The Gellers went for a mission trip to Cebu, the Philippines just two weeks ago. And though most of us were down with food poisoning and what nots, we're still glad that we were part of this trip cause it was a really fulfilling one.

We went there with an aim to impact the people and to bless them, but I'm sure in our hearts, we all know that they impacted us and blessed us more than we did. They may be poor but they always tried to give us their best. I can remember really clearly in one of the churches, our dinner was provided for. And after we ate our fill and left the table, the youths of the church then came to eat the leftovers. I was really shocked then because I didn't think that the youths would be eating after us. They had even more youths than us and most of them didn't get to try all three dishes cause there wasn't enough left. Some had rice, and others had just vegetables or only meat. Only a handful were fortunate enough to taste all three dishes.

The Gellers who went for the mission trip.


View from our training centre.


They are still so outdated, they actually still use all these wire stuff.


I think they are high school students. The girls in the Philippines are really quite obedient and reserved I think. It's either that or to them, it's really fashionable to wear long skirts to school. Their pinafore or skirts are so long, I'm sure they'll never out grow them. Most of the girls I saw have skirts that are at least ten fingers below the knee.


This is their marriage office! It's beside a well known Catholic church. According to them, Catholics from all over the world travel to that church to attend some annual event.


This is how most people actually past their time. They just sit and wait for the day to go by.


We were then separated into two teams. One team went to Iloi Iloi and the other to Negros. My team went to Negros. And all 8 of us were squashed in that small jeep together with our luggages and boxes of food plus the pastor and his brother.


We saw a lot of these on the streets. The people actually squeeze into a vehicle and usually the men, will stand outside. I think it saves transport costs or something.


We tried to do the same! All 8 of us actually travelled on this trishaw looking thing, except that it had a bike instead of a bicycle.


On the road to the prayer mountain.


We got a chance to see their national animal.


The climb up the prayer mountain. It was really rocky and I think I complained and whined the most and had the most problems climbing cause they always made sure there were people around to help me. It was always like, " aye, you go in front of Sarah!" or "aye, you stay behind Sarah."




At the prayer spot! These were the people we spent most of the time with in Negros, the youths of the church and some other people, also from the church. They are really great people!


This is actually a spring. Some of the people there cannot afford potable water and so they come here to wash their clothes, bathe and get drinking water since there's an endless supply.


The kids at an elementary school! We went there and taught them some songs together with the hand actions and stuff. They were so cute!!! and they even welcomed us with a garland! haha..


After five days apart, both teams went back to the training centre and set off to our next destination.. erm.. I forgot the name of the place. We did children's ministry again and had a great time with the kids!


Joshua had the same shoes as one of the boys there!


The kids saying a prayer together with us. It's really cute cause they looked really sincere about the prayer. Oh and by the way, this girl, it's not that she had money to dye her hair or anything like that. Most of the kids there had hair of this colour because they are suffering from malnutrition.


The kids exchanging stickers with one another.




Most of the men in this village are fishermen and the amount of money they earned depended on how much they are able to catch or how many of the shells they can find. Although they were really not well to do, one of the dad of those kids gave these shells and more to the church when they heard we were coming. Shells are not cheap there in the village and it was for our welcome lunch.


I thought ducklings only follow the mother duck in story books, but I saw this in real life! SO CUTE!




Our performance.


Oh! Fruits there were really cheap. One bunch of bananas were only like 1 peso and S$1 is about 30 pesos. I bought ten mangoes for about S$2.00 plus and they were really nice and sweet!


Barbequed bananas! I didn't dare try them though.. haha..


All in all, it was a really meaningful experience there and I'm glad I went! It's my first mission trip and definitely not my last, but the first to many more! =)