Here's To My Bohol Friends🤗

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Last Saturday night we began our pilgrimage to World Youth Day. Our first stop was The Philippines. We arrived on the Island of Bohol late on Sunday to a school choir carrying one of the many welcome banners the city had made. We were then rushed onto a bus to attend Sunday mass at St Joseph the Worker Cathedral. We celebrated with the local community who were so very happy with our presence. On Monday we visited our mission projects for the first time. Our group visited Christ the King Academy in town of Antiquera. It is a high school with students from Grade 7 to Grade 11. We were blown away as soon as we got off the bus. We were met with a marching drum band, marching Xylophone players and a dance troupe. We later found out they had given up three Saturdays to prepare for our arrival. We were individually greeted and then we were welcomed officially by the mayor, the principal and the parish priest. Then we were fortunate enough to spend time going in and out of classrooms meeting these happy, smiling and friendly students. On Tuesday we got stuck in to our mission work. We were tasked with painting classrooms, designing and painting a concrete fence and some of the group even had a go at concrete rendering. The best part about this was that were able to work alongside the students of the school, this made it even more rewarding than it already was. It has been an amazing experience so far with countless opportunities to witness the face of God in the children. Their level of respect and gratitude is something for all people to aspire to. We have one more day in Bohol before we continue on our journey to Poland. Stay tuned for another update in the next newsletter.

I am thinking of you all throughout my journey. God bless you all.

Love Chantal