We were sent here to the Philippines to make contacts for future teams. No one on our team had ever done set up work before so this would be all new. It seems that everything we do on this journey is all new, and set up work is an adventure. As we make contacts, each contact has someone else we ‘need’ to meet. It seems that everyone here knows everyone else, and it all goes back to Kevin Bacon. Ha, just kidding, it all goes back to Faith Academy.
Faith Academy was started about 50 years ago and is the largest mission school in the world. People have told us Faith Academy is the hub of missions in Asia, and who am I to doubt that?
We toured the campus, up on the hill overlooking Manila, and I was pretty impressed. Swimming pool, at least three different gyms, tennis courts, ball fields, huge library, even Starbucks on Fridays.
We have met many Americans here, and on a side note, it is so nice to be with Americans, it is what I am and I have to learn to accept that. These American families have raised kids, or are raising kids here and they love Faith Academy. The parents are all involved in different aspects of missions, in Manila, the Philippines, and all over Asia. I have now seen an example for how to have a community, educate your children, give our lives and survive.
Sports ministry is huge in this country. Basketball is a phenomenon. We do not understand the love for basketball here, we don’t love ANYTHING in the states the way that Filipinos love Basketball.
We attended two college basketball games since we have been here, because one of our contacts, Jeff Long, has a son named Kirk who is a freshman at Ateneo University. Kirk played at Faith and he got a scholarship to play at Ateneo. We watched two games against their biggest rival, De La Salle. These games were held in Araneta Center, yup, you guessed it, the home of the Thrilla in Manila in 1975. (Ali-Frasier for anyone who does not know what the Thrilla was). The Ateneo-De La Salle rivalry easily beats Red Sox-Yankees if there were a way to measure fanaticism.
The energy and intensity before and during the game is incredible. I don’t know how many fans the stadium holds, but I am guessing there are 30000 people, I get told there are 23000 seats and then standing room. It sounds as though there are 50,000. Half the crowd in the blue of Ateneo and half in the green of the Archers. The drums beat the whole game and the fans chant together…”one big fight” and all kinds of other things I don’t understand. People sit for some timeouts, but every minute of the clock has us on our feet, screaming and shouting, with everyone else. Sadly, Ateneo lost the final game and De La Salle will head to the championship series.
Everywhere we go, everyone talks about sports. At Faith Academy, I believe there are 275 kids in the high school and 200 of them play sports, and tons of people here are involved in sports ministry. I have never been a part of sports ministry before this year, but I have learned that to connect with people, at least the men here, it is tough to beat sports.
