Barrio Weekend

This weekend we hosted the Barrio (neighborhood) high school students for a weekend retreat. The weekend was mostly organized in the same way as the previous weekend, with the Deaf high schoolers. The only major changes was the preaching was all done in Visayan, their language. All of the students could hold a decent conversation in English, but the teaching was done in their first language. It was a fun weekend with about 80 high school and college students.

This weekend was a real spiritual fight. There is a strong religious spirit here, mainly a cult-like Catholic upbringing with the students. However, many of the students themselves don't practice Catholicism or believe in the rituals. There is still a strong opposition to Jesus and having a relationship with him. Some of the students are scared to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, because of fear of being physically persecuted by their family.

Saturday night we had a talent show. It was very interesting. Most of the acts, 9 out of the 12, were made of up Americans. One of the Filipino acts was dancing... very provocatively. There is a spirit of rebellion and a mocking spirit with many of the youth. During one performance, all Americans were standing up front, singing a worship song, "Rescue" by the Desperation Band. In the back sat many boys who tended to talk during most of the "challenge" times. During the song, they flipped us off several times. I just sensed more rebellion this year than in years past. I had to "babysit" the common area on Saturday because boys were going into the girls' dorm and not respecting the authorities when asked to leave. I've never had to deal with that there. Oh, one eye opener. We gave all the students a white t-shirt in which they were able to paint. I was walking around taking pictures. I saw one that said "crips" in graffiti-like writing. I asked them what it was, and they said it was a fraternity. An American fraternity... then proceed to snicker and talk in Filipino. It's so interesting that gang-related activity can get to the middle of the jungle where they don't have internet or cable TV.

After the talent show we performed our dramas and then a "challenge" was given. During this time, the team gathered and prayed to intercede for these students. It was a long "challenge" as the pastors asked the students to write their questions about Jesus on a piece of paper, as to remain anonymous. Two questions were posed. 1)How do I really accepted Jesus into my heart. 2)How do I stay focused on Jesus when there are so many temptations and pressure from friends. Such great questions! So we labored and interceded in the back. It was a great to see the team unify for such an important cause. In the end, 13 students accepted Christ as all the students' heads were bowed. Praise Jesus! There were even 4 boys, in the back, that raised their hands too!

The next day was just a day of praise, to talk to those that accepted Christ but also have more one on one conversations with all students, as we floated down the Loboc River. We had three dinner boats that took us down the river, to the falls, then near the springs. The springs is usually where we dock and swim, jumping off the 6 foot cliffs. It typically has nice clean, clear water, as the river is a murky brown. But this year even the springs was the murky brown. We said goodbye to our friends at the end of the cruise and headed home for much needed rest.