First, a time update: I know it is currently the middle of March (a time I always remember fondly), but the post is about the middle of January when Milo, Amanda, and I went to the Philippines. I will try to get several posts done in short order so that everyone can be updated on what we are doing...I'll try—say a prayer for me, won't you! :)
We were going to the Philippines in mid-January to join an ALC mission trip. It seemed easy. We would leave Bangkok at midnight and arrive in Manila at 5:30 am, transfer to our connecting flight leaving for Cagayan de Oro at 7:00 am, and be met at the airport upon arrival at 9:00 am Wednesday. Easy!
The best laid plans...
At first things ran smoothly. We arrived in Manila on time but then things started to fall apart. At 7:00 we were informed our connecting flight was canceled due to weather. We waited for the 9:00 am flight...but it was canceled too. So were the 12:00, 1:00, and 4:00 o'clock flights! By that time all the flights for the next day were full, and we were tired, hungry, and really sick of the Manila airport! So...we booked for Friday morning at 7:00 am and decided to spend Thursday in town.
Manila was nice (the sunset above is of Manila Bay). We enjoyed walking around town and getting a flavour of the place. We walked through the park and through the old walled city of Intermuros. We spent some time in Fort Santiago and learned quite a bit about Dr. Jose Rizal: the national hero. Rizal (that's him on the monument to the right) spoke up for a free Philippines and it's widely believed that it was his martyred death that was the catalyst for the Philippine revolution.
The other interesting thing I noticed in Manila was how much Christianity had permeated the culture. Buses and taxis are named after saints; churches of all shapes and sizes abound throughout the city; and most of the people wear crosses or crucifixes. That's not to say, of course, that everyone is a Christian, but it is very interesting to see how the religion has
become the culture.
The next day we were back at the airport, though, only to sit there all morning while another three flights were canceled. Finally we gave up and decided to fly to the south of the island where we were going and then catch a bus north to Cagayan.
It worked fine—but it made for a long day! We had woken up at 4:30 to get to the airport for our 7:00 am flight, finally flew out at 1:00 pm, arrived in Davao at 2:00 pm, took a taxi to the bus station, got a non-AC bus leaving at about 3:30 pm, and arrived in Cagayan de Oro just before midnight—a mere two days after our scheduled arrival! The picture shows some of the lovely people we met on the bus ride up to Cagayan.
Pastor Bert and his son, Adones, very kindly met us at the bus station at midnight and delivered us to the hotel. The next morning we met the rest of the American team: Colin, Bruce, Scott, Fratt, Randi, Al & Kathy, as well as the rest of the Sedones family. It was nice to finally be there! Saturday was the last day of Pastor training in Cagayan and we enjoyed attending and participating in these last sessions. (Pastor Bert is in the picture to the right with Milo and Amanda.)
The weather was still crazy! The rain was torrential for much of the day. This not only turned the rural roads and paths into mud holes, but was also loud enough on the tin roof to compete with the speaking at times. The church building is located on top of a steep hill and the only way up is a footpath (of 164 steps)....I'll let you imagine the state it was in after six days of rain! (The picture is actually from Sunday after the rain had stopped; but even then the roads were in quite a state, as can be seen.) Despite the weather problems, the seminars seemed to go quite well. There were several hundred pastors and church leaders attending. It was nice to be able to communicate easily with most of the attendees since English is widely spoken in the Philippines.
Late Saturday afternoon, just before the end of the seminars, everyone was split into 10 groups (one foreigner per group) and we prepared a song or a skit for the rest of the attendees. The performances were nice, but what we really liked was the chance to talk one-on-one with our Filipino brothers and sisters.
The next day was Sunday and we were back at the same church for services. On Sunday, Amanda and I helped out by doing some songs, a small talk, and some games with the kids. It was fun!
One change from our regular program was the “Christingle” style of the story we acted out (Daniel and the Lion's Den). We had half a dozen princes, half a dozen angels, a king, and lots of lions! The kids enjoyed it, but probably not as much as we did. After some songs we also made frogs. Yeah! :) That was also quite a hit, as it generally is. The day ended with food and snacks for the kids and then lots and lots of pictures! “Just one more!” the kids would chant. So we'd take one more and then the kids would race over to see themselves on our viewfinder. And then “Just one more!” they'd chant again. There are several hundred “just one more” pictures on our cameras!
On Monday we jumped into vans for a six hour drive east to the area where Pastor Bert grew up. There we had more services and then visited seven or so of the local churches. Amanda and I worked with the kids at several of the churches, including during the “Battle of the bands” which took place after the services on Tuesday. It left us both hoarse (we were competing with the bands and had no mikes), but it was good fun. Kids really are a lot of fun, no matter what the culture!
The van ride from Cagayan and back was fun too. We learned some songs in Visian (the local dialect/language), got to know the littlest Sedones kids a bit better, slept, talked, and had a good time (despite being squished in like sardines). The scenery was breathtaking—especially when the road was winding along the coast. And I know this will come as a surprise to those who know me, but I definitely want to visit the Philippines again...and next time I'd love to visit for longer than only 10 days!
Well, I think I mentioned that Amanda and I were volunteering with Christ Church Bangkok, right? Well...we're still doing that--but for a bit longer than originally planned. We've agreed to stay on here until October! (I know--that's a long commitment for us!) However, within that time we still have time to take off for a few weeks or a month and travel to places like Russia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and India. :) (The picture's from the Grand Palace in Bangkok...)
We are officially helping with children's ministry--quite a bit on the admin side of things, but also directly with the kids. At the beginning of March, for example, we took 12 kids on a two-day barge trip. It was fantastic! We both love the water anyways, so hanging out on the river for two days was great. The kids had fun too. We had a program for them focussed around the verse: We tried to explain the concept of living water through the example of physical water. The barge team lead by Linda (the friend we stayed with in Chiang Mai) did the environmental demonstrations and the Christ Church team did the spiritual connections. Amanda and I (and Milo--he was still here) mostly just supervised. And, yes, when I mean supervise I mean we did some work... :) We were able to go along as only supervisors because there's a team of ten young people from the UK working with Christ Church right now too. They've been a huge help with all sorts of things--including the barge trip.
Besides special trips like the barge trip (shown in the picture), we do help out on Sundays with Sunday School classes if need be. We do a lot of pre-Sunday prep for the lessons and activities and we are going to start creating/sourcing new curriculum after Easter. I also put together a kid's newsletter, Amanda did a powerpoint for the church about the barge trip, we co-ordinate schedules, etc. Generally we keep busy! :)
Since we are now going to be here for awhile, we are also trying to learn some of the language. It's a tonal language, which makes things a bit more difficult. That means you can say one word and it can mean four different things depending if you raise your voice, or lower it, or keep it flat, etc. It is hard to hear and duplicate! However, we can now shop sort of and ask simple questions in Thai. Very exciting! We can't, however, read or write any of the language--that's really difficult since it's not in the Latin script. Thai is especially helpful when we're in restaurants. The english translation for this dish was snakehead--so naturally we ordered it...only to find out it was only eel... *sigh
