Christmas in March

We were excited to finally head back to Palawan for numerous reasons; we were ready to not live out of a suitcase anymore, we wanted to sleep in our own bed, we wanted to cook our own food. But there was one reason we wanted to head back to Palawan that topped the charts...OPENING OUR BALIK BAYAN BOXES!!!

Hmm...maybe the boxes took so long
because Katie misspelled Philippines

As you may remember from the February in a Nutshell blogpost on our way back through Manila we personally went to seek out the shipping company that had our boxes and we shipped them to Palawan using Air-cargo. So even though we knew that we had them in Palawan, we hadn't been able to open them yet. It was torturous! But finally on March 2, after we arrived back at our house and had showered we opened our boxes.

Words cannot even express how happy we were as we went through the boxes. So much Children's stuff, so many clothes, so much FOOOD! It was truly Christmas. After going through the boxes our house was destroyed. So much stuff in such a small, little house. We spent the rest of the day trying to find places to store everything.

 So we would just like to write a HUGE "THANK YOU!!!" to everyone who contributed to those boxes. They were truly a piece of home that we had been missing for a very long time. And though we had waited a very long time for the boxes to arrive, we believe they came at the Right Time.

Another thing we missed about
Palawan. Baby Haddie! And the
other missionaries of course ;)

We shall explain: The day after we opened our boxes, Tanya, one of our Ukrainian missionaries, came into town. She began to talk with Wendy about the bind she was in. She was having a graduation for all her children's programs and had promised the kids that it would be a big celebration and if they memorized their verses they would get prizes.

Trying on clothes.

However, the week before her children's program she was going to buy stuff and she was informed that there was NO money in the PAMAS budget for it. So she was really stressed because she didn't want to lie to her kids, but she had nothing to give them. So we spoke up and said, "Hey, we just got our Balik Bayan boxes with more Children's stuff than we know what to do with. Please come "shopping" in our house." Tanya was so excited, she almost cried. She was able to bring candy, toys, and new crayons to her kids and they were so happy.

Tanya and Ging with all the happy
children at their graduation program.

"Tell everyone who sent those boxes that they have been such a blessing to me and to the children here!" Tanya said. After Tanya, we had all the other missionaries come food shopping in our house, since there was more food than we could eat in our remaining 2 months (or for the entire 8 months we were here for that matter :D) So all the missionaries were able to have a Christmas in March as well and we all felt so blessed.

He ate through the package, the box,
and the plastic. He was determined.

Later the next day, we went to the post office and had received a package from our friend Bridgette. She decided to try and send us a taste of home, by sending us a box of Cheez-its. But sadly, since the box had been sitting in the post office for a week, an unexpected visitor had beaten us to them. We were pretty bummed. But we had plenty of junk food to live off of for the next couple months, so we'll be okay.
Once again, to EVERYONE to contributed items to put into our box: Thank you SOOO much from the bottom of our hearts! We are so incredibly grateful! And to anyone who has sent us letters or packages: It's all so appreciated! Its nice to know that we're thought of, even halfway across the world. Lastly, to everyone who has supported our mission trip and everyone who has kept us in their prayers: Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU!! This trip has completely changed our lives and we are so fortunate to have had this amazing experience. So, Thank you to everyone!! God bless you all!!

~Me and Her