Okay - so the first part wasn't mission trip at all - I do confess! Anna and I flew into Cebu a few days earlier than the rest of the team for a very well needed break at the very nice Shangri-la, Mactan Island resort. It was gorgeous - blue skies every day, mango smoothies, clean beach, snorkelling and swilling with tropical fish, excellent service (we were a little embarassed at first that people would insist on carrying things for us when we are fully capable of doing it ourselves)....oh...and I became a professor! For some reason the hotel had it on record that I was a Professor instead of a Miss or Ms. ...which caused much amusement to myself, Anna and the hotel recceptionist who checked us in. He continued to call me Professor for the rest of our stay...nice!
We then were dropped off at the arrivals part of the airport on Wednesday, and I managed to spot the Nehemiah House (orphanage) boys and ladies waiting for the Hong Kong team to arrive. One of the ladies remembered my face from 3 years ago - so cool! It tool me a little while to remember some people's faces. The HK team arrived safely and we went on our 45 minute journey to NH where we were also staying. They prepared a meal for us - it was so hot that I mainly ate the watermelon. The kids from NH had all gathered together in the main hall to welcome us - they had a banner saying'Welcome Hong Kong team' and had a programme of worship, testimonies, dances and songs - it was so good....and I recognised some teenagers from my first mission trip there. A girl called Xandra is now doing dramas and is on the worship team - it's great to see hopw much God is doing in their lives.
Our team weren't particularly strong in areas of music, dance or dramas, but all had servant hearts. It was awesome...NH told us what their needs were and we managed to meet them. We did some outreaches, a day of worship, games and craft activities for the NH kids and a feeding programme at NH where kids were bussed in for presentation, Bible study and food. The staff thanked us this day and we also prayed and ministered to them. It was great to see everyone stepping out, some of our youth gave their testimonies for the first time, and a family with a four and six year old were fantastic and even those little kids were getting a sense of service and giving for God.
On Easter morning, we had sunrise service at 5am, so we had to wake at 4;15am to get ourselves ready and take our suitcases doen so we'd be ready to depart too. We had an excellent service and had communion with all the people at NH. When I think about it - it's awesome to think that we fellowshipped and encouraged members of our family.
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