Talibon

All of us were very excited to be going to our first school. Talibon Elementary is in northern Bohol, which meant a 3 hour drive each way. The school is a part of the government school system but mostly funded and ran by IDEA. We arrived at the school and saw around 50 Deaf children waving flags in greeting. I'm not sure who was more excited, them or us. We introduced ourselves and started playing a game Fruit Salad. This broke down some walls as I'm sure the Filipino kids were a bit shy and a lot of our team was a little intimidated by the language barrier. It's amazing what a simple, fun game can do to help the interaction. We move to the gym to play dodgeball, tug-of-war, parachute, and open time to play with a small group with balls, rackets, or frisbees.

We head back to the classroom to eat lunch. The school provided mangoes and sticky coconut rice steamed inside banana leaves for lunch. It was so yummy! Most of the students opted for our normal peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

After lunch we showed our dramas. They were still the same Behold the Lamb dance and signing and the King of Hearts. Before and after the dramas a student got up to explain what they meant with me interpreting. I then, went into more depth, only signing, as to what the individual characters did and how Jesus saved them. I was able to correlate it with their lives and the Gospel message. When asking if they wanted to accept Christ, around 20 hands went up! This was amazing and completely overwhelming!!! Usually at the elementary schools we get a few hands, but 20 was about a third of the program! I signed a prayer and had all those students copy me. What a glorious sight to see those hands moving, praying for forgiveness of sins and asking Jesus to be Lord of their lives. One of those who raised her hand and prayed was my sponsor girl, Joselle. She is now in 2nd grade and is 11 years old. I talked with her afterwards and it seemed it was a heart-felt decision she made. I was so excited for her!

We then started crafts. I walked the kids through making salvation bracelets, what each of the colors meant. Black is for sin, red is for Jesus' blood, white is for forgiveness, blue is for baptism, green is for learning, and yellow is for heaven. We also passed out tote bags, made by our local barrio women, that had a notebook, pencil and candy in each one. The kids then used sharpies to color and decorate the bags. Our last craft was a paper chain. We folded each little 2x4" strip of magazine paper and then wove them together to make a really long chain. During this time we passed out ice cream for the students. Normally we make balloon animals with the kids, as we are starting to leave, but the balloons we had were left over from last year and were a bust. They kept popping when trying to blow them up or when making animals.

One of my favorite things about coming to the Philippines is being able to dialogue and visit with my sponsor children. Joselle is one at Talibon that I was able to sit down with and give her a gift. She is very smart and her teachers say she is the top of her class. It is always sad but we said our goodbyes to Talibon.

We drove another 3 hours home to the Sunrise House and was surprised by Joshua, 4 days early! We all went to Along and Inday's house for dinner, in which Inday prepared a feast! She had prepared baked sweet spaghetti, sweetened pork, pork adobo, vinegared fish, rice, fruit salad, meatballs, and a graham cracker and mango dessert. It was SO delicious! Our truck had broken down in the 5 minute drive from the Sunrise House to Along's house so we were walking back home... in the pitch black. We tried to use our camera screen as a flash light. We had a team meeting, had a bit of pool time and then hit the sack... it was a long, yet productive day.

Shopping and Slums

After a "hit the ground running" start to our ministry here, Monday was our first day to really get organized for schools. After our morning Bible study, we all headed to the mall for a mega shopping trip. We had a shopping list for food and also for supplies at schools. I was in charge of buying supplies for the schools. Shopping list: dodge balls, jump ropes, frisbees, rackets and balls, basketballs, volleyballs, notebooks, pencils, etc. We were buying a lot, having maybe 15 baskets full of supplies. Because we are used to the productivity and quickness of American store culture, waiting for the the Filipino checker to scan every single item (even though we had 12-15 of everything) was a bit trying. We pulled up the pencils... over 300 of them and I asked, "can we count how many pencils and you type in your computer how many we have?" They were very weary of this, but ended up doing just that, thankfully.

