Renewal and Relaxation in the Philippines

View from Leslie and Sonny's front Porch

   Hello Everyone.  I hope you all had a great week and pray that everyone is happy and healthy.  I haven't dedicated the blog to anyone in a while, but this week I am dedicating it to our friends Sonny and Leslie that live in the Subic Bay area, north of Manila.  Their grace and hospitality last week were outstanding.  They really helped us to recharge our batteries both physically and mentally.

This is what hangs from their awning. Beautiful!!!

SCHOOL:  No School last week, we were in the Philippines if you haven't figured that out by now.  I am going to use this space to tell you about our amazing hosts Sonny and Leslie.
  I met Leslie in Oakhurst during the summer of 1996.  She was a board member on the Bass Lake School Board at the time.  She was one of the people that actually hired me to teach at OCI.  After that, Leslie and I became friends.  We collaborated or conspired to pull off one of the greatest practical jokes in the history of the district.  You can either ask her about it or check with me later to get the details.  Anyway, over the years we have kept in contact through various means of communication.  While we were in Thailand this year, we just missed her and Sonny.  Sonny, who is a very gifted musician was doing a concert in Thailand and we weren't able to get together, so she invited us to their home in the Philippines for our next vacation.
  Many of you from the Oakhurst area know Leslie and her background.  I am going to focus on what she has been doing for the last six or seven years.  Leslie has been a leader and trainer for YWAM (Youth With A Mission) and in the Subic Bay area she has created a program called Project Life. Now I cannot even begin to go into all the details about YWAM.  They have an outstanding website that you can go to in order to get more details.  I do want to tell you a little about some of the amazing things being done in Project Life which Leslie and Sonny are involved in near where they live.

The poor fishing village in which Leslie and Sonny do some of their work.

  I hope that Leslie forgives me for abbreviating the project.  In a nutshell, Leslie, Sonny and their team are teaching people how to fish.  I don't mean in the literal sense of that phrase, but in the terms of helping people to change their way of life in order to fend for themselves and to help lead their community out of poverty.  While we were staying with them, Leslie and Sonny shared many stories about how people have changed their lives through education and training.  Here are just a few things that I can remember from our conversations.  Leslie is very knowledgeable in regards to health issues and has been teaching the people about how to take care of themselves and to stay away from bad water.  She is teaching mothers about the benefits of breast feeding rather than using formula.  Most of the families cannot afford the correct amount of formula to give the infants proper nutrition.  It is better for the baby to breast feed and the families can save the money to by more food and basic supplies. 

 Her crew is also teaching the people skills like sewing.  They make bags that can be sold to help out the families and community.  Not only has she taught them about physical skills, but leadership skills themselves.  I got chills when she told the story about how she wanted to accomplish something in the slums and the people that they had trained, said that they would take care of it.  The reason I got chills is because she isn't doing it all, the people are beginning to take pride in themselves and want the community to change.  They can see the hope and are willing to do the work.  Leslie said it best when she mentioned that by having the local leaders take the lead, they are more effective than outsiders coming in and telling them how to do it.  I was very inspired and touched by many of the success stories.    
  This is an impoverished place.  Probably the worst I have seen in my life.  One of the biggest problems that they face is the annual flooding.  The rains come and the estuaries begin to fill with the rain water and the tides from the nearby bay.  If this was fresh water it wouldn't be so bad, but the water that backs up into the slums is all the sewage water from the nearby housing community and slums.
  God has definitely used them as tools to not only spread his word, but create hope in a very impoverished community.  I know that I have probably done a poor job glossing over all the great work that they have done, so here is a link to follow that will give you more details.  The video on the blog is exceptionally good.  Project Life Blog.
  By the way, if you go to the website please encourage Leslie to continue to share the frustrations and the wins of the ministry.  It does us all good to see the struggles that go along with the hard work.  It makes the rewards that much sweeter.  I only say this, because Leslie mentioned that what she appreciated about my blog is to hear that I am going through some of the same stuff she deals with.  She is not the only one that has commented about this.  Another person said to me that the struggles are what make it real and personal.
  I have to confess, despite volunteering in the ministry for many years I have always felt a compulsion to keep my money at home because I could keep tabs on the success of the mission work being done at home.  I guess I grew up not appreciating what goes on with missions in the rest of the world.  I also, think it is because when I was growing up my parents and grandparents got scammed by people that said they were doing work abroad and really never did anything.  Isn't always that way, the few ruin the reputation of the many.   Maybe I needed an eye opener like this to renew my faith in people like Leslie and Sonny that put their heart and soul into what they are doing.  I thank the Lord for this opportunity and really appreciate what he is doing with them.
  One final thing.  I am encouraging Leslie and Sonny to start a retreat slash B and B at either their home or a nearby home.  Sonny and Leslie are outstanding hosts and some of the money that they make would probably benefit their ministry as well.  They have the potential to create something very much like our Caboose.  Subic Bay is a great place to not only go on an Eco Adventure but a Human Renewal Adventure.  If you want to go and stay or support Leslie and Sonny, you can email, Facebook or call me, as well as visit their project on Facebook or the blog link I gave you above.

