We got a wake up call at 6 am and had a buffet breakfast on the 31st floor then headed to the airport on a non-aircon bus at 8:45 am. Again we waited on the bus for about 45 minutes before it left. We might still be waiting there if it weren�t for an older Filipino woman getting off and going inside to �raise hell� as she put it.

We went though security again and waited for about 3 hours to board the plane, and then we took off. We flew north almost to Japan, and then caught the jet stream back to the States. We watched 3 movies and ate 2 meals during the 12 hour flight. We landed at 8:50 am US Pacific time and got to baggage claim. Our bags and trunks were the last ones off so we were heading home to RCC at about 11:15 am. I was glad to be home even though the trip prior to Manila was really good. I missed the smell of the U.S. as well as the nice mild humidity we have in SoCal.

This was the longest day of the trip because we got up at 6 am on Sunday, and then I didn’t go to sleep until I was back home in the U.S. until about 11 pm on Sunday night (which is 3 pm on Monday afternoon in the Philippines). For those of you who struggle with math, (don’t be offended, I raised my hand, too) that’s 33 hours straight. I tried to sleep on the plane, but I couldn’t fall asleep for various reasons: person next to me fidgeting, lights coming on for meals, having to get up to let someone out of the row (I was in the aisle seat), and watching movies.

Overall, I really enjoyed the trip. God used several experiences that I had to teach me about Himself and about who I was. Many of them are too personal to share on this website, however I would like to share one.

Being in the jungle away from all the busyness of life was something I had never really experienced. Hearing the loud sounds of millions of crickets and other critters instead of honking car horns and the hum-drum of people talking is something I won’t soon forget. Images of lush green mountains and the smiles of truly happy people are etched in my mind forever. The simplicity of life in the jungle is something that grew on me. It opened up my eyes to see that I place too much importance on “things” in life that are of zero eternal value. Chasing after financial riches, social status, and material possessions is a futile effort. What will it gain me? Well, I have gained money in my life, but I must continually part with it. Will it satisfy me? I have lots of “stuff” but it does not satisfy me because I always want more. True satisfaction and gain can only be found in the salvation that comes from Jesus Christ and the relationship that continually seeks to draw nearer to Him.

I want to close this journal with one of my favorite quotes by Marcel Proust. For all of you who did not take this journey with me, I hope that you are inspired to take a journey of your own very soon.

About the drawing: A good friend of mine in college, Megan, and I were walking one evening and we saw a crape myrtle tree that had shed all but one of its pink blooms on the grass around it. We both noticed it and how beautiful it was. The next time I saw her, she gave the above drawing to me. I have treasured it ever since.

Well, we didn’t make it in quite the time I estimated. We got up and had breakfast at 7 am, then the missionary drove us out to his house on the outskirts of Manila. We hung out there for a little while and then Jim, Larry, Steph, and I went shopping with Nerry (missionary’s brother) as our guide. We walked down to the main street where we caught a jeepney ride to a mall. Jim wasn’t happy about going to the mall and decided that he wanted to go to Green Hills where he had gone last year. The missionary didn’t want to take us there on Friday because she said Muslims ran it. We all 5 crammed into a Toyota Corolla taxi and drove to Green Hills, about 25-30 minutes away. We ate lunch at KFC (Kapag Fried Chicken) and then went in and shopped for a few hours.

There were many shops on the two floors, but a lot of them sold the same thing: knock-off clothing (mostly t-shirts), knock-off designer bags, knock-off expensive watches, Filipino food, mobile phones and accessories, and Chinese-style souvenirs. I tried to barter for some shirts, but the girl didn’t come down far enough for me. The same went for a knock-off Rolex watch.

We went back to the missionary’s house for dinner (pork chops, veggies, and rice) and then a quick shower and then off to the airport. The missionary got lost taking us, but we got there in plenty of time. We went through check-in and got all our bags checked in except for the long blue PVC pipe that held the guys’ blowguns. They wanted us to pay an extra $150 excess baggage fee because they said it exceeded the allowed length of a checked item. Larry went and talked to a supervisor, and he allowed us to check the pipe for no extra charge. Then we went to the gate to wait for about an hour and a half.

There are actually five security checkpoints that one has to go through to get on the plane. There is a guy that checks to make sure you have a ticket before you enter the terminal. Then you go through a metal detector, frisk, and x-ray machine at the terminal doors. Then you check your bags, and go through getting your passport stamped. After that you show your passport and boarding pass to another security guard as you go through another metal detector, frisk, and x-ray of your carry-on baggage. Then you head down to the gate, and get in line once again to have your carry-on baggage and shoes go through another x-ray machine and then you get the metal detector wand.

We boarded the plane around 9:45 pm and sat there until around 10:15 pm. The ground perser came on the P.A. and said that there was maintenance that was required on the plane and it wouldn’t be able to fly, so our flight was cancelled and rescheduled to Sunday afternoon at 12:30 pm. They said to deplane and wait for further instructions, so we sat in the terminal for 30 minutes and then they announced that accommodations would be arranged and a shuttle would be ready momentarily. No more announcements were made after this one, so Al started bugging the guy at the desk with a walkie-talkie to find out what was taking so long for the shuttle. After 45 minutes, they gave us a snack (hot dog and soda) and then another 45 minutes, Al found out that there were no more hotel rooms available. The PAL guy was checking into an alternative for the remaining passengers and asked us to be patient and just wait.

Al gathered the team and suggested that we start praying since we weren’t getting anywhere by ourselves. Al prayed and as soon as we said “Amen” (literally) the PAL guy with the walkie-talkie came over and told us there was a shuttle outside waiting to take us to our hotel.