After lunch, we headed on a new adventure, the Tagbilarin slums. Our driver, Leo, said it was a safe place to go, but the people that live there are the same that stand outside the malls half-dressed, begging for food and money. The little kids carry naked babies and point to them saying they need food. We had bought candy, over 100 travel toothbrushes and toothpastes, and were planning to pass those out along with the Jesus Film DVDs translated in their local Cebuano language. We walked into the center of their area, located on the garbage ridden "beach." Half the shacks were on stilts, with shaky bamboo walking paths connecting their shacks. As soon as we started passing out our goodies, we were swarmed by not only the little kids, but the desperate adults as well. I made my way out of the chaos and handed out a few DVDs to some adults standing on the sidelines. We stayed around a bit, chatting with them. One woman, Madison, came up to me asking if I had more DVDs. She said there were more than one thousand people living in that area. Most children had severely decaying teeth and an obvious infection of some sort. It was Monday and all the children were there, running around, and not in school. There was such a physical desperation when we were passing out goodies, but once we were done, and things calmed down, we could chat with some of them. That physical desperation turned into a passive hopelessness. Would they ever get out of this situation? Do they want to get out of this situation? Was this a matter of environment, lifestyle or mindset? Or all three? These are the forgotten ones that we talk about, but "not one of them is forgotten by God" as it says in Luke 12:6. They are reaching and searching for something... their physical needs are not even close to being met, but what about Jesus? Do they know who Jesus is?

As we were leaving the area, an older man, maybe above 80 years old, scurried after us using his cane to move along. I'm sure he hadn't moved that fast in quite a long time. He was carrying a card that we had passed out that said, "Jesus loves you" in Cebuano. He handed it to me and showed me something written on the back. We showed our driver Leo and he said the man was asking for medicine. He ear was bleeding and he was so frail. What are we to do? In him I'm sure there was desperation for life. How scared a person must be to die, if they don't know Jesus!

What a moving experience... what are we to do now that we've seen the poorest of the poor? Many students were moved to tears. We drove home and had a time of reflection, worship and dialogue. Where do we go from here?

Barrio Weekend

Saturday morning all were up bright and early because our bodies weren't used to the time yet. I was up at 4, showered and was blessed with an extra long quiet time watching an AMAZING sunrise. I was brought to tears as I was reading God's Word, overlooking the jungle and listening to the morning jungle sounds. I'm really in the Philippines again!

I was thankful for the extra time, as the campers arrived 2 hours earlier than we had planned, which means we had no time to plan and get ready for them. We played a timed "Amazing Race" game on the court in which teams competed against each other completing obstacles such as making a pyramid, making basketball shots, popping balloons, passing a rock to each other only using a spoon in their mouths, chair/no-chair, stacking cups, "bucket bum", etc. It was a lot of fun and became HOT really fast! We played other games such as bump and link tag, before we played a water balloon toss to get cooled off a bit. Good thing we had extra balloons, because the water balloon fight afterwards was fun!

After lunch we had two crafts: tie dye t-shirts and making paper boxes. It continued to be really hot out and the students always look forward to having a pretty crazy time in the pool. It was so fun to see the Filipino students and American students interact so well. Those who didn't swim or cut the time short in the pool, were able to make duct tape wallets or paint their toe nails. I think we wore out the Filipino students because after about an hour and a half, they all took off to take showers and rest. Usually we are kicking kids out of the pool after 3 hours so they can get ready for dinner. We did skip the siesta time we usually take after lunch, so maybe they were really tired.

After dinner, we practiced for the talent show. It was so encouraging to see many Americans and Filipinos interacting with each other, planning a dance or song. The talent show itself was a lot of fun. We then performed our two team dramas. Our first one is "Behold the Lamb." This is a very powerful song that we sign and dance a little to. Our second drama is "The King of Hearts." Four of our students perform this one. Before and between each drama a student stood up and explained why were are here and explained the dramas fully. Most of the Filipino students understand English but there is still definitely a barrier. Luckily we had a pastor, Francsis, formally from the barrio as a guest this weekend. He did a lot of our translating, making sure the students understood our message. It was a great night, but it felt like it went by so fast!!

We woke up Sunday morning refreshed, ready for a full day. I led Bible study this morning and talked about Joshua 1. Joshua 1:9 is on our team t-shirts, so I thought it was important for the team to know what it meant. Especially since this was the last day hanging out with the barrio high school students. I talked about how the Lord commands us to be "bold and courageous" and today was the day to do that. It was not the day to be passive and shy. We all need to make a conscious decision to walk up to a student and initiate a conversation, hoping it will lead into a spiritual conversation. Sometimes, when we are tired or just want to give in to that passivity, we miss an opportunity that the Lord presents us. Our opportunity is when we are with the kids and it is now. We need to "Joshua 1:9 it!"

Our Sunday morning church was preached by our friend Francis. I love it when Francis preaches, he's so funny and full of joy. About half of his sermon was in English, the other half in Cebuano with his sentences using a mixture of both languages. It's all very interesting. After church we took our 65 campers and may friends from the barrio to the Nature Resort on Panglao Island. We had an amazing lunch and then headed for the beach. We played hard on the beach, the man-made island and the pool for about 3 hours before saying goodbye to our friends.