ADVENTURE:  Well if you thought that the previous section was enough adventure, guess again!!  We are the O's and we try to pack as much life into one week as possible.  One of our friends that has taught here for a few years describe us best.  He said and I quote, "You have done more in nine months, than some people that have lived here have done in five years."  I don't know if that is true or not, but it sure is funny how people that have lived here for a couple of years ask us how to get to certain places.  Also, Cecelia described our adventure here like this.  She describe our adventures here, as a Chinese person going to the United States and trying to  see it all in one year while working full time.  Not happening, but we are damn well trying!!!!  Onto other things.

I think one of them is Dracula.

  Much of what I mentioned in the previous section was learned from Leslie and Sonny as they took us adventuring around the Subic Bay, Olongapo area.  The day after we arrived from our marathon travel adventure,(if you didn't read last week's blog, then you have to go back and read it first to get that story). Leslie and Sonny greeted us with coffee and breakfast.  Sonny makes an outstanding cup of coffee by the way.  After breakfast Leslie took us out for a tour of the area and had a couple of special surprises for us.  
  We first headed out to the old Navy base and she showed us some of the improvements that had been made.  Along the way she pointed out the slums where she and Sonny do ministry.  Near the old Airbase we stopped to get our first glimpse of some of the natural inhabitants in the area.  When we first got out, they had us look up in the trees.  Hanging in the trees were thousands of these huge black things.  At first we thought they were large seed pods from some of the local trees, until they started moving.  They weren't just moving, they were dropping out of the trees and flying.  We realize that we were looking at thousands and thousands of fruit bats.  Now if you are squeamish about bats, this is not the place for you.  When these things drop out of the trees, they are so big that they remind me of the Batman movies when he comes swooping down out of the darkness to take out some bad guys in a darkened ally.  They also call them flying foxes.  They are aptly named.  Just imagine a jet black small dog with leathery wings flying around while you are sitting out on your deck in the evening.  Yeah, Creepy with a capital C!!!!
  The next leg of our adventure came when Leslie and Sonny took us to the Zoobic.  The Zoobic was small, but really cool.  It was kind of a combination walking zoo with a driving safari. 

Yes, that is Tiger drool on my lens!!

  The first thing we did was see some tigers up close and personal.  We saw the typical tigers in cages, but then we went on a short but crazy drive through an enclosed area in which the trainers fed chicken to the tigers through the wire mesh of the vehicle in which we were enclosed.  Thank God for strong wire mesh, because when you get up close and personal with a hungry tiger, it is a totally different experience from the cute and cuddly places we have been before.  You know it is serious when you get tiger drool on your camera and shirt, as well as a full view of fangs and tiger, chicken breath blowing into the vehicle.  I have included some pictures that say it all.  Remember a picture is worth a thousand words.  I just saved you a bunch of reading.

The faces say it all.

