Five months ago? Day 11

It's been five months since our Philippines mission trip and I was so good about getting my trip documented until the last two days. Somehow, and I'm not quite sure when it happened, five months have passed. I have been thinking a lot lately that I really need to get those days down for posterity's sake so here I go.

June 16

Today is the grand opening of the youth center. It is such a privilege to be a part of this because I remember when Greg came to our church several years ago and told of his vision to open up a youth center down the street from one of the largest high schools in the world and here we were watching that dream come to life in person. We didn't have to wait until Greg came back to the states, we didn't have to hear it through a letter, we were there watching this whole thing unfold. It was truly amazing.

Before all of that could happen we still had some prep work to do. We went to one of the satellite schools to hand out fliers and invite as many students as we could to the center. It's always so much fun when they get out of school and we get to hang with them for just a few minutes before they go home. They are so friendly and most are quite interested in what we are doing there.

We stayed there for a while before catching a jeepney to the church. We had ridden a trike, walked our little legs off and traveled by bus. This was our final mode of transportation to try. It was a short ride but now we can check that one off our list of things to do.

When we got to the church we had enough time to go to the store and get last minute things set up. Greg's plan was do the drama several times in a row when the students started coming down the street. That would get them interested then we could invite them inside to see what else was going on. I really hate to complain but we did the drama outside in a small parking lot. I had shorts on so my knees took a beating since Chrisanna and I kneel for about 2/3 of the drama. I also fell by a puddle of old oil my first time through and my hand landed in it. I had to lay there with motor oil under my nails. Quite a treat. We ended up doing the drama four times in about 30 minutes. After, we went inside to be grouped with a few students to take them on a tour of the upper floor of the center. We also had food and drinks in case they needed a little more coaxing.

The turn out for today was pretty great. I don't know the number of students who came through the center but I know that each person that walked through the doors heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. We couldn't have asked for a better day.

We also couldn't end the day better than at the Green Spa. We worked hard and we deserved a good rub down. I showed you Chris and my outfits so I couldn't leave out the guys and theirs. I will show the one where their chests are covered to save you and them any embarrassment. We nicknamed these shorts "shants" because a certain someone who shall remain anonymous, robert dorcheus, brought several pair of man capris and another kid was making fun of them and piped up, "nice shants" because they aren't shorts and they aren't pants. Unfortunately for him his shants became the butt of way too many jokes. So here are the boys in all of their glory. The best part of this trip to the spa was when Rob and I were just getting started with our massages and Chrisanna comes in and says, "Rob, you have to trade rooms with me. I just saw Kris in his underwear". We laughed and laughed and laughed. What a sight to behold.