Meeting Emjay

As many of you know, I have been recounting the stories of our trip to Thailand and the Philippines last May.  I now have reached a very exciting part of the journey — the day we met our correspondence Leadership Development Program student in the Philippines — Mary Jane.  But wait, she doesn’t go by  the name “Mary Jane;” she goes by “Emjay.”  I had been writing to her using the name “Mary Jane” or the initials “M.J.” but that was totally off — and I love her nickname — “Emjay!”  Sometimes it takes a personal visit with a sponsored student to find out what their friends and family really call them.

Emjay and her Project Director, Eva, were in the lobby waiting for us early. We rushed down to the lobby as soon as we could get going, and there she was!  Isn’t she a beautiful girl?

We immediately started taking lots of fun photos.

To my surprise (and delight) Emjay speaks perfect English, so we were all able to bond quickly.  Emjay calls me “Mom” and Chris and Sarah “kuya” (big brother) and “ate” (big sister).

We were glad to be able to catch a quick breakfast buffet at The Ambrosia Restaurant in our hotel, and then were off on our adventure.  Our plan was to take a bus to Balingoan and then a boat to Camiguin Island.  This meant catching an early bus to Balingoan, which was in the next province of the island — in Misamis Oriental. Here we are on the bus.

Chris made friends with the lady sitting next to him and even prayed with her, after she shared with him about some of her struggles.  She was certainly feeling loved when she got off that bus.

These little girls were singing for Chris and Sarah and we managed to capture it on video.  Aren’t they cute?

It was certainly a fun way to start the day — getting acquainted with the wonderful Filipinos.