I woke up the next morning and journaled and prayed. We made our way with Marla to the pearl market. Most pearls come from the South Philippine seas and can be bought at VERY cheap prices. I spent about an hour wondering the pearl vendor stalls until I came back for the third time to the same man who promised me a "first customer" discount. I got the discount and I bought a beautiful pair of chocolate pearl studs.
Back to another Mega Mall, we had lunch in the food court. I had pizza hut, yup! Derek was overjoyed to find Taco Bell waiting for him! After lunch we met up with a pastor who lost his sight in High School. He teaches Bible Study to school-aged children in the public schools each week and let us tag a long with him. It was amazing to walk the busy streets with him. People would try to help him, but he can manage much better than I can with sight. We took another jeepney and a tricycle (a motorcycle with a cabin on the side) to the first school. Derek played the guitar for the kids in the class who sang beautiful songs. They had Bible study in Tagalog (their native language). Each child offered a prayer. One prayed for "peace on earth."
We walked through the streets of Manila to the high school for the next Bible study. The schools are open-aired and full of plants. It was like walking into a different country. We went into the classroom and said hello. One teacher said that I looked like a Filipino woman. One of the boys played the guitar for worship. They each sang a verse. I felt the joy of the Holy Spirit in my heart. Listening to the kids talk about prayer was beautiful.
We had planned to walk back to the family home after the study. We had a map, but we went the wrong way. At the last school they had given us snacks but we didn't really want them. Along the walk there were some children that ran up to us with outstretched hands. We were blessed to fill them with the snacks we had been given. We crossed over a bridge that gave us a nice view of the valley that had recently flooded. The mountains and sky were breath-taking. Finding ourselves back in the family home we enjoyed a feast of Filipino food. I can't tell you the names of the food, but I can tell you that it was delicious. After dinner we rounded out the night we a hearty game of NERTZ! Yep, Nertz takes on the Philippines! (Derek completely dominated the game.)
Wednesday morning I woke up early and not very excited to leave. I talked with Marla for a while and really enjoyed getting to know her more and in telling her more about my faith journey. Marla brought out the family photo albums and showed me Derek's family. It was a great introduction...(and I got to see Derek's baby pictures and teenage years!!!) We left heading to another mega mall to drop into a book store. I buy a book in each country I go to, so I needed to pick one up. I ended up picking up two. We had some Mexican food for lunch...ummmhummmm...and headed to the airport. Derek and Marla dropped me off. Derek was staying a few more days. I headed through the first of 5 security checkpoints, almost fell asleep waiting for the flight, did fall asleep during flight, experienced some pretty intense turbulence and landed in Korea to blinding snow fall. It took an extra long time to get home due to the snow and a while to get through customs and immigration. But, I managed to make it home all in one piece. My flip flops are back in the closet waiting for spring.
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