Church number 3 today!

This one was back in towards the city which was interesting. So far the churches have been more on the fringes so I was curious to see how much this would differ. We were visiting on a day and time where there were quite a few classes in session, which was interesting to see. There were quite a few kids in each room too.

We went upstairs to the main auditorium and after a bit everyone came in so we sang a few songs, listened to some testimonies, and then there was time for some games. Bert ended up playing musical chairs with the kids.

Then was lunch - the main item being lechon. A few people were taking selfies with it but that wasn't really something I had on my to-do list. I did take a photo of Bert WITH it though. The silly thing is though, I was standing there thinking "so THAT is where the pokemon Lechonk got his name!!". The things that pass through our minds I suppose.

After lunch we split into three groups again for our home visits. Two of the groups set off on foot, Bert and I went into the third group that was in a van as the location was further away. I don't have a photo of the van, but it was quite an unusual looking one - resembling a police "paddy wagon". We were technically visiting two homes this time - the first one was the child's previous home but had been destroyed by a cyclone. The rainfall had caused a landslide behind it and disrupted the stability. He was home at the time but he and his family were unharmed. Sadly there was a family who passed away in landslide. To get to his home we were essentially trekking in the bush up a hill and weaving amongst other peoples houses. It was quite the change from our other home visits! I was a bit busy focusing on the whole walking thing to take photos but thankfully someone else in the group took some.

After this we went to his current home which was a room above a family members store. Being that it was above a store it actually had quite a nice view of the street below. It did mean though that we were eye level with the powerline spaghetti.. very tempting to reach out and touch them but I didn't want to test that and find out what would happen. The family had sheets of cardboard on the floor as their beds but otherwise quite a sparse room as they tended to be.

The stairs in these homes I've noticed are quite unusual, uneven in size and often the first couple are quite high off the ground. It certainly makes it more of a challenge when you combine my weight and balance issues from the vestibular migraine. I was also battling some issues of nerve pain in my thigh which was causing SEVERE pain and numbness, so overall the trip was quite the feat of pain tolerance and endurance. The others (I believe) were unaware that this was happening so I think I was managing it well and not hindering anyone.

We headed back to the centre in our van, regrouped, then headed back to the hotel. We had a couple of hours to rest before dinner which was the alumni gathering. Three graduates of the sponsorship program came and were sharing their testimonies, how their lives had been changed, and what they were doing these days. We also had Fredz (our trip guide) share his testimony. It was amazing to hear their stories, but one thing that struck me was how much they valued the letters from their sponsors. It seemed more common to not receive letters or to only get very sporadic ones, but one of the graduates received a LOT of letters from hers. None of them had met their sponsors in person but one of them is still in contact with hers via email etc.

By this time it was already pretty late (comparatively) and it had been a big day so we all headed up to bed, making sure our bags were packed as we were checking out of the hotel early in the morning!