Medical Mission

Saturday (6-18) we got to help out at a medical mission. They were offering free medical and dental treatment, free blood tests, and free optical help. There were about 145 people that were helped at the medical mission. Ian helped hold people's heads as they got their teeth pulled, and Veronica, Caidy, and I did activities with the children to keep them occupied while their parents got medical treatment.

The students at Cebu Bible College visited and prayed with each patient that got medical attention. They set up follow-up meetings with them so they could continue bible studies with them. In the following weeks they have been going to their houses and studying the bible with them. I really enjoyed being able to witness and be a part of this great outreach. So many people got the medical attention they needed at no cost to them, and the love of Christ is being shown and taught to them. What a great way to share the gospel!

Here are all the doctors, dentists, bible college students, and others that helped to make this outreach a success!



Friday Field Day with Lilia's Place

Friday was such an eventful day! We headed over to Lilia's Place to feed the kindergarteners before we went to meet up with some other schools for a field day. As we arrived, Jennifer (one of the mom's housed in Lilia's Place) was sitting on the balcony of the apartments rubbing her back. She told us she was in labor. I thought 'She looks way too calm to be in labor!' Lisa asked her if she wanted to go to the clinic, but she said, "Later." So we started feeding the kids. They were so funny, all eating their rice and mangoes in different ways, with different utensils- or none at all. Before we knew it, someone came in to say that Jennifer was having her baby. We walked next door to her apartment, and the baby was already on the floor- slime, blood, umbilical cord, and all! Irish, Lilia's Place's nurse, helped clean up the baby and check the heartbeat while they waited for a midwife. Jennifer had been saying that she was going to have a girl and name it Irish after the other Irish. Sure enough, she did! This was her 9th baby, but only her 2nd girl. Doug and Lisa stayed behind to wait on the midwife while they sent us on to field day with the kids. There were about three or so other schools there that are also from poor or homeless backgrounds. They were started by Cebu Mission Foundation where we had done homeless feedings before. We immediately made new friends, and played with them for a while before we started the games.

Soon we were having three legged races, sack races, and relays. Most of the kids loved it, although a few were hesitant. It was so much fun watching them play games they had never heard of before. The smiles on their faces were brighter than anything I've ever seen! CMF had a lunch for them, and then began playing more games and relays. It started raining near the end, but that didn't stop the fun. Some of the kids (and a few adults) played in the rain a little bit, and soon games were replaced with singing under a pavilion out of the rain.

While we were at field day, there was one girl in particular from one of the other schools that really attached to me. She was hanging on Ian and me when we first got there, and she sat by us when she ate lunch. When we started to sing songs, she came and sat in my lap and insisted that I hold her even when we stood to sing. She wouldn't let me put her down. She didn't speak any English to me, although I think she understood some of what I said. We mostly communicated in smiles, but that was enough. She was the most gorgeous little girl I had ever seen! She had long, dark eyelashes, and beautiful ringlets that framed her face. It wasn't until later that I learned she was from the school that was started for the kids that live in the dump. I never would have known! She seemed so neatly put together and so happy. Seeing how much joy these kids have, despite their living conditions, has really put things into perspective for me.



Meeting more people

Tuesday (6-14) we went to Cebu Bible College to meet all the students. They had just started school, so this was our first chance to meet a lot of the students. We sat in on their orientation and chapel. They really love to sing! There are about 20 students- give or take a few- at the bible college. It was neat to see such a tight-knit group. In the afternoon we went to the Bible Study Center to meet the Murrells (another missionary family here) and hear a little bit about what they do. They hold several classes there that help Filipinos learn about the bible. We are hoping to get to work with them later on.

Since the students are now back from school, the VanDykes (another American family) started their Tuesday night devos again. It was so good to finally meet them. They are such loving, friendly people. A lot of the college-aged people from Downtown Church and the students from Cebu Bible College were there, along with some others. I was surprised how many people were there! We had a lot of good singing, and Mark VanDyke gave a really encouraging talk about fanning your flame. At the end of the devo, we finally got to hear the Heartbeats sing. The Heartbeats are a group of singers from Downtown Church. We had heard so much about how good they are. Ethan had the solo as they sang "Testify to Love" by Avalon. They sounded so amazing. After the devo, we had some food and good fellowship. I know they must put so much work into feeding so many people. It was so encouraging to worship with these students, and to see how much community there is between so many people from so many different places.

