Jillippines Update 1

To those who might be wondering or worrying: yes, Jill made it safely to the Philippines. I'll let her tell you about it in her own words, via an email she sent to me:

We arrived in Manila yesterday afternoon, and stayed in a Balikbayan hotel (for returning Filipinos). It was very nice. We crashed about 8 p.m. and got a nice night's sleep. About 8 this morning we headed to the airport. Driving around in Manila was quite the experience. There were people everywhere--walking among the cars, jammed into what they call Jeepnys--open air extended jeeps that function as taxis.

Our flight to Cagayan de Oro landed late morning. It, of course, is much smaller than Manila--more comparable to the Molokai airport. We walked down stairs onto the tarmac from the plane. We've been riding around in the Nehemiah House Jeepny. Don't tell my mom [ed. note -- Hazel do not read this next part] it doesn't have seat belts, and the back is open. We are never going very fast though, as the streets are crowded and people just go where they want.

Mike pointed out on the way home that it is a study in contrasts. Millionaire estates across the street from shanty towns. Open markets and a mall that rivals Pearlridge. He also said that for all the warnings about Mindanao, Cagayan de Oro is the safest city in the Philippines. He said that we can very safely walk to the market--we could even take a jeepny ride if we were feeling brave.

We got an extremely warm welcome from the girls. They are beautiful, and I love them already. They opened the gate-- yelled "hi!" and smiled. When we climbed out of the van, they put our hands to their foreheads to offer a blessing. They prepared a beautiful meal for us, complete with a cake. They even did two dances for us to praise songs. Some of them speak English, and some of them do not. They are teaching us words here and there, but I keep forgetting them. We have been very warmly received and are thankful for the time we will get to spend with them.

They have a lot of free time in the next two weeks, so mostly we will mostly just be playing games, hanging you [ed. note -- I hope she meant "out"], and studying the bible. I am very excited.

She asked for prayer for her stomach -- it was already acting up. Other than that, please continue to pray for her earlier prayer requests.

I have no pictures from the Philippines yet, but she did send a couple from the airport in Taipei.

This is the Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world before the Burj Dubai overtook it. Don't be fooled -- Jill is standing in front of a picture of it in the airport.

Jill and Melissa in the airport, saying hello from tomorrow.