun to see some of the super shy Filipino teachers totally come out during karaoke. The Filipino staff pretty much ruled the karaoke most of the night, but we got up and did a couple songs. The picture above is us doing a full airband and singing Bohemian Rhapsody. The picture below is me going solo, the lyrics at this point just happen to be about taking a picture, which is why I have the aircamera going.

 These are some pictures that were taken by another missionary here of my Cagban feeding site.

 Me giving the message to the kids.

 Dr. Anderson

Giving out vitamins before they eat.


This last week I was able to go on a vacation through some other parts of the Philippines and I'll write all about it in my next post. Other than that I have been staying really busy here on Boracay. I am about to start summer school and so I've had to organize that and get everything ready for my kids. I've also been making a MAPEH book for next year which includes music, art, PE, and health. The most exciting thing I've been doing is planning the trip for the college group from Escalon that's coming to Boracay in July. I have been busy communicating between the Beaver's and my sister to get things set up and things are going great. I've also been planning Bible studies for the group as they prepare for the trip as well as when they are here. There is a lot of work to be done for the trip and they have done a lot of work so far to be able to get things going. They have such a passion for coming here and serving in this ministry and I am so excited for them. It is so awesome to see kid's that I ministered to through youth group grow up and still hold on to what God wants to do with them, and to have them interested in coming to see me and serve next to me here on Boracay is an amazing feeling. I am so excited for them to see everything that is happening here, as well as them being able to bring different perspectives and experiences form the ministry back to you at home to see everything from more than just my perspective. Please pray for our group as they continue to plan and raise the funds to be able to come out here. There is so much for them to do as a small group to help our ministry and they are going to bring me so much inspiration as well. Mission trips can be life changing events and it's so awesome that are hoping for that experience.

Graduation!

It's hard to believe but the school year is over already. It seems like I just started and it definitely doesn't seem like a whole school year has gone by. I am definitely ready for a break and excited for the things I'm doing this summer but I will definitely miss my kids. We had graduation last week and it was a great time to celebrate our students.
Graduation is a huge huge deal here and along with graduation for the kindergarteners and grade 6, we also have awards for all of our students from each grade level. Each class comes up with awards that each one of the students has earned (gift of science, gift of friendliness, etc.). We recognize all of our students for their special gifts and have a ceremony before the graduation ceremony just for them. It is an awesome ceremony for the kids just to feel special and bring all the school together. After the recognition ceremony we had our grad ceremony for the kindergarteners and grade 6. It was a long but very awesome day and it was great celebrate with all of our kids and their families. I wasn't able to take pictures during graduation, but I was hoping someone who took pictures would post them so I could put them in here. If someone posts them I'll put them in a blog but for now I don't have any, sorry.
A couple weeks before school was out we had our family fun day on the beach out in front of the Jungle Barn. The whole school and their families were invited to come on a Saturday and enjoy games and lunch and a fun time together. Me and a couple other teachers took charge of organizing and planning the day and it was fun coming up with all the games to play. We split the school up into 4 different teams, red, yellow, blue, and green. We had several games and competitions for everyone, the kindies through grade 6 and even the parents. To start the day we had each team make a team name, design a poster, make a sandcastle, and come up with a team cheer.

team green dragons

Team red love

Team yellow king

Team blue whale

The next game we had was probably the funnest of the day. Four way tug of war. We started with the kindies and went up all the way to the moms and then the dads.

 There really aren't many things more fun than watching kindergarteners in a 4-way tug of war.

Grades 1-3 were up next.

 Then grades 4-6 started to bring out the muscles.

The parents got their turns next and those were also very exciting to watch. The fathers and the mothers wee both extremely competitive.

 We also had a three legged race with mother-daughter and father-son.

The mothers had a straw tower building contest. Each team got a pack of straws and had 5 minutes to build the tallest tower they could.

 Our last game was our amazing race. Each grade level had to do a different part of the race.