Wednesday we went to Cebu Bible College again to hear the guy's reports on their summer internships. They started with a group of them singing a song they had prepared. They were so good!

Then the guys started reporting on all their internships. They were all so funny and very shy of their English. They like to laugh at everything. They are such good-humored people. We got to hear about some of their funny experiences, as well as the good that came from their internships. One group had over 30 baptisms! After they all told about their internships, the 7 new students got up, one by one, to tell why they came to CBC. It was so encouraging to hear them. They all have such good hearts. They all come from different backgrounds, but they all want to share the gospel with others. Even the really shy students are so adamant about sharing Christ.

We finished the day by going to look at some of the beach resorts on Mactan island. I am constantly surprised by how beautiful this place is!

New Outreaches, and Glimmers of Hope

Saturday (6-11) we had our first of several Saturday afternoon activities with the high schoolers from Consolacion Church of Christ. We took them to a park where we had games and food. We had challenged them to each bring a friend, and were pleasantly surprised to see that a lot of them did. It was so good to see some new, friendly faces. The kids had so much fun playing the games we taught them. It was so funny watching them get into the games, laughing, and having fun. They especially loved relay charades. After playing games, we had American-style hotdogs for them. Filipinos will eat hot dogs (no buns) with rice, but I think this was the first time they had hot dogs with buns. We had to show them what condiments to put on them. It was a great time of getting to know the kids better, and getting to know some new kids. As we were leaving, they all seemed eager to see us the next day at church. I was curious to see if any of the kids' friends would show up to church.

The next day at church (6-11), we were all excited to see Charles, one of the visitors from the previous day. Apparently he is really respected in his community, and a really great guy. He had helped us a lot the day before, and Sunday he helped translate for Ian. We are all hopeful that he will really get involved at Consolacion, and be able to bring a lot to the work there. Sunday evening, we also had over some of the college-aged girls for games and burgers. They are members at Consolacion, but the Whitts were wanting to build better relationships with them, in hopes that they would be more involved at the church. They are all such sweet girls! They really enjoyed playing games. They joked and laughed the whole time, and they kept wanting to play more. We had hamburgers with them, and once again, had to teach them how to build a hamburger. They really enjoyed the night, and wanted to hang out again. I'm hope they will become more involved with Consolacion.

Games Trump Language Barriers

Thursday (6-9) we dropped by the kids' neighborhood to tell the high schoolers we would be doing an activity with them Saturday. The younger ones all came running to the car to greet us. They followed us around as we went around to the high schoolers' houses to talk to them. After we had talked to all the high schoolers, we stayed a little while to play with the kids. Mik Mik was carrying a 10-month-old baby that she let me hold. She was so calm and content. Ian started giving the kids piggy back rides, and soon they all wanted a ride. When the baby I was holding saw Ian running with the kids on his shoulders, she started chuckling. Every time he started running, she started laughing. She thought it was so funny.

We played catch with the kids for a little while, and some of the other kids enjoyed sitting around Veronica, putting flowers in each other's hair. Then the kids started playing a new game. They taught me how to play, and they all wanted to try to beat me. It's basically rock, paper, scissors. The only thing is, you have to move your feet a certain way depending on if you win or lose each round. You keep going until someone's feet are spread far enough apart that they fall or give up. With the language barrier, I was having trouble understanding how to play at first. I kept misunderstanding how to move my feet, and they kept correcting me. I got it down soon enough, and we played over and over! It was so much fun playing with them. I loved watching them get excited and laugh. It is amazing to me how one simple game can make a language barrier completely irrelevant! I loved getting to play with these kids again and build an even stronger bond.