  After the experience of Tiger spit on my camera lens, we were then led to where the tigers wait until it is their turn to go into the chicken feeding compound.  Now, we have experienced tigers in various settings in our travels, but I can honestly say that this is the only time I have been scared.  The reason I got a little scared is because in two of the cages their were a couple of tigers that were the biggest and most powerful animals we have seen.  The largest tiger we saw was over 300 kilos, which in our measurement system is about 700lbs.  But, the size of the tiger was only a part of why it was frightening.  The other part was that it was pacing and roaring at a tiger that was outside of its cage.  Let me tell you, when a 700lb tiger roars, it scares the hell out of you and it feels like chain link isn't enough protection.  Finally the one thing that the trainers really warned us about was that when the tigers are pacing, watch out for them raising their tales.  If they raise their tales they told us to run like hell, unless you wanted to smell like the backside of a tiger all day.  They have a tendency to spray innocent bystanders outside of their cages, because they feel like the bystander is violating their territory.  Thank goodness nobody ended up with a musk shower.
  After our tiger experience we drove through the park and saw some of the tamer animals like, ostriches, goats, camels and pot bellied pigs.  It was a nice reprieve after the tiger encounter.

The Warrior Dance

 We then headed to the next surprise that was in store for us.  We had a private viewing of some of the indigenous people dancing.  They gave us a demonstration of the Monkey Dance, Warrior Dance and the Dragonfly Dance.  Cecelia and I were most impressed with the Dragon Fly Dance, because the guy did this thing with his shoulders that would have put me out of commission for a month.  The really cool thing that we learned about the dancers and some of the vendors is that the Zoobic is run solely by the indigenous tribe.  They take great pride in their work and it shows.  The other thing that is impressive, is their use of the old ammunition bunkers that are littered all over the park.  Some of them are houses for animals and others are used for animal supplies.  One had actually been turned into a baby animal hospital.

Look at them chompers!!

  Finally, we made our way to the crocodile fishing pond.  Now, you are probably thinking to yourself crocodile fishing, never heard of that.  Well, crocodile fishing is a huge pond full of crocodiles with a walkway going over it.  Now, all of the crocodiles were docile and not moving until they handed me a pole with fishing line on the end of it.  I promptly tied Taylor's ankle to the end of the string and threw her over the walkway.  You should have seen how quickly the crocodile woke up.  I was just kidding about the Taylor thing, but they did give the girls poles with chicken tied to the end of a line. 

Here Croccy, Croccy, Croccy!!

  The girls then proceeded to dip the chicken down into the crocodile pen.  The crocodiles would sit mesmerized for long moments, just focusing on the chicken.  Taylor even got to the point that she was trying to hypnotize them and turn them into vegetarians.  It worked well until one of them jumped really high and stole her chicken off the string.  After pretending that we were Captain Hook from Peter Pan, we then drove down to Ocean Adventure.  We were going to be spending Thursday at Ocean Adventure so Leslie wanted to make sure we knew where to go.
  On the way back home, we spotted some of the wild monkeys on the side of the road.  They were very cute and there were a couple of babies in the group.  This is the first place we have been in which there are actual wild monkeys.
  Just before we got back to the house, Leslie dropped us off at a beach resort that had a place to sit and swim.  We hung out there for a few hours and then met Leslie and Sonny for dinner.  That was the end of our first full day in the Philippines. 
  The next day was just a beach day.  We hung out all day at a place called White Rock.  It had a private beach and water park.  We spent the morning swimming in the bay and playing on a giant blow up slide.  The water park then fired up and we spent most of the afternoon playing on the slides and wave tanks.  We ended the day by swimming in the bay again and then headed for home.  We were excited because Sonny was cooking us an authentic Philippine dinner.
  That evening we had Chicken Mango soup served over rice.  Chicken and Carrot Lumpia and finally ice cream and cake to celebrate Cecelia and Claire's birthdays.  Oh by the way, we had this amazing meal on the top deck of the house, watching the sunset over Subic Bay.

View from the deck

  This is not the end of the story.  I am adding a bonus blog that will be out later this week about a special event that happened.  Stay Tuned!!!!