Philippines Service Trip 2017

January 21 - February 1, 2017

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Team photos with the Manila Team 2017!

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Here are team photos from our last day in Manila!

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The team is enjoying a Korean chicken and pizza party in our hotel room! Jun Yeong is out with a friend. We all enjoyed a long nap this afternoon and we are looking forward to going to bed again soon!

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Here's one last construction photo. You can see the house being built on the left. When we arrived, there was no house at all! Our main construction work was carrying the cement bricks and cement supplies into this village so that the Filipino construction crew could build the house. Our students mastered the assembly line!

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Made It To Busan!

Hello everyone! We have safely made it to Busan. Everyone is pretty tired from our all night traveling, but their attitudes are great. Right now we're sitting at a cafe in a Lotte shopping mall waiting for 3pm when we can check in to the hotel. Everyone is healthy and all of our luggage arrived safely too. Thanks for your prayers!

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Trash Mountain

Today, I went to trash mountain. This was my second time of going to the Trash Mountain, and many things changed from the last year in a good way. The biggest difference from the last year is that pastor Ra Mil is not leading the ministry anymore. Today, our group guided by his son, Genesis. His testimony made me realize how much stereotypes I had and how much people can change after accepting Jesus Christ. It was a great opportunity to see how God uses each person at the perfect moment and the perfect place. Since I saw the kids living in Trash Mountain last year, so it did not make me as depressed as I was. However, I felt more about God's love from this trip. I sincerely believe something will happen to the Church and to the family of Genesis. It was a great experience!!!

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My Last Year on the Philippines Service Trip

After I became a senior, everything I do with ISC became so important and precious to me. I guess this trip hit me the most. Whenever I imagine that I am not able to come back next year, it is so sad. My team goes to Children's Home every night and I get so sad every night. I don't want to imagine saying good bye to my friends in there, but they asked me will I come back after this trip. This question broke my heart. I hope l can come back after I graduate from SYIS. P.S. Theresa, Zarina and Jessica miss you a lot. Yoo Min, I saw Faith grow soooooo much.

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Learning About Love

Over this trip I have been thinking a lot about what I am learning about love. We even have LAL groups where each night someone gets to share what they have been Learning About Love. I have been observing, thinking about, and discussing love a lot this week. I find that often times it is through the small things that I see love. The other day when we had an outreach at Children's Garden there was one girl that showed love in a small way, but to me it was huge. After feeding the kids and as we were just hanging out and playing with kids, this one girl ran out of the gate and came back a minute later. She was carrying a little pink watch and offered it to me. I said it was ok and that she could keep it, but I knew that her little watch was something that she valued and was special to her, so the fact that she offered it to me, whom she only just met, was an amazing expression of love and care. That night we went to Journey for Hope for a movie night and another small way that I saw love was in the two little girls that sat on either side of me during the movie. Each one was leaning on my lap as they were each braiding and re-braiding my hair. They had such caring hands and were soaking up love as they were poring out love at the same time. Even though both of these situations seem small, they were amazing acts of love that I saw within one day. It has been and continues to be so amazing to learn about love on this trip.

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Last Day of Being 17

Today was a really fun day! Yesterday was actually our fun day, but I just really enjoyed today. While half of us went to sports day, the other half of us went to Children’s Garden to do an outreach event. We had different stations and I was in the skit/message station. That was fun, but it was really cool to sit with the kids while they ate their lunch. The kids were really fun and wanted to play with me the whole time. After coming back to the YMC, we all went to a field near a cemetery to play three girl’s soccer games! Two teams were Journey For Hope kids and one was a local school. It was really cool to play on a team with other ISC girls that I have only ever played against in previous tournaments. Our main goal was to have fun and that was definitely accomplished. Even though it is still unsure whether or not Shenyang will have a soccer team this year, I am definitely satisfied to have been able to play my favorite sport with people I love in a country I love with local Filipino kids! After a long afternoon of soccer, our team got treated to ice cream and then came back for dinner. I was privileged to go to Journey again tonight for a movie night and this time it was the big kids and the little kids. I was able to connect with kids that I had not seen yet. I saw Syra and Micha who were little girls I met last year. I told Micha that she was the first person I met last year when she came for my first rotation of swimming. She was really happy to hear that I remembered her and that she was the first person I met. It has been a really great last day of being 17 years old!

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Sports Day continued with an afternoon girls’ soccer match. They entered into a tournament and competed with Journey for Hope and other local teams. During the soccer game, everyone else played some pick up volleyball or some “pick up the little kids and put them on your shoulders” game. ;)

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Saturday was Sports Day! Pictured here are the teams from the morning sports fest we hosted for the Journey for Hope kids. We were able to use the covered gym facility at Faith Academy, and it was great! This is an annual event that both Journey and the China Team look forward to each year!

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Here are more pictures from last Friday’s Fun Day at Villa Escudero!

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Here are more pictures from last Friday’s Fun Day at Villa Escudero!

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Pesos Pesos Pesos

I am one to love shopping. When it comes to shopping I would squeal in delight and reach for my wallet. Today was one of those days because we were going to this big shopping complex for shopping day! Our group was very big (8 people including Warren) and so at first it was hard to buy what I wanted because everyone was just walking ahead. That is why near the end of the time, I still had most of my money left. Just when we had forty minutes left, me and three other people went back into the bustling shopping area with the teacher's permission. During that short period of time, I used almost all my money. Don't worry I still have a lot left. But still. Anyways that was my whole day. -Grace-

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Shopping Day

Today I went to shopping with all of SYIS students. Originally I had to play soccer today, but many TIS students dropped off so I did not go. At shopping mall, I bought soccer replica which was only 650pesos which is really expensive in China and Korea. I really liked today but it was bad to be sick. We just finished the worship time and I am so tired. Today was a good day. Thank you Sharon for coming with me when I said I wanted to buy more clothes. Jun Yeong Hwang

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Happy Happy Birthday

This trip has been full of special moments. Letting a little girl ride on my shoulders, prayer walking through the streets of Manila, rafting in a river with my mentor, feeding hungry kids on Trash Mountain, watching kids help with construction without ever being asked. Today I am 18, another special moment. This morning I woke up early for once. During my quiet time it was wonderful to think of all of the ways that God has worked in and through my life up to this moment. Now I'm an 'adult' and I can't wait to see what this next stage will bring. Today was our shopping day, so I was blessed with Korean fried chicken and Krispy Creams, but that wasn't even the best part. My highlight was the hour of free worship that we had this evening. Worship is one of my favorite things in the world, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate than through worshipping God. -Julian

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Yesterday the girls had a chance to play together on TEAM iSC to compete in a soccer tournament with the Journey for Hope girls. They played 3 games out of 6, winning two and tying one! Great job girls!