New People, New Places

Sunday (6-5) we visited a different church, Downtown Church of Christ. Dowtown Church is one of the bigger churches here around Cebu (although still fairly small compared to those in the US). They have a pretty large group of young adults around my age. We had met a few of the members previously through other events, and were now getting to meet more. They are all so friendly! They introduce themselves right away, show you where to go, and make sure to involve you in the bible study. Veronica and I went with the women to study 1 Peter 4:7-10. We looked at each of the concepts (keeping an alert and sober mind, loving others, being hospitable, and using our gifts) to see how well we did each of these things, and how we could improve. It was a great discussion and reminder of how important each of those is. It really made me think about how I could improve in each area. Later in the afternoon, we went to play volleyball again with the Churches of Christ in the area. Ian spoke first on how Christ was a servant, and calls us to be servants too. He did a great job! Then we played volleyball. I got to play two games with two different teams. I got to meet some more girls from the different churches, as well as seeing some of the ones I had met the previous week from volleyball and those I had met that morning at Downtown Church. They are so gracious in welcoming us to play with them, and introducing us to everyone. It is so good to see how loving all of these people are towards eachother, even though they all come from different places, and are playing against each other.

Monday (6-10) we took a trip to Mantayupan falls with the Whitts and Caidy and Ronald for their 2 year anniversary. The drive up there was so nice. We went into a more rural part of Cebu to get there. It had the same lively feeling of the city, with people everywhere and colorful buildings, but with less of the trash and more natural greenery. There were a lot of rice fields on the way, with rice drying on the side of the road. When we got there it was just a short walk to three smaller falls, and just up some stairs to the larger fall. It was so beautiful. We all started taking pictures immediately.

Not long after, we were in the water! It was cold at first, but not too bad once you stared swimming. There were two ropes closer to the fall that you could swim out to and hold onto, so as not to by swept out by the current. There was one point where I was out there by myself. I enjoyed just sitting there in the water, surrounded by the green trees as the heavy mist circled around my face. The waterfall was so loud that it blocked out all other noise. It was so peaceful! I love nature, and I remember sitting there thinking I could stay there every day and be perfectly content! We stayed there several hours, swimming, visiting, and having lunch. On our way back we stopped at a look-out over the coast. It was so beautiful! I loved getting to see more of the beauties around Cebu! It is so beautiful here. I loved getting to see what the Lord has created!

6-4 Saturday

Today was our last day of VBS, so we had "graduation." Throughout the summer, the kids have had the opportunity to earn stickers. They were told that they would be able to buy things with their sticker at the end. We had a store set up for them where they could buy school supplies, clothes, or toys with their earned stickers. We also had some fun games for them to play. All of the games were Joseph themed, as their VBS had been over the story of Joseph. The kids loved the games, and it was so much fun to watch them play! They were so funny laughing, cheering, and getting so excited. My favorite games were the "Dress the Joseph" contest and "Find the coin in the flour" relay. For "Dress the Joseph" they had strips of different colored tissue paper that they had to use to dress a chosen team member like Joseph. It was so fun to see how creative they were with it! We also learned that the color from tissue paper rubs off onto sweaty skin.

As soon as we were finished with the game, they kids started throwing the tissue paper everywhere! For the "Find the coin in the flour" game, we had three plates with a coin covered with flour. We divided the kids into three different groups. They had to take turns running up to the plate, blowing once on the flour, and running back until the coin was revealed. It made quite a mess, but they loved it!

After games, the kids watched Veggie Tales, while we took them a few at a time to the store we had set up for their stickers. They all took their time deciding what they wanted. They were all so pleased to be able to get new things. One of the cutest little girls, Ashley, always looks so apprehensive. I don't think I had ever seen her smile before. But today, she had the biggest smile on her face as she walked away with her new badminton raquets. Baby Lyn also looked so content, playing with her new stuffed animal in her own little world. It was so much fun watching these kids laugh as they played games, and seeing the joy on their faces as they picked out new things that they had earned!

6-2- Thursday

Thursday we helped The Simpsons set up their kindergarten at Lilia's Place again. Filipino school year goes from June-March, so their school was starting the next week! We started out by going to 138- a knock off store- to get school supplies. They showed us all the knock off Oakley's, perfumes, and designer purses. Then we headed back to the apartment to work on their school room. We helped make counting cards, hang posters, and set up whatever else needed to be done. Lisa wanted to have the room set up so that it would look nice for the parent meeting they were having the next day. There were still a few unfinished things by the time we left, but the room looked really good!

Remi really warmed up to us today. She is the cutest thing I have ever seen! She came and sat by me at one point, and she would touch her nose with a wipe she had, then touch mine. She would do it over and over!

