I don’t think I’ll ever forget February 16th. We woke up early and went traveled to a high school seminar for seniors who are about to graduate. There were over 500 kids there in this huge stadium.
I had been feeling less than average due to some explosive projections coming out of my back side around that time. When we arrived and saw the hordes of screaming kids, my stomach sunk a little bit more. I did not want to be there.
We were volunteered to host small groups. The seminar was broken up into three parts. I really did not pay too much attention to what would be covered because I truly wanted to be any where else.
But then the conference started. A speaker shared the simple gospel of Jesus Christ. All of us (Americans) leaned toward each other and asked if this was legal. In the States this would not fly at all. After the talk about God, Jesus, and salvation I was lead to my small group that consisted of 25+ giggling girls and a few boys.
I introduced myself and all of the high school girls looked star struck. I have always heard that American males have an amazing status in Asian culture but this blew me away. They hung on every word I said. I told them about how God saved my life in a car crash in Africa and I got lots of ‘ooooohs and aaahhhhhs’.
Next, a speaker talked about majors and jobs that the kids can pursue after high school. We had another small group session and we talked and joked a lot. I ended up taking my lunch break with about 8 of the girls and we talked about a wide variety of things 16 year old girls talk about. (They graduate at 16, not 17 or 18). We talked a lot about prom because it was a few days away. I had a lot of fun with them.
After lunch there was the final speaker. He talked about…. drum roll please…. SEX. The main topic was based on how if you truly love someone you will wait until marriage to have sex with them . It was all biblical based. The small group break out session after this speech was a sight to see. The girls were giggling uncontrollably. It was an interesting, kind of awkward, very hilarious, and overall good time. I feel like the kids learned a lot.
There were some songs played at the end by a band and the whole place erupted. It was just like a concert with dancing and singing.
Most of these kids grew up with out knowing God, or knowing him as a judgmental dictator. They have never seen learning about God and praising Him as something that could be fun. It was a great time.
We took a lot of pictures with them. We had celebrity status. I’ll post pictures later.
Later that night we played a couple really close games in basketball with some Filipinos. The place was rocking, like a high school atmosphere. We ended the night watching Rocky IV.
What a day it was.
We have since started watching the Rambo series at night.
The kids at the orphanage have taken my heart. I love them all. I’ll be posting a blog about them soon.
Life doesn’t get much better in the Philippines.