Halfway through a parent from each team had to swim out to get their team flag and bring it back to a student to run back to the finish.

 At the finish line the teams had to build a human pyramid.

 Blue was the first team finished, then green and yellow finished at the same time.

Last weekend after graduation we took a retreat to the other island. It was so nice to take a break and relax for a weekend after the end of the year being so stressful.  We took a trip to Antique which is about an hour and a half away on the other island. We stayed in a "resort" right on the river and it was so nice and peaceful. I got a much needed weekend of relaxation and rest. It was also nice just to take a step off the island for a little bit and get out to see some more things. It was so awesome being over there in a completely different world. Boracay is basically city life everywhere and is covered with tourists everywhere. Antique is farm and jungle. There were a lot of people that lived on the river and used farming as a way of survival. It was also surrounded by jungle everywhere there weren't fields. It was really what I was thinking Boracay would look like before I came to the Philippines. It was really nice to get away from the city and get to a place where things were slowed down and relaxed. During the day we hung out in the river with some of the local kids that wanted to swim with us. We also took a hike into the jungle to see some waterfalls. The hike in itself was awesome, trekking through the jungle and seeing so many cool things. We got to the falls and it's a 7 tier waterfall with the bottom three being possible to get to. You had to use a climbing rope and climb up the cliff to do it, but it was doable.

This was the first tier of the water fall, or the seventh if you start from the top I guess. There is a lot more water coming down in rainy season than there was now.

 This is the third tier fall. There were some rocks to the side to jump from.

 Our guide started climbing straight up the waterfall. He is an amazing rock climber because there was not much to grab or step on but he did it no problem. The water is also falling a lot harder than it looks, it's still a strong force when it is falling on you, plus the rock is super slippery. I was definitely extremely impressed.

A cool looking flower.

 A lot of rice terraces just in the middle of the jungle.

 Wild pineapple.

 Everything is made out of bamboo, even the bridges. It's not as sturdy as it looks, and it doesn't look very sturdy.

 A water buffalo taking a bath in the river.

 Another bamboo bridge.

 A cable bridge. It was actually a lot less sturdy than the bamboo bridges. We were jumping and shaking it back and forth, definitely pretty fun but not super smart.

Looking over the river from the bridge.
The weekend was so relaxing and was just what I needed. It was also so much fun to see another part of the Philippines and see people living in a completely different style of life. It was also amazing how cheap it was also. It costs us 50 cents to take the boat to the other island. In the Philippines our group of 15 only needs to take one 11 passenger van. The van cost us $3 each to go the hour and a half trip to Antique. The place we stayed cost $3.75 per person per night and we stayed 2 nights. Our guide to the falls cost us $5 split between 15 of us. It was definitely the best $16 vacation I've ever been on.
I got back to the island and had a few things to wrap up in school with grades and finishing everything up for the year. I also had to come up with the schedule for summer school. One of the Filipino teachers who is staying over summer and I are doing summer school, we had to come up with the scheduling and everything to set it up. It has been good the last couple days to be able to rest and take it easy for he most part. I still have plenty of things to do, but just have more time to do it now.
It has also been interesting being here over Holy Week. The Thursday and Friday before Easter are both holidays here and so everybody takes their vacation to Boracay this weekend. There are so many people here, it's crazy. I've just been staying in for the most part because everything is closed and it's hard to walk anywhere with so many people everywhere. Holidays are also hard times to be away from your family. It's always hard but it's magnified on holidays and when you have so many memories of everything you'd be doing at home it makes it hard. It's part of being here and it's what I signed up for but there are times when it's just tough. I love what I'm doing and I know I need to be here but that doesn't mean I wouldn't buy a teleportation device if it existed.
Thank you for your love, support, and prayer. I appreciate it so much. I hope you all have an amazing Easter and enjoy your time with your family and take advantage of the time you have together, don't take it for granted. Enjoy it for me.