Women's ministries trip to Kundasang
the trip was scheduled on 2nd - 4th October 2009.
Quite sometime ago but was not able to blog about it till now.
what with my online 'farming' that has been taking so much of my time, I practically have no time to spare, even the house chores which before this am so practical about.
Mom have been saying about this trip way before it's time that I had no way of avoiding but to give in in the end. I did not give it much of a thought as this was to be a follow up of what course that the ministries had the previous year. It was surposed to be a six modouls course of which this is the second.
On that, mom had asked the 'conductor' if they would accept new particpant to which the answer was yes. They had assured that this was an on going course and that we could take the first course at any time and place they conduct it.
No way of 'escaping', I gave in ......with Joanna in hand.... haha
I did not mind the fees and travelling cost, just that it would be held on a weekend and that would mean I will not be seeing Andrew when he comes home. I knew too that Jo would get into 'trouble' with her weekend husband.
Praise the Lord...we overcame all and were free to attend.
There were all together ten of us ladies who went.... with mom as the 'head'.
We were told earlier on that they have prepared a 'slot' for us to present a special song on Sabbath's night. We had but a few days to make up our 'choir group' but we were hournered.
Older women tend to learn a bit slower than younger ones... therefore it was a bit difficult for some of us ( me included) to learn a new song.
We picked a new song ( at least new to me) entitled 'The gentle Stranger'
Well... for what we lack in practice time, we made it up in the van during the trip there. I guess the driver ( the only male but an adventist as well) knew the song well by the time we reached Kundasang.
The retreat centre in Kundasang was about a six hour drive from Sandakan. We had started the trip at the exact said time. A good start for us.... women.
Guess everyone was excited about the trip huh!
It was planned that we would have 'lunch on wheels' as part of our activities together on this trip.
some.... practically the younger ones ( he he... I'm again included) did not take much attention to this thus forcing the driver to take unnecessary stops to buy food. This did not include the many... many stops he made for fruits along the route.
The beauty of making a long trip during the fruits season. Awh...We saw plenty of 'goodies' along the way. Being women does not make it any better, everybody wants something.
When we did finally reach the destination, it was already around four in the evening. Just he right time for us to get registered and get our tags and articles.
With no time to rest yet, we continued to 'try out' our song for that night's preformance.
With barely an hour to spare, we showered and 'lined up' for dinner.
Dinner was prepared late . We had waited about half an hour before being told that they have not even started cooking.
What??
....so as not to 'waste' time, we opt to have what's left of lunch for dinner.
Right choice too as, there was so much food that would have gone to waste. Mom had her 'acar' and 'ikan masin', Florence with her 'ikan taucho'..... hhhmm.. that sounded way better than the vegetarian food they were preparing
I felt we did good singing on stage that night, though there were no photographs nor recording made. (aaahhhh.... forgotten to take care of this)
To 'round up' on 'everthing'...
1.the weather was exteremly cold... it rained most of the time ( wind was strong due to the effect of the hurricane in the Philippines)
2.No complains on our accomodation. ..nor the use of the bathroom
3.Food on the whole was 'ok' too.... we were prepared for vegetarian food (thus the 'tapau' of side dishes)
4.The siminar was good but as with other siminars...... long
The difficult part was getting the eyes and mind open with each 'nap attack'
Towards the end.... test..test..test... A COMPLOSORY TEST!
It was 'easy' for the objective questions as you can easily hit 'bull eyes' with a guess but the last paper set out by our Sabah's misson president was SUBJECTIVE! aaahhhhhhhh... should have been paying attention.
I wonder if the fact that I have forgotten above all the most important thing to do before any test have to do with my lack of memory recallation.
aha...with all the praying we did through out the time we were there... I have forgotten to pray!
On a lucky note.... we were handed the test results the day we left for home, I'm one of the lucky two (other than Jo....who else) to have passed all the papers .
Yeah.... looking forward to the next course which I'm sure I will be well prepared.
Posing by the sign board.
Mom and daughter with the magistic mountain for view
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Sandakan Women
Lunch on wheels
The 'Boss' with her 'goodies'
The orange school bus that became our means of transportation
Fruits stall along the rouite
Climbing the path where our van couldn't go....with us in it
Registration .....and tagged!
Posting at the stage with Jo before our presentation
Ladies from our particapiting church
These was what we had for breakfast and lunch
Ready for the oven...
Yona's knife cutting the just out of the oven pie
A must have at every baking... Lydia's favourite cupcakes
Something new that I tried.. 'Batang buruk' or rotten log (????) .. which in actual is tiny rolled popiah skin in nespray/peas powder.
