Sunday, April 3rd, 2016
10:00 pm
We just landed in Manila! My feet are on Asian soil! More importantly, I am no longer in the air. I am a human who hates flying, yet I signed up to travel the ENTIRE world… the irony is not lost on me. Some high points already: a new stamp in my passport, and there is a Wendy’s here. After three months of only KFC in Africa, another crappy American fast food restaurant was a welcome sight. The prices aren’t astronomical like in any other airport in the States, and the Baconator was pretty legitimate. The fries tasted exactly like they do at home, and this was the first soda fountain I’ve seen in months that wasn’t “Out of Order.” Glory! I also ran around trying to find somewhere that will exchange my Malawian Kwacha for local currency, but apparently, people from Malawi don’t ever go anywhere. I feel grouchy about this. After dinner, we hopped in a van with two people we’ve never met (a World Race norm) and headed out of the city. I was confused by the fact that the steering wheel was on the left side of the car and we were driving on the right side of the road. Then I remembered- that’s how I drive! I am so used to riding in vehicles on the left side that it’s the only thing that makes sense to me anymore. After being awake for over 24 hours and two eight-hour plane rides, I was hot and uncomfortable and exhausted and I couldn’t figure out how to recline my seat. We took a two hour drive past several McDonalds, Starbucks, and Krispy Kremes and arrived at 2 a.m. to an old-looking church attached to a house attached to another house. I think. It was dark. There was just enough time left in the day to pick my room in this empty house, blow up my sleeping pad, and pass out cold.
Monday, April 4th, 2016
12:00 noon
We made plans to meet for breakfast at 9:00. I slept until noon. I eagerly ate my first Filipino meal of sugar-sprinkled bananas rolled in eggroll wrappers and fried, mangoes, and fried potatoes as the lunch was being set out. Sometimes showing up late to the party means you get to eat all the food at once. I think the food here is so good that I may never want to leave.
My most favorite Filipino meal.
After feasting and changing out of my airplane clothes, my team and I hopped into taxis with a bunch of Filipino teenagers that had been hanging around, and headed for town. Let me explain what “taxi” means in the Philippines: in this case, it means a motorcycle with a sidecar. Sometimes, it means a jeep limo that can comfortably hold 12 people, but usually holds at least 15. In rare circumstances, it means an actual car. The thing with these tricycle taxis is, they are made for small Asians, not big, tall, wide-shouldered American broads. It’s a cultural education, for sure. Anyway, our bubbly teenage chaperones took us into town to show us the important things: the 7-11, the internet café(packed with nerdy teenage dudes playing LOL), the plaza where there was rumored to be a free Zumba class every night. All the essentials. After meeting a young man named Christopher (although I call him “Spiderman” due to his Spidey shirt) at the 7-11 and procuring the first Slurpee I’ve had since I was a child, our new friends led us through the outdoor market, which was really an indoor market that smelled like the funk of 40,000 years, and the Fred and Del Superette, where we proceeded to spend our entire month’s supply budget on shampoo and soap. Oops. We also saw a bakery and a barbershop where the barber was cutting someone’s hair whilst wearing a Halloween mask. Our party of 19 then caught a jeepney (see: jeep limo, above) back to our home base at the church.
Tuesday, April 5th, 2016
5 p.m.
Today is the day we finally met our ministry host! Before I met him, all I really knew what that he was an American named Dave. Pastor Dave is an interesting guy, he divides his time between the U.S., Guatemala, and the Philippines. He travels as much or more than a Fortune 500 CEO, but in the interest of sharing the gospel. He has 15 children. Did I mention he’s a martial arts guru? He reminds me of Jeff Daniels. The first time we met Pastor Dave, he opened up a suitcase full of movie theater candy, real (read: NOT instant) coffee, American cereal, and Kraft Mac N’ Cheese. Things that are very important to me but I hadn’t seen in months. His wife Melanie is a native Filipino with a gentle way and a wardrobe full of the cutest dresses I’ve ever seen. They are now partnered not only in matrimony but in ministry as well. Melanie’s brother Oscar is the pastor of Moriah Baptist Bible Church, so the youth we are working with this month are from his congregation. This month, my team and another team are working with his ministry called Go! Philippines. Our time here will be divided between planning two vacation Bible schools (one for the children in the local church, another for children in a very poor village nearby), training the youth of the church in how to run a VBS, pouring into aforementioned youth, and finally, writing a book. The purpose of this book as I understand it, is to chronologize the events of our month, explain our ministry, and paint a picture of our experience in the Philippines.
