Sorry I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t really posted any blogs… I know, kind of weird for me. So I thought since I have a spare twenty minutes before starting my day, that I will update everyone on what I’ve been doing since i got to Dumaguete.
Our first day of ministry was last Thursday. We first went to the International Care Ministries (ICM) building and met the people we would be working with for the month. We did a bible study with them and shared prayer requests together. For the afternoon, we split into two different groups. One group went to visit a Pastor who lives in Bais City, about an hour’s drive away, and did some evangelism with him, reaching out to the local community. I was with the other group, who worked alongside ICM to go to what they call a feeding. At these events, ICM brings rice to give to each family, enough to feed them for the week. In return, they run them through a little bible study. We were able to be a part of that church service. Pam and Sarah spoke and then the three of us prayed over different members of the church.We also sang a song for them. On the way back into town, the ICM staff who was driving us stopped at several different locations so that we could take pictures. The drive was the most beautiful I have seen so far on this race–possibly in my whole life!
The next day, our whole group went to Bais, a city about an hour away, to visit a pastor’s meeting. We were all asked to share something or give a testimony to a group of about forty local pastors. Of course you know that public speaking isn’t exactly my strength… but it also isn’t something I’m afraid of anymore. So I decided on a psalm to share with the pastors. Then, as I was sitting in the audience, waiting my turn to speak, I suddenly remembered that they asked what we share be related to “thanksgiving”, so I flipped to the psalm and worked out my message under the new topic. I was the last to speak, and to be honest, it went well. I wasn’t afraid– and that’s new to me folks! But it was encouraging to speak without fear, knowing that God was in control of all of it. The rest of the afternoon I went with four other teammates to Pastor Attos house and did outreach in the community. I was able to visit two different households and share my testimony to five different women. It was definitely a stretching and uncomfortable experience–I’m not used to door to door ministry, but it is good to experience a variety of ministries.
Saturday, our third day here, was thankfully a relaxing day. The bulk of the day was off, which was much needed since ministry usually goes pretty late. I was able to sleep a little later than normal, go running, have my devotional, and then set out to town with Sarah, Brandon, and Lo Lo. We went to Lee Plaza, the shopping area of Dumaguete, and got some lunch, looked for new running shoes, and for a gift for Haley’s birthday. Although unsuccessful, it was nice to have some time in town. We came back to the house and got ready, and then headed off to THANKSGIVING! Of course, thanksgiving was really two days ago, but all the local missionaries were meeting on Saturday to have a potluck Thanksgiving–I even made the mashed potatoes! To sum it up in a word it was AMAZING! It was delicious and a very nice treat!
Sunday was our day off for the week. It was Haley’s birthday, and we were going to go to Apo Island, but it was supposed to be cloudy and rainy, so instead we went to Bais, where we do evangelism, to take a ferry out to a sandbar. So 9 of us headed out to the Bais sandbar and had a wonderful day soaking up the sun, eating snails and crabs with the locals, and then going out to dinner for Haley’s birthday at night. It was a pretty fun day!
Monday we traveled as a team to Pastor Alama’s house where we would be doing construction for the week. Renee and I stayed with him to go purchase the supplies and begin the work, as the rest of the team headed on to deliver two motorbikes to two different pastors that were in desperate need of transportation. Renee and I worked mostly with digging dirt and cementing cinder blocks to secure the building. The team picked us up on the way back, and we headed home for the night.
Tuesday I was able to finally plug into some ministry that I have a heart for! I looked around, asked some questions, and thanks to our wonderful host Sherry, we were able to get plugged into a local orphanage. For privacy reasons, I cannot share the name of this orphanage or share any pictures of the children there, but just know that there are some amazing kids and I was blessed to be able to hold some babies while there. I look forward to some return visits the next couple of weeks. After the orphanage, Jenn and myself went on a hunt in town for two different things: fast laundry and good coffee. After a while we found both, went back home, and cooked dinner for the team– burgers, corn, and green beans, not too shabby!
Today, Wednesday, marks our one week of being here in Dumaguete. I traveled back to the construction site along with Renee and Mark, and did a lot more digging and a lot more cementing. So far we have helped with cementing the church, extending the church, and a little more cementing in another room. Tomorrow we will finish up the construction work by cementing the extended part and two bedrooms.
Each day is a little different from the last, but the one common factor is that at the end of the day, we all feel like this:
Until next time…
