October Break - and TEAM Celebration on Cebu

Our first quarter of teaching at Faith Academy ended on October 13. Faith's one week October Break started on the 14th.

TEAM took the opportunity afforded by Faith's October break to have all of the TEAM missionaries in the Philippines get together for our annual conference. So, on the 15th, Laura and I (and three other missionary families) flew out of Manila to the island of Cebu, right in the middle of the Philippines. In Cebu, we met up with two other missionary families with TEAM. Then, after driving for a couple of hours north of the city, we arrived at our destination: a small resort on the north coast of the island of Cebu.

The scenery was beautiful, and we got a chance to relax and unwind, after a very hectic end of the first quarter. We definitely needed the time off from grading and planning and teaching for a little while. It wasn't purely fun and games.We spent part of each day in worship, learning, sharing about our various ministries, and other TEAM Philippines dialogue. However, there remained plenty of time for both fun and games, of various kinds.

Below are some pictures from the resort. Hope you enjoy them!

Oh, and as a side note, another benefit of this trip was that we were not in Manila when Typhoon Megi (aka Juan) hit the north edge of the Philippines. There wasn't much damage in Manila, but we were still happy to have not been here when it passed over.

The beach by our resort. It was about 200 feet from our cabana.

The same beach as above, except during the sunset. So beautiful!

This was a nice little wading pool. It was kinda cold, which was nice at times.

These were the more expensive rooms. One of the families stayed in this part of the resort, but we did not.

We stayed in one of these cabanas. It was nice, mostly, if you ignored all the ants that found their way in.

One of the evenings, we all played a game of Catch Phrase. Lots of fun!
Also good bonding time-- you learn a surprising amount about the other players during a game like that.

Dave and Kathy North, and Grace and Keith McCune.
Both couples are long-time TEAM missionaries.

We also played a few other games during the weekend, such as Settlers of Cataan.
The Persons (in the back) were playing Canasta.

And after it was all over, we gathered for some final prayer, and some praise for our time together.

Intramuros

Two weekends ago, we spent Saturday with the McCunes, fellow TEAM missionaries here in Manila. They are very cool people, and we are thrilled to be their neighbors! 

On this day, the four of us went to Intramuros, the old walled city that used to be the whole of Manila. It is an important historical site, though most of what you can SEE of the history has been rebuilt. The whole area was leveled during the liberation of Manila from Japanese occupation at the end of World War II. (Yes, you read that right; it was the liberation that was most devastating to the buildings.) However, much has been rebuilt, and it was a fascinating area to visit. We visited Fort Santiago, Casa Manila (a home recreated to show life as a wealthy Manila aristocrat), and 2 churches. We finished the day in Rizal Park, very near Manila Bay, but our camera had run out of batteries by then, so we have no pictures.

The rebuilt walls and defenses of Fort Santiago. This looks over the ocean- the main enemy at that time was pirates.

Chatting on a bridge over the moat, with many water lilies. Evidently Manila is named for these flowers. Unfortunately, none were blooming while we visited.

The recreated, decorated gate into the fort.

A pretty Manila flower I found, that had fallen off its tree. The umbrella is for the sun. I have used my umbrella more often here as sun protection than rain protection, and that seems to be common, even during rainy season. Grace and I had our umbrellas up a lot that day.

A statue of Jose Rizal, a vastly important Filipino hero and liberation symbol. This area of the fort is where he was imprisoned before being executed by the Spanish. Just in front of the gate, you can see the bronze footprints that mark his last steps.

Costumes in Fort Santiago of wealthy dress from several centuries ago.

The McCunes at the Casa Manila

The only building left standing after the liberation, the church of San Agustin. It used to have two towers, but an earthquake took one. We visited the church and the accompanying museum of Filipino religious history. Interesting stuff.