Wednesday, April 6th, 2016
We started planning VBS from scratch this morning. I realized that I know nothing about VBS or Sunday school or children’s ministry at all. I’m so glad I am surrounded by people who are good at things like that. We had a vision meeting about the book in the afternoon. Dave told us to put our heart in it- salt, vinegar, and sugar. The hard stuff and the sweet stuff. I feel like this ministry is a little more within my comfort zone. After all of our business was taken care of for the day, Cadence and I headed into town in search of a little Zumba action. When we got to the plaza, we instead found a college graduation practice. After getting invited to attend the ceremony later this month, we headed off to explore our new town. Across the street from the plaza is a beautiful old Catholic church. Inside, we found that we were actually crashing mass or possibly a funeral. I was confused because there was a glass casket, but Cadence reasoned that it was the likeness of Christ. I’ve never been Catholic. I have no idea. We left the church and wandered the streets of Bulacan, Bulakan (the city so nice, they named it twice!) looking for more adventures. We found a cemetery with a skinny, mangy guard dog keeping watch and all of the graves built above ground. It also seemed to serve as the town trash dump. Journeying on, we hit up the 7-11 for another Slurpee, and then finally we found the basketball court where the Zumba class was happening. The ladies there were all decked out in lime green Zumba t-shirts and stretchy pants, and were just ridiculously excited to see us white girls in their midst. They beckoned for us to join them, and it only took a little persuasion. We were there to dance, after all. We exchanged a look, nodded, put down our Slurpees and jumped in to our first ever Zumba class! Me, Cadence, a bunch of 50 year old Filipino moms, and one man spent the next hour shaking our groove thang on center court. Lesson learned: no one expects to look good doing Zumba, but if you’re white, people will be constantly taking your picture. After we were done exercising, everyone was eager to meet us and take pictures with us and tell us how beautiful we were. Being an American really is like being a celebrity. They invited us to go out for dinner with them, but we had to decline, as we had someone making us mac n cheese at home. We promised to return in a few days’ time with all of our white friends for the next class. “Wear pink!” they encouraged, then let us go on our way. We struggled to find a tricycle taxi driver that a) spoke English and b) knew where we were going. A nice woman named Jenny helped us out (thanks Jenny!) and we made our trek home.
Sweaty and happy. We laughed so much this night.
Thursday, April 7th, 2016
I didn’t sleep for one minute last night. I don’t know if it’s because of the heat, or because I miss home. Not to mention my Fibromyalgia has been acting up, which means holding still hurts. I spent a lot of the night standing. My team met to continue planning VBS, but I took the morning off and ended up sleeping through lunch. I was frustrated because I missed ministry time, but thankful for the two-hour nap I was able to sneak in. In the evening, we headed off to Walter Mart… known around these parts as “the mall.” I spent a cramped yet enjoyable 30 minute taxi ride crammed into a sidecar with Pastor Dave, talking about politics and my potential future in missionary nursing. The mall consisted of a department store, a supermarket, a small food court, a drugstore that sold mostly makeup, something resembling a Best Buy, and a popular fast food chain called Jollibee. My burger there tasted like a Swedish meatball but beat the pants off of any burger I had in Africa. Oh, and something called the Japanese Home Store that reminded me of a Big Lots. And a kiosk that only sells waffles right next to a kiosk that only sells potatoes! My fat kid heart was overjoyed. We bought birthday decorations and snacks, a couple girls got $2 pedicures, and some participated in yet another outdoor Zumba class, this time led by a rather beefy man with a long ponytail. I will tell you, if you think your friends are good Christian girls, just watch them at Zumba class- that’ll tell you all you need to know.
Friday, April 7th, 2016
Continued with VBS planning in the morning. Pastor Dave (who by the way, did I forget to mention went to massage therapy school?) taught us the art of therapeutic massage in the afternoon. We practiced on each other, and I don’t think anyone was complaining. A good skill to have, if I do say so myself. In the evening, we all got into our workout clothes and joined the moms in the plaza for Zumba. Here’s something that happens when I’m in the Philippines- I realize that I sweat a lot. I live inside of myself. But every single Filipino around felt it necessary to comment on how much I was sweating. I was exercising in the 90 degree summer heat. Two things that never happen in my life. I just laughed it off and hoped this wouldn’t become a pattern.
Saturday, April 8th, 2016
Pastor Dave took us to the plaza today to teach us Arnis- the ancient Filipino art of stick fighting. I knew I belonged here. I was actually pretty good at it, and we got some kids involved in our training. It was a fun way to reach out to them.
I’m obviously a natural.
In the afternoon, we went out to a neighborhood in the middle of a rice field to play volleyball with some local children and teach them a Bible lesson. I know I say this a lot, but it might be the prettiest place I’ve ever seen. Imagine your eyes have Instagram filters and the saturation is turned alllllll the way up. Everything is so green, or so blue, or so white. Also, I can’t be sure, but I think we might have signed on to play in a basketball game vs. a local team here- yikes.
Sunday, April 9th, 2016
Today we celebrated Moriah Baptist Bible Church’s 10th anniversary. It was the first church service I’ve been to since leaving the States that me or one of my friends didn’t have to deliver the sermon. After the service, there were several baptisms and lots of food. I’ve noticed that Filipinos are literally the most beautiful race of people on Earth, I wonder if they know that? In the afternoon, my friends went out on a boat somewhere, while I stayed home to email my doctor, organize my things, and quite frankly just spend some time alone. I love the women I’m here with, but there is literally always someone around. I was glad to take a break from all of the action and fun things, if it meant I could unwind and decompress from the week.
