Hello Family,
I mentioned briefly in the last blog how the government supports the local church, but it really became apparent to me the other day how intertwined the two are. Our team had the opportunity to visit with the Mayor of El Nido and sit through a presentation by a Philippino Ministry, called “Gawad Kalinga� or “Giving Care�. The ministry was trying to gain support from the local government to start building communities for the poor. This is the same ministry that we have been helping to build houses. The mayor was very nice and invited us into her office to have coffee. As the presentation was about to begin, they started out the meeting by praying together. They then proceeded to introduce their staff as well as their “white friends� (us).
(My teammate Erin, at our meeting with the mayor)
It’s been really funny because it is very common here to state whether you are married or single when you introduce yourself and everywhere we go we are given a formal introduction and a platform to introduce ourselves. We even had the opportunity to speak with 200+ students at a public high school and pray with them. I have been very surprised to see the reverence everyone has for God and the honor they give us everywhere we go.
(Challenging the high school students to a game of Sipak Takraw, which is basically a combo between volleyball and hacky sack using a plastic ball)
(A few of our staples from the local store: Ramon noodles, cucumber, lots of bread, peanut butter, more ramon noodles….)
Love You All,
Andrew