We then headed to Bohol Deaf Academy (BDA) which is the Deaf high school. Only about half of the students were there, since the other half had traveled home for the weekend. It was so emotional to see them again! One of my friends, Judith, accepted Christ last year after a few days of in-depth conversation. She had given it careful consideration and the last time we were able to visit them last year, she came up to me saying she was ready to accept Christ. It was an emotional time then, and then even more today. She said she was still following the Lord, going to the local Deaf Christian church, TipTip and was also traveling with some older Deaf Christians to teach about Jesus to the elementary Deaf schools. I am so proud of her and her perseverance with her faith. I know it was a hard decision initially for her to make, as her parents are strict Catholics and are probably not accepting of her Christian faith. Many students tell their parents of the decision and are then physically persecuted for it from their family. I hope this is not the case with Judith, as she shone with joy when I was talking to her. Another student who has since graduated, Carissa, accepted Christ two years ago. At our beach day with the Deaf, she came to me asking me to forgive her sins. I explained that I couldn't do it, but only Jesus could. She wanted forgiveness for her parents divorcing, as she thought it was her fault, because she was Deaf. Divorce is very uncommon in the Philippines. She cried so hard and so loudly at the beach (she couldn't hear herself cry) as I just held her. She didn't understand the divorce wasn't about her. We talked in length and she wanted to accept Christ right there on the beach. She and I prayed and she instantly was full of joy. Seeing her today brought such joy to my heart. She is also still following the Lord and is leading the group of students around to the elementary schools teaching those students about Jesus. This brief visit to BDA made me even more excited to spend time with them at their Wednesday Bible studies and when they come up for their weekend retreat. It was really encouraging to see the other team members so excited about the Deaf and trying to communicate with them.

We left and went back into town to go to dinner at the Garden Cafe. This is an IDEA restaurant that is run mostly by the Deaf. When students graduate from BDA, they have the opportunity to get a job at several business run by the Deaf, that IDEA sponsors. The Garden Cafe is one, in which graduated Deaf are waiters, cooks, bussers, etc. It not only gives them a job, but also gives them a skill with their support staff, in which later could go out into the city to get a job with that skill set. We enjoy eating there and supporting what IDEA is doing for the Deaf on the island. It was a full weekend and we had a lot to talk about and be thankful for!

Philippines 2011

I am writing from the Philippines, after our first night of sleep here, tearfully thankful that I am able to come back again. Every year I think, this may be my last, take advantage of it... yet I cannot not come back. This year I was overwhelmingly blessed at my friends and family who supported me financially and are praying for me.


Thankfully our trip was uneventful. I was one of the very few that actually slept very well and quite long on our first flight which was 12 hours and 20 minutes long. I had just enough in me to stay awake for one movie and then awake towards the end of the first trip with 3 hours left. I was shocked! We arrived in Taiwan with a 4 hour layover and made the 2nd flight to Manila. We went through customs without a hitch and transferred to the domestic airport. We arrived on Bohol around 3:30 and was greeted by not our normal hot, humid air, but by an unusually cool air. We loaded our bags onto a jeepnee which were taken to the house. We hopped into our van and greeted our familiar driver, Leo. He took me and two other students, new to the Philippines, to a school supply store. We found all the supplies on our list for the weekend and met the driver again outside. We met up with the rest of the team in the BQ, shopping for t-shirts and food. All of us, by this time, were feeling loopy from the travel. On our way to the Sunrise House I did the math... we had been traveling for 30 1/2 hours, if you count from door (in Washington) to door (at the Sunrise House). However, since I didn't leave my house in Graham until 10:30pm, I was actually awake for a lot longer. Waking up at 7am, means that most of the team (I probably slept the most) was awake for around 46 hours.

The travel from Tagbilarin, the capital of Bohol, to the Sunrise House consisted of a 20 minute drive along the perimeter road and a 20 minute drive on a one lane barrio road. Half of the barrio road is paved, the other half is a very bumpy clay and rock path. With palm trees and jungle vegetation surrounding and covering us, it was a very surreal experience especially for those who haven't experienced the Philippines. We arrived at the house and was greeted by friends from the barrio. We went straight to dinner that Marita had cooked for us: rice and pancit, perfect!!! She is an amazing cook and we are blessed that she works so hard to feed us. We didn't eat until 8pm, so many of us fought keeping our eyes open. The students and the kids did great, I never heard anyone complain or say they were SO tired. We were all very thankful to arrive at the house and very excited for our first ministry opportunity tomorrow. 65 barrio high school students are coming tomorrow at 10am.... nope, 8am. Praying for a restful sleep!

I finished this blog after the weekend. We've been very busy and our internet has been intermittant. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up soon and write about our happenings on a more frequent basis.

Thank you for your prayers!