We woke up early at the surf camp. We wanted to try surfing and swimming in the surf. The goal was 6:30AM to have a couple hours to try it out. There were some guys surfing down the beach aways and I walked down to watch them. There is a river mouth and something about how the currents met must have made better waves.
Jordan got us some surfboards lined up and we took them out to try it. Jordy has surfed before so he told us how and we paddled out. It really didn’t work for any of us. The waves were breaking almost on the beach and coming in fast and there was just not much we could do without some experience. We would paddle out to where it looked like the waves were and then they would be breaking some where else, which meant paddling back in. There also was a very strong current pulling down the beach and we ended up way down from where we started. A guy told us when we got in that the wind was coming from the wrong direction too, although that probably didn’t affect us that much!
So we turned the boards in and headed for breakfast at the restaurant. We ordered fish, carabo, eggs, and rice. Jordan had talked a little with another white man there who claimed to have worked for Micheal Cohen, owned a private airline in China, and maybe more. He also told the ladies at the restaurant that we would pay for his breakfast! Which did not happen.
I’ll describe surf camp a little. There are several cabins with two sets of bunk beds like we stayed in, another cabin with 2 or 3 bedrooms, the restaurant, and a number of little pavilions for sitting by the beach. The cabins are a couple hundred yards off the beach and there is a large grassy sandy area leading to the beach. The beach is black sand and drops off quite quickly into the water. It is really beautiful and definitely worth the $10 or whatever a night that it costs.
The next stop was the youth gathering. It was held on Ross and Rhonda Dirks’ patio. Ross’ have a house there and a with a large covered patio which is perfect for deals like this.
There were around 26 or so youth there, from Leyte and Samar. The first item on the agenda was a planned CE program and everyone had a part. I think everyone had to share an experience of some sort, an answer to prayer, listening to the Holy Spirit, sharing the gospel, ect. There were also several special songs including a trio by us visitors. It was a very warm meeting with the sharing of hearts and struggles and encouragements.
Next up was lunch: rice, pork, poppyseed chicken (by Rhonda), pancit, fruit salad, and bars. After eating, the youth leaders had some games planned. The first was a reflex game where the leader would shout Walk! or Stop! and you had to do the opposite. Then they added Run! and Jump!, again doing the opposite, and finally, Clap! and Name! which meant to say your name. Then it was elimination and the last person who could obey those commands, in reverse faultlessly, won.
The next game was a relay where you took a paper plate and a paper fish and tried to move the fish to the other end of the patio only by moving air with the plate. When you go it to the end, you took it back for the nnext person on your team.
Last, was a game Jordy said is called Drop the Bacon at home. Two teams line up across from each other and everyone gets a number, starting at the front of the line. The leader held a rag at one end and called out numbers. When your number is called, you run up and try to get the rag to your base and if you get tagged while carrying the rag, the other team gets a point. So the rag spends most of the time on the ground with people furtively grabbing at it so as not to get tagged while touching it!
The games were fun and involved everyone and the youth all seemed to enjoy it.
After the youth deal, Jordan came and picked us up to go to their house for supper. He had bought some pork and he wanted to grill pork sticks for us. Edward and Sherrylaine and KC went with us, too, for supper. Jordan and Jordy grilled, and the rest of us just visited for an hour or two til Ford and Mayette arrived. Supper was pork sticks, fried chicken, rice, sweet potato greens maybe, a pork adobo, and fruit, papaya, rambotan, and lanzones, Dessert was some thing called mango float; a layered mango desert that I can’t realy descride but it was delicious!
After supper, we sang a little, played spoons and charades, had devotions,and then it was time to head home. Jordan drove us back to Tacloban, all 10 of us in the mission car, and dropped everyone off where they belonged.
All told, it was a very good day. With the encouraging youth meeting and just being with friends old and new made it awesome.
Now bed…
restless feet 