Moving from Central America to Asia has been a difficult transition for me. The heart I have for the Hispanic culture really latched on even tighter during the first three months of the Race and to be honest I wasn’t excited about having to leave it behind for the rest of my journey.
Once we arrived to our site, I was encouraged by the beauty of the place we were in and the happy smiles on the faces of the people. We are living in Aninuan Christian Church and serving with the pastoral family. We are 10 minutes from the most beautiful beach that we can visit almost daily if we want to, and because the community is so cheerful we are greeted by many hello madam!’s on the way.
New cultures mean new foods and experiences. Here in the Philippines we have a whole new diet, complete with white rice at every meal and LOTS of pork. There are mangos galore (yay!) and we even get treated with peanut butter at breakfast, which is something we really haven’t seen for 3 months so we eat it like it’s the last time we’ll have it every day. As for interesting experiences, we attended a Filipino wedding, hiked to a waterfall, and found out that egg shells make great lawn decorations.
Team changes occurred this month before we came. Our squad’s men are all together, so the ladies of course have also been moved around. I was fortunate enough to remain with all the same women from my last team, and have combined with 4 other lovely ladies to form Team Remnant. This team shares lots of laughter and silliness and we’ve had a blast together starting off this month. Being on an all girls team is a different, but positive dynamic and reminds me of my college dorm years at Taylor University (shout out!)
Team Remnant! Brooke, Teresa, Britt, Amy, Sofia, Leslie, Liz, and Charlyn
Helping with Threads of Hope has been less of a focus for us than I originally thought. We only get to participate in that particular ministry on Saturdays, when the women who make bracelets come to the church to organize, count, and sell what they’ve made to Threads of Hope. The ministry then sells them to international buyers or gives them to missionaries to use as a fundraising strategy. Spending time with the women there leads to lots of smiles, and we are all enthralled at the beauty of the designs and colors they put together.
For the remainder of our ministry time, we do an assortment of things. We have spent a good deal of time chipping away at a cement floor with little picks or long metal bars. By removing the cement top layer, the church will now be able to lay a new floor when they are ready. We have cleaned up the grounds and also along the roads picking up trash (which is everywhere!).
One of the best parts of ministry is getting to talk to people on the beach or at their houses. We walk along the beach or streets and find people to start conversations with, pray for, and love through offering a little bit of our time to get to know them and hear about their lives.
Up the road, we can walk a little ways through the town and then through the woods to the nearby river. There we wash our laundry by hand by scrubbing them against the rocks, being careful not to squash any baby crabs crawling along the riverside (hundreds of them!). It’s a fun time and we often see local women there too who we can talk to.
Recently in church, we have done several skits and “special numbers”, which are frequently requested of us. Two skits have addressed issues like avoiding worldly distractions to stay focused on walking with Jesus, and the faithfulness of Jesus even in times where we choose other things over Him. We’ve also done a few youth events including a talent night and a youth group service with a message about Mary and Martha with Jesus, some singing, some games, and a very special time of prayer and encouragement. The children are full of energy and love to call out our names to us whenever they see us, which always brings a smile to my face.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading a bit about this month. I apologize for the slowness in updates. Internet has not been my computer’s friend this month 🙁 Your continued prayers are appreciated. Wishing many blessings for you all.
