Days 28-33: Week of Service

Lucy and Will hand out bubbles and balls to a line of children at the LDS church 

Three boys blowing their bubbles as we drove away.

Jason taps heads in Duck, Duck, Goose.

Will and his new buddy, Jason.

Orphan children playing Name that Animal.

Sam and Rico (proudly showing his finger puppets) at the Mabuhay House.

Jenissa (who is receiving jaw surgery) and Rico (club foot surgery patient).

Anna, Samuel, and Nico.

Jacob and I had three goals for our family on this trip: 1-Grow closer as a family through a simplified life and lots (oh, lots!) of together time. 2-Teach children gratitude for their abundance of blessings and 3-Give meaningful service.  I felt like the first two goals were happening just by being here but that we hadn't done much to accomplish the third.  Upon returning from Thailand we all kind of hit the wall.  Being in a naturally beautiful place made it hard to return to the big, dirty, park-less city.  School started for all the kids here while we were gone so we were now on our own.  We decided it would be a good week to do service, and the need couldn't be greater with all the flooding.  We kicked off the week on Saturday going to the grocery store and buying toiletries for flood victims.  We dropped them off at the home of a ward member who was collecting them then headed to a poor part of town called Taguig.  After driving through winding, garbage-strewn, narrow streets and finally hiring a taxi to show us the way, we pulled into a small LDS church where 21 families were staying as there homes were under water.  Our kids handed out bubbles, bouncy balls and small gospel pictures to 30 eager children who had nothing but the clothes on their backs.  It was hard to see and we did so little for people who need so much.  They thanked us with their smiles and we were back on the road.

On Tuesday we caught a cab to an orphanage about 45 minutes away in the hills of suburban Manila.  We received warm welcomes from friend and orphanage teacher, Beth Potter (from Soccer Academy) and ten orphan children ranging from eight to twelve.  They were so excited to have us there and were absolutely darling.  The kids all decorated cupcakes and then devoured them.  Anna showed them how to play Duck, Duck, Goose and Ring-Around-the-Rosy.  We taught them "Give Said the Little Stream" and then they sang "I Will Always Love You" (Whitney Houston is huge here) for us.  A boy named Abeth who had been brought in off the streets a week earlier belted out an impressive version of ABBA's "Dancing Queen."  My kids were really sad to leave as they'd all become fast friends.  I'm hoping we can get back there one more time before we come home.

Thursday Anna, Samuel and I walked to a nearby church member, Pauline's home and caught a ride to the Mabuhay House, a home where people go before and after receiving free surgeries for cataracts, cleft lip and palettes, club feet and burn contractions.  The organization began in 1986 by a former mission president and they now do over 15,000 surgeries every year in 20 countries.  Simply remarkable.  Pauline told me it only costs $35 to perform the cleft palette surgery here but many could never afford that.  We decorated cookies with the children and colored finger puppets.  I remarked to Pauline about what meticulous artists the children were and she told me that Filipino public schools don't have the money for paper, crayons or other school supplies so to color anything is a special treat that they take seriously.  The children, once again, touched us with their broad smiles and cheerful attitudes.  Nico, a handsome 16 year-old colored meticulously from a wheelchair.  Pauline told me when he arrived his clubbed feet were so mangled that his legs wrapped behind his body.  After several months and as many surgeries he only had bandages around his feet.  The doctors are confident that he will be able to walk soon.  The most heart-breaking part of Nico's story is that because of his physical condition he has never been allowed to attend school.  16 and not a day of schooling in his life.  We sang songs with the children and distributed more bouncy balls.  Samuel told me he noticed they didn't know what to do with them at first.  He bounced one on the table and as we walked out you could hear the sound of constantly bouncing balls.  Anna and Samuel listened quietly as Pauline told us stories of the children who have come and gone, having their lives forever changed by these simple surgeries.