We got on the bus and waited for about 45 minutes more. Two Filipino-American women got upset at the long wait time, so they went back into the terminal and found someone important to yell at until the bus started moving. Then the bus driver drove us to the hotel about 30 minutes away. Everyone got off the bus just in time to figure out that it was the wrong hotel, so everyone got back on the bus and the driver took us about 2 blocks away to the correct hotel. Everyone rushed off the bus to go to the check-in counter, so there were about 100 people crowding 3 people behind the registration desk trying to get checked in. We (Al, Gerry, and me) didn’t get our room for about an hour and a half. We got upstairs and the room was very nice with two bedrooms. Al and Gerry went straight to bed and I waited for a rollaway to show up. The front desk guy promised there would be one in 5 minutes, but it took more like 30 minutes. I went to sleep about 2:45 am.

Today was quite a disappointment. We went to a shopping area next to a huge Catholic church that had about 200 little shops but only 4 different products were sold. I could have bought mobile phone accessories, knock-off designer bags, cheap and ugly looking jewelry, or no-name electronic devices (DVD players, MP3 players, stereo receivers, etc.). I was planning on buying souvenirs for people, so I feel very bad that I won�t be bringing anything back for anybody. There really wasn’t anything that I would have wanted to give someone.

We set up our “meeting place” at Jolly Bee in case any one of the party got separated from the group during the shopping. It was a three story shopping area, and Jolly Bee was on the top floor. The shops on each floor were much like a flea market set up with small booths. The isles were pretty tight, and there were a lot of people shopping. I think we were the only white people in the whole building, so we got quite a few stares.

I took a couple laps around to see if I could find a unique store, then headed back to Jolly Bee to find a missionary eating at a table. I went and sat down with him and said “hi” and then after that we didn’t speak for about 5 minutes. During that time I was taking in all that was going on around me. (I wish I had taken a picture, but it didn’t seem appropriate at the time.) Picture walking through the front door of a McDonald’s to see 50 people standing directly in front of you all waiting to place their order at the counter. There are no lines, just a mob of people elbowing their way to the front. When you look to your right, you see a mostly open-walled room with seating for about 200. There are about 2 empty chairs in the entire room, and about 20 more people with trays of food circling like vultures for a someone to relinquish their seat. There is American music playing over the sound system, but it’s not something you would really notice because there is so much other noise from people talking, timers in the kitchen going off, and announcements of orders that are ready. When you finally find a seat, it seems like every 30 seconds to a minute, you get bumped by someone walking by you in the narrow aisles.

The missionary broke our 5 minutes of silence with a question that I will remember for the rest of my life because of the realization that I came to by answering it. He asked with a smirk, “Don’t you miss the jungle?”

We made an unexpected stop at KFC on the way back to the guesthouse, and that made me late for the 3 pm phone call from Lindsey (a missionary that I met in Colorado and now serving outside of Manila). She didn’t try to call back until 4:30 or 4:45 pm and by then it was too late for her to drive here to hang out. She said the traffic gets really bad on Fridays, so instead of the usual 45 minutes to get here, it would take more like 3 or 4 hours. We chatted on the phone for a little while and then said goodbye. The rest of the evening I sat around in the lounge playing golf on my PSP then checked my email and went to bed to write in my journal.

Tomorrow is gonna be a long day. If we get up at 6 am Saturday, and land at LAX 10 am Sunday, then that will be 28 hours of being awake, not including the drive back to Temecula.

We got up early and loaded the L3 so a missionary could check all the bags and get our boarding passes. We waited around at the guesthouse for 3 hours saying goodbyes and taking group pictures. I also saw that Andy and some Filipino guys were digging a septic hole for the guesthouse. Then we headed over to the airport. I had to fight back the tears as Andy, Sam, and Sandy watched us head into the terminal.

We got to Manila and a missionary met us there and got some vans to take us to the guesthouse. Carol, Ed, and Liezel parted company with the rest of the group, so now it’s down to Gerry, Al, Jim, Larry, Steph, and me. We got to the guesthouse in Manila and just sat around for the rest of the evening. It would have been much better to stay in Puerto for another day instead of spending two days in Manila.

Today we got up at 7 am and ate breakfast before leaving for Dos Palmas. Phil told us a joke on our way to the dock: “Why is Wyoming so windy? Because Utah sucks, and Nebraska blows.” We took a nice boat ride across Puerto Bay to the little island and stayed until 4 pm. The day was nice. I sat on a bamboo swing for a while and wrote in my journal while taking in the beautiful view. After that, I went for a swim in the pool, then ate lunch–a buffet style lunch with what seemed to be typical Filipino food.

After lunch, we took the kayaks out and Andy started tipping me over. It was very easy to tip someone in a kayak over as long as you could get both your hands on the nose or tail of the kayak. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be called a bow and stern since it’s a seagoing vessel, but you get the idea. I could barely get back in my kayak before he’d circle around and tip me over again. Not that I really minded since the water wasn’t very deep at all (about chest-high) and a refreshing 78 degrees. We caught up with Liezel and Steph in a double kayak and Andy tipped them over, too. Then Jim and Larry paddled up in a double kayak and Andy, of course, paddled over to them and tipped them over, also. Jim got really upset because he had some special pictures of his daughters in his wallet that got wet because he had it in his shorts pocket. Andy apologized but it didn’t really seem like that made it any better for Jim.

We packed up and got on the boat back to Puerto around 4 pm. The seas were pretty rough and Andy was standing in the back of the boat holding onto a short hutch. The plywood roof was about even with his forehead and when we hit a wave he banged his head into it making a gash about 4 inches long. It was not his day as he had other bad luck issues at Dos Palmas.

We went to Shakey’s Pizza for dinner and the pizza was pretty average. It was 550 pesos ($10.52) for the large, so it was a pretty good deal compared to the U.S. We went home and went to bed pretty much right after sorting out where our luggage was going to go in the trunks.