She played hide and seek with me between the pocket chart holders, and had fun telling me to lie down and "sleep." She squealed with laugher as Ian pretended to chase her around the room, and she eventually even let him help her put her shoes on. We had so much fun hanging out with the Simpsons again!

6-1- Wednesday

Wednesday we went out with Benjoseph and Glen for more bible studies. We took a jeepney to Consolacion, and then walked to get to the house where we would have the bible study with three ladies. Benjoseph gave a great bible study on the wedding/banquet feasts in Matthew 22 and Luke 14. After that we hiked up some hills, down some streets, and between houses to get to Nancy's house. I enjoyed hiking through the tropical greenery, seeing new things, and soaking in more of the Filipino culture!

We arrived at Nancy's house around lunch time, and she insisted that we eat with her. We were told later that is very common in Filipino culture. Filipinos will even get food from their neighbors in order to make sure their guests have food. We finally decided that Benjoseph would go to the market to get food, while Nancy put on some rice to cook while Glen had a bible study with us. Our bible study with Glen was over the Good Samaritan in Luke 10. When Benjo got back, we had some amazing roasted pork (lechon) and chicken with the rice Nancy made for us. Benjo also brought a can of sardines and two bottles of coke. Filipinos really enjoy it when they can have coke. Benjoseph showed us how to open a can of sardines with only a spoon. We all enjoyed the delicious meal and the good fellowship of Christian brothers and sisters. I was even brave enough to try sardines for the first time, and eventually gave in to having a little bit of coke, even though I'm not really a fan. It was really nice to see Nancy again. She is such a sweet, loving person! She's always eager to help, participate, and greet you. On our way back from Nancy's, we visited the kids that we have been working with at VBS and Consolacion church. We stopped by their neighborhood, and the ones that were out immediately came to greet us with huge smiles and excitement! They began taking us around to everyone's house until all the kids knew we were there. Then we went out to the street in front of their houses where there's a basketball goal to play with them. It was so good to see them, and they didn't want to say goodbye. They even followed us a few minutes later. I really enjoyed seeing them again, as I could tell we were starting to form bonds with them.

5-31- Tuesday

Today we spent more time with the Simpsons. We started by going to the SM hypermart to get supplies for the families the Simpsons sponsor. Lilia's (their 5 year old) quickly made me her companion. She grabbed my hand and led me all over the store. After our visit to SM, we went back to the Simpson's house to bag diapers, vitamins, and powdered milk for the families that the Simpsons took off the streets to live in their apartments for homeless at Lilia's place. I had never seen so many vitamins! The process went pretty quickly with four of us working on it, but I can't imagine how much effort that usually takes for them. After lunch, we headed to Lilia's Place to work on the kindergarten room in their apartments. Two of the apartments at Lilia's Place house several families, and the third one is being used as a kindergarten in order to offer these homeless and poor children the opportunity of an education they would otherwise not get. We helped set up various things around the room before we left to go help another family the Simpson's sponsor. The mom's name is Australia, and 10 of her 12 kids still live at home. Her husband passed away recently, so the Simpsons began taking food to their family. When we pulled up, there was suddenly a swarm of all the neighborhood kids around us. The kids recognized the Simpson's van, and knew that meant we were coming with food. They were all so excited to greet us! They loved seeing the unusual looking Americans. We walked down the road, and through narrow pathways between tiny houses, to get to Australia's house. Her house was the size of a small hallway. Ian was standing on one wall of the house, and I on the other, and there was not enough room between the two of us for another person to fit.

I have no idea how all of her children fit in there. They were so thankful for the food. Even the other kids in the neighborhood were glad that we were bringing food to this family. It was another great day filled with sweet kids, humbling experiences, and inspiring friends.

The beginnings

I've started a blog about my experience in the Philippines at the following link:

http://blogs.acu.edu/1120_BMIS44001/category/cebu-philippines/

However, I've been experiencing problems with the blog, so I decided to start a different one. In order to read the beginnings of my trip, you can access the link above. The rest of my journey will probably just be documented on this site. However, I would encourage you to continue to look back at the link above occasionally in order to see posts from my teammate(s). Reading their views of our trip and experiences along with my blogs give a better picture of what the Lord is doing here in the Cebu.