New Years Eve in a different country is something many of us have never ever experienced before! Fortunately, we spent our day in the largest mall in the Philippines: the SM Mall of Asia. Some of us started off skating at the indoor rink inside the mall just to remind us of the weather our... Continue Reading →

Our 3rd day in the Philippines was entirely made up of a city tour of Manila and surrounding areas. First stop: Greenbelt The shot below is in front of an outdoor chapel where we were able to individually pray and reflect. Our next stop was at the Manila American Cemetery. We learned that most of... Continue Reading →

Before leaving El Dorado, we took time to debrief and reflect upon our day and our work. We had a little bit of time to wash up before our next destination but everyone was afraid to go the washroom because of this: So we headed off to the closest SM mall to find a public... Continue Reading →

After serving lunch to all the kids, we all grabbed a garbage bag and a pair of gloves to do a community clean up. We started off cleaning inside of the GK complex. As you can see above, it was relatively clean. It wasn't until we went into the core of El Dorado that we really... Continue Reading →

After we played the games and handed out gifts to all the kids, it was time to give out lunch.  Thanks to Mike's parents, in-laws, and their helpers for cooking all the food and preparing them behind the scenes while we played with the kids. Canada represent!! We had the system down and was moving... Continue Reading →

On our 2nd day we went right to work as we visited the "squatter" community of El Dorado.  Here's a poster promoting our visit. All the El Dorado kids were so excited to see us.  We got there earlier than planned so we were able to socialize a bit before the formal program. We started... Continue Reading →

We come home very late every night so it's hard to keep the blog updated on a daily basis.  The Filipino traffic is a huge factor.  However, we all amazingly get along and try to keep ourselves entertained (or sleep) during the long rides. Today is the morning of Jan 3rd, 2012.  Here's just a... Continue Reading →

Even though we just landed less than 6 hours ago before this picture was taken, we went right to work sorting out gifts to give the children of El Dorado, a "squatter" village in the city of Paranaque. We were all asked to bring a minimum of 10 gifts each to give away.  As you... Continue Reading →

Before reaching the Philippines, the plane needed to refuel in Hong Kong.  The airport is awesome. We stayed there for 3 hours before departing to the Philippines. We finally reached the Philippines after being in the air for over 17 hours in total. The photo below is in front of a mural of the Mayon... Continue Reading →

On the night of December 26th, we met at Pearson Airport to set forth on our journey. We met at 9:30 pm but our flight didn't actually depart until 1:30 am on December 27th, giving us time to bond and have fun. Before leaving, we took the oath of Pleasant Disposition with Greg Rogers, vowing... Continue Reading →