Movie Night - WonWoo

I am WonWoo who has given chance to come Manila with these awesome teammates. It is really blessing to be in Manila and I want to share about one of my best moment. Our whole team went to have a Movie Night with the kids at children's home. We watched Indiana Jones and it had some scenes that would have possibly scared some kids. Therefore, I asked Christian who was sitting beside me, a kid from children's home, if he was scared but he said "No". He asked me if I wanted to know the reason why he was not sacred and I told him that I would be happy to know. Then, he told me that it was because Jesus is in his heart. I was really impressed and I appreciated God for being with him. It just made me pray for Christian immediately. I believe that all the kids in children's home will be with God and God will take care of them.

Suffering For the Greater Good - Daniel Jungnickel

Today (Thursday the 19th) is pretty much the last working day for the Manila Team. Through out the whole week we have all suffered for Jesus. Since Monday there has always been a manual labor shift that every single one of us took part in at least twice, if not more. For some of us that was no problem, until you have to do the most gut wrenching and back breaking work three times in a row for four hours. I was one of the hand full of guys that saw the river three times. The project started when a son of Jeff, the founder of K.I.M, Kirk bought a patch of land which included a river. The river was affected by the 2009 typhoon, which we cleaned up. There was rubbish stuck under heavy rocks and in clumps all over the place. The reason I say "Was" is because we all suffered so much and gave so much to clean and dispose of probably 70% of the rubbish. The majority is gone and I can not say that all is gone, but the change is significant.

To my parents: I am fine and have not sustained any major injuries just a few cuts on my hands, arms, and legs from the many rocks that I dragged out of the river.
I miss you all,
Love Daniel.

Jevan's Perspective of the Manila Trip

My name is Jevan. I am a freshman at ICS. One day we (Monkey group: Wonwoo, Rachel, Feng, Angel R, and Angel C.) went to a children's home. All of us played with the kids there. It was quite fun to play soccer with the kids there and also play basketball with them too. I got to make many small new friends there. I got to put them on my shoulders and run alongside them. A small kid named Rans wanted me to go on my shoulders and I let him. I carried him for about half an hour. I was tiring and fun at the same time as I asked the Rans where he wanted to go and what he wanted to do. The Manila Trip here for me has been very fun and interesting. I got to make new friends and better relationships with people I went with on this trip. I got to see and meet new people from different countries that aren't as fortunate as me. This trip really helped me to get out of my comfort zone to help others.

Overview of the trip- Seong Woo Hong (Jim)

When we first arrived in Manila, we were assigned our animal groups, the groups we will stick with throughout the work days. I was in the Cheetah group alongside Lucy, Austin, Deborah and Sunny. At first I was unhappy with team I was assigned but after hanging out with the team, I got to know the team better. We basically spent majority of the time together which allowed us to really bond. Now I am really comfortable with my team and I think we are really clicking together. Throughout our whole trip, we did many different kind of constructions, swimming, helping out at the children home and the feeding. Our whole team is going to Tent City Thursday for our final job. We will be doing feedings, balloon animals and playing sports with the kids. I hope we will be able to invest in the children's lives for the remaining time and end our trip on a high.

Jung Min - Swimming Day

Yesterday, the Emu group (Inez, Seohyun, Tristen, and I) were chosen to teach swimming to the filipino kids outside the gates of the K.I.M ministry centre. We started off with a group of boys who were decent at swimming and only one of them good prove to me that they could swim to get a turn on the slide. After 30 minutes, we had to kick them out from the pool so we could bring in a group of girls who were waiting outside. From that group of girls, I met a cute filipino girl named Joyce. She could not get in the pool because she was scared of water. I went up to her and asked her if she could come in the pool but she resisted. After a long time of pleading she finally walked down the steps one by one and finally grabbed onto Inez and had fun in the pool. Thirty minutes passed and we had to kick the group of girls out and Ms.Bandy suggested if we can continue to swim with another group of kids who were waiting outside for a long time. We took the last group of kids, most of them were small girls and one baby boy who was attached to Ms.Bandy the whole time. Finally the thirty minutes were over and we had to kick them out.

This story from Ms. Cantrell's perspective:

I was supervising from the second level and making sure little ones were making good choices.  As I was watching our students give these Filipinos their attention and care, I was bowled over by Jung Min's interactions with the kids.  He was so insistent making sure they could swim before they could slide.  But on top of that, he was intent on teaching ones who couldn't swim how to move their arms and legs.  As if that weren't enough, Jung Min helped the little boy who was clinging to Ms. Bandy when he was shivering from cold (it was an overcast day).  Jung Min used his own towel to dry off the little boy, then Jung Min took the time to put the little boy's shoes and socks on him.  It was my favorite moment of the day!  I really almost can't handle how amazing our kids are; their hearts are blowing me away! 

What today was like.

So like everyday there was something new and interesting to do- Some good, some better, but always different. Today we started with praying, (as always) then eating breakfast, and then off to our first task to do.  My group and I went on a feeding where we go to the slums and feed a bunch of poor families. Then end with playing with he street kids and anyone one else who would join us.  Yesterday was probably the best day of the week as I got to take over feeding a baby his food successfully, then got to go and join a bunch of guys in cleaning up a river for the land that Jeff had just acquired. Which was amazing and super smelly, but in the end worth it, great bonding for the guys and myself.
Not afraid

to say this
But I miss you Dad and Mom
If your reading this
Your Son: Austin

Monday - Kean

So we made it safely to Manila, day 4 and we're still alive. The food's good. The people are nice. The beds are sweaty. The bathrooms are less than clean. It really has been an amazing 4 days. We've been constructing, teaching, swimming, and a whole lot more, but the most fulfilling moments on the trip have been ones we spend with the kids here. The kids are everywhere. They literally jump with joy every time they see us because they are genuinely happy to see us. We've only been here for a short time, but the kids treat us like they've known us their whole lives. They remember our names, the things we do, the games we play.
Today has been one of the best days so far. My group, the Dolphins (Aaron, JaeHoon, Lucas, YuJin, Shannah), started off at the children's home taking care of toddlers. We sat down thinking about the best ways to avoid getting drooled, but when the kids came out of the rooms smelling like fresh baby, we went straight into work mode. The idea that those kids didn't have anyone more to than us to take care of them just made us connect with them even more. Or, you know, babies are just cute in general. After that we came back to our dorms to find around twenty kids all waiting to jump into the pool. The activities didn't feel forced like what I thought it would be like. All of us had a lot of fun playing with the kids even though we only just met them. There was this one kid that was just super cute. He couldn't swim yet because he was too young, but he kept trying to put his foot in the water, so we picked him up and waded him through the whole pool, carrying him all the way. By the end he was swimming as well as anyone and it felt just... fulfilling.

- Kean